Can you believe it is only two weeks until spring break? That means it is only a week until our Economics Fair!
Speaking of the Economics Fair...I hope your child has been working on their product. Please keep track of all expenses for the materials bought/used. I will be sending home a sheet for your child to record their expenses. We will use that to determine the profit earned. Thanks for your continued support with this project! Here is a glimpse of our week: Science: We are diving into space to learn about the sun, earth, and solar system. This week we will focus on the importance of the sun and the relationship between the earth, moon, and sun. Students will create models to demonstrate earths rotation and orbit around the sun. Reading: Last week we switched gears from fiction to nonfiction. Part of this unit will include researching habitat loss for our project based learning. This week we will learn how to paraphrase when taking notes for research, how to determine important information, and synthesizing learning as way to discover the big ideas of an informational text as well as adding Writing: We'll wrap up our fiction writing this week, (we didn't have time last week). We'll learn how to write a satisfying ending and add dialogue while revising and editing our drafts. Also, we'll research habitat loss and respond to texts related to habitat loss. Math: After taking the math test on Monday, we'll create fraction bricks, (strips cut into fractional parts), to use during our fraction unit on equivalence and comparison. We'll explore equivalent fractions with halves, fourths, eighths, thirds, and sixths. Also, we compare fractions using a length model. Social Studies: This week we will make advertisements for our products and prepare for the Economics Fair. Upcoming Events March 6: 3rd grade Economics Fair @ 8:00 March 22: Field trip to Westcave Preserve
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Reading Thermometers We used thermometers to measure the temperature inside the classroom, outside on a chilly morning, and inside a bag with clumps of ice. The kiddos really like seeing the thermometer change right in front of their eyes. On this particular day, it was over 70 degrees in the classroom, but when we went outside, we saw the temperature decrease to around 45 degrees. Noticing and Wondering About Multiplication Comparisons As part of our multiplication unit, we learned that multiplication can be used as a comparison such as 3 times as many. This is a difficult concept, so I placed images showing multiplicative comparisons around the room for the kiddos to notice and wonder about. I was hoping they would discover this idea on their own, but only a few did. However, after sharing our thinking about the images and a little prompting most of the kiddos started to understand. Then we connected these images to strip diagrams showing comparisons. Reviewing Fractions-Area Model Our next unit in math will be equivalent fractions and comparing fractions, so we have been review fraction concepts previously learned. For this activity, my mathematicians were challenged to create different rectangles with 1/2 red, 1/4 yellow, and 1/4 green. Summarizing Nonfiction After reading a section of a nonfiction text, students summarized what they learned by explaining the main idea and details of the section with a partner. This will be helpful when we are researching our PBL topic. True or False Equations Throughout this multiplication/division unit, we have been solving true or false equations and proving our thinking. We know that mathematicians justify their thinking, so as we share out, students have to explain their reasoning. Indoor Recess With all the rainy days, we have had lots of indoor recess. I thought I would snap a few photos of the kiddos having fun indoors. Designing Endangered Animals During enrichment time, we started designing an animal that is endangered due to habitat loss, (or at least partly due to it). Everyone was really excited to choose an animal and get started. This will be part of a project to teach others about the negative affects of habitat loss. We'll continue next week. We have a packed three day week ahead of us. See below for details.
Science: We will review weather on Wednesday and take the unit assessment. Then we will begin our next unit on space by learning how the sun drives the water cycle. Friday we will spend our science time researching habitat loss for our PBL. Reading: This week we will focus on informational texts. We'll use text features to predict and locate information. Also, we'll learn how to draw conclusions and summarize informational texts as we begin reading about habitat loss for our PBL. Writing: We'll finish our fiction drafts and begin revising and editing. I hope to finish these up by Friday. Also, we have a district writing assessment to complete which consists of writing an expository piece based on a prompt. Math: Our focus will be on applying multiplication to solve multiplicative comparison problems and tables. This will wrap up our unit on multiplication and division. We'll take the district assessment on Monday which will include geometry concepts learned in the previous unit. Social Studies: We'll continue learning about economics with a lesson on saving money and making a budget. Upcoming Events February 28-Guest Speaker for 3rd about the impact of habitat loss on the golden checked warbler March 1-Meteorologist Guest speaker for 3rd March 6-3rd Grade Economics Fair Wind Socks in Action What a great way to start the week! After adding the finishing pieces to our wind socks, we took them outside along with compasses to determine the wind direction. Don't these look like real wind socks? It wasn't very windy, but our wind socks worked. Readers' Theatre We read a myth written as a play and formed groups to practice parts. We learned that readers need to read smoothly with expression and that characters should have voices. As students practiced, I challenged to give their characters an appropriate voice to make them sound like their character. Each group performed the myth for the class. I was impressed with the expression and character voices! They did such a good job and it was a lot of fun! Estimating, Multiplying, and Data with Candy Hearts During math, we used boxes of candy hearts to work on estimation, making arrays, and dot plots. First, we estimated the number of hearts in the box. Students made a too low, too high, and just right estimate and recorded them on a number line. Then we counted the number of hearts and added the data to our number line. We also used the hearts to make as many different arrays as possible. Then, we collected the data from the entire class. The number of hearts in the box ranged from 26-32. The next day, we used the data to create dot plots. This was a fun way to review lots of math concepts. And of course, the kiddos got to eat their hearts. I wish I had gotten more photos of their work! Practicing Math Facts The kiddos love playing games to practice math facts. This game involved nines and tens facts to encourage building down from tens facts to find nines facts. Valentines Day Party Our party was so much fun! Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time to help at a station and/or donated items to our party. The kiddos especially liked exchanging cards and goodies. I tried to get a photo of all the kiddo during the party, but it was hard to do with everyone going to different rooms. Hopefully, I at least captured each kiddo while exchanging cards. Constructing Anemometers As part of our weather data collecting, we learned that meteorologists use many weather tools to predict the weather. We made our own anemometers to determine wind speed. When we went outside to test our anemometers, we noticed there were wind gusts. Everyone was excited that our tools actually worked, (some needed a bit of tweaking). Class Picture
We said good bye to Irene this week. She was only here for a short time, but we will miss her. We took a few class photos so Irene would have a photo of our class as a keepsake and as a way to remember her. Science: We'll continue to learn measure and collect data about weather. Last week we made wind socks that need a few last minute additions, so we'll try those out this week. Also, we'll make anemometers, conduct a virtual investigation, graph weather conditions, and create a model of the water cycle, (if time).
