Thursday, October 19, 2017

Window Washing

In third grade we LOVE problem strings! Problem strings are a set of carefully sequenced questions that are designed to help guide students towards a more efficient way to solve a particular kind of problem.  Problem strings focus heavily on making connections between the questions. We know that the first problem is meant to be a little bit easy, because it is going to help us solve more challenging questions coming up. 

This is an example of a problem string we did on Wednesday. The first and second problem (5x4 and 4x4) helped us solved 9x4 in an efficient way! 

window washing problem string on whiteboard

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Four Winds

We had our first Four Winds time this week! Thank you to Liam's, Sawyer's and Alexis' moms for helping us learn about insects! We started by putting together an insect made of different pieces like felt and pipe cleaners. We talked about the different parts of an insect's body: head, thorax, and abdomen. 

kids putting together felt bug

kids at table putting together felt bug

kids putting together bug

six kids looking at felt bug

Then we got to look at a paper that explain how insects are categorized into different categories.

kids looking at insect families

kids looking at insect families paper

After this, we were given a picture of an insect and had to try and figure out which category the insect went in! 

student sorting insect picture

kid sorting insect picture

kids sorting insect picture

We enjoyed the puppet show! 

kids watching puppet show

And lastly, we went outside to look for insects! 

kids looking for bugs outside

Monday, October 9, 2017

Chloe the Clownfish

Today we explored multiplication using a picture of a seascape and a friendly clownfish named Chloe! We learned that Chloe the Clownfish is 4 inches long. Using that information, we tried to use our multiplication skills to figure out how long, tall, or wide other sea creatures in the picture were. For example, we noticed that the sea anemone was about the size of 2 Chloes, so that would be 2 x 4 = 8 inches long. We were using proportional relationships to help us determine the size of the larger objects! Ask your child about some of the other creatures: triggerfish, tube sponge, moray eel, sea turtle, parrotfish, brain coral, and vase sponge. 

two kids working at table on math

kid working at table on math

kids working on floor with teacher on math

three kids working together on math

two kids in library working on math

two kids on floor working on math

two kids in teal chairs working on math

three kids working on math

three kids working on math at table