Miss Russell's 3rd Grade Math, Science and Social Studies Corner

Let's Go Shopping!

2009-05-15T15:25:00.006-04:00

Today in math we played a game called "Let's Go Shopping!" In this game, students begin with $20 and choose items that they would like to purchase. One person acts as a customer and one person acts as a cashier. The cashier's job is figure out the change and count it back correctly. For example, if someone bought something that costs $5.39 and the cashier a twenty dollar bill the cashier might say "One cent makes $5.40, sixty cents makes $6.00 and and $14.00 makes twenty. Your change is $14.61." Cashiers would get the "change" from the bank. The students really enjoyed playing this game. Towards the end of the game they were becoming very comfortable with figuring out the change in their head. The skills that the student practiced in this game are most certainly life skills that they will need to know forever!

-Miss Russell :)

Inventions (Definitely) Rock!

2009-05-12T21:03:00.005-04:00

Tonight, our class performed the Inventions Rock! musical. The students worked very hard to memorize lines, songs, and dance movements. The students learned facts about important inventions such as the wheel, lightbulb, television, movie camera, and many more. They also learned about notable inventors such as Thomas Edison, Johann Fust, and Johann Gutenburg.

Our class definitely rocked the house tonight! Miss Young and I are so proud of you. Your hard work absolutely paid off!

Your very proud teacher,

Miss Russell :)

Creating Cool Board Games

2009-05-11T16:14:00.011-04:00

For the past few days in math class, students have been working on inventing their own board games. Students have been relating the direction of movement (left or right, up or down) to positive and negative numbers. Students have been so creative in making their board games. Some of the game themes were: shopping, school, saving endangered animals, military, lost pets, softball and even the Swine Flu! Students have had to do everything from create the game boards, write rules, create game cards and pieces. The students did a fantastic job creating their games and had a fun time playing them today. Who knows, maybe you will see one of these games on the shelf of your local store someday!

From the desk of a very proud 3rd grade teacher,

Miss Russell :)

Math Standard Snapshot

2009-05-07T10:20:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow, all third grade students will receive a Math Standard Snapshot. This tool is for parents to have a "snapshot" of a lesson that was taught in class. This tool also allows them to compare their child's work to a child's work that meets the standard. The parts of the Standard Snapshot include: the standards that correlate with the lesson, how the lesson was taught, and how the featured student's work meets the standard. This Standard Snapshot is unique in that, instead of choosing one student's work, we chose strategies from four different students.

For this piece of work, the students were given the following problem: "In our class we have 29 children. Each child has a pack of crayons that contain 15 individual crayons. How many individual crayons do we have in our whole class?" The four different strategies that we have chosen to showcase are the ratio table, generic rectangle, and two different multiplication clustering strategies.

Standard Snapshots are a powerful tool for parents to get an idea of what their child is expected to do. Often times, Standard Snapshots showcase a strategy or an idea that you may have thought of before. :)

-Miss Russell

Oreo Moon Phases

2009-04-19T21:24:00.009-04:00

Last week worked used Oreos to create the moon phases. Students followed a lab sheet to draw a sun, Earth and number a paper plate. The students used their new found knowledge about moon phases to arrange them appropriately on their plate.

Funny Math Lesson

2009-04-16T21:32:00.003-04:00

Watch the following video. Two men and one woman diagree about several math problems. Someone in the video is correct. Someone has a misconception. Who is right? Who is not right? Why? Explain your thinking clearly in your response.

Post by Monday for a special treat!
-Miss Russell :)

The Game of Many Changes

2009-04-16T20:50:00.002-04:00

In math we have been working in the "Up and Down the Number Line" unit. This unit focuses on net change. Tomorrow students will learn a game called "The Game of Many Changes." Today two friends learned the game and allowed me to tape them for our lesson tomorrow. In class, students will watch this video to learn how to play the game. Thanks to the two friends who allowed me to video them. They did a great job explaining their thinking aloud. Enjoy!
-Miss Russell
Here is a sneak peek :)

The Game of Many Changes from Ashley Russell on Vimeo.

Moon Phases Are Out of this World!!

