How Much IS 1,000? Do 3rd grade kids know?

Kids are always intrigued by the measuring tape, but this
group took it a bit further, stretching them all out to see
how many TOTAL CMs.  It was easier counting than some
of the groups, but stretched out further.

Our current focus in math is place value; actually reading, writing and representing numbers to 1,000.  Yep that's right out of the CORE.  Over the years, I've discovered that kids learn to put numbers into the right "places" and read these numbers quite easily.  The tricky part comes with understanding what these number REALLY represent.  How much is 1,000?

How much is 1,000?

Naturally our class had an EXPLORATION of the number 1,000.  I started the ball rolling by setting out our money bin and a recording sheet with different currency (bill) amounts.  I DIDN'T include 100 dollar bills.  Kids took some time with the money and figured out a way to make $1,000.  Some industrious kiddos took on the task of figuring this out for each currency.  They did lots of counting, sorting and discussing related to 1,000…hee, hee, her!!  Don't you love it when they're doing great math thinking and don't even know it?

All of our meter sticks, plus the discovery
of a RARE yard stick that threw off the
easy counting!!!!

The day before we LOOKED for and CREATED a chart of things that we had MORE THAN 1,000 of in the classroom.  I taught some quick estimation strategies, but it was hard to know if they really knew what 1,000 was…so...of course, we dug even deeper.

This partnership did some awesome counting, sorting
and even recorded their data on sticky notes so they
wouldn't forget.  Just so you know, these are a couple
boys who tend to get off task and have been know to
cause a bit of trouble.  Nice to know that ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT works better than BEHAVIOR CHARTS!

Small groups or pairs of kids started to explore different areas in the room.  Each group was given or chose a set of objects to count; so they could prove it was more than 1,000.  I must admit that THE TEACHER was even surprised that some of these collections weren't even 1,000.

Cooperative counting, putting together large numbers;
yet it is still not 1,000 Rainbow Tiles:0)

We had MORE than 1,000 words, of course my groups of
words are no longer organized for word work…sigh.

Once again digging into the numbers helps to build a solid conceptual base.  Next we'll look at the number line and how these big numbers fit together.

Good to know that we have MORE than 1,000 books in our
classroom library.

Math Strategies: But do I HAVE to think?

How do we get children to the next level in their learning?  Is it possible to take them from learning steps and procedures to thinking, REALLY thinking?  In math we've been exploring strategies for adding numbers.  One strategy was to use a number line, they could break the numbers apart into different jumps, but needed to show their thinking.

With the whole community together, we explored a few different methods.  It seemed as though the kids were getting the idea; so I had them do one on their whiteboard to see their individual thinking.  The results were quite interesting for a few kids...I wish I had pictures, but I'll show you what they did.

This was their "thinking" or "lack of" related to putting together  two numbers.  

Since they HAD to use a number line these kiddos decided to put one number to start and make hops to the end.  Funny enough when I asked, "How much money would you have if you had $38 in the bank and got $49 more dollars?"  After a bit of thought they came up with the the exact dollar amount.

Fast forward to today's math lesson - thinking!!!  We had a great discussion about how the most important part of math is thinking about what you're doing and why.  I reminded the kids that our strategies are there to help us figure out and understand what we are doing, but we NEED to THINK if what we are doing makes sense.  So we rolled up our sleeves and approached addition strategies again.  I'm happy to say lightbulbs went on and they were really thinking through different ways to put together numbers.

Don't let number lines get to you and your kids.  They are an amazing way to get kids discussing and thinking about numbers.  I'm getting ready to dive into finding the difference on a number line, wish me luck!!!

I've put together some problems for math notebooks involving number lines, number sense and place value.  Adding and subtracting on a number line is "IN PROGRESS".

Digging into Learning (Teacher's Pay Teachers Store)

Strength in Numbers: Building Community

So it is a typical day in third grade with too much to do and the kids are showing the signs of stress.  Or maybe that's just me!!!  You know what I mean, nothing earth shattering, but the "feel" of the room just isn't right.  No it isn't time for a vacation, the kids just need to learn to work together.

