Third Grade
Third graders celebrate with cake
On Friday, May 21, third grade students celebrated the end of the school year with cake. Students in Ms. Becky Gallion’s art class created tower cake drawings to end the year in a fun and creative way.
Getting ready for fourth grade
Fourth grade teachers Trey Blair, Becky Kennedy, Kim Marek, and Brina Stephens have the following suggestions for “summer maintenance” so students return to school in the fall ready to excel:
- Check out the summer reading list on the KCD website. Each student should enjoy at least three books this summer and complete a written page summary. The reading summaries will be due the first day of school and are the basis for the first week of work in fourth grade.
- Math facts should be reviewed frequently. Students are expected to enter fourth grade at a mastery level of addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Students will jump into new concepts those first days of school next fall in math without the traditional review period that has been provided in previous grades. A secure knowledge of these basic facts will ensure a smoother transition.
- Writing skills can be maintained through journaling about a trip, making up a short story, writing a cartoon, completing reading summaries, or writing letters home from camp. It is beneficial if students write in cursive over the summer. Upon the start of school in fourth grade, all classroom writing will be in cursive.
The fourth grade teachers look forward to meeting your student in class next year!
Choral Theatre Players present The Three Little Pigs
This evening, third and fourth graders in KCD’s Choral Theatre Players will present Roald Dahl’s offbeat adaptation of The Three Little Pigs.
Under the direction of Jeannine Ary, the production includes singing, dancing, and a surprise twist at the end! The production is at 7:30 pm in the Commons.
Third grade students learn about Asian culture
Mrs. Carol Lee from Crane House, The Asia Institute, Inc. visited KCD on Wednesday, doing her Japanese sampler for the third grade students during their Caravans Unit. Students of Ms. Susan Nevels, Ms. Sandi Johnson, Ms. Morgan Johnson, and Ms. Kim Kettring learned about Japanese and Asian culture. Activities included origami, decorating a wind kite, a folk dance, and learning to write letters and numbers in Japanese.
Third grade students learn from a doctor
Dr. Stuart White class of '86 gave a presentation on the Respiratory System to third graders. The third grade is studying the various systems of the human body. Sitting in front are his twin daughters Nicole and Ashley. We appreciated his expertise in this area.
Third grade tours the water company
Yesterday, KCD third graders took a field trip to the Louisville Water Company’s facilities at the Water Tower and the Crescent Hill Reservoir, where they learned the importance of clean water in Louisville.
Students learned how water is drawn from the Ohio River, purified, and sent to faucets. After touring the water company facilities, students enjoyed a picnic lunch at E.P. Tom Sayer Park.
Lower school teachers present web seminar on video project
Yesterday afternoon, KCD computer teacher Liz Gatewood and third grade teacher Sandi Johnson presented a hour-long web seminar to sixty colleagues. The seminar, titled Kid-Created Projects with BrainPOP, showcased Ms. Gatewood and Ms. Johnson’s BrainPOP video project, in which third graders scripted and produced their own BrainPOP educational video about volcanoes.
BrainPOP educators were so impressed with the finished product that they invited Ms. Gatewood and Ms. Johnson to make a presentation on the project. Part II of the presentation is scheduled for April 21 at 4:30 pm. The BrainPOP webinars page has additional info as well as a link to an archived version of yesterday’s presentation.
Watch the KCD volcanoes video on the BrainPOP website
Ms. Gatewood’s web page has the video along with more information about the process.
KCD's very own BrainPOP Jr. video
Liz Gatewood (computer lab) and Sandi Johnson's 3rd grade class wrote, designed, and created their very own BrainPopJr on Volcanoes! Ms. Johnson's class had been studying volcanoes and noticed that BrainPopJr didn't have a movie on the subject - so they decided to create their own!The video was filmed in front of KCD's green screen and students used iMovie to produce the video.
Ms. Johnson's students created everything you see in the video. They created the script (Microsoft Word), all the background images in the video (Kid Pix), hot facts (PowerPoint), word wall (PowerPoint), belly up (Kerpoof), quiz (SMART Notebook), & jokes (PowerPoint) all by themselves! Ms. Gatewood did the website and the video editing!
Ms. Gatewood submitted the Volcanoes video to the real BrainPopJr to see if they would add it to their BrainPOP Educators website and they responded immediately with a "Yes"!
"We are totally blown away by your student-made BrainPOP! What an amazing collaborative project. I would list all of my favorite parts, but there are far too many! ... I'd love to add it to our student-made videos on BrainPOP Educators. We reach over 83,000 teachers now!" Allisyn Levy, Director of BrainPOP Educators.
On the first day of having the video online, it received over 170 hits from 19 states!!!
Great job Leah (Annie), Jake (Moby), Meera & Maddie (word wall), Cameron & Oliver (hot facts), Jennifer & Alex (jokes), Coleman, Areeba, Lucy, & Lauren (graphic artists), Ashley, Margaret, & Elena (script writers), Will & Solomon (quiz writers), Jake & Pavani (belly up cartoon)!
To view free BrainPop movies - click here!
Third graders create egg helmets
On Wednesday, March 10, third grade students in Susan Nevel’s class had the task of making creative egg “helmets.”
The helmets were used to protect an egg that had to be dropped from various heights. Students were evaluated on the creativity of their helmets. The majority of the helmets served their purpose and protected the eggs from breaking. Materials used to protect the eggs included marshmallows, cotton balls, yarn, bubble wrap, plastic, bowtie pasta, and much more.
Third graders create books showcasing Louisville attractions
Third graders in Liz Gatewood's computer class and Shandra Holbrook’s enrichment class have just completed a wonderful collaborative project in which they researched and created a book about a Louisville attraction.
During enrichment with Ms. Holbrook, third graders learned how to conduct online research and worked with their partners to write an informational brochure about their Louisville attraction. In Ms. Gatewood’s computer class, students typed their information and learned how to format the books themselves by changing the font style and border for each page.
These projects are now online in KCD’s RealeLibrary. Scroll down to third grade and click on Louisville Attractions Project.
