Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Filed under: 3rd Grade

Simple Screws

3rd graders learned that a screw is actually an inclined plane wrapped around a shaft.  Student used a screw driver to screw two different screws into a piece of wood.  Ask your student what the difference is between a coarse thread screw and a fine thread screw.  Which one has a longer inclined plane wrapped around it?  Which one should require less effort to screw in?

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Weather Forecasters-in-Training

3rd grade students are utilizing actual weather maps to create continent-wide weather forecasts.  They are working in partnerships to read and translate the weather symbols across the nation and to create a script for their own weather report.  Ask your child to help you translate this map!

Click here to download:
weather_map_12_hours.pdf (123 KB)
(download)

Bald Eagle Check-In...New Facts!

<br />Live TV : Ustream

Students in 6S and their Grandfriends, checked-in on the bald eagle family in Decorah, IA.  Here are some of the new facts that were uncovered...

According to William, humans are the most important source of mortality for this species.  In fact, according to Emmet, Nick and Ashley, the bald eagle was threatened with extinction because of the pesticide, DDT, but now due to conservation, as of 2007, they are off the list.  

Riya tells us that the bald eagle, native to North America, was originally bred in Central Alaska, Northern Canada, Central Arizona, and around the Gulf of Mexico.  

Charlotte S. adds that they are accomplished and opportunistic food thieves and in mid-November, at least 4,000 bald eagles gather in Alaska to prey on salmon.  

Nora and Arthur tell us that bald eagle nests can weigh up to 2 tons and that they are so adaptable that in one case, a couple nested on a giant cactus.

Finally, Lydia and Madison discovered that the bald eagle engages in a spectacular courting ritual in which a pair of eagles will fly very high, lock feet together, then tumble and cartwheel toward the ground, breaking apart at the last possible moment.  

Here is a video of the cartwheel display...

ARKive video - White-tailed eagles sky dancing

 

 

Learning About Satellites on an Historic Day

Today marks the 50th anniversary of human space flight.

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In honor of this historic day, Dr. Igor Geogdzhayev, NASA scientist and dad of Masha in 3rd grade, came in to teach the students about Earth Observing Satellites including his most recent project, GLORY.

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Here are just a few of the new bits of information we learned from Igor:

  • The A-Train doesn’t just take you from Inwood to the Rockaways, it’s also an orbital pathway in space.  The Afternoon Constellation, also known as the A-Train, is a series of Earth-observing satellites flying in close formation. The A-Train orbits the Earth once every 100 minutes.
  • Aerosols, or dust found in the atmosphere, can have an effect on global climate.  The aerosols can range from salt from evaporated sea water to soot from volcanic eruptions or factory emissions.  Aerosols can reflect or absorb sunlight in our atmosphere. 

 

 

http://www.nasa.gov