This week marks the beginning of the last nine weeks. Where did the time go? It's also the time of year to start preparing for STAAR. This won't impact our regular schedule, but you may notice we will complete more reading passages in reading. During math, spiral review is always part of our regular routine, and it will continue to be so, although some days we will spend slightly longer than usual for review.
Speaking of STAAR, beginning this week, students will have homework consisting of a reading passage and math review. The first homework assignments will be sent home tomorrow and will be due on Friday. We'll go over it on Monday, (so if your child forgets to bring it Friday, they have one more chance). Homework will be given until the week before STAAR. Coming Up This Week... Science: Our unit on environments and food chains is off to a great start! This week students will choose an ecosystem to learn more about through research. Also, we will finalize our PBL projects we have been working on during ESLOT which includes an ecosystem scene. And...we have a guest speaker from the Austin Zoo coming on Monday! Reading: This week we will start book clubs as we shift gears from nonfiction back to fiction. I LOVE book clubs and I'm pretty sure the kiddos will too. Students will choose their top three book choices and then I'll form groups. I try my best to give everyone their first choice but it doesn't always work out. Book clubs are a time when we dive really deep into character/plot development. This week, we will learn how to have a good discussion as well as how to stop and jot questions/thinking to prepare for book club meetings. While reading the first chapter, students will do some problem solving to set up their thinking for the rest of the book by completing a Know/Wonder chart. We did one together last week using the first two pages of Stone Fox, and everyone was thinking deeply about the text. Writing: The first part of the week, we will be writing scripts from the point of view of an endangered animal as part of our PBL project. We'll learn how to write with voice as we convey an important message to people about their plight of animals and their habitat loss. Then we will begin another unit on writing personal narratives. Math: Our focus this week will be on finding the perimeter of a figure with a missing side length and determining solutions to problems involving adding or subtracting time intervals. Upcoming Events Monday, March 26-Zoo presentation for 3rd grade Friday, March 30-No School
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Habitat Simulation We created a simulation of habitat loss to kick off our unit on environments and food chains. Each student pretended to be an animal or plant in a forest ecosystem. The herbivores set up a habitat within the ecosystem along with food and water sources, (colored tiles). Then the carnivores found a home near the herbivores. The trees and other plants also found a suitable place in the forest. Unfortunately, one of the students was a developer and plowed down parts of the forest to build a shopping mall and houses. The trees/plants that lived in that area perished and the animals had to flee in hopes of finding another home. We discussed how some of the food and water sources were destroyed due to the deforestation. Also, we discussed how that would impact the remaining wildlife in the ecosystem. Using Context Clues During reading, we learned how to use context clues to help determine the meaning of unknown words in nonfiction texts. Then, we practiced using context clues with task cards. Finding Perimeter of Rectangles To introduce perimeter, I posed a problem about a girl putting brick pavers around a garden. Our job was to determine how many brick pavers she needed. At first, we didn't have any information to solve the problem, but the kiddos quickly figured out what then needed to know. Once they knew the size of the pavers and the side lengths the kiddos got to work. Some of them chose to use a model of the garden made with blue tape, and others drew models in their notebook. I was really impressed how well these mathematicians solved the problem. They were all surprised when I told them they discovered how to find perimeter! I love when mathematicians discover concepts! Observing Ecosystems What a great week to go outside and observe ecosystems! We noticed several different habitats outside around the field including grass, around rocks, and trees. Students recorded living organisms and nonliving objects in their notebook and determined how these things support one another within an ecosystem. Endangered Animals Museum Trunk Our grade level ordered a trunk from the Williamson County Museum that contains items and information related to endangered animals. We rotated to different stations to observe fossils, learn more about caves, observe/sort fake invertebrates, observe samples of limestone, and dress up as endangered animals, (the class favorite). Everyone really enjoyed the costumes! Armadillo Population Game In science, we played a game to learn how events, such as a drought or flood, affect an armadillo population in an environment. We were surprised that a population can easily thrive or perish based on living and nonliving things. Perimeter Game My mathematicians really put their skills to work as they played a game comparing the perimeter of various polygons. The goal to was create a shape with the Exploragons that met the criteria on the game board such as making a rectangle with a shorter perimeter. This game helped students understand that perimeter is a measurement of a distance since they broke the shape apart and made it into a line. More Work on our Ecosystems and Endangered Animals I think we are finally finished, (mostly), with our ecosystem scenes. Everyone worked so hard on adding details and making the ecosystem look realistic. Today, lots of the kiddos decided to add some type of habitat destruction to their scene. Next week, we'll work on our scripts from the point of view of the animal. Then we will be ready to record videos. Our field trip was awesome! I'm sure your child told you all about it, (I hope so). Our guide, Paul, taught us so much about the living and nonliving organisms within the different ecosystems at the preserve. We also learned how the river and landscape has changed over time, how the caves formed, and the importance of conservation. Paul told us the story of how the preserve was once trashed by local visitors before a man bought the land, cleaned it up, and turned it into a preserve.
