Wreaths, Goals, and Coding! What a Week!

I heard one of the kids say that it is below zero today with wind chill!  On the announcements, the principal said there was a pair of gloves found in the parking lot.  I hope that child gets them, as today is not a day to be without gloves!  Yesterday I had a great view of the outside window, and there is a bit of snow on the ground and on the trees.  Winter really can be beautiful!

Speaking of beauty, you should see the wreaths hanging in the classroom.  I was so excited to see the kids create them again this year, as this was a highlight from my visit to Team Bond last year. The kids use fold-top baggies and tie them around a wired circle.

I didn't have time to tell you about the neat thing I observed on Tuesday.  Mrs. Bond said the kids were going to do Hour of Code.  I thought that meant perhaps they were learning about Morse Code or perhaps some type of spy project, but I soon learned that it meant computer programming.  Did you know there were sites for kids to learn how to code.  One that Mrs. Bond showed was Gamestar Mechanic.  The kids really thought it was neat that they would be able to design their own video game.  Another one she highlighted was Learn Street.  When she went on their from her Edmodo page (I still have to figure out if I can get on that site!) she went into the App Launcher and opened it up.  She was able to modify and create code to build a holiday card.  It was neat. She had some challenges, as she said she isn't familiar with coding, but overall it went well.  Yesterday, the kids went to computer lab and worked on code for an hour...thus, The Hour of Code.  I guess there were some issues with the site and kids lost their card before they could share it, but they were excited that they were able to learn how to code. I wonder if Mrs. Bond will keep doing this with them.  I sure would love to report this out to my team.

Oh, another thing I am going to share is Goal Time.  On Monday, the kids were able to bring in projects and work on anything they wanted for 40 minutes.  I watched kids crochet, draw, explore energy stations, and create fancy snowflakes. There was a girl that had the LONGEST yarn snake I have ever seen!  They used it to wrap around a corner of the classroom and create a spa.  Mrs. Bond even went into the spa and got a hand massage in a bucket of small rubber bands.  I thought that was pretty creative!

Overall, I am learning a lot!  From sources of energy to writing persuade, these kids are busy, busy, busy all day long!  I wonder what is going on in the other third grade classrooms.  I may have to explore a bit more next week.

Cheers!
Etavonni