Welcome Families and Students! As we work through concepts and skills during the school closure, I am going to post daily activities and instructional resources to keep us all learning! First and foremost, students should be practicing their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Going into 4th grade, fact automaticity is key! You can make flashcards out of paper or index cards. I like to play card games to learn facts. One game I play is "Who has More?" It is a 2-player game. Each player picks 2 cards out of the pile. Players can play as an addition or multiplication game. Whoever gets the highest sum or product when using the numbers on the 2 cards wins (jacks, queens, kings are worth 10 and aces 11). Here is a great website showing other math games:

https://www.weareteachers.com/math-card-games/

You can also practice math facts using Imagination Math (formerly-Big Brainz) using your clever badge sign-in. Or, I find Prodigy Math engaging and fun for students to explore math skills: https://play.prodigygame.com/

 Monday 3/16/2020

We will start Unit 5 in math:Perimeter and Area. To begin, if you could watch the Khan Academy video explaining perimeter as being the distance around a shape ( peri means around): https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-third-grade-math/3rd-perimeter. Only watch the first three sections, "Perimeter-Introduction," Perimeter of a Shape," and "Finding Perimeter by Counting Unit Squares." Then, print out the centimeter graph paper using this pdf, https://www.hand2mind.com/pdf/gridpaper.pdf

On the centimeter graph paper, practice drawing shapes by connecting the dots. Then find the perimeter. Remember between the dots is counted as 1-unit. Do NOT count the dots to find perimeter. Practice perimeter using the site: https://toytheater.com/perimeter-climber/

Now, using a ruler in the house (inches or centimeters or even yards), measure the perimeter of a table, a rug, a desk, or another object that is square or rectangular in shape......let's see who measures the smallest and biggest item! Have fun!

 Science Practice:  Weather.....We will be looking at ways to predict weather in an area based on typical weather patterns during certain seasons. Students, please write down the weather each day. For example, Monday, 3/16/2020  Temperature-______ and type of weather?_______ (was it sunny, windy, cold, warm, rainy) We will use this data in a few weeks. Please watch the following Bill Nye the Science Guy video on Climate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr29YJ7TswA

Social Studies: Please review the local history facts and map skills that I will send in an email link tomorrow. You can use this to study. I would cut out the answers and the definitions or explanation and mix them up, rematch them to study. 

*****Here is the added information to use for reviewing skills Social Studies Review

Get outside and enjoy the great outdoors!

Email if you have any questions!!!

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Tuesday and Wednesdy 3/17/2020 Work

Math: Spend 15 minutes each day reviewing facts-you can use prodigy math or Imagination Math with your clever badge sign in, or you can play a math game....or just write some math facts on paper. A good thing to do is write fact families such as 3x4=12, 4x3=12, 12/3=4, (division) 12/4=3 (division)

Math Lesson: Continue working with perimeter of polygons (straight-sided closed shapes, no circles or curves). Here is another explanation to view on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAY1bsazcgM

Pay close attention to how they show you can use multiplication if the shape's sides are all the same length such as a square. Also, see how you can find missing sides of the shape to then find perimeter.

Worksheets to do to show your skill:1. https://www.education.com/download/worksheet/172500/geometry-basics-more-perimeters-2018.pdf

2. https://www.math-salamanders.com/image-files/free-3rd-grade-math-worksheets-perimeter-1.gif

3. Game to play. Roll 2 dice. These will be the length and width of your rectangle. For example if I roll a 3 and a 4. My rectangle has a length of 3 and a width of 4. Opposite sides will be the same, now find the rectangle's perimeter.  Draw 10 different rectangles or squares and find the perimeters.

Science: Record the weather for the Tuesday and Wednesday. What was the low and high temperature? Was it cold, rainy, snowy, sunny or cloudy?

To explore air around us, do the following experiment: 

 Watch the following youtube video to learn about types of clouds in the sky- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ODJA1tIWOA

After watching the video, look outside, what types of clouds do you see? What does this mean?

Art Activity: If you have cotton balls, you can make cumulus clouds by putting puffy slightly stretched cotton ball on construction paper with glue, cirrus clouds are wispy and can be made by using 1/2 of a cotton ball and really stretching it out to make it look like wisps of hair, and stratus clouds are low flat clouds and sometimes dark (you can color them with black marker). Label the types of clouds.

