Catch-up blog entry... with photos!

Hello!

This past week was our first week of "regular school", without field trips or special events, that we have had in over a month!  It was great to have some large chunks of instructional time, and it gave the students the chance to start and finish their structures project.  They worked in groups to complete this project and their task was to build a play structure that was no larger than 30 cm x 30 cm, and that could support at least 500g of weight.  In the end, all of their structures supported at least 1kg of weight and I was very proud at how well all of the groups worked together for this project.  I have attached the photos of their structures to this blog, so you can ask your children which one they worked on!

Thank you to all of you who sent in paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, straws, popsicle sticks, etc. for our structures project!  The materials were much appreciated and we had more than enough to do what we wanted to do!

In math, the students did their module 3 geometry test on Friday, and we have started into module 4 which focuses on multiplication and division, and the grade 3s seem eager to enter into this unit, as I think it excites them to learn things that "older kids get to learn"! :)

Weeks 8 and 9!

These past few weeks have been VERY busy at Woodroffe Avenue P.S. and this week is no different! With our Swim to Survive Sessions at Dovercourt (the first one was a great success; number 2 is coming up tomorrow a.m.!), Halloween (and all the enthusiasm that came with that!) and our field trip to the Museum of Science and Technology this coming Thursday, the students of 3B have been full of excitement!

Here are a few quick updates...

In literacy, the students finished up their descriptive monster texts and had a lot of fun coming up with those as well as their creative illustrations.  This week (and next) we are taking a break from a formal writing project, and the students will be writing in their journals as part of the Daily 5 literacy block. 

In math, we have finished up module 2 (tests went home to be signed today), and have just started up module 3 which has a geometry focus, looking at shapes, angles, and solids.  This ties in well with our current science unit on structures!  Today, the students conducted a science experiment to see how many pennies could be supported on an "index card bridge", and then how varying the design of the bridge increased the total amount of pennies supported.  I found the experiment online (http://science.wonderhowto.com/how-to/build-simple-paper-bridge-as-science-experiment-424754/) and the students enjoyed making predictions and trying it out!   Thanks for all the boxes, paper towel rolls, etc. that have been sent in! We will be building a large structure as a class at some point with those materials, and the students will also be completing a smaller-scale structure project in groups at some point as well.  More info to come!

We played around with Boomwackers today, which are plastic tubes that are tuned to different note values.  You can do some pretty interesting things with them so I am hoping to borrow them again for another class at some point. If you have never heard of them, here is a really neat video of boomwackers in action (although these people have a lot more skill than we will likely ever have in grade 3!)... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwhAZCIxdjs

Just a reminder...

Progress reports go home this Thursday (November 7th) and interviews are next Thursday and Friday (14th and 15th of November).

Thanks for reading!