Week 16 Grade 3 June 8-12

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Google Meet session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

This is the last Science assignment for the year. Next week is the last week of school. I have had you working on structure and function for the last few weeks. Thinking about how something is built and why it works the way it does is hard. We can learn so much about living things and the world around us by questioning structure and function.

This last week I would like you to select a living thing - plant or animal- and think about how it's built and why it's built that way. Select something that is very unusual so that you can try to explain why it is so different. 

As examples, think about a Venus flytrap, a plant that eats animals. How different than a normal plant!



Or think about a polar bear, all the special things about it like thick blubber, white hair, huge size.

Please write, in your own words, a description of your living thing and tell me about it's structure and what that structure does to help your plant or animal live.

Week 15 Grade 3 June 3 - 5

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Google Meet session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

For your assignment this week, I would like you to report on something in the science news this week. Please tell me in your own words about one thing that is happening in the world of science. I have some suggestions if you can't find something of your own:

• The hurricane heading for Mumbai India called Nisarga. This hurricane is historic for some reason, do you know why? Link to story
• The tropical storm Cristobal in the Gulf of Mexico that just started yesterday. Where is it headed? Link to story
• The historic space flight of the SpaceX Demo 2 mission to the International Space Station. Why was it historic? What's next? Link to story
• The latest on the race to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. Why does it take so long to make a vaccine? Link to story
• What are earthquakes and how do they happen? What's the biggest earthquake you can find on this map and where did it happen? Link to story

Week 14 Grade 3 May 26-29

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Google Meet session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

Last week I asked you to think about toothpaste, how it's made (it's structure) and what it does (it's function). I made this short video to tell you how I compared it's structure and function, please watch it first.

Now that you see how I would like you to compare structure and function, this week's assignment is to do the same thing for the human hand.

Please think about how the structure of our hands control and influence how we use our hands, what we do with our hands. Put your answers in a table just like in my video comparing structure and function for toothpaste.

Week 13 Grade 3 May 18-21

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Zoom session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

For the last weeks of Science, I am going to go back to the way we started the year - what is Science and how does a scientist work?

Scientists look deeper at the world and ask 2 main questions:

• How is something made (it's STRUCTURE)
• How does something work (it's FUNCTION)
  

I am going to challenge you to think about some common and ordinary things in a new way. Today we start with toothpaste! Something I hope you use every day but don't think about.

Please investigate toothpaste by creating a report and sending it to me that has:

• 3 different ways that toothpaste works, that is 3 different things that toothpaste does. Please answer in complete sentences! A good sentence would start "One thing that toothpaste does is ..." or "One function of toothpaste is ...".
• 3 different ways that toothpaste is made that helps it perform its functions. A good sentence would start is "One way that that toothpaste is made is..." or "One of the things in toothpaste that makes it work well is ....".

Grade 3 Week 12 May 11-15

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Zoom session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.
Do you have Pic Collage installed on your computer? If so, please use it for today's assignment. If not, it is free to install if your parents would like to have it on your home computer.

• for Windows
• for iPads

You can also create a Google Doc or Slide and share it with me at the completion.

Please create a collage of your question from last week. The question you thought of was about how the universe worked. It was supposed to be about Science and a how or why question. Your collage should include:

• At least 5 pictures of the thing your question is about
• Your question
• Some answers to your question that you have thought of or that other scientists have thought about
• Find and include pictures of some scientists who have investigated your question

Week 11 Grade 3 May 4 - 8

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Zoom session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.


Your assignment:
Science is the way that we learn about the world. Our biggest questions on how things work, why things happen the way they do.

The biggest discoveries about the way the

universe works have started with someone thinking "why does this happen" or "how did that do that".



I want to know what is your biggest question about the way the universe works. It might be from the very smallest things like atoms or viruses. It might be about the very biggest things

like suns or galaxies. It could be about technology that we use every day or about a very rare animal or plant that you heard about.

Write your question starting

with "I wonder how..." or "I wonder why....". After you write your question, I want you to investigate it. Ask your computer by typing it into your browser. Sometimes the answers you get are hard to understand. Sometimes you can add "for elementary student" to your question to get simpler answers. Try it. Please enter your question and whatever you find out about it into a document and share it with me. Please add pictures if you can.

