Our class is exploring computational thinking by coding with Lego Spike robots. Through solving problems and using creativity, students are learning to approach challenges methodically and inventively. The integration of sensors allows the robots to interact with their environment, adding a layer of sophistication to their programming tasks. By exploring various robot behaviors, our young coders are developing critical skills that lay the foundation for future STEM learning! This week we went to explore all the animals and plants at the John Janzen Nature Centre! We took a look at a local pond, explored animals in the pond with nets, and identified local species of critters and plants! We got to peer at a pond creatures life cycle from beginning to end and discovered the web of life of a pond ecosystem.
In the afternoon, we had a picnic investigated habitats around the Nature Centre. It was a warm and fun day to explore the river valley, and we learned so much about plants and animals! We were very excited to get an update from Mrs. Hardy about our chicks this week! They're growing so well, and have a nice big home to explore now. Mrs. Hardy describes the home they're in now as the elementary school for chickens, and soon they'll be graduating on to junior high! We miss them, but are really glad they have such a wonderful home, and they've been adopted by an excellent hen mother.
Our mantises have been growing well this month with a steady diet of crickets, and they might be ready for the odd meal worm soon! We have three that we're taking care of in our classroom, and we've grown quite fond of them. They've gone through several incomplete metamorphoses where they shed their skin and grow larger, and it's always impressive to see how big they get over a matter of days and how impressive their hunting skills are! We recently wrapped up an exciting writing project inspired by the Who Would Win? books by Jerry Pallotta. These books pit two animals against each other in a fictional showdown, using facts and illustrations to compare their strengths, behaviors, and abilities to predict a winner. To create our own versions, we researched two animals of our choice, gathering information on their habitats, diets, and unique characteristics. Using the structure of Pallotta's books, we wrote nonfiction pieces that presented our findings in an engaging, comparative format. This project not only honed our research and writing skills but also sparked lively discussions and debates about the animal kingdom. It was a fun and educational way to combine creativity with factual writing. Our class has been closely observing the seeds we planted as they grow and bend toward the light at our window! This fascinating behavior is teaching us how plants have senses and respond to stimuli. We've also observed the essential needs of plants and how they obtain energy. Watching our plants thrive has made our learning on plant biology come to life!
We've had a delightful month with the chicks, and they officially made the trip back to their farm today! We got to spend some time with Mrs. Hardy again who taught us a lot about the chicken development and behaviour and how the chicks will live on the farm, and we got to see some older chicks from a couple of months ago who had grown so much! The class was very sad to see them go because we've grown accustomed to their silly antics, musical chirping, and cuddly-soft feathers. We learned so much about this animal, and the students were devoted caretakers to these newborns. The students of 3SB were wonderful chick parents!
Our grade three class had an exciting visit to see the Caine's arcade creations made by the grade four students in Mrs. Gallant and Mrs. Constantin's classes! The creativity and effort put into the cardboard games were truly impressive, showcasing a variety of fun and inventive designs. We had a blast playing the games and learning about the engineering and imagination that went into building them. This visit inspired us and gave us great ideas for our own future projects!
![]() We've really enjoyed getting to know the chicks this week and all their charming personalities! Some of them are docile, some are sassy, and some seem to think that they can fly! Mrs. Hardy will be coming to collect the chicks next week, and while we'll miss them so much, we know that they'll be happy to have lots of space on her property! As part of our science learning about Living Systems, we planted some seeds this week! We have poppies and peas growing, and we've been learning about how seeds germinate. As the weeks go on, we'll talk about plant needs, senses, and conservation as well. The students were especially fascinated when we learned about plant cells and DNA which led to some rich discussions!
The most exciting event of this week has been the arrival of our chicks! We had 13 hatch, and and the different chicken breeds are all adorable and fascinating to observe. The class has been abuzz about all the interesting chick behaviour, their amusing names, and careful tending to their needs. They've even been the topic of many a poem in our class this week. We can't wait to spend more time with them next week!
![]() We were excited to welcome some praying mantises to our class this week! As part of our unit on living systems, our class received a delivery of three mantis hatchlings. They are Chinese mantises, and are currently snacking on flightless fruit flies. Eventually they'll grow large enough to eat crickets! The class has been dutifully checking on them throughout the day since they arrived, and we have named them Joe, Lizzy, and Mant. You can watch the video below to see a mantis laying an ootheca of eggs. This week we've been learning more about chicken adaptations and development! We got to candle a couple of the eggs, and we learned all about the different parts of the egg that allow the chick to develop inside. Students "dissected" their own egg in class to find the albumen, air pocket, embryo, chalaza, yolk, and membrane. It was egg-cellent fun! We’ve been very engaged in our Living Systems unit in science recently! In this unit, students will analyze and describe how plants and animals interact with each other and with their environments. We've focused especially this week on food chains and learning about the life of a chicken. It's been a busy and fun week! During our learning on Living Systems, students will:
We were very this lucky today to have the chicken lady Mrs. Hardy deliver 20 eggs for our class! The eggs are settled into the incubator now where they're toasty warm and carefully rotating. This will be the next component of our science unit on Life Systems. Next week we're going to take a peek inside by candling the eggs, and in the coming weeks the chicks will start to peck their ways out of their shells! After that they'll spend about a week in our class before heading to the coop on Mrs. Hardy's farm. The class is already eagerly observing the chicks' progress!
We were lucky to pilot a Telus World of Science Edmonton program this week where we learned about viewing computational thinking through an Indigenous worldview. Computational thinking is an important piece of our new science curriculum this year, and it was really special to learn about this way of thinking from Natasha who is a Métis sky scientist from TWOSE. Natasha talked about how she's learned from elders and knowledge keepers, and also scientists and scholars. She taught us about two-row wampum belts and how they were used in the first treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people on Turtle Island, representing the two cultures with the blue river of life beads and white beads representing peace, love, friendship. Natasha encouraged students to tell a story with their beading, and also in our coding in class. We also talked about perfection, and how when we make things as people we want to focus on expressing ourselves rather than being perfect. This tied in nicely with the Métis tradition of including a spirit bead in your beading, which is a bead that is misplaced or miscoloured to remember that no one can achieve perfection all the time. During our beading time, Natasha also taught us a lot about coding such as binary code on computers, algorithms, and loops. The students worked hard on their beadwork, and their designs and beading turned out beautifully. It was a meaningful and enlightening project for all of us! We’ve started coding in our class, which means that we’re telling a computer, app, phone, or website what we want it to do. This week we used an app called Lightbot and a some robots called CPX to practice our skills in communicating, solving complex problems, and thinking logically and critically. The class found designing repeating patterns using the lights and speakers on the CPX especially fun! As this article reports, Today, computing is involved in almost all aspects of our lives, from communications and education to social media, banking, information, security and shopping. Networked computers are capable of controlling our homes’ thermostats and lighting, our cars and our health records. You can read more about the thinking behind students being exposed to coding here, and we will keep you updated on our further adventures in coding!
![]() We learned lots and had lots of fun today at Telus World of Science! We got to watch a special presentation about Indigenous sky stories in the Zeidler Theatre, and we participated in the Thrill Rides program led by our science expert which tied into our class' unit on Energy and Forces. Our instructor helped us review concepts on inertia, energy, gravity, and friction. We also were able to explore all of the exhibits in the facility thanks to our four wonderful volunteers! As we conclude our Energy Unit on forces and simple machines, we learned a lot as we built our Rube Goldberg Machines this week. Inspired by the whimsical cartoons of Rube Goldberg, students eagerly built their own Rube Goldberg machines using materials from home and school. From levers to pulleys, each machine showcased their understanding of forces and simple machines. The classroom buzzed with creativity as we celebrated each other's designs and marveled at the creative cause-and-effect sequences. Through this project, students not only grasped scientific concepts but also honed essential skills like problem-solving and teamwork. Here's to the joy of learning and the endless possibilities that await as we learn about science! We built our very own cars this week to explore the simple machines of the wheel and the axle! Students built the base for the car, the axle, and carefully selected and attached their wheels. We had four criteria for these cars, and the students designs did extremely well in our driving competition.
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Mrs. BarkerMrs. Barker is a grade three and literacy teacher at Millgrove School. She loves science and reading, and lives in a little brick house with Mr. Barker and her kids Jack and Ellie. Archive
June 2024
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