I was very impressed with how attentive the kiddos were, their questions, and respectful behavior. Everyone seemed to enjoy our hike which included going up and down 125 stairs! We also really enjoyed the grotto and the observing the cave. To our surprise, we heard golden cheeked warblers several times throughout our hike. As you can see, I took lots of photos. Due to the limited space on the trail, I wasn't able to get really good action shots of the kiddos, but I think you can get a good idea of our trip. I tried to capture each student in a small group, but I wasn't successful. The trail is narrow and there weren't opportunities to get posed photos. I hope you enjoy the photos anyway. I hope everyone enjoyed the break and had a chance to get outside and enjoy the nice weather. Speaking of the weather, it looks like we will have sunny skies and mild temperatures for our field trip on Tuesday. I can't wait for our trip! We went to Westcave Preserve last year and it is such a unique experience full of nature. Our guided tour will have a focus on conservation and appreciation of nature.
Here is a glimpse of the upcoming week... Science: We are starting a new unit this week on environments and food chains which ties in with our PBL on habitat loss. This is perfect timing for our field trip too. This week, we'll observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments and how they support populations and communities of plants and animals within an ecosystem. We'll also learn how environmental changes such as floods or droughts effect organisms in an ecosystem. Reading: This week, we are wrapping our unit on informational texts. We'll finish our habitat loss research, learn about context clues, and draw conclusions from facts using text evidence to support thinking. Writing: As we finish our research related to habitat loss, we'll start organizing our information in preparation for writing an informational piece. We'll also write a reflection about our field trip and if time, write about our thinking related to habitat loss. Math: Since we have only had one test in math during the grading period, we will take a short test on equivalent fractions and comparing fractions, (along with a few review items), on Wednesday. Our next district assessment will cover the fraction unit we are finishing as well as our next unit on measurement with includes time intervals, perimeter, weight and capacity. Monday we will wrap up our fraction unit with problem solving involving comparing fractions and equivalent fractions. Social Studies: Due to the field trip and PBL research, we will only have one social studies lesson this week. We'll learn about Henry Ford and how his innovations improved the assembly line and thus, production of automobiles. This will wrap up our unit on economics. Our Economics Fair was a huge success! I was so impressed with all of the products the kiddos made. It was evident that they thought about their target customers, worked hard, and were proud of their final product. We had crowds around our table as our shoppers poured in throughout the sale. Many of the kiddos realized that running a business is hard work, and that sometimes selling a product requires lots patience. In the end, I think everyone in our class sold out! After the sale, we returned to the classroom to count our money. That took a while to count all those quarters, dimes, and nickels! Our class alone raised $479! WOW! Third grade together raised $3,100. Many of the kiddos realized that running a business is hard work, and that sometimes selling a product requires lots patience. I know it was also work for parents as many of the kiddos needed a little assistance. Thank you so much for your support with this worthwhile learning experience. I appreciate your willingness to purchase materials and assist your child. In the next few weeks, we'll check out various environmental organizations related to habitat loss that we might want to donate to. Then, we'll vote as a grade level on one or two organizations. I'll let you know our final decision. The kiddos feel really good about being able to help make a difference for wildlife. |
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |