Experiments and Measurement

In math this week, we spent much time discussing and learning about measurement; naturally about height/width/depth, but also that we measure a variety of facets of life--from temperature to speed, from earthquakes to sound. This week we spent time measuring many objects using both the metric and imperial system units. Students continue to work through their mental math. Our mental math program is a wonderful way for students to learn and improve many strands of basic math such as number operations, money, fractions, decimals, shape, tessellation and symmetry, telling time, and other concepts.  It lends itself to working independently, but getting one-on-one support as needed.

In our language activities this week, we continued our work with fictional writing, about about fairy tales and fantasy, and how this writing style differs from others. Understanding the writing process, and editing for writing conventions is our goal in grade three, to prepare for grade four. The students are continuing their weekly word sorts and explicit learning about spelling patterns. Knowing that when we add suffixes such as" ing" to a word doubles the consonants for certain letters like g, n, p and and not others such as w is the kind of spellers we are trying to shape. We are still reading Danny the Champion of the World. We have great discussions about plot, character development and how writers use various literary tools to hook the readers. Our students love this story!

 In our How the World Works unit of inquiry this week, we had our second Experiment/Investigation Lab.  We predicted what would happen when we take sand, which is a composite of many, many different minerals and organic material, and mix it with starch, which is a carbohydrate, and H2O.  We learned about many ways to describe prediction and outcomes using the scientific method of research.  We look forward to the lab coming this week!  The students are also researching and writing about mineral properties and the function of a variety of minerals, and are collating an entire collection of mineral index cards.  There are many conceptual math and language connections which are transdisciplinary and incorporate well during this unit of inquiry.

Have a great week ahead!

Mr. Shawn and Ms. Olga