2009-04-07T15:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday the students were introduced to our new science unit by listening to a read aloud called Jimmy Zangwow's Out of this World Moon Pie Adventure by Tony DiTerlizzi. After reading this fictional story, students were asked to guess what we were about to study in science. They correctly concluded that we were about to study about our moon. As a class we created a KWL chart (Know-Want to know-Learned) about the moon. It seems that our class has a lot of prior knowledge about the moon and have fantastic wonderings about the moon as well. We also snacked on some moon pies! :)

Our standards say that students must learn about the phases of the moon. Students will be observing the moon every night for the month of April. (If the moon is not visible or you can't get outside, check out the moon phase tracker on the right side of my blog!) Students are also expected to know patterns of length of the day, sunrise, and sunset. In order to meet this standard, students will be recording the time of sunrise and sunset for this month as well. We are looking forward to many exciting science labs about the moon in the upcoming weeks.

-Miss Russell :)

Having a Blast with Diet Coke and Mentos!

2009-03-16T08:08:00.003-04:00

On Friday, we conducted an experiment where we put Mentos into a 2-Liter of Diet Coke and tried to determine what kind of change it was. Some students believed it was a chemical change while others thought it was a physical change. In the world of science, many scientists do not agree on whether it is a chemical change or a physical change in matter. Click here to see one such explanation of the debate over this experiment being a chemical or a physical change by Steve Spangler. Check out the video below of our experiment:

What did you think? Comment and let us know.
-Miss Russell :)

Fizzy, Bubbly Science!

2009-03-12T16:09:00.014-04:00

For the past week we have been

exploring "Changes in Matter." We have learned that there are two different types of changes in matter: physical and chemical. We have learned that physical changes in matter are changes that make matter look different without becoming a new substance. Chemical changes in matter are changes that cause one kind of matter to become a different kind of matter. Today we conducted a lab with the focus questions of "What, if anything, will happen if you combine baking soda and vinegar?" Students made their predictions and then they were off to conduct their experiments. Students found that when the two different substances were combined, baking soda and vinegar, that a very fizzy and bubbly reaction occurred. Together the two substances reacted to produce carbon dioxide. Based on the new matter that was formed, gas, the students were able to successfully conclude that this was an example of a chemical change in matter. Our final experiment for "Changes in Matter" will come tomorrow and it is sure to be a BLAST! (Hint, Hint!) Stay tuned...
-Miss Russell :)

Oobleck: Solid or Liquid? You Decide!

2009-03-09T15:48:00.008-04:00

Last week in science class we began studying about matter. We have learned that there are 3 states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. Students have identified characteristics of each of these forms of matter. Today we experimented with a unique substance we will call “Oobleck.”

Through their experiments with the Oobleck, students found that it had characteristics of both a solid and a liquid depending on how it was handled. When students poked the substance quickly with their finger, it acted like a solid, keeping it’s shape. When students poked the Oobleck slowly with their finger, it acted like a liquid, changing shape.

Students had a fun time working with the Oobleck. As always, they were expected to record their experiment on a lab sheet. They also recorded some fantastic questions that they were wondering after the experiment. Some of the questions were “What would happen if you freeze the Oobleck?” “What is the Oobleck made out of?” and “Is it possible to turn the Oobleck into a gas?”
After our initial experiment we even tried to walk on the Oobleck! When we walked quickly the Oobleck acted like a solid and when we walked slowly it acted like a gooey liquid. Oobleck is AWESOME (and a little messy. but totally worth it!)!!
Thanks for checking in!
Miss Russell :)
PS- Oobleck is 1 ½ parts corn starch to 1 part water (and a little bit of green food coloring.)

Becoming Better Scientists!

2009-03-05T11:52:00.003-05:00

One very important thing that a scientist does is to make a hypothesis and conclusion about a question that he or she has. Today in science class, we practiced writing several "hypotheses" and "conclusions." In order to have a reason to write a hypothesis and conclusion we posed three questions: What will happen if we put a sharp pin next to an inflated balloon?, What will happen if we mix an equal amount of oil and water?, and What will happen if we put some raisins in a container of club soda?
Students worked on restating the lab "question" in their hypothesis and their conclusion. Let's take a look at the oil and water lab. For her hypothesis, Alise wrote "If you mix oil and water I think the oil will come to the top of the water." As luck (or smarts) would have it, Alise was correct. Her conclusion stated, "When we mixed oil and water, they separated because the water was more dense. The oil was less dense so it stayed on top. My hypothesis was completely correct!" In her conclusion, Alise did a fantastic job of restating the original "question," including what she learned, and referring back to her hypothesis.
The students did a wonderful job duing our lesson today. They will certainly be using these lab skills next week as we dive into matter with several fun experiments! Not to give away too many details but here a few a words to desribe some of the labs for next week: sweet, bubbly, crunchy, EXPLOSIVE and SLIMEY! Check back soon. More awesome science stuff to come!!
-Miss Russell :)

