Twas Two Days Before Christmas Break!!!!

We are almost there! We have never continued this late into the year, and I am so ready for a break! I see lots of hot chocolate and Christmas movies in my near future...like tomorrow night! :)  Here is what has kept our little minds busy for the past two days. 


Yesterday was Polar Express Day. I wondered how that would go over in third grade. I honestly think they were even more thrilled about it this year than in the past. I am pretty sure that they love the holidays as much as their teacher! I have created monsters! :) 



After our trip on the Polar Express, we turned out tickets into Christmas ornaments so that they can always remember this tradition that we started way back when in first grade! We were all a little sad that this will be our last year following this tradition. Oh how I will miss these sweet loves next year! 

After we enjoyed hot chocolate while watching a reading of The Polar Express on Storyline Online, we used one of our favorite treats to help us work on our content. The students began by writing a "tell me" description of hot chocolate. As we read these to our partners, the students really saw how weak their content was without strong adjectives, verbs, and a variety of sentence structures. Next, they turned their "tell me" into a "show me" writing. They were way more pleased with their second writing. Then, we made this way too cute craft thanks to Teri at A Cupcake for the Teacher. Check her craft out {HERE}.



We finished our day by researching the Northern Lights. This is the first piece to a big project that we will begin after the break. The students used chalk to create their own version of the Northern Lights. 

Today, we worked once again on building and strengthening our persuasive writing. Okay...have y'all heard "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"? Probably one of the cutest songs ever. We *may* have listened to it 4 or 5 times today. Seriously...cute! After we listened to the song (which includes great persuasive language), the kiddos wrote an essay to persuade their mom/dad to give them their very own hippo for Christmas. We finished with a little craft! 


These just makes me laugh! 


This week, we have been learning about the Gullah culture in our South Carolina History Unit. A craft that is very unique to this culture is the weaving of sweet grass baskets. This year, rather than creating gingerbread houses, we created gingerbread sweet grass baskets. Then, we filled them with peach rings to represent the peaches from our great state. 


I love how these turned out! 


Now...it's party time! 


Friday, I thought you would never arrive! TGIF!!! 

9 comments:

  1. you have followed your class from first all the way to third?? How amazing I am hoping to follow my class this year to third...
    I hope you have a great Christmas Break!!!

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  2. Where oh where did you get hose tickets? I've been looking everywhere!????

    Amy Howbert
    Little Miss Organized
    amyhowbert1@gmail.com

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  3. Looks like your class has been having tons of fun!! Thank you for the shout-out, the hot chocolate mugs came out so cute! :)
    ❤Teri
    A Cupcake for the Teacher

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  4. Yes, where oh where did you get those tickets! They are AWESOME! I love the way you organized your Polar Express day - I have taken some notes for next year! piccolal@bellsouth.net Merry Christmas!

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  5. Where did the kids go to find info on the Northern Lights and may I ask what project you are going to be working on to go along with their initial research? I teach third grade in Anchorage, Alaska and I'm thinking I'm going to have to steal your Northern Lights idea. I'm trying to figure out what you might be covering that I'm not, and should be ;0)

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  6. that hippo project is ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!

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  7. I am in LOVE with your blog! Your activities are so inspiring and I can't believe that I just found you. I am really lacking in the blog stalking lately. haha!! Thank you for sharing your great ideas:)
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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