Welcome to Third Grade!
Last week I started my second placement at Brewer Community School in Mrs. MacInnes' third grade classroom. Brewer is very different from Asa Adams, the building is much bigger (I may or may not have gotten lost a few times already), and I have had the chance to get to know a brand new group of colleagues and students. Fortunately, I was able to dive right in and start teaching straight away and I have already been given the task of teaching math every day (for the rest of the semester.) Brewer uses EnVision Math, a program I had never used before coming to Brewer. The students are currently learning about fractions, which has never been my favorite content area, but I'm trying my best to be enthusiastic about it. It's harder to explain fractions to kids than I thought it would be (and yes, I've been using the pizza method)... but so far we're all doing alright. I even got to try out my mentor teacher's new document reader which is a little camera that projects things up onto the board! So cool.
Right now my mentor teacher is doing a unit on space! They have been learning about each individual planet by doing a T chart (what we know/ what we learned) and listening to read-alouds. The students are also taking charge of their own learning by reading through packets and answering comprehension questions (a very important skill to have.) I'm excited to see what else third grade has in store for me... stay tuned!
You are doing a great job, Morgan! Fractions is a challenging topic to teach to 3rd graders and you are using your creativity and knowledge to find a ranges of ways to help with student understanding.
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