3rd Grade Specials
NFS Curriculum Update :: May & June 2016
ART
Third grade artists will begin May by taking another trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a tour of Asian Art. I am positive their expertise in this area will impress the staff and guide on this exciting trip! Students will continue to explore Asian Art and will investigate Ming Pottery, learn about and create their own kimonos and explore paper lanterns and traditional illustrations. It is sure to be an exciting spring for third grade in the art room!
LIBRARY
Third Grade will finish fractured fairy tales, reading The Stinky Cheeseman. They will have several digital citizenship lessons with Sarah Matthews, and end the school year with activities to review and assess library skills, including a scavenger hunt and Dewey Decimal bingo.
MUSIC
I can’t believe it is already May! I have had such a wonderful time working with this third grade class. We will end the year with a recorder unit. Students will practice reading music and playing with a group. Thank you for sharing your child with me this year!
P.E.
This month of May will begin with the continuation of our hockey unit. Game play with skill work and offense/defense strategies will be the emphasis. Then we will review some of our Field Day activities along with the introduction of a few new activities to help us get ready for the big day. Following Field Day, the class will participate in outdoor sports that include games involving baseball/softball/kickball type activities as well as large group games that can be played on the fields. The rock wall will be used one final time along with the newly learned activity, speed cup stacking. At the end of the school year, students will have the opportunity to choose a few of their favorite games and activities that were played during the year and repeat these activities one final time before summer vacation begins.
SCIENCE
Third graders finish the year with electricity. They will explore a small motor, dissect it, illustrate it and put it back together to make it work one more time. We learn about open and closed circuits using a tool called a “UFO BALL” which makes “UFO” sounds. It is an easy and quick way to see the effect of a broken or open circuit. We will explore conductors and insulators, find out the difference and test several different objects to see if they conduct electricity or not. No electricity unit is complete without learning about electrical hazards and how to avoid them. Finally, we conclude the unit with student-driven inquiry and the use of snap circuits. It should be an electrifying experience!
SPANISH
Third Grade students began the unit : “¿Qué te gusta hacer?” (What do you like to do?) in April. We have played charades and gone on scavenger hunts to learn the vocabulary and to practice speaking Spanish with one another. They have learned the verbs well and also can use properly the verb “gustar” to express their likes and dislikes. Our last unit of the year will be the learning the names, locations and capital cities of the Spanish-speaking countries. We use some infectious songs and raps to help us remember country names. I apologize now for any excessive singing at home! Typically we spend the last few classes in June reviewing all the material we’ve learned over the course of the year with games, songs, and fun activities!