Today I made an effort to work on our sense of community.  In the morning we always start with a community circle; I'm a Tribes trainer, believe in it and live it everyday.  I know they have a sense of inclusion (togetherness), but we haven't done enough work on how to work together in pairs and groups.  The CORE has lots of group and partner learning so it will save time in the long run to get them functioning in different situations.

tribes.com Visit their website if your haven't heard of this process!

During math we've be working on 10's and a strategy to learn 5's as half of 10.  Some of the kids understood this concept right away, but haven't internalized it.  Other kids were still exploring the concept of multiples and what it means.  I pulled the kids together into what I call "purposeful partners".  I explain that some days I pick random partners and other days I have a reason I want them to work with a certain person.  Today my purpose was to help the kids make positive connections and to have one of the kids with a solid understanding working with another who was still building their foundational understanding.  I modeled how to make an array for a ten's fact and how to fold it into a five's fact.  Their task was to build all the ten's and five's facts up to ten.  Before I sent them off to work we talked about sharing the job, deciding on colors and planning designs together so partners will learn and be satisfied.  At the end of the math time partners were encouraged to give appreciations to their partner.  All the groups finished the task successfully, had experience seeing the relationship between tens and fives and learned from each other.

After lunch, I decided to delve into discourse and polite conversation.  Up to this point, I've been monitoring who shares and who doesn't.  That is an awful lot of power to wield for one teacher.  I shared with the kids my idea about sharing our voice and ideas.  Again stressing that we are stronger together than we are by ourselves.  I set up the expectations for the kids to reflect back what the other child was saying and politely agree, add on or respectfully disagree.  I let them know that this is the way most people have conversations.  Our read aloud, Rock River by Bill Maynard piqued their interest and encouraged the conversation.  Once the first few cautious voices chimed in the floodgates opened and ideas flowed.  I'm not saying all was rosy, but the kids were empowered and they got into a variety of topics.

Since my family is needing me (it's good to be needed), I'll save the rest of the day for another entry.

Nature Art: A Summer Experience

Apparently summer has taken over and my blog has suffered...I haven't posted in quite a while.  I've been teaching a summer school class that is totally out of my normal 3rd grade teacher routine.  I have to admit it is refreshing to do something new and that helps kids learn about the natural world.

The name of the class is Nature Art.  It's designed for kids in 3rd and 4th grade, but I've had some kids "special request" to come back as 5th graders.  All the art projects in the class use natural materials or a nature theme to create the art.  The class runs for 16 days and there's a different project each day.  Some days we work outside; like when we are creating our stepping stones.  Other days we go out and collect; like on the day we make our pounded plant wall hangings.

Each day of class we start with a community circle question that helps the kids to get to know each other as well as gets their brain ready for what we'll be learning about that day.  No matter what I teach I always use community building to help bring the group together as quickly as possible.

One of my favorite projects is making pounded plant hangings.  The kids are intriqued when I pull out hammers and fabric!!!  I teach them a bit about plants and pigments before we go out to collect plants for the project.  After we come back I demonstrate how to pound plants into fabric.  I try a variety of plants so they have an idea which ones work well and which ones just leave a brown blob.
If you plan to do this project with kids test out some plants in the area.  If the weather has been REALLY dry the pigments don't come out as well.

If you are working with kids in literacy, math, science or art make sure that you are digging in!!

Measurement FUN!!

This is the non-standard method for
measuring in "feet" up the wall.  

The Measurement Stations were a hands on exploration at the end of our month long measurement unit.  Each station was designed to encourage the kids to explore and practice their skills in different areas of measurement.  There were four stations; weight/balance, length, time, and volume.  The day I was planning to run the stations our team had an "emergency" meeting during the prep time prior to math class, wouldn't you know.  If you're anything like me, you were counting on that time to get everything ready to go.  Well I ended up with 15 minutes for the entire set up...and believe it or not I was able to do it.  So it goes without saying, the set up was super easy.

