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Third Grade News
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| The Day I Was Born | Shape Up! | Painless Poetry |
 Don't Drink the Water |
Ancient Civilizations, Part 2 |
Focus Question of the Week:
December 1, 2008
Share experiment results (see chart) and conclusions.
What song was on the radio on the day you were born? What famous people share your birthday? These are some of the questions that we will answer this year. Students are using the Internet to find important and interesting information about what was happening on their birthdays.
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Build your mental muscles as you travel through the spatial world of geometry. Learn to think like an artist, engineer or architect. Leap from plane to solid figure constructions and beyond!
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Painless Poetry
Create beautiful word pictures during our study of poetry. Read and write a variety of poetry, such as limericks, haiku and cinquains. Our trip through tongue twisters is sure to test even the most talented talker.
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Don't Drink the Water
How would you feel if you couldn't drink the water that came out of your faucet at home? Just how important is water anyway? Read about a group of people who didn't think about water at all and find out what happened in the end. Use the scientific method to find solutions for pollution.
This is our first unit of the year. Students have read two books on environmental topics. The first, Common Ground, the Water, Earth, and Air We Share by Molly Bang tells of a community who did not share their common ground. We had some wonderful discussions about living green, using natural resources wisely, and sharing them equally. The second book is an environmental history of the Nashua River entitled, A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry. Students learned that a river can indeed die; it can be declared ecologically dead. Through the efforts of many people, it can however be restored.
We have learned a great deal about wetlands. Many people think of wetlands as places to get rid of. They think that nothing good comes from wetlands; only mosquitoes, flies and bad smells. We learned that wetlands provide us with many things that we need. They act as sponges to soak up flood waters. They filter trash and other pollutants out of the water and keep it from entering rivers and oceans. The plants that grow there help stop erosion. They are like a grocery store for animals that visit or make their homes there. They provide places for the animals to raise their young and a resting spot for migrating animals. You can learn more about wetlands at the Environmental Protection Agency's website.
This week we read a story about a boy and his family. They live in Ghana, Africa. The story is about how the lives of the family members were changed when a well was dug in their village. Kofi wasn't able to go to school before the well because he had to help his mother carry water from the river and this took up much of his day. His mother, Akua, was able to grow a garden in front of her home after the well was dug. This provided the family with a healthier diet and money from the extra vegetables she sold at the market. Kofi's father, Kwabena, was able to save enough money to buy books for his children, a bicycle to get to market more easily, and more items that would make his family's life better. The clean well water helped everyone stay healthier.
This weekend we will be keeping track of how much water our families use at home. Students have been given tally sheets and should begin counting Friday when they get home from school and stop counting on Sunday evening. We will add up the gallons in class next week. Some classes estimated that we will use somewhere between 200 - 500 gallons of water. Let's see what happens.
Wow! Just look at how much water we used over one weekend!
|
4,984.7 gallons |
Mawdsley |
| 5,542.8 gallons | Ortman |
| 5,240.3 gallons | Fitzgerald |
| 15,766.8 gallons | grand total |
We learned we waste more water with long showers than any other area. We used 7,375 gallons of water with showers alone. The second largest use of water was through washing clothes. This total was 3,320 gallons of water. Low flow toilets and front loading washing machines have made a huge impact on water usage. Turning off the water when we brush our teeth makes a big difference too.
Did you know that the single greatest polluter of water is ordinary households? We are beginning our experiments to see if we can clean up water once it has become polluted. Here's what it looks like now. Can you believe it only has vegetable oil, coffee grounds, salt and pepper in it?
Before Treatment
After Treatment
By the way, thank you to everyone who sent in soda bottles for our experiments! We're working on our conclusions in between all of the holiday activities: Small World Shop, Book Fair, and play: The Real Pocahontas.
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Ancient Civilizations, Part 2
Grab your knapsacks and prepare for adventure! Meet some of the greatest thinkers and leaders of all time. Find out for yourself how the ancient cultures of Greece, Rome, and Mali still influence the world today.
You might want to do some investigations on your own by visiting this Mali Webquest. Find out about the history, travel and trade of Ancient Mali then, travel to Greece to learn about philosophy, mathematics and science and how the ancient cultures still influence your world today.
You may also want to check out these sites.
Mali: Ancient Crossroads of Africa
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