Sign Up for Fall Conferences!

I promised student bloggers would be taking over this week, but with all the science and math going on in room 8, we will have to postpone the excitement until next week!

A few announcements:

Please follow the link to sign up for Fall Conferences.  It couldn't be easier!http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CACA72EA6FB6-fall

The students are becoming expert letter writers as we have had many thank you letters to write!  Thank you to the PTA for the great math assembly on Monday.  Thank you to Mrs. Rudolph for bringing in some science fun to show another way matter can change!

This demonstration proved a great deal about volume and mass.  Ask your scholar to explain!

Students have been using Edmodo to discuss their mathematical and scientific thinking!  Below is a picture of a student who submitted a Power Point presentation to show 6 digit numbers in the real world.  This led many students to revise their thinking about math in the real world!

Don't forget to plan for early dismissal this Thursday, October 3. 

Just Warming Up!

Well, things are really warming up in room 8!

It seems the students have decided that we should have Food Fridays!  Thank you to Noah for bringing in some delicious grape drink last week to highlight our discussion of measurement (real world application of volume, standard and metric measurement, cups, pints, quarts, gallons, milliliters and liters, not to mention the mathematics involved in doubling a recipe through repeated addition or multiplication).

Thank you to Liam for bringing in a snow cone maker to demonstrate observable physical properties of matter.  Already experts on the states of matter from their study in the second grade, this served nicely to introduce our essential question:  "How does matter change?"  I wonder what they will decide to do next week!

We are exploring the scientific process though an experiment involving gummy bears.  The question was posed:  "What happens if a gummy bear is submerged in water for 24 hours?"  The students formed their hypothesis, collected data, discussed our essential question, "How is measurement used to communicate data?" and formulated a conclusion to answer their original question.  We repeated the experiment to see if we achieved the same results.  In deciding who our audience should be, the students decided to report to to the other classes and compare data.  Some students even went home and took the experiment to the next level, posing their own hypothesis!

Friday also brought our first discussion of SYSTEMS!  The students were making wonderful connections to lead us into our third grade theme!

Several students have chosen to research scientists using the IIM method.  They developed some big questions, decided what sources to use to find their answers, divided their tasks, and began their research.  They will report their findings to their peers later next week. 

In math we have continued our discussion of numeration, making, comparing and rounding really large numbers and finding real world uses for large numbers and rounding.  We even got to use the iPads again to access menus from local restaurants to plan meals for eating out.  

Finally we are warming up as writers and readers.  We have some voracious readers in our class.  After collecting some data and graphing the results it has been determined that fantasy is the favorite genre.  The students have been challenged to read thirty books in third grade.  The caveat is that they must read books in many genres.  This is one way to grow as a reader.  We started with poetry and had some wonderful readings.  Next we will try our hand at writing poetry.

We had a fun writing lesson which used play dough as a metaphor for the writing process.  A very deep lesson which the children will be able to connect to as they learn to revise and edit their writing throughout the year.

I hope your children are having as much fun as I am!  Next week I shall be taking a step back from my duties as a blogger for our classroom, turning over the responsibility to the students!  Stay tuned!

Happy Friday!

     We had a wonderful week of learning in room 8.

     In math we continued to reinforce place value, reading and writing large numbers.  Can your child show you how to play math battleship at home?  It's a fun one!  Here are some math challenge questions:

• What period comes after the trillions?  When would someone need to use a number that large?  Can you think of some examples?  
• Try this link to practice reading those really large numbers: http://www.mathcats.com/explore/reallybignumbers.html
• Children can you stump your parents?  How many two-digit numbers are possible using the digits 0-9? (Remind them that they may not use the same digit in the number twice, and numbers with zeros in the tens place should not be considered since it is a mathematical convention to write them as a single digit number.)  Good luck!)

     We will be digging into rounding next as we discuss the essential understanding that patterns are structures that identify relationships.

     Our IIM research model is going well.  We have gathered all our research and are going to write to answer the children's big questions:  Why is Betsy Ross famous?  and What is her backstory that led her to become famous?

     We had a wonderful week diving into Junior Great Books.  Our first Shared Inquiry discussion went very well with children listening to each other, and addressing each other with ideas supported by evidence from the text.  Poetry will be coming up next!

     Our scientists have been making careful observations of their physical world by observing the physical properties of size, color, shape, and texture.  On Monday they will begin to conduct and design experiments using the scientific process.  A classmate brought in a special treat to show us how he uses measurement at home.  Thank you, Noah, for the delicious grape drink and the measurement lesson it prompted! (The children talked about wanting to start "Food Fridays," an idea that sounds great to me!  I already overheard several ideas of what we could eat that ties into the study of matter!)

     Finally, a thank you to all the parents who came out to Open House!  I hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend with your families!

Red, white and blue for September 11th

Remember to wear red, white, and blue tomorrow to show unity as citizens of the United States!

Homework for week of September 9th

Math:  Bring in something from home to show how you use math at home to decorate our math board.  Hints:  Check the newspaper or a magazine for ideas (National Geographic is a great place to look).  Many classmates wrote about recipes, shopping, and measurement in last week's homework assignment. 
Science:  How do you use measurement at home?  Use the language of the discipline.  We will be talking this week about measurement vocabulary and ways in which scientists use measurement to communicate.
Both assignments are due Friday.  Everyone is still in the homework club.  Keep it up, scholars!

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