Today, we took a "math break" and worked on a STEAM project.  STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.  Today's project was based on the fairy tale, Princess and the Pea.  If you are not familiar with Princess and the Pea, the story is about a Prince that is looking for a Princess to marry, but she must be a REAL princess.  One day, a young lady shows up at the castle door, claiming to be a princess, but she did not look like a "real" princess to the King and Queen.  The Queen decided to test if she was real, by placing a pea on her bed and then placed 20 mattresses and 20 quilts on top of it.  After a long nights sleep, she awoke feeling exhausted and bruised because she had slept upon something hard.  This then proved that the young lady was, in fact, a real princess.

So, today, we began with 10 sponges to represent the mattresses and quilts and a large marble and small marble to represent the pea.  Students were tasked with stacking AND balancing the sponges on the marble, without the sponges tilting or touching any sides.  Below are pictures of the students working and some of those that were successful at stacking 10 sponges.  Students had a blast with this activity, despite the fact that some became frustrated with the process.  It is not easy to balance the sponges on the marble and hope that it will stay.

Blogging

I thought I would share with you a recent blog post I wrote for www.ethicalela.com.  The founder, Dr. Sarah Donovan, asked if I would write about my decision to do away with homework and reading logs.  I have shared most of this information with you, at the beginning of the year, but you might find it useful reading to assess if your child is enjoying school more or reading for enjoyment.  

In the classroom, I am often told, by your children, that they love school this year because "it's more fun".  Although school is for learning, it should be fun to make learning more meaningful.  I am seeing the results, are you?

http://www.ethicalela.com/reading-logs/

Math, Unit 4 - Patterns and Measurement

I am happy to say that, even with one eye, I was able to upload information on Unit 4 and type this post (no comments about grammar or spelling errors!) LOL  Please take some time to look through Unit 4 for ways to support your child's learning at home.  I look forward to hearing how successful they are with measuring!!

Sorry,Moms & Dads, I couldn't resist!!!!

Yesterday, during my awesome conferences, I made a comment or two about moving students around to help with "chattiness"  and to have new neighbors to get to know!  

Today, will perusing Facebook, I came across this image and thought it was so cute hilarious and appropriate to yesterday's conversations!  

Sorry, Parents, I couldn't resist!!

Decomposing Numbers

Yesterday, we began decomposing numbers using place value to help them understand that numbers can be decomposed in many ways to make it easier for computation.  

Students began with a card that  contained a place value problem on it.

Students used base tens blocks to build the numbers.  This process involved exchanging base tens out for hundreds, ones for tens, etc.  We spent two days working on this concept to allow students time to "dig deep" into their learning.  

Book Report #1

What a blast we've had the past two days presenting our first book reports!!  I am so extremely proud of how awesome the projects were.  Students put so much thought and creativity into making them amazing.  It was wonderful watching each student present and the feedback they received from their peers on their biography and project.  I look forward to seeing their second book reports on January 14th!!  

If you have any questions on the book report projects, please check out the Book Report packet on the Class Info page.  Just remember that students must select a different type of project for each book report.  They are not allowed to repeat a project.  Also, Book Report #2 is based on a realistic fiction book.  We looked at some different books today, by simply Googling "Realistic Fiction books for 3rd grade"!

Learning to Round/Estimate Numbers

What a morning we had!  We took our math lesson outside, in the cool breeze, to make a number line from 0-100.  Although students have experience with number lines, it was interesting to watch them struggle to fill in missing numbers on the line.  Counting by 10"s I laid down hoops to show "decades".  Students followed and counted by 10's.  Students were then paired to fill in the numbers that were missing in between each decade.  I immediately noticed that students did not know how to evenly spread out the missing numbers so that the "5's" increments were in the middle of the 10's.  Many students began making tick marks, but did not spread them out evenly between each 10.  Once we corrected this, I asked students to stand on various points of the number line and we worked as a class to determine which "decade" the student was closer to.  

Students have learned, for years, that if a number is between 0-4 they round down and 5 or more they round up.  The problem is that they could not explain why they did this.  By standing on the number line, they were able to see which "decade" they were closer to.  When we reached the middle, such as 55, students had to decide would they round down to 50 or up to 60.  Following the old way of learning it, they said 60, but when I questioned why, they could not explain it to me.  We then decided that if we were on a road trip and got half way through our trip and figured out we forgot something, would we go all the way back or continue on to the next point?  We would continue on, rather than driving all the way back.  If we were closer to the 50 mark, like 52 or 53, it would be a short trip back, but once we made it to 55 or higher, it would be smarter to move on to 60.  

Tomorrow, we carry on the learning using 0-99 charts to see if students can determine word problems that ask students to round/estimate.  

Learning Perimeter

Last week students began learning about perimeter.  Although they entered 3rd grade with a lot of knowledge about perimeter, I had to help them separate their knowledge of perimeter from their knowledge of area.  They wanted to add for both, when I wanted them to multiply for area and add for perimeter.  In the end, I won the battle and they are multiplying monsters!!

For perimeter, students helped the ants of Hollow Log, design their parade route around a lake.  In addition, they designed a few more lakes so, to give the ants some options for the parade route.  Using geometric designs, a 24" long string, and triangular grid paper, students went to work helping the ants.

Students will complete their newly designed lakes this week, so stay tuned for more pictures!

Community Experts

As I'm sure you've already heard, our classroom desk are set up in communities (Rural, Suburban, Urban).  The idea was to tie in our Social Studies standards, which focus on communities, the citizens that live in the communities, and laws/government/jobs/etc for the community.  

Two weeks ago, your child started working on becoming experts about the community the sit at. We began with a simple video explaining the three types of communities and features/characteristics of each.  From there, students read about a community that was the same as theirs.  Using that knowledge, they set up a community diorama, named it, and wrote down features that make their community unique.  

The students had a lot of fun learning about their community and using their artistic abilities to create and name their own!

Division

Last week we finished up division, using the book, The Doorbell Rang.  I love this book and how much fun it is to teach my kiddos how to divide using repeated subtraction.  The kiddos love being able to eat their manipulatives!  LOL Most off all, it was fun watching them realize that they could write and solve a division problem, using only repeated subtraction and not having to use the cookies.  They were very proud of themselves for being able to solve simple division equations abstractly.