Week in Review: November 10-14

It's been another busy week in third grade! We visited our kindergarten buddies after the Veteran's Day Assembly on Tuesday. And on Friday we had a school spirit assembly, where the Reflection Contest entries were honored. We are so proud of Roan and Emma W. for their participation, and of Carly for her award of excellence. Carly's entry will move on to the district level.

In science, we did a neat experiment to observe changes in the state of matter. We used a digital thermometer connected to the computer which graphed the temperature change and time as we heated ice. The students observed the solid ice melting into liquid, and then evaporating as water vapor as more heat was added. 

On Friday in science, we set up what will be a multiple month long project. Students were put into groups and each group buried 4 different types of trash (paper, plastic or aluminum, yard waste, and food waste). Every 1 or 2 weeks, we will dig up the waste and observe the changes. It will be interesting to see what type of garbage decomposes the fastest.

Thanks to everyone who sent in gallon jugs for this, we even had a few leftover to share with other classes. Please continue to send in plastic lids as you collect them. They can be small bottle tops, tops to a gallon or  half gallon jug, or even container lids. We are looking for all sizes!

In math, we are continuing to work on strategies in multiplication, with a focus on the 2s, 4s, and 8s facts. You may hear your child talk about doubling a number (multiplying it by 2) or "double-double" (multiplying by 4), or even double-double-double (multiplying by 8). Please take a few minutes each day to quiz your child on these facts...they should be pretty fluent in them by now. 

Painting dots to double and double and double by folding our paper over.

Doubling review game

Using linking cubes to visualize doubling

In language arts, we spent a lot of time researching Germany and students created "Tackk Pages" which are like an online bulletin board. I will be sharing out those links next week as we get them published. We are also discussing the various text structures that we find in expository (or non-fiction) texts. So far, we have read examples of descriptive texts, sequential texts, and cause and effect texts. 

Some important things to know for next week: we kick off International Children's Week with a school-wide assembly on Monday morning. You are welcome to join us in the cafeteria at 8am. Thursday is the evening family event from 6pm-8pm where several different countries will be showcased at the International Childrens' Fair. Your family is invited to attend! And finally, Friday morning, our class will visit the various country displays as we tour the school with our ICF Passports and learn about other cultures. Because there is so much going on next week, I am not going to send home spelling lists or give a test on Friday...hopefully, the kids won't be too disappointed! ;) Progress reports will be coming home in Thursday folders though!