Looking Ahead: Embryology in the Classroom!

WCAX's "Across the Fence" program just highlighted the UVM Extension's 4-H Embryology Program with Martha Manning. Third graders are proud participants in this program and it remains a highlight of the year for many.  Check it out:




We look forward to starting this program after we return from April vacation.

Thanks to WCAX and UVM Extension for providing the link to this video.

Animal Research Clubs

Third graders spent much of the month of May in book clubs during Reading Workshop, studying two different animals while practicing reading information book skills independently in small groups.  At the culmination of the units, groups were asked to create a Google Slides Presentation comparing and contrasting the two animals they studied in whichever ways made sense to them.

These are the final products from this intense research and collaboration project!

Huntington River in Review #ngss #fieldtrip

Last week, we visited the Huntington River at the Audubon Nature Center as part of our science unit about Interdependence and Organisms.  While at the river, groups of students completed three different activities.

At one station, students were working with Mrs. Ankerson to conduct a "BMI" (benthic macroinvertebrate) count of the Huntington River.  This required us to use our identification skills to determine which organisms we found in the river.  Photos of some of these organisms are in the slideshow.

At another station, students played a game with Mrs. Ayer to learn about the food chain within the Lake Champlain Basin.  Students were either algae, macroinvertebrates, or yellow perch.  During the game, students also learned about ways that the watershed can get polluted.  Some examples of pollution include dog poop, cow manure, road runoff, oil, etc.  We'll revisit this topic again later.

Finally, with Miss Darby, students spent time observing the environment in two ways.  First, they used their senses (sight, sound, touch, smell) and took notes of their observations.  Then, they drew a scientific drawing (accurately detailed with labels) of their surroundings.

A huge thanks to the Audubon for allowing us the opportunity to use their land for our field experience!  (Donations to the Audubon would be greatly appreciated!)

Tomatoes in Space?!

(Originally posted on Mrs. Rankin's "Enrichment at RES" blog.)
This year students from Richmond Elementary School are participating in the TomatoSphere project in third grade to connect with their interdependence science unit. This is an amazing opportunity to participate in a real citizen science project. Last Friday we planted our blind study seeds as well as made predictions as to which seeds would yield the best tomato plants. Over the next few weeks we will watch and record our findings.

Here is information about this project as described on the TomatoSphere website http://tomatosphere.org:
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What is Tomatosphere™?

Tomatosphere™ uses the excitement of space exploration to teach the skills and processes of scientific experimentation and inquiry. Students investigate the effects of the space environment on the growth of food that will inevitably support long-term human space travel.



Pictured above is NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly with 600,000 Tomatosphere™ seeds. These space-faring seeds will be distributed to about 18,000 classes in Canada and the US during the 2015-16 school year. The seeds were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on board SpaceX’s Dragon on April 14, 2015 and will return to Earth after spending 5 weeks in space.
What does the program involve?

Each classroom is sent two packages of tomato seeds. One package contains seeds that have been sent into space or treated in space-simulated conditions. The other package will contain "control" seeds, which have not been in space. Through the Tomatosphere™ project, students will learn how to conduct a scientific experiment and compare the germination rates of the two groups of seeds. Tomatosphere™ relies on a "blind test" in which educators and students will not know which of the two packages are the "space" seeds and which are control seeds until the germination process is complete and results have been submitted.Watching these seeds germinate and grow will encourage classroom dialogue about the elements of life that support the requirements for space missions:- food, water, oxygen and the need to consume carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts. Traveling to and from Mars could take more than two years, therefore it is vital to know how to grow food while astronauts make the journey to the Red Planet, spend time on Mars and make the return journey back to Earth.
The results from your Tomatosphere™ science experiments will help Canadian scientists understand some of the issues related to long-term space travel. It’s an out-of-this-world opportunity for your students!
Why grow tomatoes in space?

Tomatoes are practical and valuable plants for space applications. They provide wholesome nourishment, as well as purified water through evaporation from their leaves.
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All the seeds are planted! One tray for each Grade 3 class



Tiny precious experimental seeds and careful scientists at work!



Students predicting which seeds will grow the most tomatoes



Thinking about ensuring this is a fair experiment.

A Chick is Born!

(Or directly link to the video on YouTube here.)

 

All of our third grade classes are currently watching the life cycle of a chicken occur before our eyes as our incubated eggs have been hatching this week!  We were able to capture this video of the 19th chick hatching...check it out!

A Visit to Shelburne Farms

On April 10th, we were fortunate enough to "Join the Flock" at Shelburne Farms on a field trip. While there, we had the opportunity to observe sheep and lambs up close,  learn how to card, felt and spin wool.  A few of us were able to help out with some farm chores in the chicken coop while others visited the sugar bush and helped haul in buckets of sap.

