Digging for Fossils

In Room 204 we've been studying fossils for the past 2 weeks.

We know that fossils are the remains of once living things that have turned to rock.

We have learned that there 3 types of fossils: molds, casts, and preserved parts.

Molds: 'dent in'
Casts: 'pop out'
Preserved parts: are the 'real thing'

We also know that fossils give us clues about long ago and we can use those clues to make inferences about life in the past.

The students went on a fossil dig today to culminate the important information that they had learned.

Here are some fun pictures of our dig!

I did film each table of "diggers" as they were digging, and I hope to have those videos posted soon!

 

 

First Field Trip

Last week we took a field trip to the Chapman Cultural Center to see the play, "The Legend of the Sleepy Hallow." It was my first field trip as a 'real' teacher, and it was our classroom's first field trip of the year! A little stressful, but a lot of fun!

We went to see the play and then walked across the street to Barnett Park to eat our bag lunches!

 

Beautiful day for lunch in the park!

 

Sweet girls

 

Thanks Ms. Nichols for arranging all the many details for our fun field trip!

Playground Promises

This past week all of 3rd grade was MAP testing. At first I was a little worried about taking 19 active 3rd graders into a computer lab to be silent and still in front of a screen for at least an hour. So we spent MUCH time talking about expectations, procedures...and I even made a little promise!

A few of my students had continually asked me to go down the slide on the playground. I promised the kids that if they did their very best on the MAP test and followed all directions during that time, that I would go down the slide with them at recess.

Needless to say, they did great...and at 10:45, they were adament that I go down the slide.

Well, I did. I must say, it was fun...and the kids were shocked. They kept saying they had NEVER seen a teacher go down the slide, haha! It pretty much rocked their brains for the rest of the afternoon.

When we got back in from recess, and they were supposed to be getting water in our room- they started writing sweet messages on my board. After one friend did it, everyyyyybody else had to, and while it did take some time to erase, it made the rest of my afternoon too!

I had to post this because it was a lesson I learned as a teacher that I want to be able to read and remember one day. After one simple promise and gesture recieved such a warm and an enthusiastic response, what else could I do as their teacher to make each day that much more special? Just a thought...

Mineral Madness

Today we started our study of Minerals. We watched a video segment on United Streaming for a quick introduction to what minerals are and how they are identified! I thought it would be fun for the students to be able to get their hands on some minerals and make some observations for an easy introduction.

Stations were set up at each table, and each station group was given a bucket.

In the bucket there were:

Magnifying glasses

Pairs of gloves for each group member

Recycled paper trays

A container of one type of minerals

 

**The minerals came from a rocks and minerals kit that was bought by the school

Before observing we talked about how to observe: using our 5 senses. The students' objective was to look at, listen to, feel, and smell (if necessary) the minerals. Of course we talked about the importance of not using the last sense, taste. Yucky!

 

Just to be Super Scientists, and practice safety, we wore plastic gloves. (Anything to make them excited and engaged) You'd be amazed at the attention one plastic glove gets...

 

So...for about 30 minutes, we observed!

 

 

 

 

 

They seemed to really like just taking the time to look and play with some minerals! Must try this with rocks...

 

 

 

 

Landform Flipbooks

This past week in Science, we began learning all about landforms on our planet. We learned that islands, caverns, canyons, valleys, mountains, and volcanoes are major landforms we see in our world.

 

To summarize what we learned this week we made landform flipbooks! I  must give a HUGE "THANK YOU" to the grade-level assistants for stapling these flipbooks together for us and having them ready for us to complete by Friday. You are awesome!

 

Each layer of the flipbook represented a different landform. The students cut each layer according to what the landform was!

 

Then they used crayons or colored pencils to add details to each layer so that they would know what the layer represented.

 

Light blue- Island

Dark Brown- Cavern

Light Brown- Canyon

Green- Valley

White/Gray- Mountain

Black- Volcano

 

 

Each student was also given a sheet of labels to add to each layer. The labels were the names of the landforms.

