Ms. Duffy's Class

Welcome third graders, families, and friends!

I will be using this site throughout the year to share important news, display pictures, show off student work, and provide resources. Please visit regularly!

4/19:

What a busy month we've had!

We had lots of fun learning about geology, astronomy, survival skills, and more at Camp Greenville!
We had an opportunity to take a look at the sun when the Asheville Astronomy Club came to visit!
We studied Asheville's history and learned lots of great stories by walking the Urban Trail.
We came up with great scientific questions and have been working hard to find answers before the Kids Inquiry Conference!
We FINALLY finished our fantasy adaptations and had a lovely authors celebration.
We learned how to compare fractions and find equivalent fractions.
We sharpened up our research skills during reading.
We have been using poetry to study figurative language, point of view, mood, word choice, and more!

3/6:

This week we had lots of good, old-fashioned FUN at the SOCON basketball tournament!

We have also worked really hard on all sorts of different things! Check out the ELA, Science, and Math tabs for photos and info!

Anna:

Thank you to all of you who have helped Anna find her place here at IDES. She is the perfect addition to our classroom family. I can honestly say, the students have surpassed my expectations. They have done a FANTASTIC job taking care of her. She still needs a temporary home for spring break. Please let me know if you can keep her!
We have been using our engineering skills to try to solve a real problem. Our sweet little Anna has become quite the escape artist! Students have been brainstorming about how to keep her safely and comfortably contained. We think we have her figured out, for now! This is experiential learning at its best!
We also decided on plans for an outdoor pen. Please check them out. If you are able to donate time or materials in order to bring this idea come to life, we would be very grateful! We are eager to put our measuring skills to the test. http://myoutdoorplans.com/animals/free-rabbit-hutch-plans/

Other News:

Green Team: Come one, come all to the first Green Team meeting of 2018! We want you to come voice what you think our school should do to make our community a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable place!
Class Pictures: Wednesday 3/7
Field Trip to Linville Caverns: Wednesday 3/16
Field Trip to Lightwire Performance at Diana Wortham Theater: 3/28
May 30-31: EOG days

2/2:

I want to remind you about a few important dates...

Thursday 2/8: Camp Greenville Meeting (5:00-5:30) and Math Night (5:30-6:30)

...and let you know about a few upcoming events:

2/13: Field trip to Freedom Songs (pending approval)

2/13: City council meeting (5:00)

2/14: Jump Rope for Heart (8:50-9:20)

3/2: Field trip! SoCon Basketball Tournament

Despite the disruptions due to weather, testing, and illness, we have been doing some really great work! Please check out the science, math, and ELA tabs for photos and more!

1/18:

Mountain Xpress is now taking submissions for their kids issue. The theme is "let's fix it". This won't be something we work on in class, but I wanted to pass the opportunity along in case anyone is interested. We have spent lots and lots of time talking about how we could make this community a better place, so I know they have great ideas! This could be a fun project on snow days!

https://mountainx.com/arts/xpress-seeks-art-writing-for-2018-kids-issue/

11/27: We have lots of learning to do in the 15 school days between now and winter break. Here is the short version of what we will be up to. Stay tuned for pictures and work samples!

Persuasive writing-Today we discussed the art of persuasion (something third graders seem to know a lot about!). The students decided to draft letters to Superintendent Dr. Patterson about the recess on P.E. day policy. Next, we will be sharing ideas with our city council members about how to make Asheville a better place.
Subtraction-We will be building on what they already know about addition and expanding on their second grade strategies as we move into three digit subtraction. This year students will learn the standard algorithm along with other strategies such as decomposing numbers and using a numberline to find the difference or distance between two numbers. A cheat-sheet will be coming your way soon!
Force and motion- We will be doing lots of hands on activities to help us understand how mass, friction, and gravity affect the motion of objects.
Main idea/supporting details and text structure- It’s a good thing we have so many questions and interesting topics to research! We are reading LOTS of nonfiction.

11/15: We put our estimating skills to the test when we discovered a giant pumpkin patch! Students decided to sort by tens. How many pumpkins do you see?