State Symbols

Did you know Massachusetts has a state tree, dessert, drink, and even a state muffin?  We found that out through some research at www.statesymbolsusa.org.  Students worked in pairs to research and write about some of the Massachusetts state symbols.  Here are the finished pieces.

January Update

It has been a busy month in 3rd grade! So busy, I never posted anything!  

Here are some of the things we've been up to.

Mr. Schersten made a visit to help us learn to use Google Docs to type up our State Symbol project.

Learning to create a shared document

Students have been "multiplication masters" this month. So far, every student has passed their multiplication facts up to the 6 tables.  Our math unit is moving to division, but we will continue the weekly multiplication facts.

Making our own multiplication tables

Teamwork

Concentration

Our light and color unit was a huge success, students visited other classes to take part in experiments and learning activities all about light.

Our music field trip to the Lexington Symphony was fabulous!  We got to see and hear the history of music.  The Star Wars music got everyone excited!

Special Guest: Darth Vader

Waiting for the show to start.

After reading and discussing the remarkable story of Helen Keller, we had a wonderful presentation to bring her story to life for our students.  

Helen Keller

Great Performer

Helen "feeling" the crowd

Hour of Code

This week people all over the world are participating in the event, "Hour of Code."  Our third graders have started this coding experience and have been quite successful in their coding skills. We have 5 different coding activities happening in each 3rd grade classroom.  Activities include Mine-craft, Frozen, Star Wars, Hopscotch, and Block Island.  Please visit www.code.org for more information or to try out Hour of Code for yourself.
Here are some photos from Hour of Code at Francis Wyman.

216 loves Hour of Code 

Problem solving

Trying out the code

Look at the focus and concentration

Mrs. Zani's class trying out Minecraft

Happy Hanukkah!

On Friday afternoon, we took a small break to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah a little early.  On Sunday, some students will start celebrating Hanukkah with their families, so we thought it would be nice to celebrate here at school. Here are some photos from our celebration.

Our Read-Aloud

 Word Search

Dreidel Game

Hay!

Spinning the Dreidel

Having so much fun!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving show yesterday!  The kids did a fabulous job.  It was nice to see so many parents in the audience.  Here are some videos just in case you couldn't make it.

Plimoth Plantation

Here are some photos from our beautiful day at Plimoth Plantation.  It was a beautiful day to "travel back in time" to the 17th Century.

Checking out the inside of the Wampanoag Wetu

Inside the Longhouse

A Wampanoag woman making rabbit stew

Showing us the rabbit 

At the craft center we learned about candle making

Students asking questions

Dipping the candle in hot wax

Walking up to the Pilgrim Village

Looking down at the village from the fort

A view of the ocean

Learning about the houses

Listening to the woman talk of their journey and their jobs

Each yard had gardens and most had wildlife

Visiting the chickens

Trying on the soldier armor

Pretending to be a 16 year-old Pilgrim boy

At the top of the fort

Checking out the cannons

It was feeding time at the barn

cuties