Our Class Reads {opinionated students blogging} 

Today you will read a practice EOG selection independently.  Doing something independently means you use the same strategies you used with the teacher, but without the teacher there to tell you to use the strategies.  In this case, your test strategies are UNRAAVEL. Use them for this practice as well as the EOG.  The only difference is that on the day of the EOG test, your teacher cannot tell you what to do or how to take the test or to “use your UNRAAVEL strategies. JUST DO THEM WITHOUT BEING TOLD…that’s what independent means…knowing what to do on your own without being told!!! You can do it, I believe in you!

Read the practice selection The Biscuit Tradition, use your whiteboard pen to “mark up” your “test booklet”…and use a piece of scratch paper to take notes, write down important ideas, key vocabulary and your thinking.  Even create a T-chart if that’s a reading strategy that helps you.   Then, follow the link below to answer to questions.  Refer back to the passage for “proof”.

Do your best and take your time! You are all excellent readers but when you go fast, you’d don’t prove your excellence, you just show your hasty and careless…and we don’t want that to be a reflection of you because you’re better than that!

Practice EOG Reading Test – The Biscuit Tradition

We have exciting news!  Our blog has been notimated for a “Most Fascinating Blog Award” based on the Ruby’s Wish post and the higher level thinking student responses to that post.  Voting begins on Monday, May 18th, so please help our class win this exciting award…and the kids thought nobody read our blog…please vote for our blog below. The blog with the most votes by May 21st will win the grand prize and a $100 gift certicate (ahhh, I see a pizza party in our future!)

Third graders…please make a thoughtful comment below telling your families how our blog makes you think at higher levels and develops your critical thinking skills.

 PIONEER WEBQUEST

A webquest is a set of self-guided lessons on the internet.  YOU HAVE TO READ WHAT IT SAYS!  It’s like a book that you learn from, expect the words are online.  Read through the lessons from top to bottom and complete the quiz at the end.  Do not rush. You may not finish in one day.  After you complete the webquest, post a paragraph comment about the character traits you think pioneers needed to have in order to endure the hardships and challenges of pioneer life in early America. 

What do you think a plant scientist does all day? Where do you think they work? And what do they do with plants anway?  Read this informational article about what a plant scientist might do in just ONE day in the rainforest.

CLICK HERE to read (but read the rest of this post before clicking)

Do not read fast, this article is COMPLEX. There is a lot of information and new words to process but I know you can understand it if you keep a T-Chart of your thinking as you read, with questions, inferences, and words and phrases to clarify.  When you are finished reading, this is your assignment to post.

1. Write down at least 10 tasks in order that the plant scientist does in one day.

2. Write a reaction to what you read? What did you think? What did you learn? What is your opinion of plant scientists?

Please remember to write in complete sentences.  Use words and phrases from the article as evidence of your learning to justify your thinking.  Please apply Level 4 effort and show perseverance and stamina while reading the article. I know you can all read it…I believe in you!!!

If you’d like to write a letter to Mrs. Hill or her baby, Mary, click on the comments below.  Remember to use complete sentences and correct punctuation, including all the elements of a friendly letter.

Before we begin our integrated science/social studies on plants and communities, let’s take some time to activate our prior knowledge about plants.  That means think of everything you already know about plants and write it in the comments.  If you know, or think you know, tell about some of these things:

• Where do plants come from?
• How do plants change and grow?
• What do plants need to survive?
• How do animals use plants?
• How do people use plants?
• Do plants grow everywhere?
• Is there such a thing as good plants and bad plants?
• How do plants produce things?
• What is your experiences growing plants?

Be as specific and detailed in your schema activition as possible so your peers can understand your background knowledge.

Click on the picture to ENLARGE it.

Analyze this Picture of the Day from National Geographic.  It’s the Black Hole in Calcutta, India.  After analyzing this photo, write 3 inferences and 3 questions.  Begin your inferences with “I’m inferring___________ because__________.” Begin your questions with “Who____?, What____?, Where_____?, When_____? or How____?”  Draft your inferences and questions in your response notebook before commenting  as follows:

Inference #1:

Inference #2:

Inference #3:

Question #1:

Question #2:

Question #3:

Remember to use accurate punctuation and grammar and use complete sentences.

This week begins the Iditarod Dogsled Race in Alaska.  Click below to get the down-low on dog-sled racing.  Learn lots of new information about this race.  Take notes in your notebook as you read along.  When you are ready to begin, click below.

DOG-SLEDDING 101: Interactive

When you are finished with the Interactive, come back here at write a summary of what you learned and why it’s interesting.  Be thorough and details…and make it exciting for your audience…IMPRESS US!!

 CLICK {HERE} TO VIEW BRENDAN’S SOIL PRESENTATION

Some of your classmates have researched Soil.  Please take a look at it, read it, analyze the information.  Do you agree with them? Is the information accurate?  If it isn’t, what evidence do you have to dispute it? Leave positive comments so they know what you liked about it, as well as constructive comments so they know how to make it better.

For this week’s blog response, please read the entire post and then click on the web link below.  You will reading online this week about components of soil.  {Components = parts} The article is web-based so you will need to navigate through a couple of pages to read the entire selection on soil components.  The source of article is Geo-Kids.  There are also several advertisements that you must scroll through to select the NEXT button at the bottom of the page.  Once you have finished reading the article on Soil Components.  Come back to our blog and write a response that includes what you were thinking as you were reading it.

What did you learn about components of soil?

What IS soil made of and why is soil important?

What is the most important facts about soil from what you read?

Be specific and give detailed examples from the article.

SOIL COMPONENTS Article