Reading Buddies
10/26/2019
We love our preschool reading buddies! Reading buddies are older students paired with younger students to promote community. Each Tuesday, our class reads books to our preschool friends before they take their nap. We love sharing our love for reading! This opportunity each week allows our younger friends to hear stories read aloud and have positive experiences with the “big kids.” Third graders get to practice reading aloud fluently and being a leader. In math, we have been exploring and discussing strategies for solving multiplication problems. At PNA, one of our goals is to develop students who feel confident sharing their thoughts. One of the many ways we develop confidence in our classroom is regularly turning on our doc camera during math. Students get to project their work on the board and explain how they solved a particular problem. In addition to developing confidence, this routine allows the rest of the class to see different ways of solving the same problems.
Space Week
10/19/2019
What did we do during Space Week? The better question is, what didn’t PNA do during Space Week? Su Curley, a NASA engineer, flew to Alaska to be with our students this week. www.youralaskalink.com/news/students-celebrate-space-week-with-nasa-engineer/article_f64211dc-f20a-11e9-976f-2f68c935021d.html They learned how space suits work and the different challenges astronauts face when they do space walks on the International Space Station. Throughout the week, they were even able to touch moon rocks, try on a space helmet and gloves, and look at rocketry parts. Another highlight was skyping John Harrington, the first Native American to fly in space and going to the Planetarium! Third graders presented their robotic moon rovers at “A Night at the Space Museum.” They explored what role robotics could play if astronauts lived on the moon long term. Groups of students coded their robot to do a specific task they thought would be useful to astronauts, such as exploring, taking pictures, rescuing astronauts if they got hurt, and moving moon rock samples to the moon base. The process of tackling the challenging task of coding their robot helped students practice collaboration and problem-solving. Later they reflected on their challenges and successes. Space Week was an amazing opportunity for PNA students to collectively explore real world applications for science and technology!
Space Robotics
10/12/2019
Space Week is almost here! This Thursday for “A Night at the Space Museum,” our class will have a display of what robotics could look like on the moon! After exploring articles and video clips of the role robotics play in space, they began building programmable lego moon rovers. The challenge for each group is to build and program a vehicle to do a specific task for their “moon base.” They are collaborating and problem-solving to code their vehicle. As a class, we are thinking about what challenges astronauts would face if they lived on the moon. What is the climate on the moon? What would astronauts need robots to do on the moon? These questions will help guide us in coding our robots and designing our moon base. Throughout this process at PNA, students are practicing their communication and collaboration skills. When something fails, they learn patience as they try different solutions. We hope you can join us on Thursday night from 6:00-8:00 to see our finished product! Student Ownership
10/5/2019
We love to read! Lots of shelves in our classroom are dedicated to books and our book boxes. Every day students keep track of the pages they read and regularly share what they're reading. They especially love bragging when they finish a book. Some of the kids noticed that though there are lots of great books, the books are not organized in any particular way. They changed that on Tuesday! They dumped all the books and collaborated to create categories on sticky notes for all the bins on their own. Along the way, they liked discovering books they haven't seen before and reorganizing their book boxes. They loved taking ownership of this part of their classroom! When students have a voice in their learning, they are more invested and more motivated to learn. We are excited to be wrapping up our science unit about endangered species in our area. As a way to demonstrate their learning, students chose one of the endangered species and created Google Drawings on their laptops. Later they shared their learning with 1st and 2nd grade students. Great job, Third Graders! |
Jessica GrahamMs. Graham graduated from the University of Alabama with a BS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education, and is currently working on her master's in reading. She enjoys hiking, traveling, arts & crafts, and playing the ukulele. Archives
April 2021
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