Character Traits: Good or Bad? Both?

Our class is learning to analyze characters using character traits. We know that based on their actions and words in a story we can tell what kind of people they are... or animals in some cases. After brainstorming a list of character traits we know, like honest, brave, heroic, selfish, bratty, kind, friendly, and many, many more we categorized the words into a list of good and bad traits. 

Since this activity, other things we have done using our understanding of character traits are:

• defined ourselves using character traits
• written character trait books using the iPad app, Storybook Maker
• read different stories and analyzed the characters within them
• defined a character's traits and supported our thinking using evidence from the text
• had class discussions about character traits we find in a text

We will keep you posted on our character trait study, so listen for more updates. And if you're interested in testing our knowledge, feel free to ask a third grader what kind of character they think you are!

Gifts from Aunt Cyndi

My aunt Cyndi and uncle Rich travel around the country and work in different national parks as park rangers. My aunt was living on Assateague Island where the wild horses live earlier this year.

 They always send us maps, pamphlets, books and other gifts from wherever they are. Recently they went to a rocks and mineral show and they sent us a bag full of gems. The kids LOVED it. We spent all morning exploring our new gem book and trying to find the names of all of them. We recently read Agate: What Good is a Moose? by Joy Morgan Dey and had learned about all the gems so we used that as a resource as well. We immediately wrote a letter to aunt Cyndi and Uncle Rich thanking them for our gifts and asking them questions about our new things. 

So here are some pictures of us exploring:

Country Research

Check out our awesome wall map! Remember those country research projects we did? Well a lot of them are posted on the wall outside our classroom. The large posters have holes in them so you can literally put your face into a scene from another country. The paper bag vests are covered with facts about countries and the typed reports above our country's flags teach you about something we researched more closely. Below you can read some of our research reports and check out the wall more closely. Enjoy!

Indian Jewelry 

by Suguy H.

Indian women wear lots of jewelry. They wear a nath. Nath means nose ring. Bangles or chudi are bracelets. A shringar patti is jewelry they wear on their head. It’s gold and it’s shaped like a necklace. Bichhua means toe ring. Toe ring is something they wear on their feet. A waist band or kamarband is some kind of jewelry that holds the dress. The jewelry is about their culture. It is not about Henna. They wear it for their wedding days. The jewelry is the most important part.

 

 Jamaican Blue Coffee 

by Jameson C.

Blue Coffee is famous in Jamaica because it grows on Blue Mountain and because it has mild flavor. In Jamaica they brew their coffee with a pot and a measuring spoon. Blue Coffee is one of the most expensive and famous coffees in the world. Japan buys 80% of the Blue Mountain Coffee. There is other mountains in Jamaica that make coffee. Some people are calling it Blue Coffee but it is not good as Blue Mountain Coffee. A pound of Blue Coffee can cost up to $13.95 to $399. If you buy Blue Coffee for $15.95 it is not real Blue Coffee. I think Blue Coffee will be gross because I can’t even drink my mom’s coffee.

Egypt Mummies 

by Damario C.

You should go to Egypt to see mummies. For a long time Egypt mummified their kings called pharaohs. To mummify they put them in canopic jars. A canopic jar protects or guards the organs.  Each jar was named after a god.  Hapi protected the lungs.  Duamutef guards the stomach.  Qebebsenuef held the intestines. Imseti protected the liver. Boats are buried in the tombs to take the pharoahs to Osaris, which we call heaven. I would like to go to Egypt to see mummies.

Springtime Garden

This time of year is still cold and our class is aching to get outside. One of the ways to remedy this problem is by taking the outside inside! Last Thursday our class planted four envelopes of different kinds of seeds into four dishpans for our own classroom garden. 

We planted marigolds, African daisies, an assorted mix, and zinnias in small groups on the purple mat. When we were done, we labeled the dishpans with the flower envelope that matched what was planted, and then we watered them with a homemade watering can. We put the flowers by the window and planned to water them every other day. Most of the packets told us we had to wait 7-14 days for the flowers to germinate. So we planted them, and then we waited. 

Except it didn't even take 7 days!!! When we came back to school on Monday there was already green sprouts in the pans. Can you believe it? I can't wait to see those flower petals blooming!

Country Research Presentations

Yesterday our class started presenting our research on the country we chose to study. Each student is expected to present for 10 minutes to their classmates and I. They start by describing their research project and all the information they chose to include. The goal was to describe at least three physical characteristics and three cultural characteristics of the country. Kamil went above and beyond that yesterday when teaching our class about Pakistan. He told us about the largest cities, rivers, mountains, the symbol of colors and shapes in his flag, languages, and many other interesting details. I was even more impressed when he answered a students question about a building in Pakistan. They asked Kamil if the building they saw was in India because it looked familiar to them and he was able to say that the building they were thinking of was actually the Taj Mahal and that the Taj Mahal was built by a husband for his sick wife. AMAZING!!! No one was surprised with Kamil's vast knowledge however because not only is his family from Pakistan, he has also told our class that his favorite thing to do at home is research. What a great hobby!

Other countries we learned about yesterday were Tanzania and China. Did you know that in Tanzania the tallest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro? Did you know there is a blue bear living in the Himalayas in China that has fur that is black with a tinge of blue??? There is some very impressive research going on in this room, let me tell you!

Distributive Doctor Math Center

Each morning from 8:30-9, students work in small group math centers. One of our most recent centers was called Distributive Doctor. In this center, students practiced multiplying large numbers by splitting them into smaller more manageable groups. An example of this would be 7x12. Multiples of 12 are hard for third graders, but we have known how to make groups of 10 and 2 for a long time. By distributing or decomposing the factor we are able to solve the problem much more easily. We know that 7x10=70 and 7x2=14 so we add 70+14 to find the answer 84. Now we know that 7x12=84. Strategies like decomposing  are helpful when students don't have all of their multiplication facts memorized. They give us a way to solve the problem when we don't have the fact memory to help us. 

Don't know what decomposing means? Ask your third grader! It's one of our new favorite vocabulary words that we can use not only when talking about multiplying but the coral reef food chain as well. 

Reading in Interesting Positions

Some of our third graders read in the strangest places! As long as they are reading I'm happy though. My good friend Thierry K. here has been reading up a storm! He has met both reading goals for the past two months of Scoop Up Those Books and really loves reading series books. When asked if he reads for the ice cream reward, he said no... he just really loves to read! How cool is that?!

Coral Reef Food Chain Performance

Our class performed our coral reef food chain play on February 10, 2014. We performed twice that day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The morning performance was for Pre-K, two third grade classes, a kindergarten class, and a fourth grade class. There were also parents in the room. That means we performed for over 100 people. The class was very nervous but they did a great job. Our visitors said that they learned a lot and we had some great listeners as well.Our afternoon performance wasn't as packed. There was a sixth grade class, the afternoon Pre-K, and some more parents and teachers. Mr. Martel, a supervisor at Montello, said that we reminded him of a lot of science he had forgotten when he taught sixth grade a few years ago. Sadly, Mr. Cliffe and Mrs. Gish couldn't make it. They were very busy in the school that day. Mr. Cliffe did ask if he could watch a special encore performance later on though. We are still waiting on his visit!