North Pole or Bust...How we Spent Our Last Day Before Winter Break

Third graders were so excited for December 19th to finally arrive!  One more day of school and then it would officially be Winter Break.  During the final week of school in December, many third graders struggled through illness, but we persevered through the week.  Best of all, nearly everyone in the class scored either an A or a B on the Chapter 4 Math test!

But, despite all of the early week, hardships, we still incorporated some learning into our final hours together.  Ms. Amstutz continued the "Mapping the North Pole" theme by integrating some of our recently learned math skills with our Social Studies skills.

First, students were asked to choose who they would want to be if they lived at the North Pole.  They could choose from Santa, Mrs. Claus, an Elf, or a Reindeer.  Students were given an image to color.  Once colored, they placed their image on a bar graph.

Cayla colors Mrs. Claus.

Once the bar graph was completed, Data was gathered and recorded from that graph.

Kaylin counts how many students wanted to be Mrs. Claus.

Each student had a recording sheet of their own.  A master copy was completed on the STAR Board.  Students took turns coming to the board to record their findings.

Diamond records tally marks.

Sharnetta shades in a bar graph.

The official class results.

Once the results were complete, students used this data to complete some simple questions taking note of observations and making comparisons between the data.

Students used this data to complete some mathematical calculations.  Students had to use problem solving and reasoning to determine which operation (+, -, x, or ÷) needed to be used.  Students determined how many steps were needed to complete the problem.  For example, in number 7 below:

• First, students needed to subtract 2 from the number of Santa votes we had in our class:  6 - 2=4
• Next, students needed to compare that number to the number of Elf votes.  4 Santas is (< , > , =) 5 Elves.  4 Santas is LESS THAN (<) 5 Elves.
• Then, we had to re-read the question to make sure we answered it correctly.  The question wanted to know if there were more Santas or Elves.  Our answer would thus be Elves. 

Students also determined if there were any addition properties or mental math strategies that they could use to help the solve more easily.  For example, for question number 3 below:

• 6 + 2 + 8 + 5 = ? can be more easily figured if we first use the Commutative Property of Addition which tells us that the order in which we add the addends does not change the sum.  Therefore, we can rewrite it as 2 + 8 + 6 + 5 = ?
• Next, we can use the Associative Property of Addition to group numbers that are easily added.
  (2 + 8) + (6 + 5) = ?  These numbers are grouped together because they are easy to add mentally since they either "make-a-ten" or are a "doubles-plus-one" fact.
• From there, we add what is in parentheses:  10 + 11 = 21

After we completed this activity, we moved on to another fun North Pole mapping and math activity.  In this activity, students got a sneak peak at area.  Area was introduced here, even though it is a standard typically not taught until later in the school year, because it is closely related to arrays in multiplication which was taught in chapter four.  Coincidentally,  Grid Maps are an example of an array in Social Studies.

Students were given a packet of buildings found at the North Pole and a blank grid map with areas in which to place those buildings.  Students were instructed to determine the area of each building prior to placing it on their map.

For regular quadrilaterals, students were ready to use prior knowledge of arrays to solve for the area.  By identifying the number of rows and the number of units in each row, students created a multiplication sentence and a repeated addition sentence to solve.  Students also identified that they could solve by skip counting.  By realizing that there are many possible ways to solve a single problem, but that some methods are more efficient than others, they are becoming more prepared for real-world problem solving.

Sharnetta works to complete area calculations on simple arrays.

Now, for the challenge problems.  Students had not had exposure to irregular shapes and area thus far this year.  Prior to attempting to solve, students were asked to make observations about the shapes in front of them and to offer suggestions about how they might solve for these irregular shapes.  Not surprisingly, students suggested counting each individual unit (shaded square).  However, once asked if they saw as part of these irregular shapes, what looked like a regular array, students were quick to notice that, indeed, there was an array of equal rows and equal columns.

 Students were asked to come to the STAR Board to outline the array that they saw in each of the shaded areas.  A multiplication sentence was determined using our "___ rows of ____ =  ____ " formula to get to  "___ x ___ = ___ "  But, what about those extra units that aren't part of the array?  What do we do with them?  When noting that the multiplication sentence is only giving us the area of the array, students were able to determine that we must add the others to the product of our multiplication sentence.

• As demonstrated in the photo above on the bottom left, 4 x 2 = 8.  8 + 2 = 10 square units.

