Harvesting Turnips

Our Three-Day Turnip Event…

For those of you who don’t already know, Y.E.S. has a wonderful garden. It is filled with lettuce, garlic, basil, pumpkins, carrots, cucumber, kale, potatoes and of course… turnips! (To name a few). We couldn’t let the cold Maine weather creep in before taking advantage of this outdoor space.  Last Thursday, our class took a visit to this amazing garden and harvested 9 and a half pounds of turnips! We donated five pounds to the cafeteria and decided to save the rest for a taste test. *Fun fact about Miss Frame: cooking is NOT my expertise, so I figured mashed turnips would be the safest bet. We spent our snack time on Wednesday learning how to peel and prep the turnips. (I’m sure you will have lots of eager helpers on Thanksgiving!) We then set the prepped and ready turnip pieces into the crock pot to cook for the day. Our plan was to mash them up and taste them at the end of the day. You may notice that the title of this post is “Our Three-Day Turnip Event.” If you guessed that the turnips were not ready after spending the day in the crock pot, then you were correct! Did I mention cooking is not my expertise? I wish I could say the kids were upset when I told them we would not be tasting that day, but they were overjoyed. Fast forward a day and the mashed turnips are ready to be tasted! This activity called for patience, teamwork, flexibility, and some bravery. The only rule: everybody had to try them. Watch this video https://goo.gl/photos/cPoAxT1nukJrgmcs7 to see what we all thought! There were many, many mixed reviews.

Book Tasting!

Book Tasting in Room 102!   

  

Today, all students in Room 102 were invited to El Restaurante de Frame for our first book tasting of the year! As much as I wish I could take credit for this awesome activity, I cannot.

“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”

When I stumbled upon this J.K. Rowling quote, I was on a mission to find an engaging and fun activity to get these third graders excited about reading. The students arrived after lunch to a classroom transformed into a fine-dining experience and “Chef Frame” at the door taking reservations. I have never seen so much excitement about books! It was a gigantic success and a great way to sample or get a “taste” of lots of different books. The kids were told to be risk-takers and stay open-minded when choosing a book. I was impressed with how well they did that. During the book tasting, they jotted notes onto their “menus” and filled their bookmarks with a list of books they can’t wait to read.  No more, "I don't have a good book to read!" excuses in this classroom! Enjoy your long weekend with this spectacular fall weather!

Here is a link to the book tasting video:

https://goo.gl/photos/7sPva4S1XmhU2xAEA

**Thanks to Mr. Abbott for help with the video!

Happy Friday!

“Whiteboard Work” and Happy Friday!

This week we added “whiteboard work” to our morning routine. With only fifteen quick minutes before we head to our special each day, this addition has been a wonderful way to set the tone for the entire school day. We share our thoughts at closing circle at the end of each day! Here are the “whiteboard work” topics of the week:

My favorite of the week: “What will you do, today, to spread kindness?” Some examples the kids came up with are:

“Give compliments”

“I play with them”

“Have chats with them”

“Tell jokes”

“Being nice to people”

“Hold the door”

“Say sorry and don’t be mean to other people”

“I try to make them feel welcome”

“I care when someone gets hurt”

“Be kind”

“Play with my little sister and make her happy”

“Get things someone can’t get”

“Include people”

“Help someone off the ground”

“Ask if they want to play”

“Say good morning to everybody”

“Help people”

“Sit with them at lunch”

“Help somebody on the slide”

“Smile at someone”

“Say ‘that is cool’ if they are drawing”

“Say kind words”

Wouldn’t the world be such a better place if everyone did these simple things? We can learn from these kiddos! :) Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome Back!

A Great First Week in the Books!

(no pun intended)

What a great first week of third grade! We have a wonderful group of kind, clever, hard working and enthusiastic students in Room 102! We have had fun starting to get to know one another these past four days with lots of partner and group activities. These games helped us continue to learn about one another, as well as how to be a good partner. Make sure you ask your child what their favorite activity was this week. :) Next week, we will continue to focus on our routines and expectations. As a class, we are starting to design “Our Class Promise.” This is a set of rules and expectations the students find most important for a successful AND fun school year!

This week we focused on celebrating how each one of us is unique and special. We talked about what a boring world it would be if everyone was the same. I read aloud a few great picture books to go along with this topic. Be sure to ask your child about these fun picture books.