PS- Here are the lab results:
1. The balloon popped. 2. The oil and water serparated. 3. The raisins "danced." (moved up and down in the container due to the air bubbles) :)

Check out these cool pictures from science class today:

Cool "Green" Cars!

2009-03-04T20:35:00.010-05:00

Today in science class, students read a Science Spin (non-fiction) article titled "Cool Cars." The article was about eco-friendly cars. Students were challenged to design there own eco-friendly cars. Students created cars that were both realistic and not-so-realistic. The cars included everything from robotic arms that pick up and recycle trash, to grass covered cars, to cars that run on air and many more "green" ideas. The students used a rubric to help guide them as they worked on designing their car. The kids did a great job designing their cars. You may even see these cars in the future.
-Miss Russell :)

Fraction War Game

2009-02-12T22:29:00.004-05:00

Today in math class we played a game called Fraction War. Students used fraction cards to play the classic game known as "war." Which ever student had the larger fraction won the "war." Students used several different strategies to compare the size of the fraction. Some of these strategies included: using landmark fractions to determine the approximate size of the fraction, considering the "missing piece" of the fraction, and using decimals to solve. Check out the video below for a demonstration of the game. These girls also do a wonderful job explaining their thought process while determining which fraction is larger. Nice job girls!

Fraction War Game from Ashley Russell on Vimeo.

Enjoy!
-Miss Russell :)

Fractions and Decimal Scavenger Hunt Challenge

2009-02-10T16:20:00.007-05:00

In math class we have been doing a lot of work with fractions. Today we used calculators to explore the relationship of fractions and decimals. We learned that fractions and decimals are two different ways of writing the same thing.

For example, if I share a dollar with a friend we each get $.50 OR one-half (1/2) of a dollar. We used calculators to find the decimal equivalent to several fractions that we have been working with a lot.

Where do you find fractions and decimals in the real world? I challenge you to have a Scavenger Hunt to locate fractions or decimals. Some places that you might look are: on television, in the kitchen, around town (while riding in the car), in newspapers and so on.

Leave a comment and let me know when and where you find some examples of fractions and decimals.
Happy Hunting!
Miss Russell :)

Is One-Half Always Equal to One-Half?

2009-02-03T12:34:00.003-05:00

Lately in class we have been exploring the concept of fractions. Today, during Calendar Math, I asked the students a question: Is one-half always equal to one-half? As I anticipated, the majority of the students incorrectly answered "yes." Then, I asked them to consider the size of the whole. For example, what if I ordered a Personal Pan Pizza and my friend ordered an X-Large Pizza. Will our "halves" be equal in size? Within seconds of posing this example, there was an uproar in the class. An example as simple as pizza, made all of the students change their mind about the answer to this seemingly simple question. Today's lesson: Consider the size of the whole when comparing fractions AND it is crucial to use the same size "whole" when representing fractions on paper. Besides the pizza example, what example can you come up with to prove that one-half is not always equal to one-half? Post a comment and let the world know!
Fractions are fabulous... (and so are my students)!!
-Miss Russell :)

Happy 100th Day of School!

2009-02-02T20:27:00.005-05:00

Hard to believe, but today marks the 100th day of school (only 80 more to go!)! Today students spent time working on a 100th Day of School packet that included 17 different activities. Each activity focused on the fantastic number 100! Activities included math, science, language arts, and social studies. Students had to do everything from 100 jumping jacks, counting heartbeats, probability games, making lists of 100 words, making equations that equal 100, playing "Close to 100," dancing for 100 seconds, and Miss Russell's favorite...staying silent for 100 seconds. Students also had a 100th day of school snack. Each student grabbed 10 pieces of 10 different snacks totaling 100. We love the number 100 because it is such an important landmark number in our number system. A BIG "Thank You" to all of the families that donated snacks to make this day possible. It was a great day!
Thanks for checking in,
Miss Russell :)

Science Rocks!

