Building Stable Animals

Amelia had the most fun this year creating her animal in science this week. We are currently on our building and testing units in science (I blend both together because they hit on similar ideas) and we are investigating the concept of stability.

For these projects, I had the students break into companies that they will work in for the unit. They have named their companies and have also created banks and cards for their business. Their businesses are given certain tasks to do each week based on my demonstrations that I do at the beginning of the week. They must use prior knowledge and lessons that they learned from our labs to create different structures.

This week we investigated different stable shapes and how humans are stable. Based on the information taught, students had to create an animal that was stable out of recyclable materials. Students could buy or rent materials from the class (money came out of profits from other projects) or could bring in materials needed from home.

They had to create a plan and a materials list. If (when I test tomorrow) their structure is deemed stable and safe, their group could earn up to $40 dollars for this project. I assess in my assessment book, giving a limited, acceptable or proficient as well.

Amelia's company "Compression Crew" created a puppy for us. Enjoy the pictures!

StarFish of the Week- Amelia

3P would like to present Amelia, the StarFish of the week because she is one of our hardest workers. Amelia came to us this year from Beaumont, moving from a French to English program! Mrs. Patterson loved it because it meant she got to speak French in class :)

Amelia has 1 brother and a mom and dad. Her mom is a nurse and her dad works for the RCMP. When she is in school Amelia loves to do science and art. The best thing she has done in science this year is building her animal (see other post). She has learned about hearing and sound, rocks and minerals and now building structures. Art is her other favourite. She enjoyed the Robert Munsch Salt painting that we did.

After school Amelia likes to go home and let loose. She has a kitten names Dexter (he is turing 1 on Easter), Snoop and Panda are her other pets. Snoop likes to dig in mud and then Mia has to bath him HAHAHA.
She also goes to Brownies! (she is yummy- browniieeeee). In Brownies she loves to learn first aid and to do the Brownie Opening. She also takes Snoop for muddy walks around the neighbourhood and visit her friends across the street.

Mia is happy because Dexter finally slept in her bed last night!

We appreciate all the Mia does for the class. This class would not be the same without her and I love her dearly.

Grade 3 Van Gogh!

We created these wonderful Van Gogh creations the other week and the kids loved them. Very easy to do. I put the link in an earlier post of where I got the idea (off of Pinterest) and wanted to post the final project.

First we had students look at Starry Night by Van Gogh and pick out elements they will have in their picture. We focused around the moon, stars and swirls.

Next we had students draw with white, black, grey and yellow crayons on large pieces of paper to create the night sky.

Finally we used different colours of blue and washed the paper with paint in order to create the darkened sky. Of course the paint does not cover the wax and you can see the crayon through it.

Here's the final products, they turned out GREAT!

Jasmine's Proudest Moment

Jasmine chose to include her research for the postcard project that we did awhile ago. Students were really excited about this project and I am so glad that they loved doing it. I will have to use it again and maybe find a way to incorporate it into more literacy projects that they will complete. 

The bottom picture is of the sheet the students were given to do research from the text book. Students were then asked to pick only 1 region and write a sentence for each box. That is how the postcard was created. Above, in the first picture, was Jasmine's rough copy before she did the good copy on the computer.

This example really demonstrates how much work Jasmine puts into every day tasks and I am so proud of her because she does work so very hard at everything she does.

Keep up the amazing work Jaz!

Finding Christmas- Robert Munsch

Jasmine's book she would like to share is Finding Christmas by Robert Munsch.

HEr parents hid the presents in the garage, and she can find them. She looks like she was worried, she looked and looked, she pulled out the towels but she could not find the presents. She looked all over her bedroom she looked and her drawers she called her friend, and started yelling and then she opened her window and looked up and thoughts she climbed up on the roof and saw a big present  she opened the top of the box and saw presents inside. The next morning they were finishing decorating the house and she fell asleep inside, they carry the big box of presents inside, they open the box up and found her sleeping and they were arguing about the girl. And the girl wrapped up and they were happy. The kids and the dog got wrapped up.

Jasmine likes this book because of the humour. She loves the part where the main character Julie finds the present on the roof and falls asleep. The illustrations make her laugh out loud.

Jasmine gives this book 5 starfish out of 5! A must read in our class.

Starfish of the Week Jasmine!

Sorry for the break, the kids had the week off while we were participating in Faith Days and Teacher's Convention. Had a great week and got lots of ideas, I shall post some later this week.

First, here is Jasmine!

Jasmine is 8 years old and loves school. She has a little sister who is starting school next year. Her favourite food is spaghetti with meatballs. She loves it when Mom makes them homemade!

Jasmine plays ringette for Strathmore. She is a forward and is am awesome skater. She was skating circles around me when we went for our field trip! Ringette is fun because she can score goals. She has scored 6 this season already. Her team did not make playoffs this year but she is looking forward to next year already! Jumping on the trampoline is also something Jamines enjoys, especially with her sister.

In the off season, Jasmine goes knee boarding when her family goes to BC. She goes camping with her grandparents and they have lovely weeks together. BC is not far from us here and trips to the mountains are a big highlight in my class.

In school Jasmine's favourite subject is math. She likes to tackle new problems and solve equations using her problem solving skills.

We are blessed to have Jasmine in our class. Her giving heart and curiosity fuel many discussions and she always brings a smile to my face!

Best Work- Proud Moment

Luke's proudest moment of Grade 3 was his December Reading Log. He is proud of the log because he actually read all of the nights. This earned him 32 dollars for his bank and to buy classroom coupons.

Luke puts this reading log into his reading portfolio. His reading portfolio is a collection of all the reading adventures and activities he has accomplished so far this year. It showcases Luke's growth as a reader. He is also proud of the book recommendation he completed in January, getting the highest mark in the class. 7/7.
I usually do these in different colours, depending on the month (i.e. pink for February) but my school is cutting back on coloured paper so I printed these off before I bought them. I think it makes the portfolio look a little livelier.

Keep up the great work Luke!