Surface Tension

We have been studying water in our class. Here are some things we have learned:

"Salt water sort of cleaned the penny," said Colton.

Michael said, "The drops of water bounce on surfaces of water."

"When I was observing the penny, when I dropped the salt water on top of it the salt water made the water drops look like it had bubbles in it, " Kennedy explained.

"Soap water made the water dome pop," Kathy described.

Haden said," When you put water on the penny, the water stays up and it turns into an oval."

"The class studied that you can get 25 drops of water on one penny," replied Dylan.

"When I put salt water on the penny, you can see the salt," explained Chidy.

Hailey E. stated, "When you put 15 drops of water and as many drops of soap water and salt water, whatever number you got to it spilled."

"I learned that if you put salt water on your penny it will make the penny steady," explained Madison.

Blake said,"When you put the soapy water on the penny, it made all the water fall off the penny."

"I learned if you put on soapy water on top of 15 drops and too much of soapy water, it will just spill," stated Camryn.

Diamond explained, "The soapy water cleaned the penny."

"When you put the 15 drops and you added the soapy water, it ran over and when you put the salt water on the penny you could sort of see the salt," stated Connor.

Kierra says, "You put soapy water on the penny it just disappeared."


Surface tension is the ability of water to stick together.

We watched a video showing water drops in slow motion. Here is the link to the video: http://www.flixxy.com/water-drop.htm

Subtraction Strategies

We have really been working on subtraction for awhile. Our class is full of math marvels! They discovered quite a few different strategies to solve a subtraction problem. Here are some of their strategies:

The first problem is 300-170=___ . They all discovered the difference was 130, but in different ways.

Colton shows the Trading Strategy.

Camryn shows the Negative Number Strategy.

Alecia shows how she splits one number and then subtracts each one.

Kierra used the Number Line Strategy and counted up to find the difference.


The next problem was 348-139=___. The students found the answer to be 209.

Blake also used the Number Line Strategy.

Michael split one number into parts and subtracted.

Hailey used the Negative Number Strategy.

Connor shows the classic trading strategy.

Parents, ask your child about these strategies. Most of us only learned how to "borrow" in elementary school, but these third graders have found other strategies to solve subtraction problems. Ask about their favorite strategy and give them a subtraction problem to solve. You'll be amazed! :)

Spelling & Vocabulary Jan. 15-22, 2010

We will be reading the story The Garden of Abdul Gasazi by Chris Van Allsburg in the next week.

Vocabulary Words
awesome -- causing a feeling of wonder, fear and respect
convinced -- made to do, believe or feel certain about something
disappeared -- passed out of sight; vanished
discovered -- found; learned
incredible -- too unlikely to be believed; astonishing or amazing
impossible -- not able to happen or exist


Spelling Words -- this week's words are homophones (words that sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings)

1. hear -- I can hear a bird singing outside.
2. here -- Please put the book over here.
3. new -- We moved into a new house.
4. knew -- My brother knew how to get to school.
5. its -- The dog is in its house.
6. it's -- I think it's time for dinner.
7. our -- Do you like our city?
8. hour -- We played in the snow for an hour.
9. there -- She is sitting over there on the bench.
10. their -- They have their dog with them.
11. they're -- My parents know where they're going for vacation.

Bonus:
1. seen -- Have you seen that movie?
2. scene -- What was the best scene in the play?

Schedule

Since we missed two days of school last week, we will have the spelling and vocabulary tests on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Homework will also be due on that day and I will not be sending home new homework until Friday, Jan. 15. Phew! I hope we don't miss any more school days!

Spelling & Vocabulary Jan. 4-8, 2010

Happy New Year!! It's hard to believe it's 2010! I hope you all had a great holiday break. I think we should be about done with the snow already!! I used muscles I had forgotten all about with so much shoveling. :)

The story we're reading this week is Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolan . It's about a girl who raises a dragon named Hank on her family's farm. Hank helps out, but he soon outgrows the farm. The girl takes Hank to Dragon Island, but returns to the farm with a new batch of dragon eggs.

Vocabulary Words
appetite--the desire for food; hunger

chores--small jobs usually done on a regular schedule

harvested--picked or gathered

hitched--tied on or fastened by a know, ring or hook

plow--to break up and turn over dirt so that seeds can be planted

sown--scattered or planted

tended--looked after; took care of


Spelling Words

large, park
gym, jeans
skin, crack
quick, orange
picnic, second
judge, squeeze
Bonus: courage, insect