Our introductory activity today led us into geography (the study of Earth—its spaces, land, water, air, and people) by challenging us to write directions and draw a sketch map the would help someone get from Keppel's main entrance up to our classroom. We found it to be a hard task, even though we started by walking the path ourselves, noticing how we walked from the front doors up to room 1321!
The "blasting off" starts tomorrow when we will envision ourselves as astronauts aboard a space shuttle (this part of the curriculum was written before the space shuttle program was retired - haha) and we need to get back to our landing spot. Along the way we will learn/review all we need to know about hemispheres, continents, oceans, countries, states, and cities --- even the prime meridian!
This lesson opens with a photograph of the International Space Station (ISS) and so we HAD to discuss that! In case you weren't aware you can sign up to receive email or text alerts on your cellphone when the ISS will be clearly visible from your location. Click here to go to NASA's Spot the Station website. There's lots of great information and the sign-up button is on the opening page, on the right.
Just know that the reason that we can see the ISS as it travels across the sky is the same reason that we can see the Moon --- both reflect the Sun's light. And, as the Moon is hard to see in daylight, the ISS is impossible to see in daylight. The only way for us to see it is just before sunrise or just after sunset, when our sky is dark to our eyes, but the ISS is high enough above Earth that it is still able to catch the Sun's rays and reflect them back down to us. Check out NASA's website for more information (and a better explanation - haha).
We're still following NASA news about the launch of Artemis 1 and I will update you here (and your kiddos in class).
i-Ready Diagnostic Assessment - We are making good progress here - a few more kiddos are finishing their second part (math/reading) and once all have completed, I'll send home the Family Report in Thursday folders. That won't happen this week since all are not finished, but next week, for sure. In the meantime, students who are finished testing have been working on the i-Ready lessons of their choice. Starting next week, i-Ready lessons will be an at-home activity. Students who are below grade level (even a bit) in either reading or math will likely benefit from 45 minutes of i-Ready lessons each week. I'll send more information about how i-Ready might benefit your child when I sent their results.
Third Grade Skills - Here are a few things your child should already be able to do independently (without assistance):
- tie their own shoes (see Class Links for some helpful videos)
- spell their first and last names, capitalizing the first letter of each
- have memorized at least one emergency phone number (maybe a parent's cellphone)
- have memorized their street address and city (in case of emergency)
- tell time to the nearest 5 minutes on an analog clock