Poetry is Alive in Third Grade!

Third Graders launched new poetry units in Reading and Writing Workshops this week. Scholars dove into poetry by looking at the world through a poet’s eyes. They took on the challenge of looking at ordinary things like a pencil sharpener and our classroom door in new and unique ways. We even collaborated and shared our ideas to write a class poem about our classroom door! Readers of poetry know that when trying to get the main idea of a poem, multiple reads are required. We practiced reading a poem once to get the gist, twice to add expression, and a third time to find the deeper meaning of a poem. Young poets learned to pay close attention to the structure of poems when determining the main idea. We learned how some poets use stanzas, line breaks, and shapes to bring out the meanings of their poems! Third Graders dove into the writing of poetry and were able to apply all they had learned about reading poetry. They experimented with stanzas, line breaks, and shapes to bring out the meanings of their poems, all while using their brave poet’s eyes to look at the world around them!

Surface Tension Penny Challenge!

Science was very exciting this week as Third Graders investigated the surface tension of water drops on pennies. We discussed how surface tension is like the skin of water and what helps it hold a dome shape when it beads up on different surfaces. Third Graders took on the challenge of finding out how many drops of water could fit on a penny. They made their hypotheses and then conducted multiple trials in small groups. Young scientists were thrilled to find out that a penny could hold up to 20 drops of water on top before the water overflowed! Students changed a variable by adding salt to the water and discovered that salt had no effect on the surface tension of water. We then experimented with adding soap to water and discovered that soap actually decreased the surface tension of water and help less drops on top of the penny!

Young scientists investigated what water does on a slope and learned that it flows down a slope. They conducted water drop races to determine that bigger drops were able to flow more quickly down a slope and that when the slope was steeper they went even faster!

Young minds then moved on to investigate water when it heats up. Science groups collaborated to build a thermometer out of a glass bottle, a rubber stopper with a small hole in it and a straw. The bottle was then filled with green water. Students made predictions about what would happen if we placed the bottles in cups of warm water. Students were thrilled to see that the water expanded as it warmed up and rose up through the straws! Stay tuned to find out what happens next week when we investigate what happens when we put these thermometers in ice-cold water!

Putting Ourselves in Jackaroo’s Shoes

Students continued our discussions of empathy during morning meeting this week. Scholars identified ways to tell when someone may need empathy. They discussed examples such as body language and facial expressions as being clues that let us know when someone could use empathy. Third Graders were able to apply their understanding of empathy to our sweet and wonderful class pet, Jackaroo, the bearded dragon. Jackaroo has become very excited about spending time outside of her terrarium and has been very clear about her wants by pacing and pawing at the glass all through the day. Even though Jackaroo is provided with ample time outside of her terrarium, Third Grade friends were able to put themselves in her position and expressed how they understood that she needed and wanted some extra time outside of her terrarium. We had a great conversation about how they were showing empathy for Jackaroo and Third Grade friends thanked her for helping them better understand empathy!

Important Dates

March 7th & 8th                                           Student      Led Conferences  (Half Day)

Friday March 25th- April 1st                        Spring Break

Thursday, April 14th, 21st, & 28th              JICP Climbing