 

While we worked on each layer the Landform powerpoint played.

 

Nice work!

 

Proud girls

 

Our classroom artist!

 

Hard worker

 

This culminating activity was a fun way to reinforce what had already been learned. It will also serve as a study guide for next week's quiz!

 

Groovy Lava Lamps

It was a busy first week of school in our room! We spent the first two days going over procedures, expectations, and daily routines. On Wednesday we started previewing Math and Science material we are going to be covering in the next couple of weeks! In Math we talked about how math is part of our everyday lives and is seen in many areas of our world. In Science we studied the questions, "What is a scientist?" and "What types of tools do scientists use?" We learned that scientists study the world around us and the ASK QUESTIONS!! So...on Friday...we used what we learned, asked a question, and investigated to answer it.

 

Our question was, "Do oil and water mix?"

 

Materials

Water bottles

Food coloring

Water

Vegetable Oil

Funnel

 

 

A water bottled filled half full with vegetable oil and an observation guide sheet was placed on each of the students' desk.

 

 

At the back of the room I filled small cups with water. The students got to choose a color to mix in their water. Not only did the food coloring make funky colors, but it was a great way to visually see the difference in the oil and the water. After they choose the color and mixed it in, we used the funnel to pour the water into the bottle of vegetable oil.

 

 

The students had three tasks to complete during their investigation of whether water and oil mixed. First, they had to lay the bottle on its side. Second, they had to shake the bottle up and down. Third, they had to let the bottle sit untouched on their desk for 5 minutes. After each task they had to write and draw their observations. They recorded what the oil and water was doing at the end of each.

 

The observation sheet was also displayed on the Interwrite Board.

After the students' investigation was complete, they came back to the carpet and we talked about the outcome of the experiment. We found that although, when shaken really hard, oil and water APPEAR to mix, when given time oil and water will seperate again. Therefore: oil and water do not mix!

 

I will definitely do this experiment again. The bottles of oil and colored water resembeled lava lamps (hence-the title of this post!) so the students' interests were instantly gained. It was fun, easy, and a great way to get the students' hands on some materials. Not to mention...they were physically carrying out of the knowledge they had learned throughout the week in a hands-on investigation!

Welcome to Room 204!

This marks my first official post, on my first official blog, about my first official classroom! As you can tell, I am a little excited! Bare with me...I am still new at this blogging thing...so I can't promise any cool page gagets or gizmos. However, I hope you enjoy seeing a weekly snapshot of the "happenings" in Room 204!

Come on in...

...and take a look around!

The "Learning Focused" section of the room! Here I will post the essential questions and important vocabulary for each Math/Science unit that we study and lesson that we learn.

Math manipulatives!

Math/Science tools, flip-books, and whiteboards

Science-related books. The collection of National Geographic Science Encyclopedias were originally $17.99 each through Scholastic. Last year they had a clearance sale nearby, and I got them each for $1.00 a piece! (Great steal on a 1st year teacher's budget)

The reading-nook

Books about holidays, fantasy/fairytale, our country, other cultures, Berenstein Bears, etc.

The books in the two white bins on the bottom are "special" books that the 1st grade students in my student-teaching class gave me as a going away present! They each brought in a book with their picture pasted inside as well as a handwritten message. Such treasures! I thought it would be neat for my 3rd graders to connect with another group of kids in another school!

Books about the Math/Science related topics that we will be studying. (As you can see, I'm lacking!)

Board at the back of the room- Birthdays, "Wow! Work" and a big calendar to show what's happening in our room that month.

Vocabulary Word Wall- in each unit we will be learning the important vocabulary associated with it. After we have learned the words they will be posted on this wall and kept up for display all year.

Book cubbies. Important when you have two classes!

As you can see we are "Gearin' Up for 3rd Grade" in Room 204. Stop by weekly to see what we are up to!