St. Michael's
Third Grade
Week of January 8
This week we will be making boats to test how much weight they can hold before sinking. The students will use gram pieces to add to their boats. The goal is to design a strong boat to hold the highest amount of grams.
Week of December 18
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
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Have a wonderful break!
Week of December 11
This week is all about Christmas science! We will be make cookie cutter fizzles with baking soda and vinegar, floating cranberries in a magic liquid, mixing Christmas colors, and building gum drop towers. It will be a fun week before break!
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Soaking sponges to find the weight of how much water a sponge can hold.
Week of December 4
This week we will be asking the question: how much water can a sponge soak in? We will be using balancing scales and gram pieces to measure the weight of dry sponges vs. wet sponges.
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Water dome exploration:
Week of December 4
This week we will be asking the question: how much water can a sponge soak in? We will be using balancing scales and gram pieces to measure the weight of dry sponges vs. wet sponges.
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Water dome exploration:
Week of November 27
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!
This week we will be asking the question: How does water move on a slope? Students will explore a variety of slopes from small to steep. They will drop water domes of different sizes to see what size domes fall faster and which slope allows for faster movement as well.
Week of November 13
This week we are learning about water on different surfaces. Students will do a variety of challenges with water drops. They will see how close two drops can be next to each other before they join together. They will also see that certain surfaces will cause the water to bead up and some will absorb the water.
Week of November 7
Welcome to the second trimester! We will be starting Earth Science. I will not be here Friday, so we are jumping in with Water & Climate next week.
Week of October 30
Happy Halloween week! We will be engineering bone bridges this week. Students will work in groups to collaborate how to design a bridge out of Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and string to hold up pumpkin candy. The goal is to hold the most candy! It will be a spook-tacular time!
Week of October 2
This week we will be continuing to test the patterns of motion by using cups with pennies. How does changing the location of the penny affect the motion of the cup?
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Last week we built wheel-and-axle systems.
Week of September 25
This week we will be moving to our new investigation, Patterns of Motion. The students will be making a wheel-and-axle system. Our question is: How can we change the motion of wheel-and-axle systems rolling down ramps? We will create a variety of designs to test and observe their patterns.
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Last week we extracted iron our of cereal!
Week of September 18
This week we will be finding the iron in cereal! The students will be grinding down Corn Flakes to a powder. We will then stir it in water until the iron separates out of the mixture. Using a magnet, the students will be able to extract the iron! Stay tuned for pictures!
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Week of September 11
This week we will be learning about forces. Our question is: What causes change in motion? We will discuss how forces act on one another - if the forces are unbalanced there is motion! Gravity is a constant force on Earth no matter what!
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Last week we collected and analyzed data based on the magnetic field when more magnets are added.
Week of September 4
Happy September! This week we will be finishing up our distance lab - we did not get to finish it. Students will continue to collect data from 1,2, and 3 magnets. They are already noticing a pattern - the more magnets there are the stronger the force! Once our data is collected, we will be analyzing it to discuss the results.
Week of August 28
We are continuing with forces using magnets. Each group will set up a distance challenge using magnets and paperclips. Using one magnet, what is the distance a paperclip can be before it snaps to the magnet? Will that distance change with 2 and 3 magnets? We will collect our data and analyze it by making a graph together.
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Last week students explored the magnetic force! They were amazed by the floating paperclip!
Week of August 21
Welcome to lower school science! This trimester, we will be studying Motion and Matter. To start, we will be learning about two forces. The students will be exploring magnets - why do they sometimes want to push apart and other times want to snap together? Students will create a floating paper clip using a magnet and string. What is keeping the paper clip suspended in the air? Stay tuned!