Celebrating our Comic Writing

Comics!

Friday marked the end of our comic writing unit.  The student writers overwhelmingly stated that this unit was GREAT!  They enjoyed developing their characters and short stories that starred these characters.

We began our unit by exploring comics and noticing the elements that comic writers use when creating their strips.

 Students then worked with partners to add dialogue to a comic that was already drawn.  We had a lot of fun and creative comics!

Then it was time to plan our own strip.  Students planned a short story that had a beginning, a middle and an end.  Then, they planned their story using a timeline format.  They then transferred this plan from the timeline to three 3- or 4-panel planning sheets.

Once plans were completed and edited, the comic was drafted on large sheets. And the results were amazing!

Finally, we celebrated our third grade authors by touring each third grade room and reading the comics created by our friends in the Owl's Nest and Penguin Place.

Here are our writers!

Could you use that in a sentence please?

All students at Marquette were given the opportunity to enter in an all-school spelling bee.

Chelsea represented our classroom in the all-school spelling bee.  She made us proud by making it through several rounds and was the last third grader standing!  Way to go Chelsea!

Fraction

Quarters, halves, fourths, thirds, tenths.... this can only mean we have begun exploring fractions in the Lily Pad.  Students have been comparing fractions, counting fractions, benchmarking them to 0, 1/2 and 1 on a number line, learning about equivalence and fractions of a set.  Fractions are challenging and our mathematicians have risen to this challenge.

 

F,F,F space J, J, J space

Every Friday from now until the end of the year, students will be practicing their keyboarding skills in the lab.  We are working hard on learning to use the home row on the keyboard and trying to type without looking at our fingers.  The program we are using, called Typing Pal, can be found on the LMC website under the CLASSES tab. You can also click on this link to lead you there! TypingPal is located on the right-hand sidebar.

LMC Typing Pal

 Welcome Ms. Derks!

My name is Ms. Derks and I will be student teaching in the Lily Pad as well as with Mrs. Zwart later this year. I am studying elementary education and special education at UW-Madison and I’m originally from Mundelein, IL. In my free time I enjoy biking, running, photography, traveling, and spending time with friends and family. I am so excited to be part of the Marquette team!

Mustache Day

One of our favorite spirit days at Marquette is Mustache day!  Enjoy the photos of this fun-filled day.

Mustache Selfie

Valentine's Day

 A word from the teacher...Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and I forgot to give out a list on Friday to the students.  One will be sent home on Monday with more instructions.  However, here are the guidelines for Valentine's Day in the Lily Pad and the rest of the third grade:

• Students are asked to bring a Valentine for everyone, if they choose to give out cards.
• We will brainstorm a list of fun, healthy Read, White and Pink Foods.  We will try to stay away from the sugar overload that can occur on Valentine's day.  A list will come on Monday, too.
• We will play a series of games that are similar to the Minute to Win games so if you are interested in coming in to help just let me know!

Sorry about the short notice!