SCIENCE:
PHYSICS OF SOUND
Our 3rd grade level is beginning a new science unit using the FOSS Physics of Sound Module. In this unit your child will investigate the fundamental principles of sound generation, how sound travels, and some of the physical characteristics of the energy form we call sound. This is an exciting unit for students.
Over the next 4 weeks they will engage in active investigations of vibrating systems and musical instruments to see what they can find out about pitch and volume, and how to control or modify systems to control the sounds they make. This is the basic premise of music.
Your child’s interest in sounds, sound sources, and sound receivers can be increased by asking about the investigations at school and by providing additional experiences at home. Do you have a musical instrument at home? Study its design and figure out together how it makes sound, what is vibrating, and how the player controls the rate of vibration to create different pitches. Or you might want to make musical instrument, or something you blow. Another activity that is fun for the whole family is listening to the sounds of silence - finding a quiet location and identifying the sounds that invade even the quietest places.
Watch for the Home/School Connections sheets we will be sending home with your child from time to time. These suggest even more ways for the whole family to tune up and tune in to the vibrations in the everyday environment that we know as sound.
We are looking forward to many weeks of investigations with our Physics of Sound Module. Please donate any boxes, containers, cards, papers, plastic bottles and string before April 20th. We will use these materials to build recycled instruments.
If you would like to help build with the class during the week of April 24th-28th, please drop us a note.
Newspaper Instrument Research Project:
- Students will begin researching any instrument of their choice. If your child has books, magazines or instruments they would like to bring to class please feel free to let me know.
MATH:
Unit 8 Fractions
Unit 8 has two primary objectives:
✸ to review the uses of fractions and fraction notation
✸ to help children develop a solid understanding of equivalent fractions, or fractions that have the same value
LANGUAGE ARTS:
The third trimester promises to be an exciting time in Language Arts. As fluent readers and writers students are making strong connections and thinking deeply about what they are reading. Our current units are designed to develop the ability to determine central ideas and analyze text through summarization key details and ideas. In addition, they will be using text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a topic. In writing we will begin to examine more complex information and learning effective strategies of organization. We look forward to connecting our reading to our writing through use of research clubs. Please continue to encourage your child to establish a daily reading practice.
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