We are starting our 6th week of school although it still seems like the beginning of the year. Even though we are settled into our routines we will continue to build our class community as well as establish expectations for a variety of learning routines/activities that are important components of our learning. For example, this week we will learn how to talk about a book/text with a partner. We'll also begin learning talk moves to use during math so that we can effectively share thinking and mathematical ideas. Learning to communicate and share thinking will help students stay engaged and develop deeper understanding of concepts. Our upcoming week is packed with learning! See below for more details.
Science: We finished our first science unit on properties of matter. Now we will shift gears and focus on the changes in states of matter from heat/cooling. Students will investigate how adding heat changes an ice cube and how heating a pot full of ice water changes. This unit also includes mixtures which we will investigate next week. Reading: Our focus this week will be on making inferences. We'll infer with pictures and wordless video clips first, then make inferences while reading. As stated earlier, we'll also learn how to partner talk about our reading after I assign reading partners. Math: This week we'll practice rounding and using estimating as we solve word problems. Also, we'll learn addition strategies including breaking numbers apart (partial sums), counting on using a number line, moving numbers, and compensation. If time, we'll also learn strategies for subtracting three digit numbers including counting back, breaking apart the subtrahend, compensation, and counting up, and constant difference. Students will use a variety of tools to add and subtract such as a number line and base ten blocks. We'll use strip diagrams to help organize or thinking when solving problems. Our spiral review will include money, graphs, and place value. Writing: We have been working hard on writing personal narratives. Students should have at least 4-5 stories in their notebooks by now. This week, each student will choose an idea from their personal narratives to draft. Throughout the week, we'll learn craft moves to improve our narratives. Social Studies: We'll learn what it means to be a good citizen. Upcoming Events: October 9th: Conference Day
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Using Base Ten Blocks to Add by Place Value Playing a Place Value Game The Boat Challenge Ordering Numbers on a Number Line Talking About Science Vocabulary
Here is glimpse of our upcoming week:
Science: We'll continue to learn about the properties of matter while measuring and recording temperature, mass, and magnetism. Also, students will use the design process to make a model of a boat that can hold at least 40 pennies without sinking. This is always lots of fun! Reading: Our focus this week will be on making inferences and drawing conclusions. Inferring can be challenging for young readers, so we'll start by gaining an understanding of how people make inferences in their daily life. Then we will use photos/images to infer, and finally we will make inferences while reading. We'll also practice visualizing while reading and learn that readers of chapter books need to pay attention to text signals in order to detemine when to visualize and when to gather information, (such as when a narrator is providing background knowledge about a character you just gather info). Math: This week we learn more about place value including decomposing/composing numbers by place value, comparing and ordering numbers, representing numbers on a number line, and describing the relationship of the base ten number system. We'll work with numbers through 9,999 in this unit. Additionally, we'll estimate sums of numbers to understand the purpose of rounding and then practice rounding. Then, we'll begin using strategies to add and subtract two and three digit numbers. Writing: As we continue to write personal narratives, we will begin to narrow the focus of our stories by thinking of seed ideas, (small moments) and describing those moments so that the reader can paint a picture in their mind. Social Studies: It is Celebrate Freedom week so we will learn all about the Constitution. Upcoming Events Monday (9/18)
Describing Properties of Matter To introduce properties of matter, I pretended an alien came to earth and brought items back to his home planet. The alien didn't know the names of the items, so he described the items he took. Students had to use the description of properties the alien gave to guess each item. Then, students found two objects in the room they might take if they were an alien and describe the items based on its properties. We enjoyed guessing what the name of the objects. Practicing Data Analysis Students used Nearpod, an interactive website, to practice analyzing data. It's great that the Chromebooks are touchscreen because they could circle parts of graphs, write answers, show their thinking, etc. Find the Number Math can be so much fun! I created images that represented various numbers which I then posted around the common area. I gave students a list of the numbers that were represented and challenged them to find all of the numbers. It was interesting to see who could mentally solve for the numbers, who drew the representation, and who used equations to solve. I was thrilled to see that the kiddos were very engaged and persistent in determining the numbers represented. And...they enjoyed it. Always makes me happy when mathematicians are hard at work with a smile on their face! Place Value Review We reviewed place value concepts using several interactive websites. Matter Investigation As you can tell from the photos, our scientists were very engaged while measuring and recording properties of matter. Students measured temperature and mass, described textures, and testing magnetism. Making Our Mark on Dot Day!