3rd Grade Week 10 April 27-30

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Zoom session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

This week's Science News video is here

This week's assignment:

• Watch this short video
• Create a document and write the definitions for these words from the video

1. adaptation
2. environment
3. characteristic

• Now describe for me what happened to the peppered moth from the video using these words.
• Share/email your document to me

3rd Grade Week 9 April 20-24 Traits

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Zoom session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

This week's Science News video is here

Assignment
We are going to investigate the traits of some animals by looking at two graphs. 
This is a graph of the life spans of different animals. How long something lives (it's life span) is an inherited trait. 

• Can you tell me the animal that lives the longest life? How long does it live?
• Can you tell me the animal that lives the shortest life? How long does it live?

And this is the graph of the speed of some animals. Is this an inherited or taught trait?

•  What is the fastest animal? How fast can it run?
• What is the slowest animal? How fast can it run?

3rd Grade Week 8 April 13-17

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Zoom session at any time from 3:00 to 4:00 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

This week's Science News video is here

Assignment

• Watch this short video
• Then, just like last week, think of some traits that you personally have, both inherited and taught. Make a document like last week. List
  
  them in this table again. If the trait is inherited, think about if it came from your father or mother. Then circle the inherited trait if it came from your mother, leave it uncircled if it came from your father.
• Are the traits that you inherited exactly like your parents? Can traits change from one generation to the next?

3rd Grade Week 7 Traits

Don't forget the Science Time for 3rd grade on WEDNESDAY. You can click on this link to join the Zoom session at any time from 3 to 4:15 and ask questions about this week's Science news or your assignments.

This week's Science News video is here

Assignment
First, please watch this short video
Then do the following:

• On a piece of paper or in a document like a Google doc, please make a diagram like this:                                      it doesn't have to look exactly like mine.

• Now try to think of as many traits of dogs that are taught or inherited as you can, separating them using the diagram above. Remember that the difference between the two is whether the instructions on the trait are carried by the dog or whether the parents have to teach the puppy how to do the trait. I'll give you an example of each that you can use to get you started. 
• An example of an inherited trait is the fur color of a dog. No one has to teach a puppy what color to be.
• An example of a trait that is taught is where a dog goes to the bathroom. A mother (or a human) has to teach a puppy where it is ok to urinate (pee) and where it is not ok.
• Please share or send the document to me

Grade 3 Week 6 March 30 - April 3

Science Question time for 3rd Grade
Every Wednesday from 3-4:15 there will be a Zoom meeting for 3rd graders to ask questions about Science News or assignments. Just click on this link to join each week. If you can't attend during that time, send me an email with your question or join the Zoom meeting for 4th grade on Tuesdays at 3 or the meeting for 5th grade on Mondays at 3 and ask your questions there.

This week's news

Link to video for this weeks news

and to the website with the links to the articles

Please take a look at the links above for this week's science news. 

Assignment

Please watch this short video

After you watch the video, please think of two living organisms, one plant and one animal. Create a diagram showing me the life cycle for your organisms, including all the stages (or pieces) of their life cycle - birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Hand in your diagram by either taking a picture and sending it to me or by sharing your document.

Week 5 March 23-27

This Week

First, here's a link to a video with me telling you all about the news this week in Science just like as if you were sitting on my carpet in my classroom at school, take a look. (Yes, I am a Youtube star!) Don't forget you can see all the articles on the Weekly News blog site here.

Virtual Maker Faire
We would like to see all of the things you have made for the maker faire, I hope you have seen the message from Ms. Kress. Here it is again with the directions on what to do:

Virtual Maker Faire

Hi everybody! Since our Maker Faire was meant to be this week at school, I thought it would be great to share your maker projects online. If you made something at home as a solution to your grade level's sustainability goal challenge, post a video to our maker FlipGrid! Go to https://flipgrid.com/079f2f8b on you computer, or download the app and enter the code: 079f2f8b. (Login with your asm email) I will leave the flipgrid open for two weeks, so you can even start a project today. I can't wait to see what you've created!      -Ms. Kress

Please upload some information about your project so we all can see if you haven't already. I know some of you have already sent me some very cool pictures and videos.

