In Mrs. Essenburg's classroom we are learning to round numbers to the nearest 10 and the nearest 100. We round numbers all the time to make working with numbers easier. Understanding how to round numbers shows we have a good understanding of place value and number sense. Also, if we can explain what we have learned to others it shows we truly understand what we are learning. Check out the videos below with two students explaining how to round! Here is Mason W.'s video about rounding to the nearest 10.
Here is Lainie's video about rounding to the nearest 100.
Great job Mason W. and Lainie! Something else we are working on are Math Practices. What are Math Practices? Math Practices describe how we should think and act as mathematicians to have a deep understanding of mathematics. We will be focusing on one or two math practices each day. For this lesson, we concentrated on the math practice Using Numbers and Words to Help us Make Sense of Problems. It is sometimes easy to find the answer to problems, but it is not as easy to explain why the answer make sense. Check out the great explanations that the third graders gave to the rounding problems below!
Being able to explain our math thinking is a very important skill. It shows we have a good understanding or what we are learning. Great job third-graders!
Third Graders, comment below with a two or three digit number and round it to the nearest 10 or 100. Can you explain your thinking and tell us why you rounded it the way you did?
Parents or visitors to the blog, do you have a rounding problem for us to try? If you do, share it in the comment section below.
Also, it is so important for us to see how we use math in every day life. Can you think of an example of when you might use rounding in your job or during your day? If you can, comment below with an example!
This week we are celebrating International Dot Day.
What is Dot Day? International Dot Day is a celebration of creativity and innovation. It is based on the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds.
In the book The Dot, Vashti doesn't know what to draw. In frustration, she just puts a dot in the middle of the paper and gives up. As the story continues, Vashti realizes that even a dot can become something very special and that she can create amazing things. She needed to make her mark to see where it would take her. Watch the video below for the story The Dot.
We read the story The Dot together and talked about what we learned. Making something new can be frustrating and even a little scary, but it is worth the risk. Each of us has our own way of creating something, and each person's way is unique and special.
To celebrate Dot Day, we started by making dot t-shirts. First we put dots all over the shirt, in any way we wanted.
Then, our parent volunteers helped us by turning them into tie-dye t-shirts. Each shirt is wonderfully different!
We also made dot posters. The instructions were simply "make a dot". It was great fun to see the different dots everyone made.
On our dot paper we wrote how we want to make our mark. Check out the video below to see the pictures we made and how we are going to make our mark.
After we wrote how we hope to make our mark, we Skyped with a class from Texas and a class from Pennsylvania. We shared with each other the dots we created. It was fun to see how other classes celebrated Dot Day and to learn a little bit about them.
Happy Dot Day!
Please tell us in the comments below, how are you going to make your mark?
In third grade this year we are learning all about the United States. One of the ways we learn about the United States is to participate in Mystery Skypes with other classrooms. What is a Mystery Skype? A Mystery Skype is a problem solving game. Two classrooms set up a Skype call to each other. They do not tell each other where they are located. Students need to ask yes or no geography questions to figure out where the other class is.
It teaches geography, problem solving skills, critical thinking, and helps us to learn about other classrooms in other parts of the country. Watch the video below to see our first Mystery Skype in action!
We will be keeping track of all of our Skypes on the Mystery Skype page on the tab along the top of the blog. Check back and look at the map to see the different places around the country--and perhaps around the world--that we have been able to Mystery Skype with this year!
We would love to hear what you think about Mystery Skype. Share in the comment section below!
Today we learned about a technology tool called Padlet. Padlet is an online bulletin board where we can write our thoughts to share with the class. We have used Padlet in the past to share our thoughts with other classrooms as well, from classes here at Pinewood to classes in the United States and even a class in Australia. For our first time using Padlet we wrote down our favorite foods. Here is our first Padlet!
We had a lot of fun using Padlet and we will be using it as a tool for learning as the year goes on. I challenged the third graders to see if they could show their parents how to use Padlet. Below is an empty Padlet for parents. Please share what your favorite foods are on the Padlet! Ask your child how to use the Padlet.
When describing yourself, please identify yourself in relationship to your child, such as Mason's Mom or Avery's Dad. I'm looking forward to seeing what the favorite foods of our parents are. Thank you!
Did anyone mention something that reminded you of something you really like? Did you see anything that surprised you? Let us know in the comment section below.
We had a busy day. We started the day by creating a picture from line squiggles.
We had lots of great ideas. Here are a few of them.
We worked as a team. We got a hula hoop around our group as quickly as possible--without letting go of our hands. We did it twice and we went a lot faster the second time around!
A scavenger hunt around the room to find friends with similar interests was a lot of fun.
We made self portraits. Parents, these portraits are in the video above and should be up in the hallway soon. Check them out sometime next week!
While we worked on our portraits, we each had a chance to visit our classroom library and choose a book to read.
We learned a new game called Giants, Wizards, and Elves. To play this game you need to work together as a team and show good sportsmanship, and that's exactly what we did.
At the end of the day we recapped what had happened so far and set a goal for tomorrow. Then we did our jobs to tidy the room. We are ready for Day 2!
Third graders, have your Mom or Dad help you leave a comment about the first day of school. What is something you enjoyed? What is something you are excited for about third grade? Share your thoughts below.