2009-01-04T15:52:00.005-05:00

Before the winter break, students were busy in science class observing different kinds of rocks. As they observed the rocks using hand lenses, the students were encouraged to think of different ways to classify, or sort, the rocks. Some of the observable properties that they came up with were: size, shape, color, and texture. When school starts back tomorrow, we will review these ideas and begin talking about weathering and erosion on earth.
Thanks for checking in!
:) Miss Russell

Thanksgiving Raps

2008-12-01T21:13:00.003-05:00

Here are the final two Thanksgiving Raps. Thanks for your patience in getting these posted. They are worth the wait! :)

Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by.
-Miss Russell :)

Thanksgiving Fun!

2008-11-25T15:04:00.003-05:00

On Monday, we read this month's Book of the Month A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman and Jeff Shelly. After reading this book, the students had several choices for responding to this book: 1) Make a Thanksgiving rap, 2) Make a Thanksgiving commercial discouraging people from eating turkey for Thanksgiving or 3) Making a Thanksgiving ABC book. Here are a few of the student responses that we have worked on over the past two days.

We hope you enjoy these commercials and raps. There are more to come! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!! :)
-Miss Russell :)

Water Cycle Fun!

2008-11-20T16:55:00.003-05:00

For the past few weeks, we have been learning about the water cycle. The water cycle is the movement of water from Earth's surface into the air and back again. As water moves through this continuous cycle, it changes forms. The Sun's energy (heat) causes water to evaporate and become water vapor. Water vapor rises into the cooler air and turns into water droplets or ice crystals. Water vapor in the air that turns back into a liquid is called condensation. Water that falls to the Earth is called precipitation.
On Wednesday, we brought the water cycle into our class....sort of. We set up a demonstration using a heating element (representing the Sun's heat), a tea kettle filled with water and a tray full of ice (representing the cool clouds). We found that when the water evaporated and rose to the "clouds" that condensation was formed and in turn, we created precipitation. Need a visual? Click on the video below.

Also, take a look at the following video for an explanation by one of our friends about what he learned regarding the water cycle.

Learning about the water cycle has been so much fun. We have also learned a really fun song about the water cycle and we will be making water cycle bracelets. I am glad that you were able to take a peek into our classroom. Thanks for reading!
-Miss Russell :)

The Blue Planet

2008-11-06T19:41:00.006-05:00

Today we began our new science unit by exploring how much water is on Earth. First, students made their predictions about how much water is on Earth. Next, we used a beach ball globe to represent the Earth.

We tossed the globe 100 times and kept a tally of how many times our right pointer finger landed on water or on land. From this information, we were able to determine a percentage of water compared to land. We did this three times to make sure our information was accurate.

Our experiment concluded that about 72 percent of the Earth is covered with water. Our experiment proved to be almost exactly what scientists say is the amount of water on Earth.

Calendar Math

2008-11-06T08:19:00.002-05:00

Here is an example of our daily Calendar Math lesson. The Calendar Math time is always a powerful lesson. We cover many, many topics in this 15-20 minute period.

How many different Calendar Math topics did you count in this lesson?
Enjoy!
Miss Russell :)

Rockin' the Standards in Math

2008-10-23T13:53:00.003-04:00

This week we learned a song about perimeter and area. Hopefully, this song will help us remember the difference between perimeter and area when we are working with these concepts.

We have some serious superstars! Wouldn't you agree?
-Miss Russell :)

Literary Pumpkin

2008-10-20T17:24:00.005-04:00

On Friday the students made a literary pumpkin based on the book Planet Earth: Animals of Africa. Each year classes make literary pumpkins to celebrate our love of reading in a festive way. We chose this book because it represented our grade level theme, "Africa." We made one big pumpkin that represented the Earth and each student made their own little pumpkin representing an animal in Africa. The pumpkins turned out so cute! A HUGE thank you to Miss Young and Mrs. Nikki Colclough for developing such a great idea. The pumpkins will be displayed in the lobby for the rest of the week. Check them out!
-Miss Russell

Flips, Turns and Area

2008-10-19T18:39:00.017-04:00

This week we will be starting a new unit in math. The unit is called Flips, Turns and Area. This unit develops ideas in 2-D Geometry. The following describes the mathematical emphasis for each investigation.