Data collection on the
Measuring Stations Recording Sheet

I fudged on a few of the materials - since I forgot to get rice I used dirt instead!  I'm not even kidding, there is ALWAYS dirt around my classroom (I don't call the blog DIGGING INTO LEARNING for nothin'.)  I also couldn't find enough protector sheets, soooo I used portfolios to protect the direction sheets.

Look how this child is getting down to the right
level to see how much dirt is in the liter container
and only a tad bit is spilled on the table!!!

Each station had some interesting elements, but I figured the elapsed time station may not be all that exciting.  Boy was I wrong, for one part of the station the group timed themselves and for the other part they had to beat a minute timer.  The kiddos REALLY had fun with the time element and there was "just a bit" of noise and excitement.

We discovered in the this station that it's
tricky to stack blocks when you're being timed.

The length station could be done in either standard or metric.  It also had little measurements as well as bigger things to measure.  The kids definitely liked big measuring the best and were QUITE creative with how they got their bodies across the room.

Measuring across the classroom ...
they may have found an easier route
but I doubt it would have been as
much fun.

The volume station had many desirable elements; water, dirt and building!  I believe it helped to solidify the concepts of volume using solids and liquids as well.

Part of the volume station involved
using cubes to build to a certain
volume.

All in all the stations were a big hit.  My kids had a great experience, worked as teams and measured more in one day than in the entire unit!!  One child even said it was the BEST math class ever.  I've put together the stations for my store on Teacher's Pay Teachers if you're interested in more specific details.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Measurement-Stations-CORE-Aligned-693975

A Look at the Mathematical Reasoning of Third Graders....hmmmm?

 Yesterday, I gave my kiddos a problem to ponder as they came into the room.  It seemed pretty straight forward, but I knew it would take some thinking, deciding, and it was multiple steps so there was a potential for confusion.  The kids settled into their thinking pretty decently; considering the time of the year.

I can't remember where I found the problem, but it went something like this:

Bredan and Katie are playing Monopoly.  At the end of the game Bredan has $120 more than Katie.  Together they have $840.  How much  did each child have?

WELL, I could tell it was giving the kids a real challenge and I encouraged them to use strategies we've used throughout the year.  After about 15 minutes I asked them to hand in their papers and let them know we'd take a deeper look.

When I looked through the solutions and the array of answers, I decided we needed to spend more time thinking on this concept.  I put together a chart of the answers.  On this page I also put down the basic facts from the problem; a total of $840 and Bredan had $120 more than Katie.  I have 19 kids in my class, so only a few had the same answer and some didn't even have one yet.

These are the answers the class came up with on the first day.

 I gave them the challenge to look over all the answers, re-examine their work and make some decisions.  Do you want to stick with your answer and defend it or change to another answer and decide why?  I let the kids know they could work as long as necessary, but to make sure to circle their answer in a bright color.

During lunch, I looked over their work and recorded their decisions on the chart from the morning.  When we had a bit of time in the afternoon we looked over the work and tried to prove each of the answers.  It's fascinating to hear what they are thinking.  Most of the answers now totaled up to $840 but the method to get to a $120 difference was baffling to many of the kiddos.  Some of the kids split the money up equally and took $120 from Katie and gave it to Bredan.  They didn't understand that now Bredan has $240 more than Katie.


Earlier this year they got confused by a problem with equal groups and changing to a group that had 2 more than the other.

There are 4 kids in each group.  If you need to change the groups so there are 2 more in one of the groups, how would you do it?

 Many of the kids thought you would move 2 kids into the other group.  Of course, you see that now one group has 2 kids and the other has 6.

This is the work we did with the problem.  First we added up each one that was starred in black.  If it added up to $840 we kept it in the list, if not, we crossed it out.  After that we painfully came up with how we would find out if Bredan had $120 more.  We crossed out any that didn't have a difference of $120.  Amazingly enough, we ended up with one answer that worked for both!!

