News for April 29

News for April 29

The class worked very hard on our One Million Dots project this week. One million dots is proving to be a much larger number than anyone realized! On Wednesday, the children worked in pairs to count the number of dots we had so far and each child used a calculator to to add up the group results. We calculated that we had created only 461,000 dots. That's not even halfway to one million! (That would be 500,000.) We figured out that we needed 1,000,000 - 461,000 = 539,000 more dots! After some discussion, the class realized that our groups of 1,000 and groups of 10,000 were not adding up fast enough. So, we agreed to create groups of 20,000 and use the photocopier to help us. By the end of the week, the children had managed to tape most of the papers together. We need to finish this project by Math Night (May 5th) as it is going on display in the first floor middle stairwell.

We finally finished reading aloud the chapter book Pippi Longstocking and each student wrote a short book review. Most of the students rated it with 5 stars! That's great for a book that was written 66 years ago, in 1950.

In math, the class finished up the unit on fractions. The students focused on fractions of a set and used two-sided counters to show various fractions of a group. The summative activity was to create a book of fractions to show what each child had learned. FIrst they folded a large paper into eighths and made it into a little book (using the same origami model we used to create the invitations to our 100 Books Party). Then the students cut up paper squares to show various fractions. Did you know there are three different ways to cut a square into four equal pieces? After, each child wrote a reflection on the fractions unit, showing what they know and how to apply fraction knowledge to everyday life. (For example, if I had 30 chips and I shared them with myself and two friends, we would each get one third of the chips or 10 chips.)

In science, the children continued to take care of their plants and look at more kinds of seeds. The class looked at, germinated and planted in soil, some apple seeds and popcorn kernels. They also looked at (and ate) sunflower seeds but did not plant them because they were already roasted (cooked) so they would not germinate. They looked at, ate and dried some blackberry seeds and the pits from dates. Finally, we managed to crack open a coconut (the seed for the coconut palm) and the children tried drinking coconut water and the white coconut flesh. The class discussed how they were now looking at their food a bit differently and thinking about which parts of different plants they eat and how the plants they eat make seeds. Sometimes humans eat the flowers for energy (for example, cauliflower) and sometimes humans eat the seeds for energy (for example, beans).

In social studies, the children listened to a lecture by Doug Sanderson, a Davisville parent who is of Cree ancestry. He explained some of the history of the indigenous people who were in Canada when immigrants arrived from Europe over two hundred years ago. Recall, the focus of the unit is how people in Canada lived from 1780 to 1850.

The children also continued to created their woven bookmarks using the wool they dyed themselves. About half of the class has finished weaving their first bookmarks on cardboard looms and many are choosing to create second pieces of woven fabric.

At the end of the week, the grade 3 students started to begin to review material and learn the strategies to help them write the EQAO standardized test.

Books read aloud this week:

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (chapter book - finished)

Three Little Pigs - A Tale Moderne by Steven Guarnaccia

Plant - All About Plants by David Burnie

The Matzoh Man - A Passover Story by Naomi Howland

Tree of Life - The Incredible Biodiverstiy of Life on Earth by Rochelle Strauss