Watch the Rock Cycle in Action!

Don't you wish you could watch the rock cycle in action?  It's hard to imagine how a process that takes millions of years works, because it's nothing we can observe in our lifetimes. 

Well, someone put together an animation that shows you exactly what happens as rocks travel through the cycle, becoming igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary!


CLICK HERE to watch!

Fossil Lab

Oh dear, another late post!  Well, better late than never, right?  :)

To kick off our unit on rocks, minerals, and fossils, we had the fabulous experts from Science To Go come to our school and teach a one-hour lab all about fossils!  Students learned how both mold and mold-cast fossils are formed, then they worked in teams to visit stations, explore real fossils, and answer questions to increase their knowledge of how fossils are formed and what they can tell us about the past.

 



Wayside Wednesday

My apologies for taking so long to post photos from our very fun Wayside Wednesday book celebration! 

We had a fantastic time seeing each other's costumes, testing our knowledge of the Wayside School books, and pretending to be students on the 30th story of Wayside School!  A big thank you to parents for helping your children put together such imaginative costumes!

Three "Leslies" and a "Paul"

Two "Bebes"

A very green-haired "Stephen!"

The faculty of Wayside - "Louis," "Miss Zarves," "Dr. Pickell," and "Mrs. Drazil"

Six very sleepy "Sharies" - aren't they wonderful students??

"Calvin" and his potato tattoo!

"Eric" - the nice one!

"Hobo Bob," "Todd," and "Mac"

A very grumpy "Kathy,"  two "Myrons" (and his bird, Oddly), and Xavier as "Xavier!"

Bob Jackson's Mineral Lab

Yesterday local geologist Bob Jackson came to our classroom to teach us all about identifying minerals!  He brought the materials needed to test 18 different minerals for hardness, streak color, and cleavage (how the mineral breaks).  Working in teams, students tested and identified the mystery minerals as quickly as they could - and every mineral they correctly identified, they got to keep!  Every student went home with a brand-new mineral collection, along with an identifying sheet.

Mr. Jackson runs Geology Adventures, which gives people the chance to go hunting for crystals, amber, and rocks with this fabulously knowledgeable retired geologist.  If you're interested in learning more about what geologists do, be sure to check out his site!

Fun Website!

Hey geologists!  Ms. DeTolla just told me about this very fun website, full of links to geology games and quizzes.  Check it out!

http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/K12/games.html

Storm Drain Plaques

Thank you to everyone who came out Wednesday afternoon to help glue down plaques for the storm drains!  We had a beautiful, sunny, dry day - which was essential for the glue to set!  We got 50 signs glued down all over our neighborhood.  These signs will remind our community that anything that goes into a storm drain will drain to Puget Sound - and affect the salmon habitat!  What a great way to take responsibility for our community!

Reading Comprehension

Yesterday our class got a special lesson from Miss Leah about how important it is to do lots and lots of thinking as we read. To illustrate this, the kids created a "comprehension salad" as we read a book together. Every time Miss Leah read from the book, we added a red "text" card. Then we stopped to do some thinking - predicting, inferrring, making connections, etc. For every thought we had, we added a green "thinking" card.

When we were done, we looked at the salad we had created. Just like a good salad has lots of lettuce and some tomatoes sprinkled in, we realized that a good reader does lots and lots of thinking for every text he or she reads.

Parents, the next time you read a book with your child (hopefully soon!), remind him or her to be adding lots of thinking to their mental "comprehension salad."

Just like you can't have a good salad that is all tomatoes, you can't have a good reader who never thinks about the text!

Salmon Hatchery

We had a wonderful time on our field trip to the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery this week! The kids looked great in their salmon-print t-shirts, the weather was gray but warm and dry, and the salmon were definitely jumping!


Room 241 posed for a class picture next to Gilda and Finley, two salmon statues in front of the hatchery. These 8-foot bronze statues' size is based on fossils of salmon from the Ice Age. 5-6 million years ago, “saber-tooth salmon” existed, measuring up to 10-feet long and weighing up to 500 pounds!


Anna, Grant, and Luke pose in front of the viewing window for the fish ladder.