Science Time
I am going to be attending some of your morning meetings this week to update you on a time set aside each week for each grade to be able to log into a meeting where you can ask questions about Science and what's going on in the world. You can always send me emails with questions but I thought it would be nice to have a Zoom meeting where we can see each other, ask questions and talk about Science. Hope you are as excited about that as I am, I can't wait to see you all.

Week 4 March 16-20W

This Week in Science

You get to select what you are going to report about this week. At the top of this blogsite, you will see a tab that says weekly news. I want you to click on it (or click on this link) and look through the articles that you will

find there. Please select the one that you are most interested in and tell me about it in a couple of paragraphs. There will be a link inside by the picture that you can click on to go to the website that has the article itself or you can look on the web for more information. If you don't like any of the articles you see there, find your own on the web and tell me about it.

While you are there.....

Please look at the links on the side of the news web page and click on the links to see what the moon looks like in the sky this week and how earthquakes are going in the world. Lots more is happening than the coronavirus! Have you noticed the moon in the morning sky? Or seen Venus still shining bright in the evening sky?

Links to other pictures

Here are two links to some collections of photos - one of 30 stunning animal pictures

and this one of funny animal photos from 2016

Week 3 March 9-13

It's Almost Spring Time!

If you have looked outside, despite everything else that is going on, springtime is arriving, even if not officially here. Your assignment this week is to investigate life around you. I want you to find

something outside that is waking up from its long winter sleep and investigate its life. Take pictures of either a plant that has started to grow or an animal that is starting to move around, take some pictures and then start finding out something about its life.

Create a document (either on a computer or a piece of paper), and fill it with information about your organism. I need details on how it starts life, how it grows, how it reproduces, what it does during the wintertime. Tell me about its life. Fill your document with pictures and information. Tell me about its food web, its environment, what kind of climate it likes best. Where does it live? Does it live in other places besides here in Milan?

Either share your document if it is on the computer, take a picture of it if it's on paper and email it to me, or keep it to share with me when you return.

3rd Grade Week 2 March 2-6

Climate in Italy

We have talked about the difference between climate and weather. I would like to explore some things about the climate here in Italy for a discussion when we return. Please answer the following questions about the climate in Italy. PLEASE ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES ON A SHEET OF PAPER. Please save the paper and bring it with you when we return to school.

The climate in Italy is described as a Mediterranean-type climate. I have put a picture of a Mediterranean climate to the right.-------->

You will have to look up what that means in order to answer these questions.

• Describe in complete sentences and in your own words what summers are like in a Mediterranean-type climate.
• Describe in complete sentences and in your own words what winters are like in a Mediterranean-type climate.
• Many of you are familiar with other climates around the world. Please tell me about the climates in at least one other place by telling what summers and winters are like there for their climates. How are they different than the summers and winters here?
• We have talked about what climate change is and how we think the world is going through a major change in its climate. Can you find any information on what climate change might mean for Italy's climate? If you can, please describe what those changes might be.

 

Send me a picture!

Send me a picture of yourself doing your Science homework to fhunter@asmilan.org. Use your imagination and do something scientific while you take the picture.

3rd Grade Week February 25-28

Maker Faire

Please be finishing up any projects that you are building at home for the Maker Faire. Although we don't know when it will actually take place (at least 2 weeks after we come back), we want to be ready. Your posters will be finished the first week we are back. 

Your challenge is to design a solution to protect people, animals and/or buildings from severe weather.

Activity for the week

We have watched the following two videos in class before but please watch this video about climate change by clicking on this link.

• Climate change Crash Course Kids

Answer these questions on a piece of paper that you will glue into your Science journal when you return. ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES WITH EXPLANATIONS!

• What does it mean when we say climate change?
• Why is climate change happening on Earth?

If you would like to learn more about what climate change is doing to glaciers, click on this link. Scroll down and hit the play button for the site to read to you or just read the page.