Reading: Our focus will be on legends and myths this week as we continue to read traditional literature. We'll read and discuss a Native American legend and act out a mythical play about a raven. The kiddos seem to always love drama! Writing: We are off to a great start with our fiction stories! Most of our planning is complete, so this week we will be working hard on our drafts. We'll learn about effective leads and satisfying endings as well as how to include details about the main character. Math: This week we will continue to learn strategies to solve the remaining multiplication facts including sixes, threes, and sevens. Students will use number sentences, strip diagrams, arrays, area models, and pictorial models to represent problems involving multiplication and division. Social Studies: More economics! We are learning about advertisements. planned & unplanned spending, and paying with credit vs. cash. Upcoming Events February 14: 3rd Grade Valentine's Day party @ 1:30 March 6: Economics Fair Playing Close to Zero (Subtraction Game) As part of our computational fluency practice, we played a game involving subtracting two three digit numbers. To play, students pick 6 cards and arrange them into the three digit numbers so that the difference is closest to zero. Partners played several rounds. The winner is the one with the most rounds closet to zero. This is an easy game that can be played at home-all you need is a deck of cards. Practicing Multiplication I love seeing mathematicians working together and talking about math! Students worked in groups to represent and solve multiplication problems involving nines facts. I challenged them record multiple representations. Then we went on a gallery walk to compare results and learn from each other. Using a Hundreds Chart to Find the Nines Facts We noticed lots of patterns when we found the products of nines facts on an interactive hundreds chart. Then we looked for patterns in other facts as well. Noticing & Wondering about Weather Data To kick off our weather unit, we noticed and wondered about various weather displays. After discovering what some of the letters, numbers, and symbols represented, we recorded data for the weather in Austin and in Corpus Christ. We'll record and compare the data for these two cities for five days. Solving Multiplication Problems Ready to Test Wind Direction with Wind Socks Who knew you could make wind socks out of bags, plastic table cloths, and checked flags! These were a little tricky to make , but the kiddos persevered and successfully constructed their wind socks. We are all excited to try them out next week! Enrichment Time! This week the kiddos had the option to construct Lego Robotics or use LittleBits Steam Kits. As you can tell from the photos, they built some creative robots, creatures, and structures. Solving Problems involving Area My mathematicians worked hard as they solved problems, drew representations, and calculated area. Lots of great thinking going on! Exploring Magnetism These young scientist made some amazing discoveries as we explored magnetism. Students rotated to different stations to investigate magnetism in various ways. Geometry Scavenger Hunt and Chatterpix After a long morning taking a STAAR Ready tests, we were all ready for fresh air and movement. We went on a geometry hunt looking for 2D and 3D shapes in the real world. Using the ipads, students took photos on Chatterpix and then made a recording describing the attributes from the point of view of the shape. These were saved to Google drive, so be sure to ask your child to share their work with you. Jazz Concert We enjoyed the listening to jazz music during our annual jazz concert. A few lucky students were chosen to participate in one of the songs, including Alexandria! Reviewing 3D Shapes on Desmos We played an interactive game to review attributes of 3D shapes. The game is similar to Guess Who. Students chose a shape and their partner had to ask questions to determine the shape. Such a fun, engaging way to improve questioning skills and review geometry. Constructing 3D Shapes Miss Boldt facilitated a lesson on 3D shapes which included building various 3D shapes with pipe cleaners and straws. I was at my math meeting, but it looks like the kiddos were working hard. This is always a fun, engaging way to develop an understanding of geometry and attributes of 3D shapes. Coding Lesson in the Library
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |