Will it float? Students 💜LOVED💜 our science experiment today! #sinkorfloat #science #templetonelementary
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This week our class began Math Workstations. Each table had a tub of materials and their job was to work with the materials using their Math Brains! Our workstations right now are: Unifix Cubes, Pattern Blocks, Plastic Tiles, Geoboards, and Flashcards. Before we began we talked about some of the different things we could do, for example, students could:
*Make Patterns *Count *Make number equations *Think about Shapes *Measure stuff It was so cool to watch all the kiddos in action. They were sharing and creating great things using their math brains. Check out the photos below! Over the first few weeks, our class has been very busy! We enjoyed our first few day together by sharing a little bit about ourselves and talking about how we all want our classroom to look, sound, and feel. We took first day pictures, some are pictured below, and we began learning our school and classroom procedures. As the first short week ended and a new one began we started doing some benchmark testing in the classroom. A benchmark test is when we give students a quiz to see what they know about specific math or reading topics. Students are expected to do their best so that I can figure out what they do and do not know. Some of the quizzes were really tough, others were easy to some students. We will continue these benchmark tests for the next week to figure out reading and math goals for all students. This year I also started a new part of our morning routine. If students are not eating breakfast, then I ask them to get a half sheet of paper and work on the Morning Challenge. The Morning Challenge is a word of the day, and students are supposed to try and find as many words as they can within that word. For example, on our first day, the word was Templeton. Students got started right away and found many words such as: temple, Tom, and let. The students have started getting better at this and looking for interesting words! Check out the slideshow below to see some of the first day pictures and a photo of our Morning Challenge! After our vacation, my fun didn't end there. My brother and his wife recently had a new baby. They named him Trey. This means that now, I am an aunt to 8 amazing kiddos!I love being an aunt. This summer I got to spend lots of time with all my nieces and nephews, it's always so much fun! Also, near the end of the summer, my dad's dog had 3 beautiful puppies! They are Jack Russel Terrier puppies and are so cute! I hope I can take one home in a few weeks!
This summer I stayed VERY busy! My husband, Jeremy and I took a vacation out west to see some amazing places. Our plane landed in Las Vegas and our first stop was to see the Grand Canyon. It was so amazing! We camped nearby and even hiked halfway down the canyon. What a beautiful site! Next we drove to Bryce Canyon. This canyon is filled with orange rock that has slowly eroded from wind, rain, and snow. It creates small chunks of rock that seem to balance to the top of great peaks. These creations are can "Hoodoo." Our last stop was to visit Zion National Park. This deep canyon has a river running through it. Jeremy and I hiked the river for about 5 miles! The water changed from ankle deep all the way up to our chest. There were parts that had rushing water and even some calm swimming holes. We loved our vacation, but we were happy to return home to Bloomington.
We are excited to announce that Fairview will be hosting a Science Fair on May 21. All students in grades 3-6 are working on projects and displays to show at the Science Fair.
There are four categories of Science Fair projects. 1. Collection- •Come up with a question •Think about what you might find •Collect and sort the information to answer your question •Observe and record what you find using drawings, charts, or graphs •Write a conclusion about what you learned •Prepare a display board with title, question, purpose, collection, graphs, and conclusion EXAMPLES: •What types of leaves are in my backyard? •What kind of insects are on the playground at Fairview? •How much sugar is in what I drink? 2. Model- •Pick a topic •Research how to create your model •Create your own model – do NOT use a store bought kit •Prepare a display board with a title, purpose, method, conclusion EXAMPLES: •Volcano •3D solar system •Crystals 3. Research- •Come up with a topic you want to learn more about •Ask a question about your topic •Use the Internet and library to learn more about your scientific topic •Record all the sources you use •Record your findings in charts or graphs •Write a conclusion about what you have learned •Prepare a display board with a title, topic, purpose, charts, graphs, and conclusion EXAMPLES: •What is diabetes? •What animals in Indiana are endangered? •What is the planet Mars like? •Why isn’t Pluto a planet anymore? 4. Investigation- •Come up with a question •Form your hypothesis – what do you think will happen? •Design your experiment •Record all your results •Write your conclusion •Prepare a display board with a title, question, hypothesis, data, results, and conclusion EXAMPLES: •Do plants grow faster in light? •Do heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects? •Which kind of popcorn pops the best? _____________________________________________________________________________ Work with your child to decide on a topic and type of project that fits them.Your child has a packet of Science Fair guidelines in their homework folder. Please contact me with any questions. Deadlines: May 13- Science Fair Proposals DUE May 20- Projects DUE May 21- Science Fair During the last round of ISTEP, students who worked hard and tried their best each day received a ' Best Effort' slip. Each day more and more students earned these slips. At the end of the ISTEP window, each class collected all their slips. The class who had the most in each grade level won a chance to throw a pie at Dr. Hunter! Dr. Hunter hadn't had the time to get all kids together until TODAY! Which turned out to be a perfect day, now students will remember that they worked hard during last ISTEP session, and they saw today what they had earned, a perfect way to remind them to how to do their best work next week. CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS BELOW! We all had a lot of fun!
2 weeks ago, my students planted some seeds into a box of soil. We talked about all the things plants need to survive, and we've bee waiting patiently for some sprouts. This week, we were so excited to start seeing some sprouts! Students noticed that lettuce and peas were the first sprouts to show, followed by tomatoes and marigolds. We're still waiting to see some pepper sprouts. Check out the photos below!
My favorite part was when students began laying on the floor and looking at the plants from underneath. They noticed that some of the seeds were growing very strong roots! Something I hadn't even thought of showing them. :) I love my kiddos! This week student's have finally began to understand the phrase, 'figurative language.' We began the week by focusing on idioms. Idioms are those funny phrases adults use that mean something specific, however, when students hear them , they usually take them quite literally. Here are some examples:
"It's a piece of cake." "You're barking up the wrong tree." "You'll be in hot water!" Once students began using these phrases in sentences, they were able to use context clues to figure out what these phrases mean. We had so much fun 'decoding' these phrases. Check out the photos below! Next week, we'll touch on similes and metaphors. This Wednesday Fairview's 3rd graders were invited to a special performance at the IU Musical Arts Center (MAC). We were there to witness the amazing athleticism that is the ballet.
The show began with introductions from the choreographer and dancers. All the dancers were IU college students and shared a bit about their educational pursuits. Then the real fun began, the choreographer had the dancer show the students basic dances moves and then moved into showing bits and pieces of their ballet performances. We got to see a piece of Swan Lake as well as some more abstract pieces created just for us! We were joined by all the other MCCSC 3rd graders so we also had a chance to see old friends and teachers. We had a blast! |
AuthorI am a 3rd grade teacher in Bloomington, Indiana. I love teaching and watching my students grow and learn! Archives
August 2016
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