Classroom Update: November 18, 2016

We had another fabulous week in third grade! This week was our student teacher Ms. Stanizzi's "takeover week," meaning she took on the week's lessons as lead teacher.

We had a fabulous time on our trip to Plimoth Plantation on Monday! Big thanks to our chaperones who accompanied us for the day. At the plantation, students were transported to 17th Century New England. They saw what life would have been like for the Pilgrims and Wampanoag who lived in that time period. Later in the week, students began a research project to learn more about the life of the Wampanoag tribe in the 1600s. Students will be compiling their research to create murals depicting the Wampanoag during the four seasons of the year. 

In math, we are continuing to build our understanding of the concept of multiplication. This week, we looked at the multiples of the numbers 2-10. Students identified patterns among these multiples. For example, we observed that all multiples of 2 are even and that all multiples of 10 end in zero.

In English Language Arts, we are publishing a class collection of personal narrative stories. In reading, we began a genre study of realistic fiction. We are reading the book Amber Brown Is Not A Crayon and journaling responses in a readers' response notebook.

This month, the Dallin School is focusing on the social emotional competencies of Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self Control (C.A.R.E.S.). Our class launched a project to help students internalize these competencies. This week, we looked for examples of cooperation around the school. 

Classroom Update: November 10, 2016

We concluded our integrated social studies and reading unit on the election. This week, we staged a mock debate. Students spoke in the voice of our two candidates, Harry Potter and Tom Brady, to share their perspectives on questions posed by our moderator. When the time came for our final election, Harry Potter came out on top and was elected President of Room 227. Congratulations to President Potter and his supporters! 

In math, we practiced different strategies for solving multiplication problems. Some of our favorite strategies include drawing a picture and using addition. 

In science, we finished our engineering design challenge using paper airplanes. We found that the best paper airplane design was one that was compact and lightweight to offset gravitational forces. We had a lot of fun testing our airplane designs!

In preparation for our field trip to Plimoth Plantation next week, we have been learning about the Native American Wampanoag tribe. This week, we read about the seasonal life of the Wampanoag. I'm looking forward to our trip on Monday!

Classroom Update: November 4, 2016

We continued our integrated social studies and reading unit about the election this week. Students acted as speechwriters and wrote about why their preferred candidate would make a good president. Today, we delivered the speeches to the class, using public speaking techniques like slowing down, reading with expression, and making eye contact. 

In science, we conducted several experiments to test the best materials and design conditions for paper airplanes. We discovered that lighter paper is ideal for offsetting the effects of downward forces. We also explored how lift force is affected by the size of the wings on our planes. Today, we began an engineering design challenge in which teams are constructing plane models based upon what we have observed this week. 

In math, we started our study of multiplication. Before we begin memorizing basic multiplication facts, we are learning about the concept of multiplication. Students wrote and solved their own multiplication story problems.