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Around Halloween I wanted to do an activity that would be fun and themed for Halloween but also throw a little learning in there too. So we did a little research and found this little gem here. A unit of study called Bone Bridge, a Halloween STEM Challenge by Kerry Tracy. It was suuuuper fun! Basically the students had to build a bridge using pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, and Q-tips. The bridge had to stand by itself and support weight as well. For those of you who are unfamiliar with STEM... STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Sometimes an art project is done as well. Then it becomes STEAM. The science behind this activity is the science of building bridges. We used the web (technology) to look at videos of bridge building. The students learned new vocab such as: cantilever, cross support, load, abutment, girders, cable stays, V supports, pylons, etc. It also gave them some ideas how to build their bridges. In the engineering portion, they were able to discuss and sketch ideas for their bridges and then experiment with building them. There was a lot of frustrations in the room, but it was a great learning experience for them! Mathematics tied in with this by measuring how long the bridge was, how high the bridge was (one of the criteria was that it had to be supported with at least an inch below it), and how many counting bears the bridge could support. The learning and understanding behind this activity was awesome. It was a fantastic problem solving experience for them! Happy Halloween everyone! Be safe out there tonight! One of my favorite things to do in the fall is Pumpkin Science! I have been doing this for years, and it something that I will definitely continue. It comes from a really old Aims unit. I took it and tweaked it and made it my own. We divided into four groups. Each group had a pumpkin. First we looked at the outside of the pumpkins and made some PREDICTIONS. We predicted the weight, the height, how many lines it had, how thick the pumpkin walls were, how much it cost per pound, if it would float (love that one!), and how many seeds it would have inside. We wrote down our predictions to compare with our findings later. Next we got to name our pumpkins (this one is just for fun!) Finally we got to see if our predictions were valid by going to the different stations to weigh, measure, float, etc. And then we cut into the pumpkins (my job!) to measure walls and seeds. The kids had a blast discovering their pumpkins and seeing how far (or how close) their predictions were. Our school's SCO is outstanding! They always put on a great program for the kids with lots of fun and creative activities. Here are some recent pics! Enjoy!
 Bat Research Our third graders enjoyed doing some extension activities using technology with the websites Cute Bats, Types of Bats, Scholastic: Soar with Bats, and Wonderopolis. The students researched the topics of why bats hang upside down (bats will still hang upside down even after they die!), bat vocabulary, types of habitats, unusual facts about bats, echolocation, bat videos, pictures, and assessments to test their knowledge of what they learned.  A wanted poster for a particular bat using traits that we learned about in our story. One of the students' favorites was when Mrs. Moss' class and my class created Bat Flyers for a STEM (science, tech, engineering, and math) activity. I found this idea online from Smart Chick's Bat Flyers. We changed it a bit to fit our classes, but it was super cool! The kids really got into it.
They chose different types of paper and a paperclip to create a bat that would fly the furthest. We held “Bat Trials” to see who could design a bat that would soar! “Hanging” with bats was a blast! Bat Practice!  Final bat trials! One of our first units in Grammar is that of sentences. We learn what a sentence is, what the parts are, what the the different types of sentences are, and how to write longer, complex, elaborated sentences. One of the things that the students find most fun is silly sentences... First I give them a topic, like a frog for instance. One side of the room will write a subject of that sentence. The other side of the room will write the predicate of the sentence without knowing what the other side wrote. Then we put them all together and read them out loud. It's hysterical, and the kids all crack up. It's also a good way to show how sentences won't show a complete thought if we don't have both a subject AND a predicate!  For some reason this year we had a little theme going of squirrels and egging?!? Next we take that same skill and take it further by making compound subjects and compound predicates.    And finally, we take it a step further and write compound sentences. It is amazing to watch the progression through our learning!  One of my favorite (and the students' too!) games is a game developed by the cooperative gurus Kagan and Kagan called Corners. It is simple. You give the kids a response board and a multiple choice question. I post the question on the ELMO so everyone can see. Give the kids a few seconds to read and think about the question, then a few seconds to respond by writing on their white boards. Next the kids stand by their seat, and finally they go to a corner of the room. The corners are labeled A, B, C, and D. If they get their answer correct, they give themselves a point. They love it for the fun factor; I love it for the informal assessment that both of us get. I can tell right away if a student is not getting a concept and remediate if necessary. They can tell if they really don't know something as well and know that they have to study or get extra help. Win-Win!!!  This is a picture of us using the corners game with a math review. (The picture is dark because we were using the ELMO and had the lights in the room off.) We also use it for opinion based questions. The students go to a corner with a statement they believe in, and then defend it with reasons. Sometimes they are convincing enough that they change their classmate's minds. So fun!  I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with the people at Teach Plus this weekend at their offices in downtown Chicago.
Teach Plus is an national organization that promotes teacher leadership and empowers teachers to make an impact in their classrooms and beyond. I was able to meet with fellow teachers and discuss topics crucial to teacher leadership. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot. |
Mrs. Pamela WandersenHello there! Archives
June 2020
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