The lesson in all this it NOT that I'm a terrible teacher, but that children have misconceptions.  They won't be able to reason for themselves until we peel away the layers and guide them to some DEEP thinking.  DIGGING INTO LEARNING...with LOTS of patience!!!

Questioning in Science: A Study in Trees

“It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” 
― Albert Einstein

It seems as though in education these days we are always in a hurry, trying to fit in more and more.  It may be wise to look to the past for inspiration.  This quote by Albert Einstein is certainly worth reflection.  In the CORE and the new NGSS - Next Generation Science Standards the idea is to get children to slow down, think and question.  The other day I asked my kids to come up with some questions about some tree branches that I'd gathered.  They came up with some research questions, but struggled to come up with things they could discover without books.

My challenge as a teacher is to help children to question and wonder.  We want our kids to actively explore, think and reason.  If we constantly plan out every detail for the kids and give them the "correct" answer after an experiment, how will they every learn to solve problems, invent and innovate?

So I tried again by putting out tree branches, cones, flowers and buds in the room.  I set up some microscopes and magnifiers.  Still the kids weren't taking the bait, yes a few looked and said wow, but no good questions or discoveries.

I decided we needed a trek outdoors to gather their own research material.  Of course it didn't hurt that it was a lovely day!  Now they were enthusiastic, maybe not for the reasons I wanted, but at least there was some excitement.  They brought their leaf back to the room, opened their science notebooks and started to draw and write their observations.

After this we gathered in the living room to chart what we noticed.  The kiddos had some intriguing discoveries.  I charted their ideas in a somewhat organized way.  If someone said their leaf was fuzzy, I asked if that was true for all of them.  Our list grew into things that were different and some that were all the same.  One property in common was "veins" or "tunnels" in all the leaves.  I threw out a question, "What is the job of a leave?  Why do trees have leaves?"  We webbed out some of their ideas on the chart.  How do you think we could prove our ideas?

Now the group was humming.  They came up with lots of ideas and we decided to try putting food coloring into some water.  The kids volunteered their leaves as test subjects.  Another idea was to look at the make-up of the leaf under the microscope to see the veins better.  They wanted to know if the vein was hollow or solid.  I wonder where their thinking will go if they discover one or the other?

One particularly observant child, who spends lots of time in the woods, shares a bit of knowledge.  He broke open a leaf once and "water" came out of the vein.  Hmmmm this really has the group buzzing now.  Science in the next few years is going to change.  Thinking, questioning and designing will be a part of our everyday learning.  Kids will need a nudge and a bit of a bump to get their thinking going, but I can't wait to see the results.

Math Notebook Routines

Over the years I have loved the writer's notebook and in the past few years have gotten into using a reader's notebook, but I haven't used a math notebook.  It's hard to explain...but I just didn't.  Recently I've been reading a lot about mathematical thinking and learning.  Last summer I took Math Frameworks and we used Van de Walle Professional Math Series 3-5.

http://www.ablongman.com/vandewalleseries/

Our curriculum director is always on the lookout for good books and trends in education.  She offered a study group for 4th-8th grade teachers.  I weaseled my way in because I usually loop with my kids to 4th grade.  Minds on Mathematics: Using Math Workshop to Develop Deep Understanding in Grades 4-8 was the book to be "studied".  The group of teachers I worked with and the book helped to stimulate my thinking and questioning.  I came to understand that the math notebook helps children to process their thinking and to deepen their understanding.  In the CORE deeper understanding and explaining our thinking is a huge piece.
Minds on Mathematics
There are lots of ways to use a math notebook in the classroom, but routines with the notebook are important.  Each day when we come back from specials, it's snack time.  Time in the classroom is a precious commodity, so we have to use every minute.  When the kiddos bop into the room, there is a problem sitting out at their desk.  They get out their notebook, glue stick and pencil and get to work.  Our routines are in place for a reason, their brain can get thinking on the problem without any directions at all.  The bonus is they get to munch on their snack as they work.  Just to make sure they get going right away we have a scheduled time to start on the mini-lesson.

