We have been busy in science doing experiments. The grade 2's are taking care of some mealworms and anxiously waiting to see what insect they will become after they go through metamorphosis.
The grade 3's did an experiment to see how the stem of a plant works. We started with 2 stalks of celery and put them in cups of water. We put some red food colouring in one cup and some blue food colouring in the other cup and left it over night. When we came back to school the next day, the leaves of the celery stalk had changed colour and the water level had gone down. We learned that the stem transports the water to the leaves. (I don't know why the picture is upside down - I have tried everything to flip it around!)
Now, we are trying to germinate seeds without putting them in soil so that we can see how it happens. We are using black eyed beans and keeping them in a cup with a wet paper towel. I will post more pictures when the beans sprout.
What a great first week we had! We have an amazing class and I am so excited for this year! The students showed me that they are really good listeners and hard workers. I am enjoying getting to know them better. Thank you to those who have already signed up for Remind. If you haven't signed up yet, the info is on the side.
During our literacy block, we are getting into the routine of reading daily, writing a 'Me Book', and answering questions based on the book "First Day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg.
Our first unit in math is number sense. The grade 2's are looking at numbers to 100 and different ways to make the same number (using tens frames, base ten blocks, money, tally marks, and addition and subtraction questions using the hundreds chart, eg., 40 - 6 = 34, 31 + 3 = 34). The grade 3's are looking at numbers to 1000. They will learn about different ways to write numbers (expanded form: 50 + 3, numeral: 53, number word: fifty-three, tens and ones: 5 tens 3 ones), different ways to make the same number using base ten blocks. For e.g., 624 = 6 hundreds 2 tens 4 ones or 5 hundreds 12 tens 4 ones, skip counting forward and backward by 2s, 5s, 10s and 25s, starting at different numbers, and comparing and ordering 3-digit numbers.
In science, the grade 2's are learning about growth and changes in animals and the similarities and differences between the 6 animal groups. The grade 3's are learning about growth and changes in plants and how we use plants in our daily lives.
We will be starting our home reading program this week, so stay tuned for more information to be sent home!
