We had a great week of learning! Read on to find out what we were up to!
In writing, we worked through a few more WEX lessons and began to talk more about our first important writing skill: FOCUS! When we have good focus in our writing, we write only about one thing and include plenty of great, unique details about it so the reader can get a picture in his/her mind. We'll continue working with this skill over the course of the next few weeks as well!
In math, we practiced more with number grids and place value, using our Student Reference Book to locate important information, and becoming more acclimated with some of the math tools we will use this year. We will continue to work through our first unit for the next two weeks or so.
For math on Friday, we took a trip to the computer lab so the students could log in and access the Everyday Mathematics website. We took some time to explore the different fact practice games/activities offered on the site, and we also had some time to check out the other games! On Monday, I will send home a bright orange page with more information about the site so you know what it has to offer. Your child will also have his/her login name/password information taped in his/her Home Folder so it is always accessible. Since we always write "Study Facts" on the assignment board at the end of the day, I reminded students that working on this site would be a great way to get that job done. Just a few minutes a day can make a BIG difference! To make it easy for students to access the site, I have a link called, "Everyday Mathematics," which can be found by clicking on the "Math" link at the top of my blog. Another handy link you will find on the "Math" page is one called, "Printable Home Links." As we discussed at Curriculum Night, I only hand out one home link pack to each student, so students can always use this link to access and print out the assigned home link if they happen to lose their home link pack, forget it at school, etc.
In science, we officially kicked off our study of the solar system! We began by having a science talk about what the students believed makes us have day and night on Earth. Many students had ideas and theories about this question, so, over the course of the next few lessons, we will be conducting a variety of observations to help students understand more about this. On Friday, we explored the sun and shadows. In the morning, we put a stick outside in the sun and, throughout the day, we went out to mark the location of the shadow on the sidewalk/blacktop. We observed that the shadow moved throughout the day and that the length of the shadow changed throughout the day. We will discuss more about this experiment in our science lesson on Monday.
Just a quick note about science: the science program is designed to encourage students to FIRST come up with their own ideas about how the solar system works and then, as we work through lessons and activities, the idea is that the students will continually reframe their ideas and, ultimately reach the understandings that align with what the scientists/astronomers of the world know to be true. As such, it is perfectly OK if your child is a little off-base with their understandings of everything at this point! Just encourage your child to keep thinking about things and talking about their ideas! As we work through this unit, students will be guided towards the known facts about the solar system.
I think that wraps it up! I'm looking forward to another great week of learning with my third graders!