Social Studies: Before we start our online learning about the American Revolution, I want you to understand what colonization looked like in the 1700's up North (near where we live now). Please visit the American Centuries Website http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/

Under the tab "Things to Do," click on Early American tools to see what equipment they used. You will see many tools were for farming or handcrafts like spinning wool from sheep hair. Then, click on "Dress Up." You can actually see the layers of clothing that men, women, and children wore. Lastly, click on "Objects in the Round." Here you can see more clothing and furniture that was used centuries ago. Think to yourself, how are things different nowadays? Is anything the same?

****

Math Challenge for the day: Use Graham Fletchy's website that has students make predictions using known math skills. You look at task 1 with the given information and make a prediction, then look at task 2 to see if you need to readjust your prediction. Finally, look at task 3 to see if you can solve the challenge correctly. Today try the How many chocolate squares challenge https://gfletchy.com/fruit-nut/ 

Also try this challenge that relates to area (space or amount of paper used). You can actually do this if you have an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper and scissors at home. It's a good challenge!

https://gfletchy.com/paper-cut/

Thursday 3/19/2020

Math: Practice facts or other math skill using Prodigy or Imagination Math

Using your clever badge log in, go into Think Central (this correlates to our Math Expression curriculum we use). Go under "My Library," then "Mega Math," then click "Ice Station Exploration," then click "Polar Planes, level P." During this math session, you will again practice finding perimeters of polygons. Do the first to lessons.

 Science: Record today's temperature (high and lowest if you can) and describe what type of day it is.

Learn about the difference between climate and weather. Please read this page: 

Go to the website, the Weather Channel by using Weather.com

At the top where it says "Search City or Zip Code," put in our town "South Hadley." Then go to the top bar and hit monthly. Look at the daily temperatures and weather for the month of March. What statements can you make about the climate of our town in March? Is it mostly cloudy, rainy and cold? Or is it hot and sunny most days in March?

Now look at another city that is closer to the equator, like Miami, Florida. Go back to the top and type this in to the "Search City or Zip Code." Hit monthly and see what you notice about this city during March. How would you describe its climate over the month?

Finally, look at another city outside of the United States. Type in "Yakutsk, Russia." Hit Monthly on the top bar. How would you describe this locations climate? A lot different than South Hadley, that's for sure!

 Social Studies: Continue to look at colonial times in this area. I want you to understand that there were slaves and enslaved people living here. Using the American Centuries Website http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/activities/magic_lens/index.html

Look at the following primary sources (copies of the original papers handwritten with a quill pen): Bill of Sale for Slave Named Kate and the  Bill of Sale for Slave Named Prince. How old were these slaves that were bought by people living in Deerfield and Hatfield, Massachusetts. Kate was probably doing housechores and Prince farm work. Now look at Indenture of Sarah Green. Sarah was hired to live with a family as an apprentice to do housework and sewing (needlework). She gets fed and clothes are provided. She was considered an indentured servant, not a slave. 

*I know some of the articles above are hard to read, as they are written in Old English. Do your best. I just want you to understand that some people in this area were indentured servants and some enslaved (slaves).

Friday: March 20, 2020

Math: Perimeter Review. Remember the perimeter is the distance directly around a shape (the outside part).To remember this, and seriously, you will be singing it in your sleep, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5ULJ_kcFzI

Not that you are knowledgeable about perimeter, see if you can look at squares and rectangles to find missing sides to find perimeter. Watch this video about a farmer trying to build a fence for his corn field to keep animals out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6UFutxXcpw&t

Print out the following paper if you can or you can bring it up on your computer and solve on another piece of paper. Find the perimeter (distance around by adding up the sides, ALL the sides-you may have to write some in) and then find the inside space (area=lxw), which we have studies before:

https://www.commoncoresheets.com/Math/Area/Squares%20(Area%20and%20Perimeter)/English/1.pdf

Take a break and read some jokes on this website https://www.highlightskids.com/   (hit jokes). This page has other fun things to do as well!

Also, look at this illusion ( a picture that tricks the eye) that my 80 year old dad sent to me.....I forwarded it to your parents' emails. I thought the man was digging in sand at first; what did you think??

