Enviro-scape

We observed how humans impact the environment through a simulation using an enviro-scape today.  We pretended to live in the community and conduct daily business.  For example, we drove a car around the city and showed the impact on the environment using soy sauce for oil.  Here is what the environment looked like after we worked our way around:

Then we made it rain and watched how run off occurs through out the watershed. Students realized our own Mississippi River looks similar to the river in the enviro-scape.  The enviro-scape is a teaching tool we borrow from MSD.  They provided the information pamphlets that came home in Friday Folders today!

Halloween Obstacle Course by Marin

   On Wednesday and Thursday we had the Halloween Obstacle course in PE!  There are NINE parts!
The first part is the haunted maze.  You take one scooter and go forward and backward and go around obstacles. The second part is the Witches Hat.  You're still on the scooter and you scoot in and out of the witch's hats. Then you get up after that and go to number 3.  It is the Cemetery.  You go through a stone, then over, then through until you get to the witch's broom sticks.  Then you go under the brooms and you get to the Haunted Mountain.  You climb on the mountain made of mats.  Then you get to the circle thing, hop out, and take a rope ride over a "hot" lake.  You do that twice and then you run through the hula hoops.  The Haunted Cave is next.  You just go through it.  You swing on the rope again to get into a circle thing and then you are in the pumpkin patch.  You'll take a basketball and dribble through the cones.  You run back and put the ball through the hoop and you've survived the Haunted Obstacle Course!  

Real World Connections

   I love when students come in with excitement and energy! Not only did we have plenty of that this morning, but also some items to share with the class!  One students found a skull in his yard and brought it in for us to investigate during our next Science unit-Structures of Life!

   Another student has been indentifying rocks she finds on the way to school and is keeping observations in her notebook! 

   I am so impressed by these students each day, but mornings like this are my favorite! 

Mix It Up Lunch

Today we participated in the Mix it Up lunch! The big idea is to learn about someone new during our lunch time together! As students entered the cafeteria, Mrs. Crews, our Instructional Coach, greeted students with a can full of colored stickers. Students chose one sticker and sat at the table with the corresponding color! Ask your Third Grader who they mixed it up with!

The Pacer (insert dramatic music) :)

Third graders ran their second pacer today in P.E.  The pacer is 29 meters, paced by a series of beeps to start and end each lap.  The beep gets faster each lap.  Students are self-motivated by increasing total laps from their total from the month before!  Ask a Third Grader what their goal is for the November pacer!

Natural Resources

   We may have some future geologists in this class!  Through discussion of Natural Resources, we took a closer look at minerals.  Students have been testing eight minerals using the characteristics of minerals- color, hardness, luster, and streak.  The photos below show the students performing a hardness test!  Ask students about the Moh's Scale of Hardness and how they tested their minerals!

Keeping it Fresh!

With such a great opportunity to combine our units of geography and geology, it's incredibly important to continually review content!

   Today we had a team trivia review and the class seemed to really enjoy it!  Ask your child what soil is made of, what humus is, how chemical and physical weathering are the same/different and how place affects soil composition. 

A Beautiful Challenge

   As the end of a math unit approaches, we plan a challenging problem solving activity for our students to "struggle through" using their skills, mindset, and grit!  Today, we used our subtraction problem solving skills for a Sticker Quest.  This may sound tame at first, but ask any Third Grader about the tasks they completed for a glorious sticker!  :)
   The beauty in today's challenge was the conversation and perseverance I witnessed.  Students had the option of pairing up with the stipulation that each partner must show their own thinking.  The very first group I checked in on was hard at work and super quiet.  When I asked what their strategy was, they looked at me (possibly a little annoyed because I was interrupting their challenge) and explained they decided to choose a task together, complete the task separately, then discuss their thinking together before arriving at a final answer.  Yes, Mrs. Schuh's socks were blown off.

   The next group I checked in was just as focused.  One partner asked if the task was even possible.  When I smiled and sat down, the other partner looked up at me and declared "No hints!" before I could even open my mouth!  I was happy to oblige!