I find problems all over the place and frequently create my own.  I just put a problem set on Teacher's Pay Teacher's.  It has end of the year and beginning of summer type problems.  I like to keep the thinking going right up until the end and I must admit the kids like problems about SUMMER.

Native Village Simulation

Lately, it's seems that science and social studies gets the short end of the straw.  The CORE is all about writing, reading and math.  Kids are working harder than ever, pushing themselves to go deep and yet they are STILL kids.  They like to have fun, experience parts of history and the world they have no clue about...am I right?

In 3rd grade we learn about Native American cultures; linking the learning with the region.  It's one of my favorite units since I can incorporate the habitats and natural resources throughout the unit.  This year our time for social studies and science has been quite condensed to say the least.  Usually we use books and the Internet to research and then take time creating art, food and playing games from each region.  This year I couldn't cross over into literacy for research due to our new curriculum soooooooo....I had to get creative.

Another 3rd grade teacher and I were each in the same situation, but her worries were in the colonial time period.  Well, two heads are indeed better than one, and we came up with a fabulous solution.  We would take a Friday to celebrate our learning.  Her room would be a colonial village and mine would be a native American village from the east coast during the same time period.  Planning what we would include was inspiring and reminded me why I love to teach!!

The day before was a ton of setting up, but well worth the look on the kids faces as they came into the room.  One area of the room was set up for learning about food and doing some sampling.  The couch area was the fire circle where the village would hear stories and work on their leather projects.  Another area was set aside to learn about birch bark baskets.  Finally the challenging part was creating a wigwam.  I was hoping to get some enthusiastic, creative parents - but that didn't quite happen.  I envisioned the wigwam for kids to read and work on weaving.  I had the bright idea that a screen porch structure might work......the one I had didn't have directions and I struggled for about an hour to put it together (I'm not very "build it" smart).  Once it was together I realized it was HUGE and not quite my vision.  I took half the pieces off and built a smaller version.  The legs needed bracing and I threw the screen tarp over the top and then put on the "bark".  I must say it turned out pretty close to my idea and was glad I put the time into it.

The day of the simulation we divided up our kids with half and half going to each room so there was a bit of a mix.  I had great volunteers.  One parent and a grandparent designed the birch bark project - made with paper.  They also ran this station.  Another volunteer who knows my classroom really well floated and helped kids our if they finished an area early.  I have an amazing community volunteer who loves to teach children about food.  She focused on corn, beans and squash.  She showed the kids the uncooked version of each.  They used a mortar and pestle to grind corn and took dried corn off the stalk.  All the kids sampled corn muffins, bean soup and a bit of squash.  I had the fun of showing kids moccasins made from leather and teaching about using hides.  Each of the villages made a little pouch from deer hides that my father-in-law found at a rummage sale.  It was a favorite project of many.

The kids learned so much, asked wonderful questions and were VERY appreciative.  Simulations bring to life the learning,  foster connections and build memories for a lifetime!!

Math Discussions Build Knowledge and Community

The CORE is filled with pieces related to discourse, discussions, critiquing and analyzing our work.  Let me tell you this can be a scary thing for a kid or an adult.  Can you imagine putting your work up in front of a group to critique?  You MUST have a community that is built around sharing, discussing and acceptance.  The idea is for children to be able to share and learn from their mistakes.  It's quite amazing to see the lightbulbs go on as the group analyzes the work.

When we start out our math workshop I usually have the kids start working on a problem while they munch on their snack.  On Friday I thought the problem was pretty straight forward...famous last words.

The problem stated:

Sarah is getting invitations ready for her birthday party.  She has 10 invitations.  She puts the invitations in two piles.  One pile has 2 more invitations than the other pile.  How many invitations are in each pile?

I share the first few on the screen so we can discuss problem solving strategies.  The first four answers were; 3 and 7, 4 and 6, 2 and 8 and 3 and 7.  Not as easy as I imagined and the thought process and reasoning was interesting.  After each child shares their reasoning the class is asked to comment or question?  Our community of learners has grown so much this year - they were respectful and asked wonderful questions.  Some of the kids even demonstrated their thinking with manipulatives.