Science: Weather and Climate Unit- Write down the high and low temperature for the day, and explain what type of day it was....maybe even describe the cloud type!

Today we look at the seasons: spring, summer, winter and fall. Why do seasons occur, what causes them? Yesterday at 11:50 pm, the spring equinox occurred. This means the sun moves north across the celestial (sky's) equator. So, it's officially spring time. Please read pages 320-321 about seasons. 

 Sorry they keep coming in sideways, I'll email them as well!

Read the poem called "Four Seasons" by the children's poet Jack Prelutsky. Maybe illustrate something about each poem showing the season.

“The Four Seasons” by Jack Prelutsky

Summer

The earth is warm,

the sun’s ablaze,

it is a time of carefree days;

and bees abuzz that chance to pass

may see me snoozing on the grass.

Fall

The leaves are yellow, red, and brown

a shower sprinkles softly down;

the air is fragrant, crisp, and cool

and once again I’m stuck in school.

Winter

The birds are gone, the world is white, the winds are wild,

they chill and bite;

the ground is thick with slush and sleet,

and I can barely feel my feet.

Spring

The fields are rich with daffodils,

a coat of clover cloaks the hills,

and I must dance, and I must sing

to see the beauty of the spring.

Last, as I was running this morning, I still saw many buckets attached to sugar maple trees. I was wondering, how do they tap the trees to get syrup for maple syrup in the spring. See how by watching this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27YofsHxW58&feature=emb_rel_pause

Optional: and....if you ever wondered about the maple syrup jugs and the small handles here's an informative piece about why handles are so small!!!

https://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/2018/03/04/hfvs-329/

or, if you have wondered about other pancakes around the world, check out these kids testing other types of pancakes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrWAc3zvMRI&feature=emb_logo

Social Studies: Study this picture from our Massachusetts book. What do you think is happening? Who might be involved, and where might this be taking place? We will look more deeply at this event next week.

Monday-March 23, 2020

Happy Monday you’all ….I hope you all had a nice weekend. It was a sunny one for sure, now SNOW!!! I guess that’s New England for ya. The weather can be unpredictable this time of year.

Here are some suggested assignments for today. 

Math- Review line plots and fractions (remember a unit fraction always has the 1 in the numerator) as you do the remembering page here:

Try the stretch your thinking; we will review area that we did already during the winter.

Math-continued: Watch the following video for a review of how to find area by either counting inside squares or solving using length x width. See how this works when the shape is not a rectangle or square and looks something like this:

youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFQJ4QWuw78

Now try finding the area and perimeter of the following:

Science: Take the temperature for the day (high and low if you can do that), describe the day, what kind of weather is it? Sunny? Cloudy? Snowy?

Try this experiment if you have a flashlight to see how direct sunlight overhead makes warmer temperatures (warmer climate overall too) compared to sunlight at an angle. At an angle the sun’s rays will be more spread out and not so concentrated in one area=less energy/less heat in that spot. 

For Science, also read the two pages here: 

 page 1

page 2

Tuesday-March 24, 2020

Math-Start with this remembering page to review vertical (tall) bar graphing and area and perimeter. Remember, area is the inside squares. You can draw in the lines if that helps you. Perimeter is the distance around (don’t count dots, count spaces between dots.

Today we are going to look at finding the sides of a shape when the perimeter (area around outside) is given. Please watch a video that starts by reviewing simple perimeter then shows how to find missing sides when given the perimeter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwlwiYghiuA

Try the problems on this worksheet and if you could, spend 5-10 minutes practicing facts playing a card game, dice game, or using prodigy or Imagination.

Science: Record temperatures for the day (high and low if possible), what is the day like? Cold, hot, warm, snowy, sunny, cloudy? Can you tell what type of clouds are in the sky? Cirrus-wispy, stratus-low, flat layers of clouds can be gray or white and mean rain or snow, or cumulus clouds-white and puffy like cotton balls?

We are going to start looking at the water cycle. Before doing this, let’s understand what precipitation is (moisture that comes from the sky in the form of rain, snow, sleet, hail) by making raindrops. If you have the materials listed, try this experiment. If you don’t have a marble, you can use a coin like a penny.