Investigation 1—Motions with Tetrominoes

-Measuring area by covering a flat space with square units
-Finding systematically all possible geometric arrangements of a given number of squares
-Finding patterns for covering a space
-Comparing area of rectangles with different dimensions
-Describing physical motions in precise ways as a series of slides, flips, and turns
-Comparing two shapes to decide if they are congruent or not after using geometric motions—slides, flips, turns—to try fitting one shape exactly on top of the other

Investigation 2—Finding Area

-Measuring area by covering a flat space with square units
-Comparing the area of two shapes by determining if they cover the same amount of flat space
-Comparing shapes to see if they are congruent through motions such as rotation (turns) and reflection (flips)
-Exploring relationships among shapes; for example, a rectangle can be cut into two triangles, each of which is half the area of the rectangle
-Finding the area of complex shapes by cutting them into recognizable smaller units of area such as square units and half units

The following words are vocabulary terms that students will be expected to know by the end of the unit:

Area - The size of a flat surface measured in square units

Congruent - To be the same size and shape

Flip-To turn a figure over

Slide - To move a figure in any direction without rotating it

Turn - To rotate a figure in place

Students will find all of the possible arrangement of 4 squares. These types of shapes are called tetrominoes. Tetrominoes must have "full sides touching." Students will use these shapes to explore the concept of area.

Sunshine Math Kickoff

2008-10-16T20:11:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we had a Sunshine Math Kickoff. Sunshine Math is an extra math challenge that is offered to those students who would like an extra challenge in math. If students, are already overwhelmed with their regular school work than they can participate by being a cheerleader. The role of a cheerleader is encourage the "Mathletes" (Sunshine Math Participants) during their Sunshine Math adventure.
At the end of the school year, students who have turned in their Sunshine Math papers at least 80% of the time will have a chance to compete in a "Math Brawl" (competition). The winner of that competition will represent our school at the district competition.
Yesterday's pep-rally was a huge success! Here are some of the videos that the students saw yesterday during the pep-rally.
Miss Hoffmann and Miss Patterson:

Sunshine Math Singers:

Sunshine Math Cheerleaders:

All permission slips are due ASAP!!
What are your plans for Sunshine Math? Will you choose to be a Mathlete or Cheerleader?
-Miss Russell :)

Food Chain Fun!

2008-10-09T20:30:00.023-04:00

This week in science we have been working on the relationship between plants and animals through food chains. Food chains show the flow of energy from one living thing to another. All food chains begin with energy from the sun. We also discussed the two types of living things: producers and consumers. There are 3 types of consumers: herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. These are the main concepts that students learned this week:
-producers are living things that make their own food, (ex: plants)
-consumers are living things that eat other living things (ex: people, snakes, lions)
-herbivore-a consumer that eats only plants,
-carnivore-a consumer that eats only animals,
-omnivores-a consumer that eats plants and animals.
Students worked on making their own food chains in class.

Horray for the Open Array!

2008-10-03T20:55:00.006-04:00

Today in class we worked on several student created multiplication and division story problems. One problem that we worked on was a multiplication story problem by Jacob. His story problem was: This year I recorded 12 hurricanes. Each hurricane dumped 8 inches of water. How many inches of water did the hurricanes dump in all? The students came up with many great strategies such a repeated addition, drawing pictures and using a ratio table.

During the closing meeting, I reminded the students that we can use arrays as models for solving small multiplication problems; but, we can also use them to solve larger multiplication problems. I drew a rectangluar array on the board with no columns or rows. I asked the students what numbers we could split the 12 into that are "easy to work with." Without hesitation, I got the answer "10 and 2." Perfect! Then I asked what we could split the 8 into that would be "easy to work with." Anna replied "4 and 4." Perfect again! I divided the rows into 4 and 4 (totaling 8) and I split the columns into 10 and 2 (totaling 12). We didn't draw all of the rows and columns because we decided that wouldn't be very efficient and we would probably get confused.

Now, we had four smaller arrays with dimensions that were very easy to solve. Once we were done finding the products of each small array we added them together and VIOLA! we had our answer!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Open Array strategy because it will create a better of understanding of the traditional multiplication algorithm when we are ready for that strategy. Today was the first day with this strategy. We will be using it a lot more in the future. Thanks for reading!