Friday September 15, 2017 was Dot Day! Students across the globe tapped into their creativity by using dots as inspiration for art. We partnered with Mrs. Lipe's class to try out various dot art. One station was making a buddy dot where each partner created dot and cut it in half to share with their partner. We also had dot painting using different tools, dot art using Google Drawing. and drawing dots on coffee filters which we sprayed with water to make the colors blend. Everyone had a great time using their artistic abilities and creating unique art! I hope everyone had a chance to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend. We have a busy schedule full of learning this week. See below for details.
Science: This week we'll learn about the physical properties of matter and how scientists measure, record, and test properties. We'll explore temperature, texture, ability to sink/float, relative mass, and magnetism through various investigations. Reading: We'll continue to learn strategies good readers use before, during, and after reading. Our focus will be on asking questions, visualizing, and making connections. Math: The kiddos have been collecting data, creating data displays, and analyzing data on pictographs, bar graphs, and dot plots for the past two weeks. We'll wrap up this unit in the next few days before beginning our next unit on place value, addition, and subtraction. Students will take a test on data analysis on Wednesday which we will review for in class. Writing: Our focus this week will be on generating ideas for personal narratives and writing about small moments, (personal narratives). Students will create a heart map that will serve as inspiration for personal narrative topics. Right now, our goal is to build stamina while writing about stories from our lives. This really helps the kiddos view themselves as writers. Upcoming Events Wednesday is library day! Please help your child to remember to bring back their books so they can check out new books! Monday, September 11: PTA meeting @ 6:00 Designing Paintbrushes This is our last challenge for our Project Lead the Way launch. In this challenge, students had to design a paintbrush with multiple functions. I was amazed at how quickly everyone dove in and created unique paintbrushes. I LOVED seeing their creativity in action as they used the design process to evaluate and improve their models. The kiddos had lots of fun designing them and they were able to express the functions they wanted their paintbrush to have. Testing Our Paintbrushes Everyone really enjoyed painting with their multi-function paintbrushes. Some of the kiddos discovered they could paint dots, thin lines, swirly lines, thick lines, etc. As they painted, they evaluated their paintbrush by asking questions such as: Does my paintbrush have the functions I planned? How could I improve my design? Do all of my functions work the right way? Is my paintbrush built well? It was great to hear some of their thinking and how they adjusted their paintbrush while they were painting so it would make different strokes. Raisin Data I gave each student a mini box of raisins to collect some class data. Before we began, each student had to estimate the number of raisins in their box. They also had to think of an estimate that was too low and too high. This helps students to think more carefully about their estimates and justify their thinking. We recorded estimates on a number line. Then, we counted the raisins and collected data from each student. We determined the lowest and highest number of raisins in a box to know the range for a dot plot. Students then used the data to create their own dot plot. I challenged them to come up with true statements and questions about the dot plot. And of course, lots of the kiddos chose to eat their raisins after our discussion about our data. Such an engaging learning experience! Collecting, Recording, and Making Dot Plots I set up several stations for students to use their knowledge about data. They graphed results of penny decades, dice tosses, and how far they could move a pom pom ball with one puff of air. They also analyzed bar graphs and answered questions about them. Growth Mindset After watching several video clips throughout the week about growth mindset, we created some art to show how we can have a growth mindset this year. Students drew a portrait and made speech bubbles to show statements they can say to help their brains grow and learn. Enrichment Time with Ozobots
Our enrichment time, (E-slot), is on Friday afternoons this year. We used Ozobots, (small robots), to practice coding. I hope you are enjoying your three day weekend! I'm sure all of the kiddos could use some extra sleep. By Friday I could tell some of them were getting tired. It usually takes several weeks to adjust to the back to school schedule. We have a four day week that is packed full of learning and thinking. See below for a glimpse of our learning this week.
