Is it a Liquid or a Solid?

We began some science exploration this week conducting simple chemistry experiments.  At RSG conferences many of the students expressed an interest in science and a desire to participate in more science learning.

This week students participated in two different explorations.  Above are photos from their exploration of "goo"  Students identified how a solid acts and how a liquid acts and they were then given the task to determine if this goo (corn starch and water) was a solid or a liquid.  They quickly discovered that it had characteristics of both states of matter. After discussing their observations and sharing their ideas with their group, students learned that "blue goo" is a non-Newtonian substance that exhibits characteristics of both solids and liquids.
Students also spent a science block conducting experiments to determine if the differences between  chemical or physical changes.

Our beginning math assessments are complete and we should begin problem solving groups next week.   We spent several days last week learning about time (students practiced reading a clock while others worked on the concept of elapsed time.)  We will continue to add time telling to our math fluency block.  Any practice your child can have at home reading an analog clock would be quite helpful. Students also learned and played a few math games that help with math fact fluency.  The games they learned are addition top-it (or addition war) and pyramid solitaire for 13 and 10.

During our writer's workshop students have been learning and practicing strategies authors for generating ideas when writing personal narratives.  We are reading examples of personal narratives and students are gathering seed ideas in their writer's notebooks.  Over the course of the next few weeks students will select one of their seed stories and develop it so that it can grow into a beautiful personal narrative.

Sharing our stories

 Sharing ideas with writing partners.  This is a great way to rehearse stories prior to writing.

Last, but definitely not least, for this blog post is a view into our first attempt at Yoga.  The students were focused and engaged!

Some Upcoming Events for September

• Ready Set Goal Conferences
• Wednesday, September 19 - International Talk Like a Pirate Day Arrrrr!
• Third Grade Pancake Breakfast, September 28