 

Customize a free digital slideshow

or, to see the slideshow click here.

Thank you to the parent chaperones and Shelburne Farms educators who helped make this day possible!

Science: Organisms

Our current science thematic unit is "Organisms." This year in grade 3 we are studying this unit in two parts. Part one, which we are studying now through November, focuses on classification and structures and functions. The essential questions for this part are: How are groups of organisms alike and different and how does this help us classify them?, Why do we classify organisms?, and How do the characteristics of organisms help them survive?  Part two, which we will be studying in the spring focuses on life cycles. During that time we will hatch chicks and grow "Wisconsin Fast Plants" with our classroom grow labs. Our essential question for that part is How are organism life cycles the same and different?

One big aspect of helping students learn about classification is getting them to make careful observations of the world around them. We have each student keeping a Scientist's Notebook. One of the first entries in this notebook is a scientific drawing for which students collected an interesting plant and made a careful, detailed drawing including labels for the parts of the plants that they knew. While we did not expect students to know all the parts of the plant at this point, it was an exercise to help them begin to notice details about organisms and their structures, and how scientists and naturalists might use drawings of what they find to begin to identify them. Then students compared and contrasted stuffed animals using a Box and T-chart frame. Again, to help students begin to look carefully at features, but to also teach them how to use a specific comparison tool.

From there students began looking carefully at photographs of different animals and classifying them by creating their own categories that made sense to them ("furry animals," "animals with tails," and so on). Students were asked to record their categories for classifying the animal in their scientist's notebook. Our field trip to ECHO helped us with the next step in learning about classification. There we participated in a school program that focused on the specific features the five vertebrate classes have that scientists use to classify them. We have followed up by having students work in groups to record criteria for each of these five classes and then teaching other groups of students about them. They also worked on writing riddles in which they list features for a specific animal and by the end of the riddle they should have provided enough information for other students to "classify" them.

Our next step is to zoom in on specific characteristics of organisms and how these features or characteristics help them survive. We look at structures and functions of plant parts, and compare and contrast them to human structures. We study bird beaks and feet and what these features tell us about those particular birds and how they survive (what they eat, where they live). Students look closely at the organism they are studying in readers and writers workshop and determine what special features or characteristics that organism has to help it survive.

In the spring we will come back to organisms to compare and contrast similarities and differences between organisms' life cycles. To get a closer look at specific life cycles we will hatch chicks and grow "fast plants" in our classroom grow lab. This will be a great way to wrap up our year-long theme of "Growing, Moving, and Changing."

Field Trip: Echo Lake Aquarium & Science Center

On Monday, October 14th, we'll be traveling to Burlington to visit the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center as part of our theme unit on Organisms. While at the Center, we will have an opportunity to explore all of the permanent exhibits, "Cool Moves: the Artistry of Motion" exhibit, and to participate in the hands-on "Life in Lake Champlain Program," where we will learn the characteristics and classification of some of the 400 species of invertebrates that call the Lake home.



 

A few reminders for our field trip:

• We will be leaving RES promptly at 9:00 am and returning by 1:00 pm. Students should be prepared to walk to/from the bus to Echo, walk around Echo, and participate in a hands-on program.


• We will be eating a picnic lunch at Echo.  Third graders should bring a healthy lunch from home OR order a field trip lunch from RES.


• Chaperones need to meet at RES at 8:45 to review field trip expectations and to join us on the bus.  If alternate arrangements are needed, please coordinate with your child's classroom teacher ahead of time.

Scientific Observations

 

In our Organisms theme unit, we are learning to make accurate scientific drawings of the living and non-living things that we observe.  In class, we read Crinkleroot's Guide to Walking in Wild Places by Jim Arnosky and then went on a (brief) nature walk.  When we returned to class, we made our first scientific drawing and gave one another feedback.

Then, we watched this video: "The Story of Austin's Butterfly" to learn how to give critical feedback and, more importantly, how to use that feedback to improve the accuracy of our scientific drawings.



After the video, we returned to our drawings to make improvements.  We are certainly on the right track to making accurate, scientific drawings in third grade!

Living or Non-Living?

Our first theme unit this year is all about Organisms. This week, we began with a discussion (and picture sort) of living and non-living things.

Students worked in pairs and small groups to sort any number of things into these two groups including: a river, an egg, pupae, chrysalis, a hibernating bear, a leaf and much, much more. For each decision, students needed evidence to support their thinking. Together, we wrote a working definition of living things that we'll refer back todos the rest of the unit.