3rd Grade - Daycation to Greece

TARGET third graders had an exciting week as they traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, all the way to Greece - and back - all in a day at TARGET! We first labeled maps of the ancient and modern world - Did you know that historians believe the Garden of Eden was located in ancient Sumer (modern Middle East), near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers? Then, students viewed and heard about real items from Greece in an interest center. Mrs. Frangoulis, a fourth and fifth grade TARGET teacher, has traveled to Greece many times (Her husband's family is from there), and now owns a house in Greece! She graciously let us borrow many items that she has collected on her travels there. Next, students boarded the TARGET plane (in our imaginations), and enjoyed a flight to Greece, during which they enjoyed a Greek snack (hummus, flatbread, and grape juice) and viewed an informative in-flight movie on ancient Greece. The flight returned just in time for them to hop on the bus and head back to regular school. Next week, we will be learning about mapmaking, both ancient and modern, and students will explore some cool, new technology - GPS and Google Earth.

4th grade rocks!

I had such an awesome time with my fourth graders yesterday and today!! I have taught most of these kids for two years (and a few for three), and I feel that it is definitely a bonus, because I already know their individual personalities/strengths and weaknesses/interests/etc., and they know what to expect from me in return. It has been fun watching them as they meet new friends from other schools and get to know one another. I have such a great mix of kids in both my Thursday and Friday classes, and I can already tell it is going to be a fabulous year!

Our year-long humanities theme for fourth grade is the Middle Ages. Today, we learned about a major event preceding the beginning of this era of history - the fall of Rome. Students first worked in groups to brainstorm the "gifts" of ancient Greece and Rome; then, we learned about some internal reasons leading to the decline of the Roman Empire. Next week - Beware! Students will "become" barbarian tribes as they learn firsthand how Barbarian tribes invaded Rome and led to its fall. In the following weeks, we will learn about the feudal system, and students will rotate to different teachers to participate in four units related to aspects of life in the Middle Ages: Those Who Work, Those Who Pray, Those Who Fight, and Those Who Entertain. They will complete individual projects for each rotation, and the points they earn for these projects will determine their rank at our culminating fourth grade event, the Medieval Feast!

In addition, each afternoon at TARGET, students will get to participate in three different Mini-Courses for six weeks each: Art (Mrs. Coleman), Science/Chemistry (Mrs. Wallace), and Problem Solving (Mrs. Belew).

First Week of School - 3rd Grade

This has been the best first week of school at TARGET that we have ever had! We have a fantastic group of third grade students who attend on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and I also teach fourth grade students on Thursdays and Fridays. This week, my students made new friends and got to know their old friends a little better as they had to introduce a partner. Then, after reviewing class rules and school-wide procedures, they were given the opportunity to vote on which exploratory course they would like to attend this fall. Choices include: Disney/Performance (Mrs. Williams & Mrs. Duran), Art (Mrs. Coleman), Japan (Mrs. Dunham), and Monumental Math (Mrs. White). Students will have so much fun exploring their interests each morning at TARGET in these interesting classes!

After that, they learned all about the gifts of ancient Greece and were given a special homework challenge - Check their STAR binders for more info! We also viewed an interactive PowerPoint presentation about Humanities, during which students learned some cool new words (Ask them what "humanities," "civilization," "B.C.," and "A.D." mean!) relating to our year-long study of Ancient Greece and Rome. Next week, send students with their suitcases and passports... We are taking a "daycation" to Greece!!!

Our Class Website

I am very excited about having a class website for the first time ever! This summer, I attended the National Educational Technology Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, along with another teacher from Sprayberry, and we learned many new, exciting ways to integrate technology in the classroom. One workshop I attended was about free software options for K-12 classrooms, and one of many strategies I learned about was how to use blogs and wikis (both free options for creating webpages for schools, organizations, businesses, personal use, etc.) for educational purposes. The main point of a blog is to chronicle the events of a day, week, etc., similar to a journal. In an educational setting, blogs can be very effective to communicate to parents what activities students participated in that day/week at school. In addition, parents can use the "Comments" feature to comment to my posts and/or communicate with each other, if they wish. My goal for this website is to involve you more in your child's education at TARGET. Happy reading! :)