Biography Research Project!

Today we began our informational research project. We met with Mrs. Higgins in the library in order to learn about the different ways we need to cite our sources. They learned the importance of making sure that they give credit to the person who found the information. 

The class also had time to go through the biography section and pick a person that they would like to research. Tomorrow they will be beginning the process of looking through their books and taking notes on their topic. We will then turn those notes into complete paragraphs. 

We are very excited to begin this project! Stay tuned to find out more about our research topics!

Rocks and Minerals Field Trip

First stop: Wequiock Falls

Right from the get go the class had a mystery to solve! They needed to find clues around the waterfall to find out what was happening to it. They discovered that the waterfall is continuously moving and will eventually move over the highway! When we walked down into the creek flowing from the waterfall, the class had to look for 2 very common rocks to our area: dolomite (a relative to limestone) and mudstone. They used the dolomite to scrape the mud off the mudstone and then applied some war paint to their faces. We were able to see just how powerful water can be in carving out landforms!

Second Stop: Bayshore Park

We started off by eating lunch. Our busy morning created some hungry bellies! Afterwards the classes were able to enjoy the playground. That was followed by a cliff hike. We were able to see the layers in rock. This was all part of the Niagara Escarpment. Our hike brought us down to the beach where the classes were able to look at various rocks, shells, and fossils.

Final Stop: NEA Quarry

All aboard! Everyone, chaperones and all, got on our bus and rode down into the Scott Quarry. What a neat experience. The class got to hear about what a quarry does and why they are so important. They learned about how the quarry helps to create our roadways and the layers of material involved in that. Not many kids can tell people that they were able to go down into a quarry. They even got to bring home some rocks from the rock pile at the quarry.

Selfie with our tour guide from Fallen Timbers, Ms. Jodie :)

Dickinson Cares!

Today your children worked very hard creating tie blankets for the kids at Heaven's Touch! They even decorated tags that read: Made with Love from Dickinson Third Graders. On Friday, the blankets along with all of your gracious donations will be picked up by someone who works for Heaven's Touch. That person will talk to the 3rd graders and share where their donations and creations will go and who they will help!

What rockstars our 3rd graders are! 

Area Math Activity

Today I introduced the class to the concept of area. We had already discussed perimeter and how that means the distance around the outside of a shape. We talked about how if you wanted to put a fence up all around your yard, that would need the perimeter, but if you needed to lay sod down to grow grass all over your yard, then you would need to find the area (or space your yard takes up). Today, everyone traced his or her hand and counted up the number of square centimeters their hand was. We kept a chart of our data and created a class graph showing our results. Then, each student decorated their hand to represent themselves and we created a beautiful flower. Bring on spring!