Teacher Home Page - Jim Peters

Hi, I'm Angin - The Third Grade class character for 2011!  I'm a Javanese flying squirrel all the way from Indonesia!  This year the third graders and I are going to have a lot of fun together as we write about my adventures!

Third Graders are Great Readers!  

Our classroom library has over 1,000 books – fiction and nonfiction, long and short, newer authors like Lemony Snicket and old favorites like Roald Dahl.  Students choose from the library and read 30 minutes every school night.  Last year’s third graders read more than 620 books from September to June!

Every year, the class votes on a classroom animal character to write about all year long.  Last year, our special friend was Ronny C. Byrd, an emperor penguin from McMurdo Station, Antarctica who loved solving mysteries.

Almost every day ends with the class listening to a book read aloud by Mr. Peters.  The year always begins with “The Phantom Tollbooth.”  After that, it might be “The Sisters Grimm,” or “Project Mulberry,” or “The Secret of Castle Cant” or something brand new.

 Math is fun in Third Grade! 

We learn about graphing, and geometry, and probability, and of course all about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division!  Third grade is the year to learn the times tables from 1 x 1 = 1 all the way to 12 x 12 = 144.  At the end of the year, the class creates a board game where players advance by answering questions they write based on the math they’ve learned over the year.

Our first big Social Studies unit of the year is the study of Connecticut.  A big day is our trip to Hartford where we visit the State Supreme Court, the Legislative Office Building, and the Capitol.

  Students learn all about how laws are made, and about the local, state, and federal branches of government.

Later in the year, each student chooses a nation for a major project.  Gathering information from the Internet and from reference books, they write a five-paragraph essay, create an art project, and construct the country’s flag in construction paper.  In the winter, the students present their report and their art project in front of the class.

By the time the class has finished presenting their projects, the ceiling is full of hanging flags!

In late April, the third grade leads an Earth Day chapel service, where American Indian traditional prayers an current-day environmental concerns are woven into an entertaining and informative liturgy.

Above, third graders light candles to bless the four directions.

Here are some of the posters made by last year's third graders; the theme for last year's Earth Day Chapel was "How Long in A Landfill?"

In the springtime, third graders study American Indians in the Northeast, focusing especially on Algonquian cultures and traditions. 

 A highlight of the year is the annual “tipi sleepover” when the whole class sleeps out in the playground in an enormous tipi.  (Third Graders know, of course, that Algonquians slept in wigwams, not tipis, but we couldn’t fit a wigwam in the school’s basement!)

At the end of the year, the class celebrates their graduation from the “Lower School” – grades 1-3 – with a trip to Gillette Castle.

 Third Grade at St Thomas's is AWESOME!