I hope your children have been coming home from school and sharing their school days with you. If they are anything like my children, you are probably getting bits and pieces about school, if that. I will fill in the blanks.
In science, we had our first visit to Rivershire to learn about animal adaptations. The class had several different learning stations. They began their experience with a nature walk in which they looked for signs of animal life. They saw snake holes, bugs, rollie pollies, beaver markings, nests, and much more. After our nature walk, I dressed Sivank and Vivian up like beavers and we saw all of the structural/physical adaptations a beaver uses to survive. They looked really cute and you can see their pictures on my pictures' link. Last, at Rivershire, the students looked at animal track molds and matched them to the animal they belong, giving evidence for their thinking. We had several wonderful parent (and grandparent) volunteers who helped make the field trip a success. Thank you! In the classroom, we continued looking at animal adaptations (both behavioral and and what they need to survive. We will begin researching various animals next week and publish our reports. Today we had an opportunity to observe and touch real live crayfish, which we learned are invertebrates in the crustacean family. The kids had a ball, with the exception of a few screams of fear when the pincers opened. All living things must survive one way or another, right?
In science, we had our first visit to Rivershire to learn about animal adaptations. The class had several different learning stations. They began their experience with a nature walk in which they looked for signs of animal life. They saw snake holes, bugs, rollie pollies, beaver markings, nests, and much more. After our nature walk, I dressed Sivank and Vivian up like beavers and we saw all of the structural/physical adaptations a beaver uses to survive. They looked really cute and you can see their pictures on my pictures' link. Last, at Rivershire, the students looked at animal track molds and matched them to the animal they belong, giving evidence for their thinking. We had several wonderful parent (and grandparent) volunteers who helped make the field trip a success. Thank you! In the classroom, we continued looking at animal adaptations (both behavioral and and what they need to survive. We will begin researching various animals next week and publish our reports. Today we had an opportunity to observe and touch real live crayfish, which we learned are invertebrates in the crustacean family. The kids had a ball, with the exception of a few screams of fear when the pincers opened. All living things must survive one way or another, right?
In reading, we have broken up the class into book groups. We are reading the following books: Third Grade Angels, Shredderman: Secret Identity, Clementine's Letters, and No Talking. All of the groups are working on the same skills: Character traits and giving text evidence when answering questions. I have been impressed with the "close" reading the kids have been doing during book groups. Below is a picture of some lead 'evidence based terms' the students should use when citing evidence from text and a list of character traits students are becoming familiar with while reading novels and identifying characters' behaviors.
Things to ask your child: •What are behavioral adaptations? •What kind of structural/physical adaptations does a crayfish use to survive? •What is appropriate information to write about online? •What book are you reading for book club? •Did you learn a new subtraction strategy? •What are the 5 parts of a friendly letter? •How are you doing with Type to Learn? Do you need to practice your typing skills more? FYI check my links for keyboarding practice sites. |
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Warmly,
Mrs. Chemers
Mrs. Chemers