3rd Grade: 4/8

Is Spring here? The weather has been a little up and down lately, in true March fashion, but now that April has begun, hopefully there is only warm weather ahead!

Our highlight these past two weeks was our trip to the Brooklyn Bridge. In school we learned all about the construction of the bridge, looking at old photographs and figuring out the order that the different parts were built. The story of the building of the bridge took one unexpected turn after another. First John Roebling dies from injuries sustained to his foot while scoping the land before the bridge is built. Then, Washington Roebling, his son, becomes paralyzed from “caisson disease” from the different pressure levels in the caisson. Finally, Emily Roebling takes over and the bridge is completed under her direction! After 14 years of construction, the bridge finally opened. We then looked at different photographs from different time periods to see what kinds of transportation crossed the bridge. People were always able to walk across, but the bridge opened to horse and carriages, had trains and cable cars, and eventually cars. What an amazing structure it is!

On our trip, we constructed a model bridge made out of boxes and rope and then walked on the bridge itself, noticing the thickness of the cables and suspension wires. We also saw the plaques on the tower commemorating all of the Roeblings’ contributions. Finally, we ate and played in Brooklyn Bridge Park and had a ride on the carousel. It was truly an exciting day!

In writing, we chose to adapt either The Three Billy Goats Gruff or Little Red Riding Hood. Students chose one of these fairytales and made a list of ways to adapt it. Some changed the main characters, where they were heading, or how they overcame the problem. We began writing these adapted fairytales by breaking them down into different parts. In the first, the main character is introduced. In the second, the mission is described and the story really begins. In the third, the villain is introduced and the main character encounters the problem. Finally, there is a solution and the main character overcomes the problem. After this practice writing, we are planning our next fairytale story. It will be another adaptation or our own fairytale. In the planning stages, we think about the characters, the problem and solution, and map out the basic story structure: first, next, then, and last. We also talked about structures of fairytales including descriptive and repetitive language and the connection to an object.

In reading, we are coming to the end of this first unit of book clubs. Students will look back at their books and think about the problem and solution and the lesson learned. They will also look at how the main character has changed from the beginning of the book to the end. Each book club will meet to discuss the theme of the book and what surprised them about the story.

In math, third graders have finished their unit on fractions and have moved onto studying area and perimeter. Students have finished units on calculating areas by counting the total number of unit squares inside of different figures, including irregular shapes such as the outline of their own feet and hands! Our students are also continuing to sharpen their multiplication skills and related division facts by studying their flashcards daily. They just finished their unit on telling time and calculating elapsed time! In our next. This week we started a new unit on data and graphing. Here are a couple pictures of our students’ data from rolling a die over twenty times. They practiced using tallies to collect the data and then made bar graphs with scales to present the data.