How Many Ways? A Multiplication Challenge Mrs. Weiler introduced a multiplication challenge that the kiddos could work on throughout the week. Be sure to ask your child how many ways they found! Investigating Physical Properties In science, we learned that matter can be measured, tested, recorded, and classified based on physical properties. Students rotated to different stations to test temperature, magnetism, ability to sink or float, and mass. Everyone worked collaboratively with their partner and showed responsibility with materials as well as recording observations. There was 100% engagement! Yay! Stemscopes We logged into Stemscopes, (our science resource), and conducted a virtual investigation. This is a resource we will use regularly throughout the year. Making Inferences During reading, I read the first part of a book by Chris Van Allsburg, Just a Dream. This is one of my favorite books because it encourages the reader to infer and make connections across the text. There is also a great message. Students recorded inferences during the read aloud portion and as they read independently while working with a partner. Coding with Ozobots For enrichment time, I pulled out the Ozobots, (tiny robots), and the kiddos wrote code with markers for the robots to read as it moved along the path. This was so much fun! What a great way to end the week!
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Decorating Writing Notebooks Decorating our writing notebooks was so much fun! I enjoyed looking at all the photos and learning much about each student. The kiddos worked really hard and their notebooks look great! I'm sure the their personalized photos and decorations will inspire lots of writing throughout the year. Thanks for sending in decorations! Cup Stacking Challenges with Mrs. Lipe's Class 100 Face Challenge Can you create a face using cuisenaire rods with a value of 100? Students worked with a partner to make faces worth 100. Each color rod represents a different value, so lots of mental math was used to build different faces. Figure Me Out As another getting to know you activity, we created math posters with equations to figure out numbers in our lives. For example, you might have to subtract to determine how many people in your family or divide to figure out the number of siblings someone has. I was impressed with some of the challenging math problems that the kiddos came up with. Me Museums It was loads of fun learning about each other during our gallery walk to see all the "Me Museums". Everyone did a great job writing about each item and explaining why the item was important, special, or what it represented. I LOVED reading all of their cards! The kiddos were really interested in each others museums and they asked each other lots of questions. We discovered there are many friends in the class with similar interests. Shopping for Books Our reading workshop is in full swing now that everyone has books in their book box ready to read. There was sooo much excitement in the room about all the books and the kiddos were eager to find a spot and read. I quickly discovered that most of the class has a lot of stamina when reading. I think we read for about 35 minutes without interruption. That warmed my teacher heart! Making Paper Chains Mrs. Lipe's class partnered up with us for a paper chain challenge. The goal was to make the longest paper chain from one piece of paper. The kiddos quickly found a partner and worked cooperatively to construct their chains. It was interesting to see all the different strategies for cutting the paper. There were some pretty long chains! So much fun! Hundreds Challenge Throughout the year, students will often work with partners or small groups. The expectation during group work is that everyone participates, listens to others, and stays engaged on the task. To teach the class what working with a group should look like and sound like, I gave them a hundreds challenge, (finding the numbers 1-100 scattered on a page). Each person in the group had to count in order and highlight the next number when it was their turn. I snapped photos so that the kiddos could see the engagement and collaboration taking place during the activity. The class really loved this! They were begging for a 4th round, but we were out of time. Working on Real-World Relationships in a Table During math, students interpreted tables involving multiplication in order to determine the relationship. We also worked on a gumball problem using an online website called Desmos. At the end of the of the activity, students wrote their own table showing the relationship between the number of gumballs and the value. Touch and Talk Vocabulary I introduced our science unit on matter using a touch and talk vocabulary sheet. The idea is to get students talking and thinking about science terms & concepts we will use during our unit. Exploring Math Tools The first day of school should involve having fun, so we decided to explore math tools we will use throughout the year. I challenged them to think of math they could represent with the various tools. I couldn't believe all the creative ideas the kiddos had. They were sharing math concepts they know while creating neat designs, buildings, and even graphs. This was a great way to get students talking to one another. First Day Jitters Graph We read the book First Day Jitters and graphed how we were feeling. Lots of kiddos were excited or happy about going back to school. Later in the day, students wrote about their first day feelings using some emojis to inspire their writing. Math Norms Math is creative and mathematicians visualize! This is one of the math norms we are learning about. These norms will help us create a math culture that supports deep mathematical thinking and an understanding that mistakes help your brain grow. We noticed lots of patterns on number representations using dots. Getting to Know You Activity This activity involving finding a friend that matched a description such as someone who ate ice cream over the summer. It was fun talking with each other and getting to know a bit about classmates. Saving Fred This was by far the favorite of our first two days. We heard a short story about a worm whose boat capsized and needed to be rescued. The challenge was to save Fred, (a gummy worm), by getting him out from under the boat, (a cup), and putting a life preserver, (a gummy life saver), on Fred. The catch, you can't touch Fred, the boat, or the life preserver with hands, only paper clips. The kiddos worked together and had a blast trying to save Fred. Each group was successful! I loved seeing the smiles and cheers as they saved Fred! I am looking forward to meeting everyone during our Meet the Teacher/Supply Drop Off on Thursday, August 13, 2019 from 5:30-7:30. Classrooms will also be open between 8:30 am-11:30 am. I hope you have a chance to stop by our room, (C2016) to look around and drop off supplies.
Our third grade team is gearing up for a wonderful year full of engaging learning experiences. I'm excited to start the new year! |
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |