How strong is that shape?

This week in science we continued our structures and materials unit. Last week we tested the strengths of different materials. This week we decided to look at the strength of different shapes in structures. We did our experiment using two shapes; a square and a circle. Before we began we took a survey to see which shape the grade three's thought would be stronger. Squares were chosen by over half the class. To test it out we made a paper square and a triangle square to see which shape would loose its form easier. We quickly discovered that the square could easily be manipulated into other objects whereas the triangle held its shape.

The next day we decided to look at how we could strengthen the strength of the weak square. One of the boys suggested we put a piece of paper diagonally along the square to support it more. We tried that out and found out that our square was MUCH more stable this way. We realized it was because the square now looked like two triangles.

We  applied our new knowledge to our everyday life and realized that it is important to know which shape is stronger for building new structures such as bridges.

Cheese!

Yesterday we celebrated National Cheese Lovers Day (yes that is a real thing)! We started by sharing our favorite cheeses (cream cheese, cheddar, all kinds, mozzarella, grill cheese, cold cheese and more). We pretended that there was someone out there that didn't like cheese. We thought of different reasons why that person should like cheese. To help us come up with a list of reasons we read some cheese facts. We read about the history of cheese and found out that there are over 2000 types of cheese in the world.

Next, we used a graphic organizer to help us write down our thoughts. We began with a starting sentence, then three reasons why you should like cheese and finally we wrote our closing sentence.
Then the students worked on their own graphic organizer.

 

 

After our writing we watched a video on how cheese is made. Of course we had to enjoy a little cheese!

 



How strong is that material?

 

Last week we learned that cards are not a good material to use when trying to create a stable structure. Today we decided to test some more materials to figure out what exactly are "stable materials." To begin the students made a list of materials we were going to test and predicted which would be the strongest and which would be the weakest. After that we got together on the back carpet and began testing. We first tested a plastic straw. It was able to hold 74 pennies before bending. Next we tested a cloth, that was able to hold 75 pennies. We left the metal knife overnight with 320 pennies in the cup and it lasted all night! The most surprising material we tested was the spaghetti. It was able to hold 64 pennies before it broke!

 

We all had a lot of fun testing the different materials. The students definitely agree that they would not like to life in a spaghetti house when they grow up because it would be so unstable. It would be yummy though!

 

 

 

New Years Writing

This past week we talked about 2015 and things we were looking forward to. We also talked about things we wanted to accomplish this year (reading more books, passing grade three, learning Spanish)and things we wanted to stop doing (complaining, nose picking, being mean to siblings) the students had some creative ideas. We brainstormed our ideas one day and then turned our writing into a craft the next. It was wonderful to hear the students thoughts on what they would like to accomplish this year!

Happy New Year!

 

Structures and Materials

Today we began our new science unit! We are learning all about structures and materials. To introduce the students to the importance of know about structures and the materials used in structures we made some card structures! The kids worked together in groups of 3-4 and tried to build big towers. They quickly learned that it is HARD to build a structure out of cards. We talked about how important are materials are when building a structure (floppy cards made it hard to make our structures stable). After we tried our luck on the card structure we watched a video about a man who broke the world record for card tower building. Here are a few pictures from our card tower adventures!

 

 

Capital Letter Hunt

We have been busy becoming better writers in grade 3. One thing that almost all of the students are doing is forgetting to use capital letters correctly. To start our day off today the students went on a "Capital Letter Hunt." They hunted through magazines and all over the room to try and find as many capital letters as possible. This will help the students to recognize the different places where capital letters are found. We also came up with a rule list of when to use a capital letter:

1. names (first and last)
2. days of the week, months, and holidays
3. places, cities, and countries
4. important historical events
5. books, magazines, TV shows, movies, bands, and sports teams
6. Brand names

Here are a few pictures from our hunt: