March 9-13

Great Things Happen in 3FM

SCIENCE UPDATE

Here is just a little opening buddy reading activity that we did to start the week off - reading books about building and structures with the purpose of sharing what that they learned with the rest of the class. 

As always science class is a super fun place to be. Our engineering company has been busy testing a number of designs and students have been putting the scientific method to the test. They are starting to see that it doesn't matter if their hypothesis is different than their conclusion - and that the test and what they learn is the important step.

This past week the students were engaged in two separate tasks: first students tested how different shapes of pillars compared in strength. Students quickly learned that cylindrical pillars were the strongest as they do not have corners - so they resist buckling. Also - they were able to tie in previous knowledge in that the circular shape would spread the force of the mass equally - allowing it to support more mass. 

Here are some of our Engineers at work:

The next concept we looked at was how engineers choose the materials that they use in projects. 
To do this - we did a group experiment to test the strength of different papers: 
tissue paper, kleenex, computer paper, construction paper and loose leaf. 

Students learned that when engineers are choosing a material - it is important to know what the purpose of the material will be. For example - we wouldn't want to blow our nose with construction paper as it would be too rough, however - you wouldn't use a kleenex to make a poster because it would rip or tear too easily. Engineers must choose the best materials for the construction task at hand.

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATE

I have to tell you that I am absolutely loving our social studies class discussions. Students are so eager to hear about how decisions are made in our country as well as 

in the countries that we are studying. The inquisitive nature of our lessons is so 

great to see in a grade 3 classroom. 

We spent this week looking at how decisions are made in Peru and in Tunisia. We discussed the importance of having the freedom of choice in who runs our country - and the importance of voting in elections. Students learned about how decisions are made in communities in Peru and Tunisia - and that the people of both of these countries elect their leaders - who are called Presidents. We also discussed the differences in how decisions may be made in a small community versus a bigger city - the whole idea of elected representation. 

We compared these countries with Canada - as we also elect our leaders of government, however, we call our leader Prime Minister. I really emphasized the importance in having a choice in our leadership - and explained that there are countries in the world where this is not the case. We talked about our leaders having to be somewhat accountable if they want to remain in the position of a leader, otherwise the people may choose someone new in the next election.

Have a super fabulous week - enjoy the sunshine!