If you are interested in more information about this strategy please visit the math strategy videos, look under the Multiplication heading and click "Generic Rectangle." (Generic Rectangle and the Open Array are the same thing.)
-Miss Russell :)

New Month, New Calendar Math

2008-09-30T21:19:00.008-04:00

Today is Wednesday, today is Wednesday, October 1st, October 1st. Yesterday was Tuesday, tomorrow will be Thursday, HIP-HIP HORRAY! What a day!
That is the sound of the beginning of our Calendar Math time. I love Calendar Math because I feel that it reinforces skills that students sometimes lack, plus IT'S FUN! I am so excited for the new month of October. In Calendar Math (CM), a new month = new components of our lesson. This month we have added many new components to our CM routine. We will be comparing the weather in Jacksonville, Florida (USA) to that of Cairo, Egypt (Africa). As a class, we will be graphing this information. Students will practice reading and answering the graph about weather. We will also be adding a decimeter (10 centimeters) each day of the month. This will provide the much needed skill of using metric measurement. Our calendar pattern this month introduces us to different types of triangles such as equilateral triangles and isoceles triangles. We will continue to add money for each school day. We will focus on the meaning of a.m. and p.m. in time. We will keep track of the different times that it is "light" (day) and "dark" (night) in relation to a.m. and p.m. We will also be finding different combinations of coins for a given total.
Some questions that you can ask your child about our CM lesson for October are:
Early in the month:
What is an equilateral triangle?
What is an isoceles triangle?
What is a vertice?
What is a decimeter?
How many groups of 10 equal 100?
Is today's number odd or even?
Is today's number a multiple of 3? 4? 5? 6? 7? etc. How do you know?
Mid-Month:
How many decimeters equal a meter?
What is the weather like in Cairo compared to Jacksonville at this time of the year?
What does it look like outside when it is 3 a.m.? 3 p.m.?
What are all the different combinations of coins to make 47 cents?

These are just a few questions that you could ask. You can even ask open ended questions such as "What did you learn today in CM?" Any conversation with your child about their work in class holds them accountable for paying attention during the lesson. Thanks for reading!!
-Miss Russell :)

Donors Choose x 2!

2008-09-30T21:06:00.004-04:00

As you may know, my first proposal for Science Books through Donors Choose has been completely fulfilled and we received the materials on Friday. The 33 books included all different topics from energy, the sun, animals, the moon, volcanoes, force and motion, rocks, plants, and so much more! Students wrote very nice "thank you" notes to some of our donors yesterday. I am SO excited to announce that I have also gotten my second proposal for math books and games fulfilled. YAHH!!! We are so appreciative to all of our donors. I can't wait to receive the math materials. It feels like Christmas in September!
Your very excited teacher,
Miss Russell :)

Multiplication and Division Story Problems

2008-09-30T20:39:00.011-04:00

For the past few days we have been working with multiplication and division story problems. The students have been coming up with some fantastic strategies for solving both types of problems. Some of the strategies that we have come up with are: skip counting, using a ratio table, drawing pictures, decomposing, and thinking of multiplication as repeated addition in order to solve. Take a look at the charts that we made in class. There were so many great ideas to share that we couldn't possibly chart them all. The following charts show awesome strategies from Knowlton, Johnna, Michela, Elias, Katelynn and JJ. Nice work boys and girls!!

Today students were introduced to several different notations for multiplication and division. I can't wait to start seeing these different types of notation in their work!

-Miss Russell :)

Open House

2008-09-22T21:56:00.003-04:00

WOW!! Tonight we had our 3rd grade Open House and boy was it packed!! The students followed a flow chart to introduce many different aspects of our class to their adult visitor. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those families that joined us tonight. Miss Young and I had such an awesome time visiting and talking with everyone. The students did an amazing job leading their guest around. I could not be more proud of this class.
Your very proud teacher,
Miss Russell :)

Array Game: Count and Compare

2008-09-22T10:24:00.005-04:00

Today students learned a new game using array cards. The game is called "Count and Compare." This game helps students practice estimating and comparing the size of arrays based on their dimensions. Ultimately, this type of practice will help students become familiar with multiplication and division. Take a look at the video below to see how the game is played. Students may play this game at home. They just need to take home their array cards, cut them out, and label them with totals and dimensions.

