Last day of school - THEY CHOSE TO WRITE!

Ahhhhh. Summer is here and now I have time to write.  I can't wait to post all of the exciting 21st century learning experiences my 2013-2014 third graders did this year.  There are so many - just finding the time to record my reflections has been challenging.

I want to start off my summer blogging by sharing what happened in my classroom the last day of school.  School has been out for a week now and I just can not stop thinking about it!  We had a lot of content to cram into the remaining weeks of school.  Sometimes I felt like I was pushing these 8-9 year olds a little too far.  I didn't want them leaving me without knowing what they were supposed to know! Anyways, we had been working on 2 different writing assignments.  Most students were at the publishing stage of their realistic fiction stories and their Michigan city research projects.  They were publishing online using google doc presentations and weebly websites.

So, on the last 1/2 day of school I had written the schedule on the board as usual.  We started the morning off with watching the 4th graders and teachers duke it out in an exciting tug of war outside.  Then when we came back inside, I jokingly said, "Ok writers.  Let's take a vote.  For the next hour we can work on finishing our writing assignments OR sign each others yearbooks."  I totally expected for an overwhelming response to of course sign yearbooks.  We were done with academics.  I was tired and honestly I was not in the mood to work anymore!  They voted to work on their writing assignments!  When all the hands went up into the air to express their wishes to get out their Chromebooks to work on writing, my classroom parapro and I looked at each other in astonishment and started cracking up!  I must be doing something right to have these kids WANT to work on the last day of school.  I think.

So they did.  They wrote their little hearts out and I am so impressed with their dedication and commitment.  Love those kids.  I'm going to miss them!

Here are some example realistic fiction stories and Michigan research project websites:



Student #13 Michigan City Research Project

Student #10 Michigan City Research Project