After this I had the groups divide up into their answer they would like to defend.  Most of the class was in the group of 4 and 6, while a few kids were sticking with their ideas of each pile at 5 and 5 - you take 2 from the pile, so now it's 2 bigger 7 and 3.  Fascinating!!

Each group had the opportunity to share their ideas and to prove their thinking.  They were also told that at any time they could change their opinion and move to the other group.  I let the 3 and 7 kids go first.  They didn't convince anyone to change to their side.

Next the 4 and 6 kids went.  They planned to demonstrate their thinking with kids lined up (since it was such a larger group).  Demonstrating that with 6 in one line and 4 in the other - there were 2 more kids in the one line, just like the problem.  I could see the kids in the other group were getting the idea, but they weren't ready to change their thinking yet!!!

I brought out some small whiteboards, sort of envelope like.  I started with a number that wasn't 10.  So if I have 6 whiteboards and I put 2 in one pile and 4 in another pile, how many more are in this pile?  The kids can see it's 2 more.  So I  take 8 whiteboards.  If I have 5 in one pile and 3 in another pile, how many more are in this pile?  Finally I take out 10 whiteboards.  I put together different combinations, always asking how many more in this pile?  Whew, we finally got to the point.

The most awesome part of it was how the kids in the community responded and reacted to one another.  They were respectful and patient.  The learning of the entire community was moved along by digging into the misunderstandings of a few.  Life lessons were learned about communicating with others, questioning and defending your thinking.

Fish Bowl Measurement

Earth week has been filled with exploring the world in little and big ways.  At the beginning of the week our focus was on measuring to the nearest 1/4 inch.  I saw an idea on Pinterest for a measurement project with fish - which is perfect since we're studying vertebrates and measurement.  The site I noticed this on was "Fun in the Fours".  Apparently it's originally from another site, but modified somewhat...isn't all teaching a bit of this and a bit of that to make it work for our particular group of kiddos????  Anywho...I thought we were in need of a REAL reason to measure and a bit of NATURE based art to go with it.

The kids are each given a set of dimensions, such as 5 1/4 inch x 6 1/2 inch.  They aren't given a ton of directions except that they are expected to draw a rectangle that fits the given measurement.  I let them know that I will be picky.  We also reviewed the properties of a rectangle so they would remember that they have 4 right angles.  Some kids finished rather quickly and showed me their lopsided attempts at a rectangle. I had them prove they measured accurately and that they had SQUARE corners by matching up with a Post It Note.  Obviously some of them reworked their rectangles a time or TWO.

Once they finally had their rectangles ready - YES with straight lines - we sat down to talk about fish.  I was pleased the kids knew their special characteristics and that a dolphin was NOT a fish!!  This part gets tricky because they needed to create a drawing of a fish that would fit their rectangle perfectly.  So if they had a rather squarish rectangle - a long skinny fish just wouldn't do.  If their rectangle was long and skinny - no they couldn't do a puffer fish!

At this point they had a chance to look at the fish from the 4th grade classroom across the hall - funny as it may seem my good friend and I had the very same idea on the same day and decided to collaborate on the project!!!  My 3rd graders were VERY impressed with the fish creations and worked hard to MEASURE up to the older kids.  Some kiddos really struggle to make theirs fit and had to retry and even redraw their rectangles.

The next day a small group of my kids with a parent "dove" into an interesting math problem...given the size of the fish in our room and basically the same sizes in the neighboring room, how big of a fish bowl should we create for our fish?

As you will see on the photos, the kids thought the fish should have some space for swimming, but the size turned out pretty perfect.  Other children in my classroom helped to design the bowl, while another volunteer helped kiddos to sponge paint the beautiful water of the bowl.

Finally they outlined their fish in black permanent marker
and painted with watercolor paints.  I must admit the fish bowl is admired by all in our hall:0)

Digging into Earth Day

Earth Day in the classroom was a buzz of activity and learning, but inspiring none-the-less.  It's lovely to think how just doing a little can mean so much to the kids.  On Friday, a few kids stayed in at recess to create a LARGE cut out of the earth.

