We’ve finished our second week of school! The best part? We’re finally settling into a nice routine. It’s been stressful to say the least…
To take off the edge, I’ve started running again…
But, I’m excited to see how far I can take my big third graders!
We’ve dived right into our curriculum! This week, we used “Horrible Harry in Room 2B” as a mentor text for character traits.
Now, I know this book is a *little* young for my kiddos. But, I wanted to use it as an “introduction” to the series. We HAD to start with the first book to introduce the kiddos to the ever horrible but likable Harry. He is such a great character! #slightOCD
Before diving into the text, we discussed what a character is and how their actions tell us more about them.
We used these pages from Nicole Shelby’s 3rd Grade Interactive Notebook to take a few notes in our RRJ’s…
Then we got to reading. The kiddos LOVED the scene when Harry makes Song Lee scream. It sets the scene perfectly for conversation on why Harry is sooooo horrible.
After reading the second chapter, we worked a little on sequencing and retelling in our own words. We used our RRJ again for a quick retell.
On Thursday, we finished the book and filled out a character traits and action bubble map.
You can grab this Character traits graphic organizer as part of my Reading Graphic Organizer pack for FREE here…
We glued it into our RRJ’s for safe keeping.
On Friday, we used what we had read about Harry for a little character writing project. I loved this idea from Amy Lemons!
Students decided if they thought Harry was really horrible or not. We used the evidence they collected from the character bubble map to help support our answers.
I didn’t get a chance to use Amy’s tracers because of time, but you can check out her post here.
In addition to becoming HUGE Horrible Harry fans (don’t you just LOVE it when that happens!) , we also worked on the Scientific Method this week. After reading and discussing the steps scientists take to find answers to their questions, we watched this fun video.
(How funny are these two teachers?!)
Then, we created a reference page in our Science notebooks.
Under each tab, we wrote a little bit more about each step and what scientists are doing when they work through the process.
You can grab this science notebook FREEBIE here. There’s a few other science goodies in there too for you! 🙂
Now, I’m off to clean the house! Boo! 😉
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Kacie Biggs says
August 30, 2014 at 2:58 pmThis is amazing!! Thank you so much for the freebie! I can't wait to use this! We're working with Horrible Harry next week and I loved reading your ideas.
Amna says
August 30, 2014 at 3:30 pmlove love love …and stealing…all the ideas… 😉 And a special thanks for the scientific method freebie…that was on my to do list to make but now I don't have to.
Chuppy says
September 20, 2016 at 1:24 amWhy would you steal the idea anyway bruh tbh I don’t like some drawing so….
amy.lemons says
August 30, 2014 at 3:31 pmWe are reading that book in 2 weeks and I just got some fab ideas! Thanks so much!
Marlene says
August 30, 2014 at 3:47 pmLove the idea for using Horrible Harry for a character traits study. We will be studying characters a lot in 3rd grade and Harry is a good character to use for it. Also thanks for sharing the scientific method notebook sheet. Will definitely be using that.
Marlene
I Heart Teaching Elementary
Teacher Mom of 3 says
August 30, 2014 at 4:12 pmThank you so much for sharing all of these incredible freebies! I homeschool my 2nd grader and we are almost finished reading Horrible Harry and the Green Slime. My son (and me as well!) will love these activities! 🙂 Lauren
Mrs. Wathen says
August 30, 2014 at 6:03 pmLeigh, Super ideas! I love how the scientific method freebie can be adapted to so many grade levels:)
Tammy
The Resourceful Apple
Susan Cahalane says
August 30, 2014 at 7:38 pmGreat ideas Leigh!!! Have a great school year!!
Sue
Science for Kids Blog
Keisha Green says
September 23, 2015 at 1:46 pmThank you for sharing your freebies!
Keisha Green says
September 23, 2015 at 1:46 pmThank you for sharing your resources!