Grade 3 Performance Unit

The Grade 3 students are exploring the line of inquiry "How cultures communicate ideas through performing arts" in their Performance Unit. The students are exploring how various cultures celebrate the New Year through the use of performing arts and how the music elements of those music cultures affect the music.  With their partners, they have also created their own musical phrase on the theme of New Years using the music notes C D E G or Do Re Mi So using the Kodaly hand signs.

Good Criteria Supports Decision Making

Where We Are in Place and Time

For their Where We Are in Place and Time unit of inquiry, the students in Grade 3 have been inquiring into inventions and inventors.

Students kicked off the unit by attempting to answer the question:

Why Do People Invent?

Next, the students were given pictures of different inventions and asked to sort them in a variety of different ways.

Students worked collaboratively in small groups to arrange the inventions in order of age, importance, and usefulness.

After estimating the age of each invention, the students used their research skills to search books and the internet to try and identify the actual year each invention was created.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎍 明けましておめでとうございます

To celebrate new years the students played traditional Japanese games such as 'koma', 'darumaotoshi', and 'wanage'. The students also ate mochi, traditional Japanese new years food. The students especially favored Kinako Mochi which is made by mixing kinako and sugar! 

Shopping in Japanese Class #2

Intermediate Japanese Class　

Group 2 : Sorry for the late post. 

This is the second group of the shopping skit that the students did at class.

Good Job everyone💖

Field Trip to the Candy Store 🍭

Japanese Intermediate Class

As the students did very well this unit inquiring into the unit of the Marketplace, the students went to a candy store near by (Tic Toc🍭）to use what they learned in a store outside of school. The students were able to use what they learned but also they were able to communicate in Japanese to people that they do not know. The students enjoyed this trip by learning but also by eating cotton candy. The students challenged themselves by speaking Japanese to the clerks at the shop to get some sample candies✨

Everyone did great in this unit and I hope all of the students enjoyed this field trip:)

Multiplication and Division Unit

In math, the third graders have recently been exploring multiplication and division. Though many students already know their basic facts, we are focusing on a deeper understanding of multiplication and division and how to model both. The central idea for the unit is:

Multiplication and division can be modeled 

in a variety of ways to help us solve problems

Students started by modeling multiplication through skip counting, repeated addition, pictures, rectangles, arrays, and stories. Can you solve these problems?

Students also looked at how to model division with "equal shares" stories, and they have explored the relationship between multiplication and division as well. 

Students will continue to explore these ideas through the final week of school in 2016.