A fun week!

We had a great penultimate week of third grade!  Our week started with our Dive into Reading Assembly where we learned about the SCS Summer Reading Challenge.  We also had several guest readers stop by to share their favorite stories.  On Wednesday, we had the SCS Jog-a-thon!  Always a great day filled with exercise, fun, and community.  On Friday, we went to the Shelburne Museum and participated in the Passport to Learning Experience. It was a beautiful day to be outside exploring the museum. Be sure to have your child share about our busy, but wonderful week! A big thank you to all of our Esprit Parent volunteers!  We could not have had such a successful week without you!

Hard to believe we have only four and half days left...this year has flown! Have a great weekend!

Bridge Engineers

This week in math, our Esprit third graders transformed into bridge engineers.  They were given two tasks to take on.  One dealt with building a bridge that was strong and another dealt with building a bridge that was long.  For each challenge, a team of children had to design, plan, and "shop" for materials. They then had to test their bridges and make any adjustments before the final test.  In the strength challenge, they had to build a bridge that could hold 50 grams and have a bridge span of 10 inches exactly. In the length challenge, they had to build a bridge that could hold 60 grams of weight, but had a bridge span of at least twenty inches!  They were able to use cardboard, popsicle sticks, newspaper, paper towel rolls, aluminum foil, straws, and lots of tape!  Be sure to ask your children how their bridges handled the challenges!  Did your child construct a beam, arch, or suspension bridge?

In our economy unit, we have been watching some videos and having some great discussions about needs vs. wants and good and services.  Can your child explain those terms to you?  As a part of the economy unit in Miss Niles' class, the children are earning "money" for doing their jobs or going above and beyond helping their classmates.  They can then use this play money to purchase items at Miss Niles' School Store!  The children have to decide each week if they want to spend their "earnings" or if they want to save for more expensive items.  Items for sale include bookmarks, pens, sticky notes, books, and even extra recess.  What is your child saving up for?

Please check the upcoming events section on our blog as the end of the year is always busy!  We will be having the Jog-a-thon on Monday so please make sure your child has sneakers.  Also, on Tuesday our third grade team is having a book swap. If you have any children's books that you no longer want hanging around your home, please send them in on Monday for our swap!  

Have a great weekend!

Oil Spill Challenge

Happy Friday!  Next Friday is the PTO Jog-a-thon.  Please check your child's backpack for information about this fun school tradition! If you have any questions, please let me know.

This week during theme, our Environmental Engineers had a chance to test out the best methods for cleaning up an oil spill in a river ecosystem.  We began by discussing ecosystems and how the animals and plants are connected in an ecosystem.  If a river is polluted, it not only affects the fist, but the animals that eat the fist.   Then the children were given containers of water with a small vegetable oil spill.  They tested out several tools and materials that could be used to contain the oil or remove the oil.  They used sponges, pipettes, felt, yarn, rubber bands, cottons balls, and spoons.  Be sure to ask your child what was the best material to remove oil from our "river"!  The children then used this information to brainstorm and design a plan to clean up our mock oil spill.  They could only choose four materials that we had tested earlier in the week for this official clean up.  How did your child's team to?  Did their methods remove the oil?  What could have worked better?

In math, we have continued with the idea of engineering, but this time with bridges.  We have been learning about and experimenting with three types of bridges: beam, arch, and suspension.  We learned about the characteristics of each and had the chance to create our own and understand how bridges work.  Then the children had the opportunity to start designing a bridge for their first challenge:  the Bridge Strength Challenge.  They worked in a team to design a bridge with specific materials and with a specific budget.  This bridge will have to hold at least 50 grams and have a span of 10 inches.  We will test these bridges next week!

In writer's workshop, we continue to work on writing letters!  We have learned the format of a letter and reasons why you might write letters.  Miss Niles' class even has a little post office.  Finished letters get are brought to the "post office" and then are delivered to mail boxes later that day!

Remember there is no school on Monday, May 28th.  Have a great long weekend!

Just a cute picture from the week...we love reading!