Shy'Diamond finds an array within an irregular shape.

Cayla calculates the area of a regular quadrilateral.

Once the area of all of the buildings on the North Pole were found, students could finally color and cut out the buildings and glue them on the map.

Lavon's North Pole grid map.

Ms. Amstutz asked students to add letter and number labels to the grids to make their maps a true grid map.

Jayda proudly displays her North Pole Map.

After our morning math and social studies efforts, the afternoon was left for fun.  We spent the afternoon celebrating reaching our December behavior and learning goals by having our P.R.I.D.E. party.  With a Polar Express theme, students wore their pajamas to school, drank hot chocolate and snacked on chocolate chip cookies.

TaMya, Cayla, Jayda, and Shy'Diamond enjoying the show, cookies and all!

Ms. Amstutz shared a special gift for each of them, a stocking filled with a specially selected and dedicated book, a Disney Frozen poster, stickers, a pencil,  and some candies.  

Lavon and Justice enjoying their gifts from Ms. Amstutz.

Ms. Speelman, our Title 1 Reading tutor gifted each student a Slinky, mechanical pencil, and candy cane.  She was also kind enough to bring in holiday cupcakes to share with the class as well.

Lavon and Da'Marieon showing off the gifts from Ms. Speelman.

We also had a special visitor!  Santa Claus (Mr. Gonzalez, our Title 1 Math tutor) came to visit our classroom and handed out candy canes.

Happy Holidays from Room 177

Mapping the North Pole

As we approached the winter break, third graders in room 177 were still hard at work on our second Interdisciplinary Unit: Interdependence. Our overarching Essential Question for this unit was "Does where you live affect how you live?"  As we moved through this unit, we answered several deepening questions as we made connections between Earth Science and Geography.

In order to make our learning fun, interactive, and creative, Ms. Amstutz decided to turn our "Town Builder" activity into a "Town Builder:  North Pole Edition" for the month of December.  "Town Builder" is an interactive Social Studies program through which students interact with both a giant sized wall map of an imaginary town that is placed in the classroom and a matching map in an interactive notebook of their own. As we move through Social Studies topics through the year, the town changes to show how towns change through time.  By doing  this "Town Builder" with a North Pole theme, students could still cover the learning targets but do it in such a way that was engaging for them.

In both science and social studies, we learned about the different physical features of the Earth:  land forms and bodies of water.  So, on our  "Town Builder" maps, we labeled the land forms.  Students also learned how to locate the geographical features by using coordinates of a grid map.

Grid Map of the North Pole with land forms labeled.

By discussion how certain features of land forms or bodies of water help meet the needs of people, we were able to understand that geography influences the development of communities.  To do this, students were given a blank map of the United States.  We examined where the major rivers, lakes and oceans were located (blue on our maps).  We also noted where mountain regions (green) and plains (red) were located.  From there, we revisited what we had learned about the needs of living things in our first Interdisciplinary Unite "What Has Value?"  By combining that knowledge with our new knowledge of geographical features, we considered the best places for pioneers to settle and where we thought big cities might develop.  Students marked those places with a yellow dot on the map.

Examining the geographical features of the U.S. helps us to understand where
large cities would develop.

Through our "Town Builder:  North Pole Edition" students revisited what they had learned in science about natural resources.  We discussed what types of natural resources might be found at the North Pole and how those resources would be used to help Santa and his Elves.  

Resources of the North Pole

Students colored and cut out symbols to represent the various resources and products that might be found and used at the North Pole.  We discussed at which land form those resources would likely be located and we placed them on the map, transforming out map into a product map complete with map legend.

Product Map of the North Pole

Map Legend for the Product Map of the North Pole

Next, students discussed how some communities influence their environment (such as putting up dams) and others adapt their communities to fit the environment.  We discussed how in our rural areas of the North Pole, we might need to put up dams to use for irrigation systems to get water to the crops (sugar, grain, and cotton).   We also discussed how we might need to build a bridge across the river so that the people who lived at the North Pole could travel from North to South.  Additionally, a bridge would need to be build from the mainland to the island.

Speaking of transportation, students spent some time brainstorming ways that the residents of the North Pole might travel.  Our ideas are shown below:

Means of transportation at the North Pole.

We created some map symbols to show where those forms of transportation would be found on our map and placed them on our classroom "Town Builder".