If you are interested in learning more about array cards and their purpose in multiplication and division, please visit the following links:
What Are Array Cards?
Teaching Multiplication and Division

Battle of the Books

2008-09-18T17:45:00.005-04:00

Battle of the Books is a reading competition for third, fourth, and fifth grade students at Chets Creek Elementary. To participate in the competition, students read books from the Battle of the Books List. The fifteen titles used in this competition are the Sunshine State Young Readers’ Award nominees for this year. Battle of the Books culminates in three “battles” where teams buzz in to answer questions about the books. Last year Mr. Montisano and Mrs. Nash’s Third Grade “Bookaneers” won the Battle of the Books! These amazing third graders received gold medals and a pizza party for their class!
Here is the Battle of the Books List:

BATTLE OF THE BOOKS LIST

1) The Blue Ghost - by Marion Dane Bauer
2) No Talking - by Andrew Clement
3) Missing Manatee - by Cynthia DeFelice
4) The Sloppy Copy Slip-Up - by DyAnne DiSalvo
5) Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Erupts!: The First Experiment - by Frances O'Roark
6) Stumptown Kid - by Ron J. Findley & Carol Gorman
7) The Thing About Georgie – by Lisa Graff
8) The Homework Machine - by Dan Gutman
9) Dexter the Tough - by Margaret Peterson Haddix
10) The Ghosts Grave - by Peg Kehret
11) Rules - by Cynthia Lord
12) Roxy and the Hooligans - by Phyllis Naylor
13) Clementine - by Sara Pennypacker
14) The Stupendous Dodge ball Fiasco – by Janice Repka
15) Listen!- by Stephanie S. Tolan

In class we have already read No Talking and we are currently reading The Thing About Georgie. We love the battle books!!
A huge THANK YOU to Mr. Pieri for typing up the list of Battle Books.
-Miss Russell :)

Growing Plants

2008-09-16T17:28:00.005-04:00

Today is Day 7 of our plant growing project. We have been watering them everyday and have a source of heat and light (Sun) on them at all times. We have some plants that are growing like crazy and some that haven't germinated at all. (I am slightly fearful that Carter and Anna's plant may take over our room one of these days like in the book Plantzilla.) Out of all of the plants, the lima beans have grown the fastest. We are also starting to see some sprouts from the radishes and peas. Every day we go to school we can't wait to see the progress that our little plants have made over night. The students have also been recording their observations in their science journals. Through the clear cups we are able to see the awesome root systems of the plants. The students have also been able to identify the stems and leaves or their plants. Our class has quite the green thumb!
-Miss Russell :)

Silly Story Problems

2008-09-15T17:34:00.005-04:00

Today I constructed our first Standards Based Bulletin Board. The purpose of a SBBB is to give students and parents several examples of work that meet the standards that we are working on. This SBBB centered around two story problems dealing with repeated addition and multiplication from our "Things That Come In Groups" math unit. Although there were many excellent pieces of work, I chose work from Trinity, Taylor, Luke and Jake for this month's board. Also, every student drew either an octopus or giraffe to help decorate the board. Nice work kiddos!
-Miss Russell :)
(A HUGE thank you to Susan Ammons for helping put the SBBB together.)

Resource Schedule

2008-09-11T07:46:00.002-04:00

At this time, I only have a partial resource schedule to share. As soon as I get the schedule for the rest of the year, all students will receive a copy and be taught how to use it. Here is the resource schedule for the next few days:
Thursday, September 11th- Media
Friday, September 12th- Art 2
Monday, September 15th- PE 2 (Don't forget to wear tennis shoes!)
Tuesday, September 16th- Character Education
Thursday, September 18th- Science
That's all that I know for right now. I will keep you updated as I receive information.
- Miss Russell :)

Scientists At Work

2008-09-09T22:18:00.001-04:00

Check out these pictures from our work in science this week.

Roots, Stems, Plants, and Flowers...Oh My!

