This week, third graders continued to study physical and behavioral adaptations while learning about an animal that is native to Italy, the chamois. They looked at photographs of the chamois during different seasons and made a list of observations. They also wrote questions that they would like answered about the chamois. Later in the week, student pairs read and discussed a nonfiction passage and completed a cloze activity to help them answer some of the questions they had posed earlier in the week.
During science this week, third graders have been practicing some new vocabulary related to the study of animals, the things animals need to survive, and physical or behavioral adaptations. Students also discussed whether humans were animals, and some were surprised by the answer. In order to further discuss adaptations, a student demonstrated walking on all fours and we discussed what kinds of things would be impossible to do if you could only move around that way. Next, students who wanted to do so used masking tape to restrict the movement of their thumbs. Then they attempted to tie their shoes, sharpen pencils, and do other everyday human tasks. This led us to a discussion about how humans have special adaptations that allow them to do things other animals cannot do and those adaptations help us meet our needs.
Third graders began using their Leadership Notebooks this week. After introducing the students to the notebooks, Mrs. Sampat helped the students set a goal for fluency. They will be adding other goals as we progress through the year, but everyone has the same or similar goals for now. Students practiced reading a passage about ancient Rome and graphed how far they were able to get in one minute. Students are also being asked to practice reading this passage at home because we believe that repeated readings will help them reach their goal. Students also partner-read the passage later in the week and graphed their results once again. We discussed what things were helping them to reach their goal and what things they might need to try to get closer to their goal. Finally, students completed and activity for which they had to think of a new country, name it, create a flag, and decide what was important for their country. All of these were designed to help students think about the habit “Begin with the End in Mind.”
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