Students followed a Spanish recipe to make their very own salt dough! They measured the ingredients, kneaded the dough, decorated their creations, and cleaned up their mess afterwards. Our lovely parent volunteers took the creations home to be baked so we could paint them afterwards. Thanks to all of the parents for helping their child find the required utensils at home, and a big thank you to the volunteers to came in to help us on Friday!! Rocks and minerals help scientists decipher things about past periods on our Earth and other planets. The rock cycle helps us understand what conditions helped formed those rocks, which can tell us a lot about the history of a region. ASK ME ABOUT: What are the 3 different types of rocks in the rock cycle? Can you find any examples of these rocks in your house or backyard? Play dough Rock CycleChocolate Chip Rock CycleStudents placed different colored sediments (chocolate chips) into a plastic bag and crushed them into smaller sediments. They used pressure (books) to compact the sediments into sedimentary rocks. Their sedimentary rocks were then changed into metamorphic using heat and pressure (warms hands). Students then carefully placed their bags into warm water to melt the chocolate chips into lava. After cooling we had igneous rocks! Click here for the instructions on how to try out this delicious rock cycle at home. The Rock Cycle and NASA - The Story of Mars
ASK ME ABOUT: How do astronauts use the rock cycle and their knowledge of geology while in space?
Over the past two months the Grade 3s were offered the chance to join Sr. Gossen for lunchtime LEGO club. Building LEGO is one of Sr. Gossen's favorite hobbies and he loves being able to offer this club to our students. Teachers love LEGO because it is educational; it teaches simple mechanics, develops problem solving, and encourages creativity. Click here to read more about the skills kids learn while playing with LEGO. A BIG thank-you to Sr. Gossen for offering this club! Inspired by a book we read in class, the grades 3s set out to write their own "Stone Stories". Students: -Learned how to outline a story into a graphic organizer and practiced with common stories read in class - Collaborated with their peers to come up with a good problem for a story - Shared their story ideas and decided on a final problem/solution -Organized their ideas into the graphic organizer and shared their plan with their peers for additional feedback Finally...Students began to write their stories over a number of days. When they felt they were done they went through a series of peer and teacher edits before writing their final copy on the computers.
ASK ME ABOUT: Have you picked which story you would like to work on with Jeff Stockton? Why did you choose that story?
This week we were very lucky to have a special visit from a local Albertan geologist! She taught us about different sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks and how they are formed. We even got to see an oil sands sample, as well as a few fossils and trace fossils! These help us piece together our story of Alberta by learning about what sort of plant and animal life was here before us and how glaciers swept across our country leaving behind a trail of evidence as they went. This was an exciting visit as we have been learning to be "mini-geologists" through our studies of rocks and minerals. ASK ME ABOUT: What is a trace fossil? What trace fossil did we see that came from prehistoric worms? The end of October and beginning of November are a busy time as we celebrate/observe Hallowe'en, Día de Los Muertos, and Remembrance Day within 2 weeks of each other. Students compared and contrasted the 3 days to see the similarities and differences first using T-chart style tables, and then Venn Diagrams, which allowed them to represent their ideas in different formats. ASK ME ABOUT: Do I think Día de los Muertos is more similar to Hallowe'en or Remembrance Day? Why? Calavera Scratch art - Día de los muertosTo design our own calaveras (sugar skulls), students learned how to make beautiful scratch art. First, they coloured an entire page with waxy crayon. Next, they painted an opaque layer of black paint mixed with soap (yes soap!) over the crayon and left it to dry. The next day students were able to use a hard object to scratch away the paint and reveal the colourful crayon layer below. Students worked from sample calaveras and noticed the symmetry of the designs. Can you find the line of symmetry in our art work? Coronas - Remembrance DayAs part of our Remembrance Day celebration, each class was asked to decorate a wreath for the assembly. The grade 3's worked very hard to make their wreaths for the whole school to see. Tales of Animals in WarStudents tried their first jigsaw activity to learn more about animals in war. Each group was given an animal story to read and discuss, and then had to report back to their 'home group' about that animal tale. Students have been using iMovie and their artistic skills to create a video recording of their Halloween poems. Stay tuned as we upload more videos of student recordings! Room 12
Room 10:
Minerals are the building blocks, crystals are the form. Students explored crystals as patterns within the natural environment. They 'grew' crystals from two common household staples: salt and sugar. We observed the crystals over 4 weeks and tracked our results. Testable questions: 1. Do sugar crystals grow faster than salt crystals? 2. Do sugar crystals have different shapes than salt crystals? Vocabulario de Ciencias
ASK ME ABOUT: Why did the salt and sugar crystals have different shapes? Why do you think observing crystal shapes is important to understanding a mineral sample? Observing, Describing, and Comparing Rock, Mineral, and Gemstone SamplesStudents were given a special treat when our Museokit from the Glenbow Museum arrived two weeks ago! We examined a number of rock, mineral, and gemstone samples, sketching some of our favourites along the way. We even got to use our real-world problem solving skills to put the kit back together when it got all mixed up! (Oops!) During our time with the Museokit students were... - observing various type of minerals including gemstones - discussing in small groups the type of lustre observed in minerals and rocks - using instruments such as magnifiying glasses and flashlights to enhanced their sight - sketching and drawing their birthstone - reading and analizing interesting facts of their birthstone - differentiating whether is a legend or a fact ASK ME ABOUT: What was your favourite sample from the Museokit?
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