Finally, we explored the three different types of communities that might be found in a town.  We learned about rural, suburban, and urban.  Students were given their own Elf home to color and cut out.  They determined map coordinates, based on our grid map coordinates, for where they would like to locate their home.  Elf homes were placed on the "Town Builder:  North Pole Edition" and our communities were formed.

Town Builder:  North Pole Edition complete with grid coordinates, land forms
products, transportation, and communities.

As a performance assessment, students were given the task of creating their own map of the North Pole.  Given a list of directions and a set of symbols, students were to create a map of the North Pole.  Maps included a map title, compass rose, and symbol labels.  Students had to follow directional clues to place the symbols in correct locations.  Additionally, students had to draw in 12 land forms to complete this task.

Ra'Jhay carefully places symbols on her map.

Kaylin adds finishing touches to her map.

Sharnetta proudly displays her finished product.

Ra'Jhay puts a little personality into her map. =)

From our bulletin board display...

The list of tasks.

Science Fair Frenzie

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving break, students in room 177 were busy at work reviewing everything they had learned so far this year in science.  Working in P.R.I.D.E. groups, each team of investigators researched background information about one of the lab experiments that had been conducted in class already this school year.

Diamond and Kaylin use their science text books as a resource
for their background information on ecosystems and needs of
living things.

After gathering the background information and reflecting on the components of the scientific method, students set to work on creating their science fair display boards.  

Ra'Jhay writes the title and headings on her groups board.

D'Aijah and Adriana work together to add details to their board 
while Ray'Von work on writing the procedures down.

After Thanksgiving break, students, in their P.R.I.D.E. groups repeated the science lab and prepared a display and demonstration for the judges.  Each group member contributed equally to their project and took tremendous pride in the finished product.

The "P" (proud) group, Abubakr, Justice, Darren, James, and Angel:
How are soils from different regions of the United States alike 
and different from each other?

The "R" (responsible) group, Da'Marieon, Lavon, Jayda, and Khadijah 
& Ra'Jhay who are not pictured:  What qualities cause soil to 
experience the least amount of erosion?

The "I" (independent) group, Kaylin, TaMya, Diamond, Marion
and Alivia (not pictured):  How are the needs of living things 
met in an aquatic bottle ecosystem?

The "D" (dedicated) group, Karissa, Sharnetta, Marcus and
Dymond & Shy'Diamond who are not pictured:
How can mining for fossil fuels damage the environment?

The "E" (educated) group, Ray'Von, Aaron and
 D'Aijah & Adriana who are not pictured:
How do various solutions effect semi-solids
 such as Gummy Bears?

Finally, the day of the science fair came.  HSA-DE welcomed judges from Wright Patterson Air Force Base.  Students  had the opportunity to proudly share their science experiments and demonstrate their knowledge.

Following the excitement of the judging, students eagerly awaited the results...and the awards!  Students in each grade level were awarded first, second, and third place awards.  In third grade, the results were close!

In First Place. . . What qualities cause soil to experience the least amount of erosion?

Lavon, Jayda, Da'Marieon, and Khadijah
(Not pictured, Ra'Jhay)

In Second Place. . . How can mining for fossil fuels damage the environment?

Shy'Diamond, Marcus, Sharnetta, Karissa, and Dymond

In Third Place. . . How are the needs of living things met in an aquatic bottle ecosystem?  

Alivia, Diamond, Marion, Kaylin, and TaMya.

The Gratitude Graffiti Project

What is the Gratitude Graffiti Project?

It is a forty day practice of purposeful appreciation of one’s life through interactive art.   

During the month of November, Horizon Science Academy- Dayton Elementary students focused on the theme of gratitude.  The students in room 177 arrived to school at the beginning of the month to find their door decorated with a graffiti board and three post-it notes on their desk.

Through this project students were asked to:

1. Contemplate a source of gratitude in their lives and then 

2. Express that thought of thankfulness. 

The students expressed their thought of thankfulness by posting the notes on the graffiti board on our classroom door.  Each day, students recorded at least one new thing they were thankful for.  

Outside our door, we stationed a GRATITUDE STOPS, where a person walking by can mentally note something they are grateful for or to take it a step further and give a gift to our community by actually writing what they are grateful for that day on our “Gratitude Graffiti” wall.

Through The Gratitude Graffiti Project, students were participating in a form of art, they were fully engaged in creating the art that expresses their gratitude. Through art, people can contemplate, create and rejuvenate and awaken a whole new perspective on how to look at how great life can be.