Find the Area!

To practice their area skills, the students played Island Conquer. It was such a fun game! The students even practiced their coordinate grid skills to create their mini islands. To play, the students draw cards that have coordinates to create a box. The students found the area of their island and earned that many "points". Then their partner had a chance to go. The game is different every time!

Happy Mothers' Day!

Mothers' Day is this Sunday! After making the bookmarks, we needed to complete our Mothers' Day gifts for our moms. The students completed a Mothers' Day Quiz, you can find that here. Some of the answers were hilarious! I hope the moms love reading them. Next, made a heart card out of their hands. For some, this was a simpler task than others. Then, Mothers' Day bags were colored and decorated. I can't wait for the students to give their presents to their moms!

Mothers' Day Bookmarks

Wondering what you can make as gifts for Mothers' Day? How about one-of-a-kind bookmarks!
Follow these easy steps:
1. Have each student lay on the ground like this:


2. Print each picture on cardstock and cut them out:


3. Glue them onto colorful cardstock with a "Jump into a good book! Happy Mothers' Day 2012!" note:


4. Cut them out and laminate them. I also had my 3rd graders sign their names in cursive so their moms could have their handwriting on their bookmarks:


5. Punch a hole in near the students' hands on the bookmark. Run some string through the hole to complete the bookmark:


7. Finished products!!

Solution vs. Mixture

As we are studying Matter (solids, liquids, & gases), we discussed solutions today. We started off by understanding the difference between a solution and a mixture. Our example for a mixture would be Chex Mix. It is a mixture because I can separate its contents. This is different than a solution that cannot be separated (think of sugar water: you cannot get just the sugar back out of the solution).

For our experiment to test solutions as well as our detective skills, I gave each student a cup of water and a baggie with a number on it (1-7). I did not tell the students what was in each bag, that was for them to discover! The students could feel and smell the powders, but no tasting. The powders were: koolaid, sugar, brown sugar, flour, powdered sugar strawberry nesquick, and salt.

After they investigated with they eyes, hands, and noses, they students poured their powders into their water cups. Each group used a fork (no spoons!) to mix the powder and water together. The students watched as the powders became part of the water and the water changed into a solution.

Each group visited all the cups and were able to investigate each solution available. Then, I revealed the answers to the class. They were so EXCITED to have guessed some of the right answers!

My Summer List

For Art, my students used their names to make hair!

I used this template to create the base of the art project. I used our school copier to enlarge the face for each student. They had complete freedom in creating their crazy hair art portrait.

As the school year draws to an end, one of the students' journal prompts was to make a summer list, something like a bucket list for themselves. They wrote activities they know they are going to do and things they hope they do this summer.

Tessellation Ties

Math & Art in one!

Today we did a math and art combo! We made Tessellation Ties. This is an idea I got from the book MathART projects. We discussed where we see tessellations in our everyday lives as well as how they work likes puzzles.

Each student was given a square of cardstock to create their own tessellations. Our rules were: cut only on two touching sides (not opposite sides), cut simple shapes (triangles, squares, half-circles, rectangles), and only cut once. After the students cut their shapes, I gave them tape to create the tessellations. The cut piece must be taped to the opposite side and as close as possible to the exact spot of the cut.

The students were given tie outlines and create their tessellations. After then filled their ties, they decorated them however they liked!

Then, students cut them out and we put string on them to display our awesome tessellation ties!

Carter Energy Truck

Today we had a visit from the Carter Energy Truck. Students learned about renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Here's a sneak peak at our visit:

We even got to race remote-controlled cars (powered by renewable batteries!!):