Fantastic February!

February is an exciting and busy month in third grade!  We will be celebrating the 100th day, Valentine's Day, Differences Awareness Day, Vermont Writes Day, and visiting the Scholastic Book Fair!  Please check the upcoming events section of this blog to know the dates of these events.  We have also sent out specific notices regarding some of these events:  Valentine's Day, 100th day, and the Book Fair. Please let us know if you did not receive this information.

This week in theme we continued with our weather unit by discussing and learning about natural disasters, specifically hurricanes.  We read some books and watched some videos that showed how hurricanes form and the destruction that the winds and rain can cause.  Then the children were given an engineering task. With a partner, they had to create a structure (with four walls, 2 windows, a door, and a roof) that could withstand "hurricane winds" (wind from a leaf blower!).  They could use paper, index cards, tape, pattern blocks, string, and plastic wrap to build the structure.  Be sure to ask your child about his or her structure! We will be testing these structures on Monday!  Whose structure will withstand the winds???

In writer's workshop, we talked about writing conclusions for our nonfiction books.  A good conclusion tells the reader why the topic matters and encourages the reader to take interest in the topic.  We have now learned about all of the components of a strong nonfiction book:  table of contents, introduction, chapters with details, text features, and a conclusion. The children will spend the rest of the month drafting their nonfiction books, revising, and editing.  We look forward to seeing their end results!

In reader's workshop, we discussed that readers of nonfiction read to learn and that it is important to stop and think while reading nonfiction.  We used thinkmarks (bookmarks with spaces for writing) as a place to jot our thinking about a nonfiction book.  On a thinkmark, there is space to jot down new information, draw a picture that go with the topic, write down new words that are learned, the main idea and details, and any wonderings.  Ask your child what nonfiction books he or she has read this week and ask what he or she wrote on a thinkmark.  Did your child have any new learning?

In math, we continued measuring this week!  We first measured liquid volume and made estimations as to how much liquid certain containers can hold.  We were surprised that some of our estimations were so close to the actual measurement!  We then did a measurement scavenger hunt for items of a certain length or a certain mass. The children had to search through the room to find objects that were less than 20 cm long and objects that are greater than 75cm.  They also had to find objects that have a mass that is less than 50 grams and objects that have a mass between 100-200 grams.  Be sure to ask your child about his scavenger hunt!

Have a great weekend!