Science Circus Night

We have had the best Parent Involvement Nights this year!

At the beginning of the year we had Camp Read-A-Lot.

Then, we had Family Game Night.

Last week we had our Science Circus Night.

Yes, a night all about science and science experiments!

It was amazing!

The third graders began in the meeting room and learned about volcanoes.

Then, each child got to make their own lava lamp to take home.

They were SO cool!

The kids LOVED those!

Then, we headed to the gym where each student made a glider.

They practiced flying their gliders and then had 4 chances to fly their gliders.

They recorded their flight path on a sheet of paper, and turned it in to our p.e. teachers.

The next morning, our principal announced the winners of the longest flight paths!

Our last "science" station was going into the cafeteria for a science snack.

Each child got gummy worms, crushed Oreos, and a cup of pudding to make an underground snack.

Since the night was around Groundhog's Day, they watched a movie about groundhogs while they ate.

We really are blessed at East Chester to have our "special" teachers to help on nights like tonight.

Our librarians ran the volcano room.

Our p.e. teachers ran the gym.

Our special education teachers ran the snack.

It really takes everyone to make nights like this possible and successful!

STUDENTS:  What was your favorite thing about Science Circus Night?

Five for Friday: Christmas in Europe

Again, something I haven't done in forever, and almost didn't make it today!

This 5 for Friday is brought to you by my students!

This is their 5 for Friday about our recent Market Day - Christmas is Europe.

They are pretty excited, Doodle Bugs Teaching!

France

The students loved being the tour guides for France.  They welcomed all the other third grade classes and taught them about France.  I just took pictures! I loved seeing them stepping up and being wonderful teachers for their friends.  They each took a 20 minute session to be tour guides.

They loved the berets I found for them.  They thought that was amazing!

See this post for more of how we taught our friends.

Food

The food from all the different countries was a huge hit!

In France, we had Ratatouille, bread, cheeses and sparkling grape juice.

In Russia, we enjoyed pirozhki, beet chips, Russian tea cakes and Russian tea.

In Germany, chocolate was devoured.

In England, English tea and cupcakes were a hit.

In Spain, Spanish meatballs and a Spanish punch was served.

In Italy, salomi, panettone bread and cheese were inhaled.

                  

                  

FUN

We just had the best time going from country to country. We also enjoyed our "layovers" in the different rooms.  Our county librarian brought Christmas books that showed the different countries and cultures in Europe. The kids enjoyed her telling the stories.

Another layover found us in a room where we put together puzzles of the world.

We were joined by our superintendent of schools!

Some chose to spend the layover time coloring.

Learning about Europe

Each country was so unique.

We loved how Italy was set up like someone's house for us to visit.

In Russia, it was so cold because in Russia it is cold.  We also loved the art in Russia.

In Germany, we ate great chocolate.

In Spain, we learned some of the language from a university professor!

In England, we got crackers we could pop open and find candy! 

                 

                 

Friends

We had such a great time just being with our friends.

We taught them and they taught us.

It was a great way to spend time with our best friends.

                       

                       

What a great trip we had!

Check out #ECESEuropeanTour on Instagram and Twitter to see more.

Christmas in Europe: France

Many of you who follow my blog know our social studies standards have changed 

BIG TIME!

We have worked hard to try to get these standards to the students in many different ways this year.

We have changed so much of the way we teach including how we do our behavior system.

The students earn money each day and at the end of the 9 weeks we have a Market Day for them to spend their money they have earned.

This 9 weeks we crossed the ocean for Market Day and explored the continent of Europe.

The majority of the students' money was spent on buying their passports.

They had to fill out an application for the passport and send it off.

My class was worried because as of Wednesday morning our passports had not arrived and our flight was due to leave on Thursday morning.

They came in though with time to spare!

Mrs. Kim, our principal, bringing the special delivery package to us.

They were so excited the passports had arrived!

In the standards, the students are suppose to be able to locate and identify 6 countries in Europe.

They are also to know the history, geography, culture and government of these countries as well.

We have worked on most of these elements except the culture, so we thought Christmas would be a good time to get that in - as well as be a fun way to learn.  There are 6 third grade classes, so each of us drew a country.  

My class got France.

Now, it was up to us to learn as much as we could about the culture of France and then be able to teach our friends when they came to visit on Market Day.

You can see here some of the ways we prepared for our visitors.

The kids worked hard on getting the room ready as well as preparing themselves to be the tour guides on Market Day.

Here are some shots of the day in France as they taught their friends about France.

When the visitors came in, passports were checked and stamped to show they had visited France.

Then, they colored a French flag and glued it to their suitcase.

They also colored France on the map that was on their suitcase.

My students that were in charge of the art of France wanted us to have our own Louvre.

This was the perfect spot for it.

Each child made their own Mona Lisa.  Our visitors were able to use a QR code to show the real Mona Lisa exhibit at the Louvre.

We also studied Claude Monet who was from France.  We recreated his Water Lillies painting and, again, a QR code was used for the students to see the real painting.

For our food station, the students were able to purchase

Ratatouille - which they LOVED

baguettes

Muenster cheese

Brie cheese

Sparkling Grape Juice

The students that were in charge of the language did a cute job.

They found a website and created a QR code that would speak to the students in French.

They also had little French men with speech bubbles coming out of their mouths.

The top speech bubble would have a word in English and when you lifted it up, it would show you how to say the word in French.

The Eiffel Tower was the central focus of the room.

The kids loved this part of the room.

They would gather to have their picture taken, but the especially loved the QR code that allowed them to have a live camera feed on the Eiffel Tower.

It was super cool!

               

               

We were so blessed to have many parents and grandparents join us as well as members from our county's central office.

              It was a trip to remember!

Check out our #ECESEuropeanTour on Instagram and Twitter to see more.

Family Game Night

We just thought our

Camp Read-A-Lot night was a success.

Family Game Night gave it a big run for its money!

Our class represented well as we gathered at school on a Tuesday night.

We signed in and headed to the meeting room for games galore.

We enjoyed just spending time together with family and friends.

After playing board games, we headed to the gym for our most favorite game EVER - 

SHARK TAG!!!!

The kids are always talking about this game and I finally got to play with them.

It was a blast!

We are so thankful for our wonderful PE teachers who had this for us to play!

The fun continued as we headed to the cafeteria for multiplication BINGO!

The winners of BINGO had various prizes to choose from.

      

The time of the night that was left was spent talking to the math teachers about what is 

going to be expected this year in math.  We gave them a glimpse into the world of MICA and TN Ready.

The highlight of the night, though, was the Photo Scavenger Hunt.

This was AWESOME!

When a family registered, they got this sheet with a list of possible photo opportunities

as well as the point value.

When the kids turned in the list at the end of the night, they received a small prize.

The next day at school the students with the most points earned a bigger prize.

Search social media with #eastchestergamenight to see all the great pictures!

We are so blessed with a wonderful school family, and this night was just another time to prove it.

STUDENTS:  What was your favorite part of the night?