Science: We will finish up our launch unit for Project Lead the Way with designing and creating multi-purpose paintbrushes which we will test out with paint. Then, we'll review the design process and reflect on the three models we designed and evaluated: the beanstalk, house, and paintbrush. I'm hoping to wrap all of that up Wednesday morning before diving into our first science unit on matter. In this unit, we'll learn about the properties of matter and how scientist measure, test, and record properties. Also, we'll describe and classify matter as solids, liquids, and gases. Reading: Our focus this week will be on making connections between our lives, other books, and the world as well as how to leave tracks of our thinking by recording thoughts about your reading. Math: We'll continue to collect and display data using frequency tables, bar graphs, pictographs, and dot plots. Students will collect data for various dot plots and compare the data. One of my favorite activities is collecting data about the number of raisins in a small raisin box which we will do Tuesday or Wednesday. Be sure to ask your child about their raisin data and other graphing experiences throughout the week. Writing: Last week we started our Friend Wanted Ads, but we still need to do some revising and type them up on Tuesday. These will be displayed in the hallway. Then, we'll begin our unit on personal narratives. We'll focus on generating ideas and zooming in on a small moment, (seed idea). I am excited to get started so I can learn more about the kiddos through their stories from their lives. Social Studies: Since we are collecting items to donate to Hurricane Harvey, I want to provide students with an opportunity to learn a bit more about how the hurricane has impacted Texas. Also we'll discuss and find examples of good citizenship that has been displayed as a result of Harvey. Additionally, we'll squeeze in a few more activities about growth mindset. Upcoming Events: Friday (9/8)
Using the Design Process As part of Project Lead the Way, students engaged in the design process while creating a beanstalk from 10 pipe cleaners. First we discussed the design process used by engineers and other scientists. Then we asked questions about the challenge and sketched our ideas/plans. We shared our ideas with partners and then began building models. The beanstalk had to be as tall as possible and free standing. It was quite a challenge to make the beanstalk balance as the height increased, but many partnerships were successful. We had time to improve and evaluate our designs the next day. I was impressed how engaged the kiddos were the second day, and that each group kept working to improve their design. Finding Visual Patterns in Numbers For math, we noticed patterns and relationships of numbers displayed with dots. The purpose of this activity was for students to view math as more than just numbers. Math is also creative, visual, and full of patterns. We discussed how different mathematicians in the class saw/noticed different patterns and designs. Starting Our Data Analysis Unit in Math Our first math unit on data analysis is off to a great start. We collected class data and displayed the data in bar graphs, pictographs, and dot plots. Then, we compared the different types of graphs. Also, students worked in groups to talk about math images that matched vocabulary for our unit. Giving students visuals and allowing them time to talk before formal teaching of vocabulary helps students make connections and tap into background knowledge. Noticing and Wondering about Data Displays/Graphs I placed various graphs around the room and students rotated to all the graphs while recording what they noticed about the data/graph and what they wondered. I LOVE using notice and wonder in math because students will notice more about a math concept than if I was just telling them information. Also, after more experience with noticing and wondering, students will ask deeper questions, make connections between big math ideas, and gain a better understanding of the math concept. And...it's super engaging! Challenge for Growth Mindset I really want to ensure students develop a growth mindset this year and realize the importance of perseverance and making mistakes. To help get this idea across, I gave each table group a folded piece of cardstock with a few slits cut in it, (although it looked like chunks were cut out). The challenge was to make the EXACT same thing without touching the example. It's really tricky! A few groups were close, but no one was able to make the same thing. I heard lots of kiddos saying it was impossible, but I loved how everyone tried to solve the problem. There were arguments that arose and some frustrations because a few kiddos started cutting quickly without carefully thinking about how to solve the problem. This lead to a great discussion about team work, discussing ideas with others, and making sense of a problem before jumping in too quickly. Creating Online Graphs We created online graphs of data we collected. Students noticed how the bars changed when the intervals increased or decreased. Also, we realized that graph needs titles and labels to help the reader. Collecting Data and Making Pictographs and Bar Graphs After collecting some data as a class, each students came up with a survey question and collected data from classmates on a frequency table. Then we displayed our data on a pictograph using sticky notes. Students quickly noticed that the sticky notes were too large and they couldn't fit all the data on their paper. This lead to a discussion about keys and how a symbol can, (and often does), represent more that one. I informed them that each sticky note had to represent 2 or more votes. I was thrilled that most of the kiddos realized they would need to cut the sticky note in half to represent one. The next day we used the same data to create a bar graph. You can see an example of a student created bar graph and pictograph below, (sorry the photos are sideways). Designing Houses for the Three Little Pigs Our second Project Lead the Way problem solving activity was to design and build a house to keep the three little pigs safe from the wolf. We even tested our models with a wolf, (a blower with a wolf puppet). A few houses will need to be improved because they had waaaaaayyyy to much wind damage from the wolf. We'll test them again next week. (Looks like I'm missing some to the photos of the final products so I'll add those next week). 100 Faces
As a computation review and as an enrichment activity, I challenged the kiddos to create a face that was worth 100 using Cuisenaire rods, (each rod is worth a certain amount based on the white rod being one). This proved to be more difficult than we thought. Who knew making a face could be so hard! I'm going to give each partnership a photo of their face and have them verify the value of their face. I want to repeat this next week so I can observe students adding the total values. This is a good way for me to assess basic computation abilities, plus it was loads of fun for the kiddos. |
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November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |