Room 13’s Newsletter

1. Room 13’s Newsletter Written, created and edited by Room 13 students

2. Chinese New Year Mrs. Totten [my mom] came in to teach the classabout Chinese New Year. It is a celebration that ate Chinese noodles with chop sticks. After that we all made paper lanterns. The lanterns were yellow and orange. She handed out packets of Chinese culture. Mrs. Totten also gave out name tags written in Chinese and English. Then she passed out red envelopes that holds fake Chinese money. The Chinese do this for good luck. My whole class had a blast! Every year my classmates and I look forward to this lesson! Lia Totten

4. Biography Report My classmates and I did a biography report. We had to present on the 14th and 15th of March. We had to create timelines too. The class could either do a digital or paper timeline. My classmates and I felt scared about presenting to the class, but we had 4 weeks to prepare. On the 14th the timelines had to be due. The digital timelines too. When people came up to present they had to be the character of their person they studied, with costumes too! As you can see my classmates enjoyed being their character in history, and we learned about important people in MA history. By: Veronica Bock

5. Cone Crazy and Math Magician “Cone Crazy” and “Math Magician” are two excellent ways to practice multiplication on the computer. If you’re wondering what you do than I’ll tell you, In Cone Crazy, you’re in an ice cream parlor and you take somebody’s order. Their order has a multiplication equation on it. Each scoop has a different multiplication equation, Math Magician is another great website. What you do is you get 60 seconds to complete all the problems. Then you receive a score. This helps improve how fast you can answer the questions. Our class enjoys both these games. By: Declan Hunter

6. Docent Every month we have a visitor come in and teach us about different styles of art. This is called the docent program. We always talked about paintings, but last time we talked about Ancient Egyptians. It was fun learning about the secrets of pyramids and the Sphinx. We also learned why more important people were larger than less important people in paintings. Before that, we had Docent on architecture. We learned about arches and columns. We also learned that some buildings look like things in nature. We also saw the painting “Starry Night” with the Bat-signal, an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars and a giant Hello Kitty. Docent is very enjoyable and teaches us about the art world. By: Ian Conover

7. Egg Hunt On Thursday before Easter weekend we had a fun egg hunt. First, to find the egg, we had to solve multiplication problems. Each problem matched a letter that spelled out a riddle. When you solved all the problems the riddle told you where your egg was or it gave a clue to where you could find your egg. Finally, when the egg was found it had a toy inside. You could keep it or trade for another prize. We had so much fun hunting for the eggs. Jacob Rodriguez

8. Freckle Juice Our second read aloud Ms. Engasser read was Freckle Juice by Judy Blume. The book is about a boy named Andrew who really wants freckles like his friend Niki Lane. He buys a recipe from his annoying friend Sharon for 10 cents. The freckle juice really just made Andrew sick to his stomach. I think you’d really like this book because it’s funny and exciting. If you want to find out more you should read Freckle Juice to see what happens at the end. And remember, don’t buy a recipe for freckles from Sharon! By Logan

9. I’m Through What Can I Do! “I’m through what can I do?” is the phrase Ms. Engasser says to remind us of activities we can do if we are early finishers. The “I’m through” bins are filled with fun and different activities. Some bins have a huge map or a solar system puzzle. There are smaller activities too. For example the presidents cards or the Sudoku puzzles. They are fun but also help us in our skills for school. The ‘’The I’m Through bins’’ are entertaining and educational. Ashley Griffin

10. Liberty’sKids Liberty’s Kids is a PBS T.V. show we watch in class based on the events of the American Revolution. The main characters are Moe, Henri , James ,and Sarah. They work at a printing shop in Pennsylvania for Ben Franklin. The characters go on adventures through the American Revolution, like the Boston Tea Party and Paul Reveres Ride. Ben Franklin reports news on LNN [Liberty News Network] and sometimes they compare what things are like now and then. Liberty kids is a great show that entertains but teaches us about the revolutionary war. Alex Lee

11. March Madness March Madness is something we do in room 13. March Madness helps the class practice their multiplication facts! There are two teams. One student from each team another student competes against. Who ever answers the multiplication fact first gets to try and take a shot at the basketball hoop. If you get the multiplication fact right your team gets a point. If you get the shot in the basket you get another point. Last you count up all the points to see who wins. My classmates love March Madness. By: Madeline Folan

12. Dice/Spiral Game The dice/spiral math game is very entertaining. To play you should have 2 to 4 players, a set of cards [ take out the kings], a dice and game pieces (one per player).[ youngest to oldest.]After you take the kings out of the deck you make a trail with the cards. Some kids make a shape of the letter “G” others make a spiral. The players decide how big the spiral trail will be.Next, you roll the dice. The playing card that your piece is on you multiply that number with the number rolled. If you answer correctly, that player moves that many spaces forward. Players take turns until someone gets to the end and wins the game. You should try to play this game because it is very enjoyable. By: Norah Patel

13. Math Switch In school we are doing a math switch with the other third grade teachers. We will go to each class for four weeks every Tuesday at 11:00 through 12:10. Each teacher is reviewing a math topic. Mrs. O’Toole is teaching probability and fractions. She is also reviewing MCAS math questions. Mrs. Curran is reviewing measurement, perimeter and area. Ms. Engasser is reviewing geometry. The class is very interested to learn about the different topics and experience other teachers in third grade! By Britney Tsougas

14. sandwich book reports This year, in third grade we wrote bookreports in the form of a “sandwich”. We each choose a book to read for the first time. Ms. Engasser gave us four weeks to read the book and write the report . We wrote about the setting, characters, problem, solution, favorite part and conclusion. The layers were meat, cheese, two breads, tomato, onion, and lettuce. The paragraphs that were written for each story element on the layer that was assigned. When we were done we got to share our reports in groups. Making sandwich book reports was exciting! By Julie Blake

15. MCAS Practice In room 13 we have been doing MCAS Practice. Ms. Engasser has been giving us MCAS packets in school and at home. They have stories, there are multiple choice questions and open responses based on the story. MCAS practice helps us see what the MCAS is really like. We come up strategies and skills to help us take the “real” MCAS. I think we are all going to do great on the MCAS, because we’re prepared! By James Dolan

16. Picnic I can’t wait until the picnic! Our next incentive we’re working to earn is a class picnic! When we earn it everyone will bring a blanket or a towel, and eat our lunch on it outside. We might play some fun games like kickball, and relax in the shade. We’ll get to talk to our friends while we’re eating lunch too. We’re going to pick a day that’s going to be nice out. Our class picnic is going to be so awesome, but we’ll need to work hard to earn it! By: Jessica Tosone

17. Dr. Seuss Day In the beginning of March we celebrated Dr. Seuss Day. It was on March 4th. Some people wore red and white stripes, and some wore full costumes. Our principal Mr. Fortin wore a Cat in the Hat, hat. It was funny. Students also got a Dr. Seuss bookmark. As you can see Dr. Seuss Day was a fun celebration. By: Ronan Fahey

18. Taxes Oh No! Room 13 is getting taxed. “Queen Georgina” is taxing the whole class. Each week Ms. Engasser pays us 5 dollars. Whatever money that is left over in your envelope at the end of the week you get to keep for the following week. Ms. Engasser has been taxing us on some different things. Some things are supplies, snack, the use any technology, overdue library books and a penalty green slip or HW slip. She has been making new taxes and sometimes lowers them depending on how we react to the unfair taxes. The class tried to stop the taxes. They made a short Declaration of Independence. We made signs and circled around the teachers desk, but it didn’t work. I think she’s trying to show us how our Founding Fathers felt during the 1700’s, it’s working. Will the whole class start a revolution? By Casey Laliberte

19. The Spelling Bee Every year, our school has a Spelling Bee to raise money for Make-a-Wish. Everyone raises money and brings it in the day of the spelling bee. There are teams of 2, 3,or 4 people. Students make a team name, then a sign representing the team name. There are four rounds plus the finals. Four teams go first, and the winning team of that round will go to the finals with the other 3 teams. There are four levels: 3’rd grade words, 4’th grade words, 5’th grade words, and even 6’th grade words! During the Spelling Bee here are snacks and refreshments for teams that are waiting to go on for their turn. We have the spelling bee to raise money for kids with life-threatening sicknesses, so they can make a wish to go somewhere or meet someone. Our school spelling bee is very challenging-but worth the cause! By: Drew Beaudet

20. Time Toast Time toast is a web site that you can create a time line on .In class we learned how to use time toast. We uploaded pictures and created a timeline on popular kids books over a century. We were also able to use it for our Biography reports by putting important dates of a person’s life. The web site Time Toast is fun and a very cool way to present information. Patrick Leary Link to TimeToast

21. Wordle Wordle is a website that our class uses. It’s a tool to use when brain storming ideas. On Wordle you pick a topic to make a word splash. Say you want to make one word bigger than the others, you type it 7-10 times. You do the same thing if you want to make a word just a little bigger than the other colors, it’s about 3-5 times. We’ve used Wordle many times in class. We’ve brain stormed geometry terms, described ourselves, our hobbies and story characters. ( you can also change the font, color and back round. I think Wordle is fun! I would definitely recommend it. P.S. those are some pictures people created on Wordle. By SammiMarshalsea

22. Multiplication Sundae By: Juliana Webster Over the past few months our class has been learning our multiplication facts. The class studies at home for all the tests up to the 12s. When a student passes the test they get to add something on their paper sundae. For example, an ice cream scoop, a topping or whipped cream. A cherry on top shows the student is finished. When the whole class finishes their sundaes we get to have a REAL ice cream party in school! My class has a way to go, but we’re getting there! We learned a lot of multiplication in Room 13.

23. One of a Kind One Of a Kind was our unit theme for English Language Arts. “One of a kind” means that you or something are special. Some of the stories we read were: Rocks in His Head, Gertrude Ederle, Wings, Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest, and Fly Eagle Fly! The people and things from all of the stories are One of a kind. For example, Gertrude Ederle was the first women to swim the English channel! The boy in Wings could fly. The main character in Rocks was interested in rocks and minerals. The class loves to read the stories. By J.T. Colleran

24. Balderdash Balderdash is a fun game we play in room 13. The game is played when we start a new Social Studies unit. To play the game, we get into 4 teams, and Ms. Engasser puts a vocabulary word from the upcoming unit on the whiteboard. We try to figure out the definition. We write our definition on a note card. She takes all the cards and has the real definition mixed in. Then she reads them aloud. Each team tries to guess the correct definition. Teams get 5 points if they write the correct definition. 3 points are awarded for guessing the correct definition. 1 point is given for tricking another team if they pick your definition. The team with the most points wins. The best part is listening to the funny defintionscreated. As you can see, Balderdash is a very fun game we play in room 13. Richie O’Brien

25. Biomes: By Cailyn murphy In Science we are learning about biomes. It is really cool. Biomes are large sections of the Earth that are home to many animals and people. The biomes are: Forest, Desert, Tundra, Taiga, Rainforest and Savannah. Animals and humans adapt to their environment, but very quickly, or they may not survive due to extreme temperatures and climate. My favorite animal adaptation I learned about is hibernation. I love learning about biomes and its characteristics. We will be doing research on an animal soon!

26. “Too Late To Apologize The song ,”Too Late to Apologize” has a remix about the American Revolution. The original song was One Republic .The lyrics are about Patriots and why they revolted. They were upset about taxes and they had had ENOUGH of the taxes. We listen to the song almost every day to remind about the Patriots struggle and how they had no “taxation without representation” and their fight for freedom. It’s a catchy song and a funny song that keeps us interested in the American Revolution. By GarettQualter

27. Cara King VIP Readers VIP Readers day was in March. Mr. Folan, Mrs. O’Brien, Mr. Ducker and Mrs. Laliberte came to read to our class. First was Madeline’s dad, Mr. Folan read the book “Mza And Owen.” This book was a biography about 2 friends that are a turtle and a hippo. It was very interesting. Next Logan’s dad Mr. Ducker read us “Iggy Peak The Architect” about a kid who has been bildingsatues all his life out of everything sand, mud, chalk, pancakes and popcicle sticks. 3rd was Richie’s mom, Mrs. O’Brien read the book “When Charlie McButon Lost Power” about a boy and all the power went out so he tried everything but it all needed batteries. But than he saw his sister with a talking doll so he got the batteries but she cried and he had to give them back. Last was Casey’s mom, Mrs. Laliberte read a few chapters of “Way Side Stories From Way Side School” a tall school and a mean teacher who would wiggle her left ear than her right and turned all her students into apples but than a new teacher came in and thought all the students were monkeys. The good part was that we learned something. But the best part was that it was fun.