Writing in 3rd and 5th Grade

Third graders have been working on historical narratives.  They did a lot of research by reading books, having first-hand experiences in the woods, and a virtual field trip to the ocean that included touching sand and seashells and watching a video of waves crashing on the beach.  Here they are revising with help from a buddy.

Fifth graders are preparing to write opinion essays either for or against having zoos.  They took notes when they read three articles, watched a short video, and analyzed a graph.  Here they are organizing their notes in preparation for writing.

3rd Grade Virtual Field Trip to the Ocean

Third graders are doing some research in preparation for writing stories that take place at the ocean.  Since we couldn't actually go to the ocean, we took a virtual field trip there.  We took notes on what we saw, heard, and felt as we watched a video of waves crashing on a beach and got our hands into some sand.  We'll incorporate these sensory details in our stories.

Extraordinary Eggs

The kindergarteners read Leo Lionni's book An Extraordinary Egg.  We learned about the kinds of animals that hatch from eggs.  We've also read several other books by Leo Lionni and we noticed that his illustrations are often collages of different types of paper.  We then used fancy paper that we made or found to make little animals to put inside papier mache eggs.

Engineering with First Graders: Making a Cat Feeder

These first graders are making a prototype of a cat feeder that could be used to feed your upstairs neighbor's cat if you didn't want to have to walk up there all the time.

Engineering: Designing A Boat That Will Float And Predicting How Much Cargo It Can Hold

The sixth graders had a challenge a few weeks ago.  They were told to build a boat out of aluminum foil and they had to predict exactly how many pennies it would hold.  Needless to say, none of them had any idea of how to make such a prediction.  Now, after learning a lot about density and why things float, they are attempting the challenge again, this time using their math and science knowledge.  Here they are calculating and constructing.

Ping Pong Rollercoaster

These first graders spent many days constructing this ping pong rollercoaster.  Here they are trying to identify a problem and figure out how to solve it.

So, what did they do to solve this problem?  They decided to build a wall rather than leaving their hand in place.

Density

Why do these liquids form such distinct layers?  The sixth graders are learning about why things float in order to build boats out of aluminum foil to hold a certain number of pennies. 

Bee Research

Fourth graders have been working on a huge research project to figure out how a swarm of bees would have known that their queen was stuck in a car.  Here they are putting the finishing touches on their museum exhibits.  These exhibits will be placed in the school library for all to see.

Pumpkin Contest

Thanks to the second graders for designing our pumpkin based on the book Stuck. We won third place in the pumpkin contest!

A Kindergarten Play: Is it Living or Nonliving?

The kindergarteners performed a play showcasing their reading skills!!!  Here are some excerpts from the play.

First Grade Poetry

First graders have been working on writing sentences with actions or with adjectives.  They collected several sentences as a poem and then chose pictures to illustrate them.

Third Grade Poetry

Third graders have been learning how to use figurative language to make their poetry come alive.  Many of these poems are illustrated with photos they took in the woods behind the school.

What are different grades doing for enrichment right now?

Welcome to the enrichment room blog!!!

I work with grades k-6 and you'll find pictures and updates about our work throughout the year.

  

(Don't be confused if you look at older posts.  I used to teach only third grade.)

Fourth graders calculated how many grains of rice would fit in different size boxes.  They created a bulletin board for other students to guess.

Kindergarteners are investigating what's living and nonliving.  They are recording their observations onto a chart.

Second graders have just begun an engineering project.  They are trying to build a tower that is at least 40 cm tall with just ten sheets of paper and that supports a stuffed animal.  Later on they'll study trees.

Sixth graders are building rockets with film canisters, water, and antacids.  They are investigating how changing the ratio of water to antacids affects the height that the rocket travels.

Blanket Forts on our Last Full Day of Third Grade

It's our last full day of third grade so we decided to make blanket forts and read under them!!!!