Bird Beak Activity

As a launch activity for our current PBL, we visited the Wonder Room on Monday for a special animal adaptation activity. Using different tools that represented various bird beaks (ex: a dropper for a hummingbird's beak), they attempted to grab different items as their food within a 30 second time limit. Depending on what "beak" they used, some were more successful than others. This led to a great discussion about why beaks are suited for each particular bird/food and what would happen if their source of food became scarce. They loved this activity and we are looking forward to our PBL, which is writing a class why book about animals that live in our state.

 

                               

Walnut Grove Field Trip

Emily's and Brooklyn's Thoughts:
On Wed., November 13 we went to Walnut Grove for a fild trip. First we went to the cemetary then we went to the Moore family house. Then we saw the old baby rockers and they had 10 kids. Then we went to make candels. We got the string and diped it in the hot wax and it was pink. It smelled like straberry. And then we went on the nature trail and there was a knocked down tree. You could see the bottom of the tree. Then we went to the gift shop and they had muggs, wissels, t-shurts, fans, and spoons. Then we got on the bus and went home. Ower fild trip was fun but really really cold!

Making candles

It was COLD!!!

Red Ribbon Week

Peyton's and Emma's Thoughts:
Last week was Red Ribbon Week. We learned to be DRUG FREE. We learned that if you smoke it takes 8 minets off your life. On Monday was school spirit day, Tuesday was College/Univ./Military day. On Wednesday was Dress for Success Day on Thursday was Career Dream Day and last but not least on Friday was Wear Red Day. On Thursday people dressed up as vets and baseball players and a teacher and football players.

We also had 2 cheerleaders from BSHS come to our class to talk to us about staying healthy and Drug Free. This was a great week that hopefully made an impact on our students and the choices they make in the future.

Dress For Success Day

Wear Red Day

Boosterthon

In October, OES participated in our first ever Boosterthon fundraiser. The students received pledges to run approximately 35 laps on a designated Fun Run Day. Our class received the most pledges in the entire school, which totaled about $2400! They earned a homework pass, extra recess, lunch outside, a popsicle party, crazy hair day, and a pajama day. I am so proud of their hard work and our class will receive 10% of the pledge money. Way to go Mrs. Wise's Wildcats! :)

Reagan's and Brandon's and Thoughts:
For the Boosterthon Fun Run we had team huddles. At team huddles we got to see how much money or pledges we had so we could mark it off on the pledge o'meter. We raised over $2,400! To get pledges, we had to get students to ask people they know to get money. You could do a flat donation or a lap donation. A flat donation is when you give them like $10 even if they run 35 laps. A lap donation is when you say you will give them $1 for each lap you run. So like if I ran 35 laps you have to pay $35. At the fun run we ran lots and lots and lots of laps.

We had an awesome time and can't wait to see how this money helps our school!
 

Pollination...and Cheetos?!?!?!

Hunter's and Cassidy's Thoughts:
      Today we did a fun activeidy in Science. First, we ate Cheetos to get the orange color on our fingers. Then we got these finger things to put our fingers in the holes to be the bee's legs. Next we went around the room and touched other people's flower with our fingers. The bee is our finger cause we ate Cheetos to get the orange color on our fingers. Next we talked about pollen and pollination then when we came from recess we watched a short video about plants. After that we talked about how pollen sticks to insects and animals. The activeidy was a blast and we had a lot of fun!

Walk to School Week

Chloe's and Joseph's Thoughts:
     Walk to School Week is a whole week filled with fun. We did this to be healthy and fit. On Walk to School Week, we dressed in green on Monday. On Tuesday we dressed like Clark Kent, we had a class full of Clarks! On Wedsday we walked around the school and students wore their favorite superhero outfit. On Thursday we wore head-bands and wrist-bands in honner of Wonder Woman. We had a great time on each and every of these days. Our class has some true superheros!

Readers Arrrrrgh Leaders!