Building Bridges

We began our last math unit of the year this week! Unit 8 is all about bridge design and construction, as well as, data collection and analysis.  This week we gained some background knowledge about different types of bridges and the forces that are at work like compression and tension.  We read nonfiction text and looked at pictures of beam bridges.  The children built a few different models to explore how beam bridges work. With one model the children could only used paper.  The bridge had to span at least eight inches and it had to be able to hold some weight!  They did a great job in creating their bridges and identifying the design features that make a bridge strong and stable.  We also learned a couple of new terms. Can your child explain the terms compression and tension?

During our science time, we are still learning about ecosystems.  This week we focused on the environmental problems in a fictional town called Greentown.  All the plants and animals were dying in their ponds and the children had to act as environmental engineers to figure out what was wrong.  They did this by testing the pH of samples of water and soil that were from places in Greentown (school, farm, pond, neighborhoods, etc) and used the data they collected to determine what was causing the pollution problems.  Ask your child to tell you about the pH of the sample he or she collected!

We finished our SBAC testing this week!  The children worked so hard and should be proud!
Have a great weekend!

Buzzing Bees and Baking Bread

We had a great week on Team Esprit! We started our SBAC testing and our third graders are off to a great start, working hard and doing their best!  We will finish our testing on Monday and Wednesday of next week. We also had two fun activities that took us outside: Nearby Nature and the Shelbure Farms Bread Baking Event.

This month in Nearby Nature we learned about bees.  We watched a puppet show to learn about how honeybees are pollinators and we learned about the different jobs of the bees in the hive.  We also had the chance for an up-close look at bees and learned about adaptations that help them to survive and do their jobs.  We even got to dress Mrs. Weimer up as a bee in Miss Niles' class!  This was our last Nearby Nature of the year and the last for these third graders, as Nearby Nature does not continue in fourth grade.  Thank you so much to our Nearby Nature volunteers for spending time with us each month and helping us to learn about and enjoy nature!

 Per third grade tradition, Shelburne Farms visited on Wednesday for our Bread Baking Event!  With the help of Shelburne Farms educators and parent volunteers, our third graders had the chance to bake bread and make butter! Not only did they make the bread, they also learned how to churn butter and grind wheat and also had a bread taste test.  It was a beautiful day to be outside!  I'm sure your child will agree that the taste testing was the best part!  Thank you to Shelburne Farms, our SCS Food Smart Committee, and our parent volunteers for helping make this event possible!

 Have a great weekend!

Miss Deb's Class Publishing Party

A huge thank you to everyone for coming to this event to celebrate your children's amazing writing!  Please enjoy these pictures!

Shelburne Farms and Flynn Theater

We had a great start back from vacation with two field trips!  On Monday, we went to Shelburne Farms to kick off our study of ecology and ecosystems.  We explored the pond and forest ecosystems, noticing what plants and animals make up those ecosystems.  It was a chilly and rainy day so we didn't find any frogs in the pond, but we did find plenty of insects.  In the forest, we rolled over many fallen logs to investigate what was underneath them...fungus, salamanders, spiders, and larva!  Despite the rainy weather, we had a great time and enjoyed our hands-on experience with nature! What was your child's favorite part of the field trip?  On Thursday, we ventured to the Flynn Theater to see Machine de Cirque.  This was an acrobatic show put on by five men from Quebec City.  We were amazed at their high-flying acrobats and their strength and agility. Ask your child to tell you about the show!

After all the field trips, we had to get back to work and start practicing for the SBAC tests.  These are standardized tests given to students grades 3-8.  We will be taking these online Math and English Language Arts tests on Monday and Friday next week and Monday and Wednesday the following week.  The best way to help your child be prepared for these tests is to help them get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast in the morning!  Thanks for your support!

In writing, Miss Niles' class is finishing their fairy tale adaptations with making last edits, designing covers, and adding illustrations.  Ms. Deb's class finished and had a great publishing party! Thanks to Ms. Deb's families for coming in to celebrate these fantastic adaptations.  Miss Niles' class will be having a publishing party next week...more information to come soon!

In math, we are coming to the end of our Unit 7 (Fractions and Multiplication) study.  This week we worked more with comparing fractions and finding equivalent fractions with a game called Racing Fractions.  We also divided and shared pizzas (paper ones!) to demonstrate our knowledge of fractions.

Have a great weekend!