3FT Third Grade Thoughts: February 2015

Our students enjoyed skating for the last time in Grade 3. Thank you to all of the parents who took time to come help tie skates and to those who braved the ice with the kids! We definitely appreciated your assistance!

3FT showed their support against bullying by wearing pink on February 25th. We also started the day with a good read aloud.

This week in Math, we began understanding subtraction of two digit numbers. We explored a number of different strategies with and without manipulatives. We practiced, practiced and practiced some more!

In Language Arts, we started reading from our new Collections book called "Beneath the Surface". We read the first reading, which was made up of a series of paragraphs about different sea creatures. We learned how to take "jot notes" by writing down important information in point form. Students were broken up into groups, assigned to a paragraph and worked on making their own jot notes. They presented the important information they found, to the rest of the class.

We were VERY busy in Science this week and started receiving challenges by "tree mail".

We have landed safely near shore and made our way to the closest beach. Ahead of us is a dense jungle and we see a huge storm heading our way, so we decide to make our way to find some shelter. As we reach the edge of the forest, we notice a large crack in the Earth. Gio takes a step forward to take a closer look. It is very deep and looks like it may have been caused by an earthquake. He tells us that he can not even see the bottom. There is also hot lava spewing from the crack. The crack is not too wide, but we definitely can not jump over it. We will need to build something in order to cross onto the other side. We have decided to make a foot bridge out of a piece of wood we see nearby. We need to figure out if bending the wood to make a square frame or bending it into an arch will be stronger. We need to remember that this structure needs to hold each classmate and teacher one by one as we step over the crack.

Students were given paper, plasticine, containers and weights to test the square and arch frames. Our conclusion...arch frames support more weight! Great team work!!!

Our second challenge...

We made it across the hot lava! It was very scary and a lot of work. Most of us are starving and we haven’t eaten for HOURS! Ahead of us, in the dense jungle we spot some trees. It looks like there are bananas hanging from them. YUM!!! We all begin running towards the tree. SUDDENLY, Alexis stops. She is out of breath and pointing ahead at a fast moving river. We need to make it across the river in order to eat. We spot some tree bark near by and decide to build a few beams in order to make a bridge. None of us want to be swept away by the current so we will have to work together and come up with the best design. There are three types of beams that we will need to test.

Students were give paper to create three types of beams, rectangular, box girder and accordion. Then they placed their beam across two books that were 10cm apart. They tested the strength of the beams using marbles as the weight. Our conclusion...the accordion beam held the most marbles.

Our third challenge...

YAY!!! The beams for the foot bridge are strong enough for us to cross the fast moving river. We are finally able to enjoy a few bananas. Now that we have full bellies, we can concentrate on building some shelter. The fierce storm is still heading our way and we need somewhere to keep dry and get some rest for the night. Johnno has a brilliant idea and takes us back to our aircraft. We see that a few pieces of tin have come off the side of the plane during our emergency landing. Madelyn and Carmen decide to haul the tin to a small clearing in the trees. Jason decides to bend the tin to make an arch for our shelter. The clouds look dark and heavy with rain. We need to make sure our arch is strong enough to hold the downpour. Does a wider gap cause the arched shelter to be stronger or weaker than a shorter gap? We need to test this so that we can stay dry for the night!

Students were given poster board paper to make their arches. They were asked to test the strength of the arches by changing the width.

In Social, we read about communities in Tunisia and how they are run. We discussed leaders of government, religion and the family. We also learned about Tunisia's environment and how this affects the way people live and work here. We read about the plains, mountains and desert regions of Tunisia.

In Art this week, we created optical illusion by making 3-dimensional effects. They started by drawing 6 intersecting lines on a piece of paper. They had to make sure that all lines were intersecting in the middle of the paper. Then they added their designs onto every second section and added their colour using marker. To finish their project, they added some shading with pencil crayon.

Congratulations to our new Student of the Week!

We have finished our second Collections series. We read and discussed "The Finding Princess" and "The Other Frog Prince".

We also worked on the good copies of our Monster paragraphs and exchanged them to try and draw our classmates monsters. The students are realizing how important "details" are in their written work.

In Math, we are learning about the various strategies we can use to estimate the difference of 2-digit numbers. We are also learning why different strategies may produce different estimates.
We also learned a new math game....Don't Hang Loose! This game requires 6 dice. Ask your child how to play.

In Social, we have been learning more about Tunisia and adding this new information to our lapbooks. We were introduced to Ahmed, a citizen in Tunisia and have learned about the country and city life. We also discussed the culture in Tunisia.

We have started our new unit in Science! Throughout the next few months, we will be working through two units, "Testing Materials and Designs" and "Building with a Variety of Materials". We have decided to incorporate a SURVIVOR theme through the course of these units. Students were introduced to SURVIVOR this week.

OUR CLASS WAS ON A FLIGHT TO TUNISIA WHEN THE PILOTS, MRS. FORCHUK AND MRS. TEWITZ, HAD TO MAKE AN EMERGENCY LANDING ON A DESERTED ISLAND. WE ARE STRANDED AND WILL HAVE TO TEACH OURSELVES HOW TO BUILD...IN ORDER TO SURVIVE!

Throughout the unit, they will be given challenges to test a variety of materials to determine their strengths and weaknesses. They will also explore different shapes and which are better suited for certain building projects. The students are extremely excited!

Students were placed into four different tribes, given tribal buffs and came up with names. Challenges will begin next week!