Team 3C: February 25th Update

LITERACY

As previously mentioned, this week read alouds focused on picture books. There are so many things to learn from a good picture book. In line with our current writing focus on word choice, we were able to tune into interesting words when we were reading The Troll by Julia Donaldson. We also tuned into some interesting play on words in the books Chimpansneeze and Hiccupotamus by Aaron Zenz. On Friday, we giggled through Boo Hoo Moo by Margie Palatini.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been focusing our read alouds around teaching the students simple comprehension, accuracy, fluency and expanding vocabulary strategies. We have also used our read alouds to examine and explore different genres of books, comparing nonfiction to fiction texts and studying authors word choice. As we approach the final four months of grade three, I am excited to share a different reading experience with them. We are starting to read the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio tomorrow.

Wonder is a pretty serious read and it brings up THE BEST conversations! I love sharing this book with my students because it truly opens their eyes to the power of a book...how it can change the way you think, how it can make you question your beliefs, your actions and your character and how it can make you care deeply for a character that you've never met! Reading this book with the students enables them to use all of the comprehension strategies we have been working on and demands them to think a little deeper. Each year, I watch students transform as readers as they loose themselves in this story. I'm sure many of you will soon hear about the main character August and the journey that he his embarking on. I encourage you to check in with your child each day and ask them what is happening in the book! They will love to share the story with you!

Due to a push for extra math and science time, our literacy time was a little short this week. We will continue to work on our writing theme of word choice this week.

NUMERACY

Math this week was tricky. Mastering triple digit subtraction where the borrowing options are ever changing (borrowing from the tens, borrowing from the hundreds, borrowing twice, not borrowing at all) really pushes many grade three students to their max. In order to build up their confidence, they need practice, practice and more practice. This week I am going to teach them how to handle the final borrowing option, borrowing from a zero. I have a great trick to help students with this process and have confidence that they will be proficient with it quite quickly.

SCIENCE

Two big focus areas, other than curricular content objectives, in our Survivor Unit are the scientific method to create a fair test and team work. Before actively participating in an experiment we discuss the scientific method to ensure that we are completing a fair test. We make sure that only one element of our experiment is changing (manipulated variable) and that everything else is staying exactly the same (controlled variables). Students then divide the tasks up between their tribe mates and complete the task as a team. Sometimes, issues with team work end up affecting the scientific reliability of the experiment. It's a perfect natural consequence to deviating from the plan. This week we had two different experiences with our two experiments. On Wednesday and Thursday, we tested the different types of beams to see if one was stronger than the other. Students tested a rectangular beam, a box girder beam and an accordion beam. Our results were very conclusive...the accordion beam was the strongest by far! On Friday, things didn't go so smoothly. Some groups had a tough go and the result was inconsistent results. It was such a great lesson! I couldn't have planned it better! Tomorrow, we are going to redo our experiment as a class to see if we can come to a conclusion about which arch is stronger...the one that spans a longer or shorter gap?