One docent teaches the kids about the seven members of the Pacific Salmon family. We already knew about Chum, Sockeye, Chinook, Coho, and Pink, but we also learned about Steelhead and Cutthroat trout!

Another docent shows preserved specimens of eggs, eyed eggs, alevin, and fry.

Scientists on a Log: the kids wait patiently for the rest of the group to join us for our class photo.

What a fun day!!

Join the Clue Hunt!

I know that many of the readers in room 241 are enjoying this fun book series, which centers around two orphaned kids who have inherited a single clue that will lead them on a world-wide hunt for a secret buried deep inside their family's history. I love this series too - lots of action and excitement, with some great messages about friendship, forgiveness, and personal integrity.

Each book in the series comes with a card pack. The 6 cards in each pack feature clues that will help readers unlock the mystery alongside the main characters!

Last year the third grade teachers created an account at www.the39clues.com, where third graders could go to enter these clues and help solve the puzzle. If you would like to use the third grade account to go explore the site, here is the information you will need:

login: gr3grade
password: grizzly

Happy hunting, and remember - the website is fun, but the books are where the real excitement can be found!!

Our Class Slideshow

Oh my, what an absolutely wonderful year this has been. We've had so much fun making new friends, learning new things, and being completely silly together.

Here is the slideshow from our fabulous year together. Enjoy!

Our Poetry Movie

Okay, it's taken me a long time to figure out how to do it, but hopefully this works!

Here is the movie our class made about our poetry this spring. Enjoy!

Pioneer Games

Last week many of you wondered what types of games pioneer children would have played.

Go to this website (CLICK HERE) to read about different games and activities pioneer children did for fun.

In the comments, please tell me which pioneer games you have played too.

Click around the site to discover some new games you could try out at recess today!

Alki Beach

Well, thank goodness - we had absolutely beautiful weather yesterday for our field trip to Alki Beach! In fact, we saw more sea life yesterday than I've ever seen in previous years! Even our guide, Kate Poaster, commented that she saw things that were brand new to her!



Connor, Sumin, Amanda, Kayla, and Mrs. Brown examine a tidepool up close.



Ella and Yerin pose with a Painted Anemone.



Zach, Gavin, Diego, and Mr. Dorta check some sea creatures off their list.

Ella, Malia, and Yerin show off a Five-Point Crab they found.

Diego and Henry pose with their crab.

Daniela and Zoe examine a Moon Snail.

Sophia watches a Red Rock Crab.

Thank you again to all of the parent chaperones who made this field trip possible!

Gardening for Earth Week

This week our school is celebrating Earth Week with lots of activities out in the Grizzly Patch, our school learning garden. On Monday our class went out to prepare the third grade beds and start planting cabbages. Here are a few pictures!


Sophia and Amanda weeding the beds.


While weeding, Alex found this carrot that got left behind in last fall's harvest!


Malia and Yerin found one too.


Henry easing a cabbage plant out of its pot and into a hole he's dug.

KaelaAnne, Ella, and Jackson making sure our plants are snug in the ground.

What are you doing for Earth Week?

What Do You Know About Light?

Last week we learned all about our eyes. This week we will begin studying light. Please follow these questions as well as you can in the comments:

1. Can light move? How does it move?

2. Can light change? How can it change?

3. What is the true color of light? How do you know?

Extra Credit: What other facts do you know about light?

Room 241 Poetry Movie Premiere!

A few days before Spring Break, poets in Room 241 got their big breaks at the premiere of our original poetry movie! To make our Author Celebration for our poetry unit extra special, we created a movie featuring our poetry posters and a few student interviews. I'm hoping to be able to post the movie on this blog soon (any help would be much appreciated!), but for now here's the virtual experience!

As you enter the third grade wing, you will see our marquee:


Some very special 5th grade helpers provided additional advertisement:


You're now entering Hollywood, baby!


Take a stroll down the red carpet (don't worry, we held the paparazzi at bay!):


Enjoy the Walk of Fame with our very own Hollywood Stars:


Have a seat in our spacious theater:


And direct your attention to the silver screen:


While you wait for the movie to start, keep your eyes peeled. You just might be lucky enough to spot a few celebrities!

Quick, take your seats - the movie's starting! Ready... action!

That's a wrap... thanks for coming!