Monday morning we glued down the letters and I gave the kids the low down on the lunch time project we were planning.  About 3 kids at a time would take shifts down in the lunch room; with a roll of tape, markers and cut outs of bare feet.  Kids from the school could make a pledge to help the earth.  The idea was based off the book - 50 Simple Things Kids can do to Save the Earth.  The Earth Club created the book earlier in the winter and we had a copy of it at the table so the kiddos could get some ideas.  My class handled their responsibilities quite well; following the schedule, leaving for "work" on time and helping others in the building to do for the earth.  The picture shows the final results.  As you can tell, I neglected to have the kids place the feet around the earth and they plopped them all over the earth!!!  If you can't see the message, it says, "Steps to Save the Earth".

Later in the afternoon, with our 2nd grade buddies, we walked the the trail and picked up trash.  The weather forecast was dire - with radar calling for rain throughout the day.  Anne, the 2nd grade teacher and I tend to just GO FOR IT and we were pleasantly surprised.  The sun peeped out and soon we were putting our coats around our waists.  All in all, there's less trash scattered around and the kids learned some valuable lessons about "DOING FOR THE EARTH".

The important lesson I've figured out from this is...it doesn't have to be SUPER planned or elaborate to be AMAZING.

Earth Day is Coming!!

Are you ready?  Earth day is almost here!!!  Can you tell that this is one of my favorite holidays?  Of course you've heard the expression that "Everyday is Earth Day"...well yes it is, but Earth Day is a great time to share ideas with kids who never take the time to think about it.















Our Earth Club put together a book about what we can do to save the earth.  We put a copy in the library and will put together a brief video.

 

Our classroom lives for the Earth every day!  We compost our plant scraps, have seedlings for the garden, take care of our classroom pets and adopt the critters from science in the other grades.  Microgreens were even sampled by EVERYONE in the class.  With all this going on in the classroom, everyday I find paper in the garbage and garbage in the recycle bin!  They are little and just don't know or care until they learn why.

Next week we'll be digging into Earth friendly practices and learning to reduce, reuse and recycle.  I'll post updates throughout the week.  If you're interested in my "Earth Day Mini Unit" check out my store.  There's also a freebie with math problems based on environmental facts.  I'm throwing a sale on the Earth Day Mini Unit through Friday if you want a good deal!

Thematic Unit and THE CORE

The happiness continues in my classroom as the kiddos explore the world of animals.  They LOVE the topic and are pouring through books about every type of animal you can imagine.  We are in the process of narrowing our focus and choosing essential questions.

Partners had a chance to explore the bones.  It was amazing to hear their discussions.  They wondered about so many aspects of the animal as they looked at the bones.  There were guesses about the use and placement of the bones.  Wonderings based on the teeth and how they match up.  Kids wanted to get some books about deer and see if they could look at a skeleton to figure out which bone went with what part of the body.  The science paired with reading was inspiring.

Not sure if you've ever done this with 3rd graders before, but it's an intriguing process (to put it MILDLY).  I created a little Powerpoint to guide them through what is and is NOT an essential question.  Ended the BIG show some examples that might fit closely with their research.

At this point I send them off to work on writing their essential question.  After five minutes they get together with their collaborative study group - basically the kids with similar research topics - to share and question.  Finally they write out their essential question and hand it directly into my hands.

Guess what?  I know you're thinking that everybody had a great question since I'm such a fabulous teacher...but alas it was only four.  Please don't feel too sorry for me because great things came of this disappointing start to the day.  I spent time talking with each of the kids about their research, what they're thinking and if they thought they could write a BOOK about the question they came up with?!?

The mini conferences were AMAZING.  The kids all had real direction and purpose in their thoughts and questions.  Here's just a few of the gems:

• How do birds who don't fly south survive the winter?
• How can we save the tigers?
• Why aren't coyotes endangered?
• How do shark's bodies help them survive?
• How do whales eat?

