ToonDoo

Our class has been exploring with an awesome website, http://www.toondoo.com/
With this free website, students have the ability to create a comic strip choosing their own characters, backgrounds, and speech bubbles. To practice using this new tool, for morning work on Friday, we used ToonDoo to create comics explaining how the digestive system works (great review of what we learned in Science this week). Check out some of our comics:

Digestive System by room203 | Create your own Cartoon at www.toondoo.com

A Peek at Our Week.....

This week in Writer's Workshop we continued working on essays. Since it was St. Patrick's Day, we wrote a 5 paragraph essay on 3 wishes we would want granted if a leprechaun would grant us 3 things. We've been working on adding details and stretching our writing. On Tuesday, we went on a Field Trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. There were so many neat exhibits at the museum. We went to a show called "Poop Happens" which taught us all about the digestive system and what happens to our food after we eat it. Even though it was kind of gross, it taught us a lot about the organs that make up our digestive system. In Science this week, we focused on the circulatory system. We learned all about the heart, which is a muscle that never gets tired and works all the time pumping blood throughout our bodies. We also learned how blood circulates, or moves, through our body. We made mobiles to help make this concept clear for us! On Thursday we did an activity with our online buddies in Mount Prospect. Both classes read the book Jamie O'Rourke and the POOKA and we used the Macs to have a virtual book chat to discuss story elements. Check out the pictures below (older blog posting). This week we started a "caring" service-learning project called Pennies for Patients. We watched a Charlie Brown movie that helped us understand and learn about people who suffer from cancer, and more specifically the blood cancer called leukemia. Students across the country are collecting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters during Pennies for Patients to help find a cure. Next week is our last week of school before SPRING BREAK! WOO HOO! Speedy is spending the weekend at Kennedy. Have a great weekend! Enjoy the beautiful weather.

Virtual Book Chat

Today we participated in a virtual book chat with our online buddies in Mount Prospect! Both classes read the book Jamie O'Rourke and the POOKA by Tomie DePaola. Our classes divided up into 5 groups, where we discussed the book's story elements. Our classroom had a PC laptop with a Google Doc where we had questions to discuss with our online buddies (ex: Where did the story take place? Who were the main characters?). We took turns "driving" or typing on the laptop. We also had another laptop, a Mac, that we used to Skype (video conference) with our buddies. The Macs are very cool and we like them because we're able to see our buddies and they are able to see us! We discussed the book together, and then discussed ideas for our next collaborative project! Check out pictures from today:

A Peek at Our Week

This week we finished ISAT testing on Wednesday. We were happy and relieved that testing is over! In Music we learned 3 dances: Swedish, Russian and French. In P.E. we had a fitness day. This week we practiced multiplication. Some people are finishing their multiplication quizzes, which means they’ve passed all quizzes 0-12. To review word wall words, we played Catch My Fish. This week we didn’t have Art because Wednesday was a 1/2 day (parent/teacher conferences). In Science we learned about the nervous system. We cut out our paper brains and put them on our mini-me bodies. We did an experiment to test our reaction time, which is how long it takes for messages to move through our bodies. We also tested our memories to see if we could remember what someone looked like. There is a game on our website we can play! In Writer’s Workshop we wrote an essay about why the nervous system is important. We also wrote “The Best Part of Me…” and typed them up on the computer. Next week we will record these, and we will turn them into a movie using iMovie on the Macs. Next week we have a field trip on Tuesday. We are going to the Museum of Science and Industry to learn more about the human body. In Cursive this week, we learned the letters “o” and “c”. Congratulations to table 3! They were the winners of the most group points and won lunch bunch with Miss Gosche. Today we worked in the morning chatting with our online buddies about our stories. We spent time during computers editing and fixing up our stories so they can be published. Speedy will be spending the weekend with Julia!

WANTED: More Ball Chairs

If you are interested in donating for our Ball Chairs Project on DonorsChoose, please click here. Any amount is welcome!

The ball chairs have been fantastic, but we only have 6 and we're asking to receive 10 more!

Click here to see pictures of how much we love using the ball chairs.

A Peek at our Week.......

This week, we had no school on Monday to celebrate Casimir Pulaski Day! Tuesday was our first day of ISAT, the state test we take for the first time in 3rd grade. We were all a little nervous, but lots of visitors stopped by to wish us good luck. Some classrooms made us goodie bags, too! The ISAT has been going great! We're just showing how much we know! Everyday after ISAT, Miss Gosche gives us "chillax" time where we can chill out and relax after trying hard on the test. Since we finished reading Matilda last week as our class read-aloud, we watched the movie, which was really good. In Math this week, we've been learning a lot! On Tuesday we reviewed flips, slides and turns and 3D shapes. On Wednesday we learned about fractions using Hershey Chocolate Bars! On Thursday we learned about probability, or chance, using M&Ms. We all go our own bag of M&Ms and counted up how many of each color we had. Then we wrote down which color we were most likely to pick, and least likely to pick. We also learned probability words, like impossible, certain, and equally likely. We put all of our M&Ms in a cup, and randomly picked one 20 times to see if our experiment matched. It was fun! On Friday we learned about pictographs, which are graphs made with picture symbols. Usually the symbol represents more than 1. This week in Science we've been learning about the Nervous System. The brain, spinal cord and nerves make up the Nervous System. We learned about the different parts of our brain, the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the medulla and what those parts of the brain control. We even made brain hats! Next week, we'll add the brain to our mini-bodies. Computer Lab today was in the classrooms. Mrs. Risolvo brought in iPod Touches and we worked in small groups. Some of us partnered up and watched some videos about staying healthy and the food pyramid on the iPod Touches, while others watched a nutrition video on the Promethean Board. The iPod Touches were SOOOO cool! The weather has been beautiful lately. We are really enjoying being able to play outside!!!! :) This weekend, Speedy is going home with Siyana. Have a good weekend!

Remember, report cards are going home today and Spring Conferences are next Wednesday, March 11th.