Thank You!

Thank you for your generous gifts for our family in need.  The children enjoyed wrapping them and our spectacular Room Parent, Logan Tymoff, delivered them for us.  Thank you, also, for your unnecessary, but very appreciated, kind cards and gifts of thanks for our teaching.  Our greatest gift is the opportunity to teach your children every day.

To the Moon and Beyond

As you may have noticed by the Moon Landing Interview Homework this week, we have launched our study of Earth's moon in Room 25. As Ms. Barry guides the kids through investigations on matter, I will be leading an inquiry and exploration of the moon. The main objective of our unit is to understand how and why the moon appears to change shape. Our moon journals will be a place where we record our learning about the moon, but also our first-hand observations of the moon. Next week, your child will observe the moon two times and record their observations in their journal. We'll learn in class about the importance of observation in the scientific world, how to conduct thorough observations and ultimately write about our observations. Our moon observation schedule is based on the moonrise and moonset calendar, so here's to hoping we can actually see it! That being said, technology can be our friend and I'll e-mail out online resources next week that can be used to view an image of the moon on a particular night. We'll be observing the moon through January and drawing conclusions about what we are seeing in the night sky. 

Your help is needed! Because we'll be using Moon Journals in class and at home, we need them to travel between home and school daily. This has been historically challenging for 3rd graders, so your help with this effort is most appreciated! Having it live in the backpack with music folders and recorders is a great idea!

Ten Marks

We do realize some of the assignments can be challenging.   It was great to hear the strategies students were using to solve these problems.  That being said, it's never our intention to create great frustration with homework.  If your child expresses frustration, remind them to use the hints.  If the problems are still too difficult, choose one of the other assignments.  Some students are doing more Ten Marks outside and inside the classroom, so there are plenty of extra assignments with longer due dates and we are okay with students doing any of the assignments.  Keep in mind this is one component of our math program and one of the biggest reasons why we use it is for children to be familiar with the platform for the computerized test in the spring.

What is Matter?

Scientists in Room 25 have been busy learning about matter. Our study of matter began with a science talk about matter.  The class worked together to simulate atoms moving in a solid, liquid and gas.  Finally, they drew visual representations of atoms in solids, liquids and gases.

Candy Boxes

One method to teach the concept of multiplication is using arrays. This week, students created different shaped candy boxes using color tiles and then wrote a letter explaining all the possible box shapes for different numbers of candy. This was a helpful way to reinforce arrays and multiplication equations using manipulatives.