Ahoy, me hearties! This week we celebrated National Talk Like a Pirate Day. We all dressed like pirates and invited a community leader to our classroom to read to us. Officer Waddell, Will's dad, visited me lads and lassies to tell them a little about what he does each day as well as to read Tough Boris. This book is great to have a discussion about character traits and also how the way we can perceive people is not always correct. Even the meanest, toughest, most massive pirates will cry. After the book was read, of course the class wanted to ask questions about topics such as tasers and robbers. So Hunter ended up in handcuffs for a short time, which they loved seeing :) Then it was time for our visitor to leave. We're so glad Officer Waddell could come make this day more special for us! To top it all off, we had delicious pirate cupcakes provided by Emily and her family. They were not only cute, but also our first taste of cupcakes for the school year! Yummy!
I'm hoping to start letting the students post updates to this blog to give them ownership in sharing what we do in our classroom community. So be looking for that soon because I'm sure it will be great. Savvy? :)

 

The beginning of A LOT of research....

Today, we visited the library for our first research session. I let each student choose the Tourism Region (not one of our 6 geographical regions) they wanted to research and make the video about at the end of this project. So we have 5 groups: The Grand Strand, Historic Charleston, Upcountry, Lowcountry, and Capital City. They were so excited reading about what they could find in that region's major city. They found all kinds of museums, ballparks, waterparks, outlet malls, and one group even found a hotel room and they were not impressed by the price of $108 per night. We are returning to the library next week for another research session, and I'm sure they'll find even more interesting and useful information!

 

Regions of SC

Third grade Social Studies is all about our wonderful state of South Carolina. I love watching my students get excited each year learning the history of our amazing state. We are especially excited this year because we are going to do a project with many components to it. One is making a video/commercial to persuade people to come visit a specific place/region in SC! We will be sending our videos to the state tourism board so we'll just see what happens and hope for the best. This week they learned that SC has 6 geographical regions. We learned this song to help them better remember the names and their location. I hear some of them humming it throughout the day :) So here they are, eager to perform on camera. Enjoy...and you may see them on television one day! :)

Mrs. Wise has wrangled some new 3rd graders!

We are ending our 2nd week of the 2013-2014 school year and I have decided I have the BEST class at OES :) They have all been so sweet and patient as we've gone through routine after routine. But we've had some fun times too. Today was College Colors Day so I took our first class photo of the year. I can't wait to see what the year holds! 

And Go Cocks!!!!! :) 

Summer is coming to an end... :(

I CANNOT believe that another school year is about to begin. I have had such a good time at home with Linley these past couple of months. We've kept busy! Carowinds, beach, shopping, playdates, ears pierced (Linley that is), waterpark, picnics, zoo, dressing up, cookouts, swimming, and just spending quality time with our family and friends. As sad as it is, I am looking forward to meeting my new classroom of sweet faces and seeing what the year has in store. I pray it is full of many blessings and beautiful experiences for all of us!

See You Later

Well, in the blink of an eye, it has arrived...the last day of school! I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday I was meeting these bright-eyed "babies" for the first time. They've grown so much in these 10 months and I've grown to love each and every one of them. All 19 have their own special talents and personalities and I'll miss them greatly. They hold a special place in my heart and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for them. To the Class of 2022: Always do your best, shine in all that you do, and reach for the stars. Hava a fabulous summer and I'll see you later since this isn't goodbye!

Rockin' Out

 Here is a cute example from Karlie. Her biography was on Lori Limestone.

 

 

As part of our Rock Unit, we sang this "Rock Song" to help them remember how they were formed. These are some student volunteers (the ones not camera shy of course) that wanted to sing it to you.

Rockin' the Rock Bios

This week we officially completed our rock bios. The kids really enjoyed this activity. They were so creative and reflect each of their personalities. Our project began with research using books from our immersion table and school library along with video clips from UnitedStreaming. We also read some biographies, like Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks. We made a noticings chart in their journals, as well as one as a class, which you can see below. Then they chose a rock, researched, and completed their biography booklet on their rock. They presented their booklets to the class this week and I loved hearing about the "hard" life of their rock. :) I'll put more pics in my next post.

                     

                            Johnny presenting

            Sydney presenting

Gotta love them!!

 

 

                                    

 

Send Cancer To Infinity & Beyond!

Mini-Relay for Life 2013

We had a great time supporting this great cause that touches us all.

 

Bring on the Blog!

So today I'm officially starting my first blog. Already confused, but excited to learn! Wish me luck!