Playing With Place Value

 

 

A new school year is underway with 35 sweet and smiling third graders. We began the beginning of our math journey with a unit study on understanding the importance of place value. There are also different ways to write our numbers! We have learned word form, standard form, and expanded form. Before leaping into the different number forms, we took to the floor to play with blocks! In this activity, the children worked in pairs to roll a die and create 3 and 4 digit numbers. After recording their digits, they used our place value blocks to build the number. As I was rotating around to different groups, I was impressed with the conversations taking place with the children. They were substituting 10 ten sticks in place of the hundreds block and making observations that they equaled the same value. I loved discovering their knowledge on the subject as much as (I hope) they enjoyed building with place value blocks!

 Silly boys still learning!

 Of course I had to capture my Carolina Gamecock fans on gameday!

 

Columbia Field Trips & Measuring Mass

This past month, the third grade ventured to Columbia to apply their learning of South Carolina history. We spent time exploring the state house along with the state museum. There was so many things to see and do. Somehow, Mrs. Rice and I were able to round up the crew to take a group picture!

 

 

 

While learning about the metric system, the children used balances to measure the mass in objects around the classroom. There was trial and error involved as they used their gram cubes to measure. I observed indepth discussions and theories while they worked in groups to discover and record their findings. We have young scientists in the making!

 

 

 

 



Features of the Earth Projects

Last week, the children presented their "Features of the Earth" projects! They each created a 3-D model of their assigned feature. These included water and land features. SC Science Standards 3-3.5 and 3-3.6 were covered as they created this project. Many other standards were addressed as they wrote why or why not they would want to live in, on, or around the feature. We all enjoyed hearing their opinion! Each student was assigned one of the following features: mountain, valley, canyon, plain, lake, river, plateau, coast, peninsula, and island. Each student did an out of this world job!

PASS Writing

The boys and girls will take the PASS Writing test tomorrow (Tuesday, March 18th) and Wednesday. On the test tomorrow, they will be given a writing prompt in which they will construct a written response. Day 2 of the test will consist of multiple choice questions. I know they will give it their all!  They have some encouragement on their desk when they come into class tomorrow. The ELA, Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies PASS test will take place May 6th, 7th, and 8th.

We love Friday!

Everyone has a smile on their face when Friday rolls around. The kids know they get Friday treats and the weekend is right around the corner. On Friday, we finished Lesson 1 in Science and worked with fraction bars. We also engaged in fraction games on the Promethean Board! I have added these game links on the class website. Our chapter on fractions is rounding out. On Friday, we took cups and plates to mark where we thought "one-half" and "three-fourths" full would be. This was to help us grasp the concept of benchmark fractions that we use in our daily dialogue.
 The kids also worked in our new math center rotation. Mrs. Rice and I had been racking our brains to figure out a new Power Block rotation in which both classes could receive time in Math Centers and Reading/ELA Centers. We worked it out so that we work with our own homeroom Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we switch classes during this time. Each center is allowed 12 minutes and stays fast paced. The children won't get bored with the ever changing surroundings and we can focus on differentiating with the small groups we see! This is our second week implementing it and we are hoping things keep going this smoothly. The 7 centers in my homeroom consist of: A-Work With Teacher, B-Math Journals, C-Frog Games (a self-checking board game), D- Learning Pallet games (another self checking game), E-Study Island (on computers), F- Fast Facts, G-Read To Self.