    As I continued checking in from group to group, I stopped and thought, "I'm missing something- no one "needs" me, every single student is focused, and they look like they are having fun!"  This class was working together, learning and performing some difficult challenge tasks and using the critical thinking skills to succeed!
   Near the end of our math time, I looked over to a group of three and they were celebrating their struggle-dance moves and all!  This is my happy place- students taking on challenges with their "can-do" mindset and celebrating each step of the way!
     

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage written by 3S

   It has been a GREAT week to celebrate Hispanic Heritage!  Sra. Kennerly has really planned exciting and enriching activities!  

Wednesday was Fiesta Day and we celebrated with rotations during specials!  

   Rotation 1: We worked in game stations such as Espanol Rock Paper Scissors, A Top Game, A ball in the cup game, and dominos counting in Spanish!

   Rotation 2: Sra. Maria Riofrio told a folk story about the potato! The class thought it was funny but also learned how the potato was found and what to make with it!  She also taught about Peru, a country in South America. 

   We also enjoyed a special assembly to learn about Hispanic dancing and music!  It was fun to look at the traditional clothing!  The dancers from Alma de Mexico did a great job!  

Subtraction Across Zeros Song By Mira

   I was surprised when Mrs. Schuh said we were going to watch a video during math!  We watched a video /song on how to subtract when there is a 0 in the ones place ,0 in the tens pleace ,and 0 in hundreds.  The song was a song that everyone knew, called "Cups" but it had different words to help us subtract.  If you could not subtract we had to barow from the next diget and if the next digit was a zero, then you borrow from that one!  When you regroup after borrrowing you, you have to change the number you borrowed from to one less.  Then you regroup the ten to the next smaller place value.  Here is the video that helps us remember how to subtract across zeros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afL4301DEuw   

Learning how to subtract with the help of a song was a good way for us all to use our Music Smarts!

One Final Run

   We will soon be retiring the stream tables as we continue learning about Our Changing World!  The big finale run happened today and it was super exciting!  Each group chose a new variable to test through the stream table. The new variable could be a natural disaster, human features, or adding in a land or additional water forms.  

   We will have these stream tables on display during conference week with a notecard explaining the investigation! 

A Personal Narrative about Personal Narrative Writing! By Aoife

  We did our writing publishing on oct.1 2015! It was fun it had a bunch of steps. I wrote about a weird experience in my life! It was about a party my friend’s parents set up because her grandma died. A friend wrote about her first American Girl Doll. Another wrote about her 2013 Halloween.  I think they all had fun too.  We're going to celebrate our writing!  We are very excited to celebrate our writing.

Sing Me A Story Musical by Maya

Dear parents,

 You've probly heared about the play sing me a story, well it is about fairy tales.  It is on November 4- on a Wednesday. The fairy tales that your child has been practing are a lot of songs like,  Don't  Be a Pinnoccio. My favorite  is the Madhatter!  Anyway, I have to go bye!  Hope you can make it on November 4!

Climate

   We are shifting our gears in Our Changing World unit to think about location/geography.  We identified climate today and took "field trips" to four very different ecosystems! Ask your child which ecosystem they "travelled" to and how they could describe the climate (using temperature and weather words).  

Smart Learning By Lucas

Yesterday, Mrs Schuh told us about the "animal school" for brain break.And that was just the begining!  The Animal School was a mess because the animlas made the school to see who was the smartest animal.  We found out no animal was the smartest because there is no "fair" definition of smart.  All animals (and people) are smart in their own way because we all have different strengths! Today we did something involving 1: candy and 2: smarts!  First, we got a sheet of stuff students like to do, and checked off stuff that was true about us! Then, we highlighted 20 of those checks and wrote the category of smart (math, reading etc.)  we used smarties (the candy type) to help us on our journey to find our smarts.  Tomorrow we will learn about each other and how we are all 100% Smart.  How?  Mrs. Schuh is keeping it a surprise, but I'm guessing it will be fun!