News for April 7

News for April 7

This week the children all finished their woven wool bookmarks, they compared The Iron Man (book) with The Iron Giant (movie) and we welcomed a new grade three student to our classroom. We now have 22 wonderful brains in Room 204!

In math, the class learned about how two-dimensional shapes move on a flat surface. Using directional words like up/down and left/right, they practiced moving on a grid, (e.g., go up two squares and right 3 squares). Then we talked about symmetry and how to use a "mira" tool. The students are now able to determine and count the number of lines of symmetry in a shape and complete a drawing of a symmetrical figure. By the end of the week, the class was discussing "slides" or "translations", which is the movement of a shape vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

The children continued the daily "Mad Minute Math" quizzes. Also they each created a set of 21 multiplication flash cards to take home to help them memorize these facts. The class also worked on a review of the 3x, 4x, 5x, and 6x tables.

The students continue to work on our Lego City. The children now have all finished writing their Lego stories using the buildings as the settings for their stories. These stories will be typed and become part of a class book.

The class learned about anagrams. Anagrams are words that use the same letters in one word, in a different order to make a new word. For example, there was a set of anagrams in our word wall words this week, quiet/quite. 

The children watched the movie The Iron Giant, which is an adaptation of our read aloud book, The Iron Man. Using Venn diagrams, they sorted out things/ideas into three groups: things that happened in the book only, the movie only and both the book and the movie. Later, they used this research to help them write a comparison of the book and the movie and their opinions as to which was better and why.

In art, the students learned how to make their own "iron men" sculptures using aluminum foil. These "foil guys" are tricky to make because only one piece of foil can be used (otherwise it would fall apart). The children put their best one on reused yogurt cup to make a statue. Finally, the students used their statues as models to practise sketching.

As part of the science unit on structures, the children worked in partners to create tall, stable structures using pattern blocks. During our discussion, the class realized that the structure needs a wide base and that the structures could be taller if the blocks could be somehow stuck together. They are now using what they learned to help them solve a paper structure challenge. The challenge is to use 12 pieces of paper and masking tape to create a bridge that is strong and stable enough to hold at least 3 dictionaries.

In social studies, the students compared pioneer life and modern life and how the pioneers did similar daily chores to what we do now, just in a different way. For example, to boil water we use an electric kettle, but the pioneers used a kettle on a wood-burning stove or on a fire. The class also watched another episode of the TV show Little House on the Prairie, to see another story of everyday life played out in pioneer times.

This week, there were two Room 204 Interview Shows! The children interviewed Ms. Sharfstein (our drama/dance teacher) and Ms. Konjhodzic (our music teacher). These shows can be seen in a separate posting.

Books read aloud this week:

The Iron Giant (DVD movie) based on the book, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

ANN and NAN are Anagrams: A Mixed Up Word Dilemma by Mark Shulman

Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beatty

If I Had a Robot by Dan Yaccarino

Little House on the Prairie - Ma's Holiday (DVD