Static Electricity

Third grade scientists continued on their quest to understand electricity! We began with a simpler form of electricity - static electricity! Children rotated from station to station - investigating, exploring and wondering.

In Station 1: Popping Paper, scientists put a plastic container over small paper circles. They rubbed the plastic container with their hand and with wool cloth. Ask your third grader what happened! Be sure to ask them why.

In Station 2: Jumping Peanuts, scientists rubbed a plastic card with wool cloth. Once they built up enough friction, they held the card next to styrofoam peanuts. Ask your third grader what happened! Be sure to ask them why.

In Station 3: Attractive Comb, scientists rubbed a plastic comb with two different types of cloth. Once they built up enough friction, they held the comb near small paper circles. Ask your third grader what happened! Be sure to ask them why. 

In Station 4: Static Tube Pick-Up, scientists rubbed a "static tube" with wool cloth or their bare hand. (The static tube is a clear plastic tube with small pieces of styrofoam inside.) Once they built up enough friction, they held the static tube up to styrofoam pieces, small pieces of yarn and aluminum strips. Ask your third grader what happened! Be sure to ask them why.

In Station 5: Dancing Styrofoam, scientists rubbed a "static tube" with cloth or their bare hand. Ask your third grader what happened to the styrofoam inside the tube! Be sure to ask them why.

Third grade scientists were encouraged to ask questions and create theories as they explored. Members of each group were encouraged to share information with one another. Third grade scientists in Room 221 are going to learn so much about electricity this year! :o)

Atoms

Did you learn about atoms in third grade? Probably not. (I know I didn't!) Your children are! Last week, third grade scientists learned that the world around us is made up of matter. Today we dug deeper and learned that matter is made up of atoms. Atoms are incredibly small. In fact, the period at the end of this sentence is made up of billions of atoms. 

Above you can see the model of an atom. Challenge your third grade scientist with these questions about it:

What is the center of an atom is called? (The nucleus) 
What is inside the nucleus? (Protons and neutrons) 
What is moving around the outside of the nucleus. (Electrons) 
Describe the charge of electrons and protons. (Electrons have a negative charge. Protons have a positive charge.) 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post describing our investigations into static electricity!

Subtraction with Regrouping

This week we tackled subtraction with 3 digit numbers in math. More specifically, we worked on subtraction with regrouping. For those of you as old as I am, you may know it as subtraction with borrowing. It's really the same thing. But instead of calling it "borrowing" from the tens column, we "regroup" a ten, into the ones column as ten ones.

Subtraction with regrouping can be tricky for many children. Click here to see a video that your third grader can watch to help review the concept.

Ask your child how they know whether to regroup or not!

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments of concerns.

:o)Melanie

Holiday Concert

Mrs. Martell took some great photos of the Holiday Concert yesterday.
Click here to check them out! :o)

Today, on December 12, people from IRobot came in to help us learn more about robots. They showed us what robots can do. One of the robots could clean up your messy floors so you don't have to. Those robots move automatically. They don't need a remote control. 

Other robots do need a remote control. Some of those robots have tracks and can climb up and down stairs. Some robots can flip themselves over. Other robots can go underwater or others can have long necks. There was a very small robot. Police use it to find bad guys inside houses. 

All of the robots were really cool! Click here to see photographs from the presentation. 

                written by,
                                   Room 221 Authors

Computer Programming

Did the kids tell you about their awesome experience today? We took part in "The Hour of Code." They worked with Mrs. Martell to learn about computer programming! They even got to try it out. Ask your third grader to show you at home. Click here for the program we used today. Look in your child's folder for a bookmark that has other useful websites. Happy coding! :o)

Computer Science

Education Week DECEMBER 2013

The Hour of Code is coming.

Code.org is organizing the Hour of Code, a massive campaign to recruit 10 million students to try one hour of computer science during Computer Science Education Week this December. Be sure to ask your child about their computer programming experience.

What is the Hour of Code? 

An introductory exploration activity for students of all ages, kindergarten through 5th G. Students will work on tutorials in the technology center with classroom teacher and the instructional technology specialist.

No experience needed from teachers and students.

Tutorials will be provided by Mrs. Martell, instructional technology specialist.

An effort to demystify code, and change the conversation around computer science.

Why Computer Science?

Computer programming jobs are growing 3x faster than students entering the field. Yet fewer schools teach computer science than 10 years ago. 90% of K-12 schools in the United States don’t even teach it. 

Visit http://hourofcode.com to learn more

Who is behind this campaign?

Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, the Boys and Girls Clubs, the College Board, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and over 100 others, are uniting to back the Hour of Code campaign. The Computing in the Core Coalition and Code.org are organizing CSEdWeek 2013. The annual CSEdWeek celebrates the birthday of computing pioneer 

Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).

For more information visit Computer Science Education Week http://csedweek.org

Reasons for the Seasons

Last week we learned about the affects of the Earth's movement around the sun. As we read, discussed and moved our bodies, we began to understand that the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere are tipped towards the sun during opposite parts of the year. This creates the seasons. The parts of the world closest to theequator aren't affected as much by the tilt of the earth so their climate stays more constant. 

This knowledge will help us as we try to answer our essential question:


"How do the locations of continents on Earth affect the way people live?" 

You can read further with your child in "The Reason for Seasons" by, Gail Gibbons.

Weekly Math

This week you may have noticed an extra homework assignment. We have begun assigning Weekly Math. Weekly Math will be assigned on Friday and should be returned no later than Friday. The problems are review of the content we have studied in math so far this year. Please help your child to plan their working time carefully so that they are not completing the entire assignment on Thursday night.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me. 

Pico Ferme Nada

We played a great game at Morning Meeting that you can play at home. It's called "Pico, Ferme, Nada." One player thinks of a three digit number (although you can play with as many digits as you'd like). The other player(s) try to guess what the number is. The player who chooses the number tells the guessers if they are right using the words pico, ferme, nada.

Pico means that the digit is in the number and it's in the right place.
Ferme means that the digit is in the number, but it's in a different place (therefore having a different value).
Nada means that the digit is not in the number at all.

For example, the person thinking of the number comes up with 784. They don't tell the other players. The other players start guessing. Perhaps they guess 743. 

7 is pico because it's in the right place.
4 is ferme because it's in the number, but in the wrong place.
3 is nada because it's not in the number at all.

The players then use their reasoning skills to make a new guess.

I know this sounds a little complicated, but the kids know how to play. Let them teach you! It's lots of fun. :o)