I'll get back to you soon to share more about notes and focusing in on a topic.

Animal Exploration: 3rd Grade Thematic Unit

I'm so excited to get back into a thematic unit.  With the Core all around, it's tough to get into learning across the curriculum.  This month we are ENCOURAGED to tie our writing and reading to a topic in either science or social studies.  Our study of life cycles and animal classification seems the perfect time to bring it all together.




We started out the unit talking about how scientists are always classifying things into groups.  During our rocks and minerals unit, we spent time sorting and classifying rocks.  We sorted into living and non-living.  Right away the kiddos figured out a way to sort the books I brought into the classroom.  They put the books into 5 bins; mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles.

As we get more into the unit kids will gravitate to an animal, group of animals or study of a food chain. I'll have books, articles, video clips, online resources and other items available so they can get into a total in-depth study.  Kids will be taught to take simple notes, delve into ideas and write about their thoughts and learning.  They'll be able to draw to create labeled diagrams and use number statistics to figure out size, age or other interesting facts.






In the classroom we'll look at bones, skulls and teeth.  They will start to think how the teeth may be designed differently for carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.  Skulls and other bones can be magnified, drawn, measured, put together and identified.







A day centered around common learning, gives plenty of opportunities to explore and learn with all the senses and intelligences.  I'll keep you posted on our progress!!

And they don't even know they're practicing Division Facts...shhhhh

The kids in my class REALLY need to learn their division facts.  I've set up some online practice and written many notes home to remind families to practice with the kids.  After our last division timed test, I knew I had to do something different.

Each tribe was giving the task of creating a game using division facts.  They had about an hour to come up with the concept and design their boards.  It was fascinating to watch the groups collaborate - all of the groups worked really well together except for one.  They had great discussions about division and how they could make it work as a game.

The next day we mixed up the groups and had the kids rotate through the games.  Each group spent about 10 minutes per game.  Little did they know that they had 40 minutes of division fact practice.  Next week kids will be able to play the games again during the last 20 minutes of math.

As you can see, they're getting the practice with division and DON'T even know it!

Quick Ways to TEACH about the EARTH in SCHOOL

You probably don't know this, but I'm a tree hugger.  Yes, I confess, I care about the earth.  

Each child creates a page for a book
Ways Kids Can Save the Earth

In my classroom of third graders the curriculum doesn't take into account the importance of teaching about the environment and conservation.  Over the years, I've figured out ways to weave it into our daily routine so kids get exposed and I can still get the environmental message out.

Here's a list to start you out:

• Plants and animals in the classroom - the kids rotate with their tribe to take care of the plants and critters.  It helps the room feel more like a home and the kids can have nature around them.  Our district has put limits of the types of animals so I have an African aquatic frog and guppies that are adopted from the 1st grade classrooms after their life cycles unit.
• Compost any fruits or veggies kids bring in for snack.  Each child has a "Fresh and Healthy" snack they bring in for the rest of the class.  Many days we compost banana peels, apple cores or orange peels.
• Community Circle questions with an environmental twist - we do a brief community circle where each child is given the chance to respond to a question or prompt.  Many times you can weave conservation or environment into your prompts.  For instance, last week one question was, "What kind of plant would you like to grow in a garden?"  Another one was, "If you could help an endangered animal, what one would you help?"  Also I've asked, "What is your favorite habitat?"
• Hang posters with environmental or conservation messages.  Recycling was TAUGHT when I first started teaching because it was such a new thing.  Now we just assume kids know what to do...but they don't.
• Encourage keeping a pencil as long as possible, it saves trees!!!
• Grow a Mother's Day present - have the kids each plant a few marigold seeds in a cup about 6 weeks before the big day.  Set them in something that catches water by the window.  Make sure they don't dry out.  Transplant into a hand painted terracotta pot.  They learn about nature and their mom's, grandma's or other special person in their life will be so pleased.

There are so many things that are easy to do in our busy classrooms that will stay with kids for a lifetime!