2008-09-09T21:29:00.006-04:00

Recently in science we have been learning about plants, their parts, and needs. We spent Monday and Tuesday planting a variety of plants such as lima beans, grass, flowers, green peas, and radishes. We have learned that there are 4 main parts: roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. There are also 4 things that plants need to survive: water, space, light,and air. On Monday, students made predictions about what would happen to a lima bean when soaked in water for 24 hours. On Tuesday, students dissected the lima bean to observe the inside. Students were able to identify the embryo (new plant), stored food, and seed coat. They recorded their findings in their science journal. Next we will be learning about animals. Did you know that plants and animals have many things in common? More to come...
-Miss Russell :)

Multiplication Story Problems

2008-09-04T22:40:00.003-04:00

In class we have been working on multiplication story problems. Here are some examples from Kayla, Emily, Katelynn, and Jessica. Nice Work!
-Miss Russell :)

Farewell Miss Young! We will miss you!

2008-09-03T22:03:00.005-04:00

Today was Miss Young's last day before her big trip to Africa. Yep, AFRICA! She will be going to Swaziland, Africa to help people and learn more about their culture. She will be spending a little more than 2 weeks there. This year she is bringing along our class mascot Chet the Bear. (Look closely to the picture at the right, can you find him?) While in Africa, Chet will be journaling about his travels on his blog. We will certainly miss Miss Young while she is gone but we can't wait to hear about all of the exciting stories and see wonderful pictures of her time in Africa.
-Miss Russell :)

2008-08-28T21:25:00.003-04:00

Today we started our "Things That Come in Groups" math unit. This math unit focuses on the development of multiplication and division skills. Today we began our unit by brainstorming "things that come in groups." Some of the ideas that the students came up with were: wheels on a tricycle, fingers on a hand, socks in a pair, eggs in a carton, triplets, and sides on an octagon. The students use this information to make story problems such as "Miss Russell bought 3 cartons of eggs. Each carton has 12 eggs. How many eggs does Miss Russell have?" When asked to solve this problem, many students used an addition equation such as 12+12+12 to solve. The concept of multiplication was then introduced. We think of multiplication as "groups of" things. This problem could be represented with the following multiplication equation 3x12=? In class, I discourage the use of ambiguous terminology such as "times." For this equation we say 3 "groups of" 12. Using the phrase "groups of" gives a more concrete understanding of multiplication. It also allows students to create a mental picture of the problem in order to solve, in case they get stuck. The students caught on to this concept very quickly today and they were excited to hear that they were solving multiplication problems. I love this unit and can't wait to see what awesome ideas the kids will come up with next!

-Miss Russell :)

Free Rice

2008-08-27T13:25:00.004-04:00

One of my very favorite websites is http://www.freerice.com/. This website is great for both kids and adults! On this website you can improve your vocabulary, grammar, math and geography skills. For every correct answer, a donation of 20 grains of rice is made to needy areas around the world. This website is so addictive. Also, what is better than giving your brain a workout AND helping people in need. How cool!

-Miss Russell :)

Science Happenings

2008-08-27T07:48:00.000-04:00

This week in science we are kicking off the school year by reviewing the "Science Process Skills" that scientists use when they investigating events or places. The "Science Process Skills" have reviewed include some of the following:

observing
classifying
estimating and measuring
inferring
predicting
making and using models
forming questions and hypothesis
investigating and experimenting
collecting data
interpreting data
communicating

We have done many fun "lab stations" to investigate these different process skills. We've have made paper airplanes (investigating and experimenting), we have estimated the volume of a ball of clay (estimating and measuring), we even made music with water-filled plastic bottles (forming questions and hypothesis). Another lab station was for the students to make a small example of a lever. A lever is a simple machine that helps make work easier. This lab station left a lot of kids questions "What is the purpose of this simple machine in real life?" I could tell they weren't believers when I told them it makes work easier. So I proved it to them. I started by asking if they thought they could pick me (the teacher) up off the ground. They unanimously answered "no." I set up a wooden plank (bar) and brick (fulcrum). Eventually, after some experimenting, the students were able to set the fulcrum close to the load (me), I stood on that end and a small girl stood on the other side of the wooden plank. She was able to lift me off the ground using this simple machine! After the wide-eyed stares and "oohs" and "ahhs," I think you could say I had 33 believers in simple machines. This week has been fun in science and I believe it will set the tone for the rest of the year. I can't wait for more wide-eyed stares, "oohs" and "ahhs" this year in science.

-Miss Russell :)