September Scoop 2022

Welcome to a new school year! We've only been in school a few days but have had lots of opportunities for for fun, hands-on learning. Here's some highlights of what we've been doing.

The 1st day of school classmates shared how they were feeling and discussed what having the jitters means. After reading First Day Jitters and the poem "Jitter Juice" the students drank some jitter juice (Ms. Glashow's secret recipe) while writing about a time they had the jitters.

We began our poetry unit in writing by creating autobiographical poems about ourselves, which were mounted on paper plate bodies we colored to look like ourselves. They're displayed on the bulletin board outside our classroom. 

Science started off by learning about how scientists use the scientific method to ask questions, test hypotheses, and use data observed/collected to reach conclusions. Small groups of students used  the scientific method to save Fred, a candy gummy worm whose plastic cup boat capsized with his candy gummy life preserver trapped underneath. Using teamwork and paper clips they determined how to save Fred, then recorded their hypothesis, experiment steps, and conclusion on a recording sheet. And ate the leftover candy of course!

This week we've begun our study of the human body and its organs and body systems. A volunteer wore a body apron and students placed organs in their correct locations on it  and explained their jobs.

We've been reviewing math skills such as place value, adding, and subtracting in a variety of ways. After learning how to write numbers in standard and expanded form small groups rolled a dice and wrote the numbers they landed on these ways as well as identifying which numbers were in the hundreds, tens, and ones place.

Students demonstrated their understanding of the commutative property of addition by creating flipflops showing examples of this property next to the poem "Flip Flop: Commutative Property of Addition". Our addition and subtraction test will be next Tuesday.

Our 1st social studies unit is map skills. Students created paper plate globes to demonstrate their knowledge of the names and location of continents/oceans, played an online map game by dragging continent and ocean names to their locations, and created map term flip books and mini booklets. Our map skills test will be this coming Monday.

Looking forward to a great school year!

Ms. Glashow

aka

Fall Happenings

Leaves have been falling outside and we've been falling into lots of learning inside our classroom. In reading, we've been learning about character traits using the stories Officer Buckle and Gloria, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon, and Allie's Basketball Dream. Students identified the difference between a character's physical features and character traits, then wrote them on Post-its, which were affixed to character anchor charts. Students connected Velcro character trait basketballs to actions proving them basketball hoops on an anchor chart. Our assessment on the stories will be Wednesday.

In language arts we been learning about different types of nouns in a variety of ways. During our "Common and Proper Nouns Space Sort" students classified words on spaceships as common or proper and placed them in the correct category...

After learning about the plural form of nouns students decided if nouns should end in 's or s' to show possession using picture cards and a classification chart...

Students have been learning about the human body in science. We've been studying body systems, their functions, and the organs found in them in a variety such as identifying organs and placing them where they belong on a body apron...

as well as examining real x-rays to identify bones and organs and what they do...

We created a model of the lungs in the chest cavity using a plastic cup, balloons, and tubes. Students observed how air pressure inflates and deflates the lungs. They also demonstrated their understanding of the body systems and their functions using a graphic organizer. Next, we'll use a body systems classification poster and Velcro organ, muscle, and bone patterns to show our understanding of what is found in each body system.

   Happy learning!

Human Body: Lung Demo

The Third Grade Learning Spot visited the science lab to create models of our lung using tubes, balloons, and cups. Each student pulled the diaphragm (gold balloon) on their model lung, causing the chest cavity (plastic cup) to fill with low pressure. Air then rushed into the trachea (tube) to equalize the pressure. The lungs (small balloons) then filled with air. When we released the diaphragm the lungs would then collapse.

 

 

 

 

 

Another fun lesson we did during our human body unit was identifying organs, their function, and where they are located in our body using a body apron and velcro organs. We also read lots of books about the human body and watched Brainpop videos about each of the body systems, followed by taking online quizzes.

 

    Happy learning!

September Scoop

Even though it still feels like summer outside we've been busy learning in fun ways here in The 3rd Grade Learning Spot! In math, we've been reviewing how to regroup when adding and subtracting in a variety of ways including playing "Subtraction Sponge Toss"...

"Pin the Tail on the Double Digit Donkey"...

 and "Triple Digit Spinner Subtraction"...

After our addition and subtraction assessment we'll show what magnificent mathematicians we are when we begin learning MULTIPLICATION! Be on the lookout for our multiplication folders, which will have a times table chart, definitions, strategies, and the lyrics to the multiplication songs we learn in class.

In language arts, we've been learning about the 4 types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative) in a variety of ways such as creating "Four Types of Sentences Flip Books" and playing "Spin a Sentence" to demonstrate we can create sentences for each type...

We've also been studying subjects and predicates in sentences. One of the activities we did to show we can identify phrases as the subject or predicate of a sentence was classifying sentence strip phrases on a whiteboard t-chart...

 

In science, we've been showing how organ-wise we are as we learn about the human body. Students created paper bag self portraits with organs glued and labeled in their correct positions. We also showed we can identify organ locations and their functions when we attached organs to a body vest and discussed their function...

We've also been studying the body systems such as the circulatory system, digestive system, and respiratory system. Students created graphic organizers to show their understanding of each system, the organs it contains, and how it helps a body function...

    Happy learning!