Have fun with this....I tried it and it's pretty cool!

Wednesday: March 25, 2020

Math: Start today by reviewing elapsed time on a number line, as you complete this remembering page:

Today, we are going to look at the different rectangles we can make, given a certain perimeter. On a blank sheet of paper, or using the centimeter dot paper that you can print from this link https://mathbits.com/MathBits/StudentResources/GraphPaper/DotPaper.pdf, draw all the possible rectangles you can with a perimeter of 16 cm. Remember perimeter is the distance around the shape.

See if you can find a pattern when you look at the length and width. Can you make a square too?

Fill in the following worksheet, noting the two sides' measurements (adjacent sides-ones next to each other length and width) and then what the area would be given the sides (area=lxw, inside part of shape)

  ****You should notice that the perimeter and the area of a shape, DO NOT need to be the same measurements!!!!!

Challenge Math:

Mrs. V. went out and built a snowman using 3 snowballs. How many snowballs would she need to roll to build 10 snowmen? How about 50 snowmen? 100 snowmen? 1,500 snowmen?

After building 1,500 snowMath-men (hahaha), Mrs. V. wants to put a snow wall around them to protect them from the Abominable Snowman. If the dimensions of this rectangular fort are a 7 mile length and a 2 mile width, what is the perimeter of the fort? (Remember you need all sides of the rectangle to find the perimeter)!!! Send me your answers via email if you can!

If you have time today, practice facts, play a board game that includes math like Monopoly, Battleship, Mancala, Sorry, etc. Have fun!

Science: We are going to look at severe weather like tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards. Watch the following video to see how these storms differ and how they can make the landscape of an area change and change the earth. Please watch this at times funny but informative movie by Bill Nye: Storms

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3kgpbm

 Thursday-March 2, 2020

Math

Practice line plots using the remembering page here:

I have started an online for math. It is called Freckle (part of Renaissance). The web address is https://student.freckle.com/#/login

If you are in the morning class your class code is ZW9Z8J

Afternoon class code is DSHB7P

Your first name is your first initial and your last name is your last initial. Lilly your last name is Mo, Joe your last name is T-D, Sam Gates your last name is Ga and Sam George is Ge, and Ryder your first name put in Ry

***Sorry we had duplicate first and last initials here. 

Once you sign in, you pick a character and then hit "assignments." I have 2 listed for you to review area as the number of square units inside a shape. 

When done, log out.

***Here is today's math question.....Mrs. V. decided to climb steps at a stadium to get indoor exercise. If there were 10 steps and she climbed up them 2 times,how many steps did she climb in all? What if she climbed up 15 times? 22 times? 54 times??? 137 times?

Remember the multiplying by 10 rule!

Science: Look at temperatures and weather for the day and continue keeping track of the data.

Read the following 2 pages about weather and hours of sunlight in Boston, Massachusetts. See if you can dot he extensions on the first page and the math challenge on page 2:

 Friday-March 26, 2020

 Math-Find the areas of the irregular shapes. You can decompose or break apart the shape by making different rectangles or squares out of the shape. Remember area is the number of square units that make up the shape.

 Find the areas of 1, 2, 3, and 4

**I will put up the assignments for Freckle.com Thursday. You will use the same class code as mentioned above and the same log in (first initial only, last initial only)

If you have sidewalk chalk (or paper and pencil are fine too), draw some rectangles, squares, or irregular shapes and find the area of the shapes drawn. I could draw a 5x5 square with chalk and put the rows and columns in. To find the area, I could use the formula length x width or count all the squares.

Practice facts for 5 minutes please!

Math Question: Mrs. V. wants to plant a garden. If she grows carrots and lettuce, the rabbits will come visit. She puts up a fence around the garden with dimensions 8 feet x 9 feet. What is the perimeter of the garden...Don't forget to add ALL the sides of the garden because perimeter is the distance around a space.

**Extra Math Challenge: Here is a math situation to solve. I would draw it out on paper. See if you can see a a pattern to help you solve this! The question to solve is on page 2.

http://mathpractices.edc.org/pdf/Writing_Numerical_Expressions-Hexagon_Tables.pdf

Science: Make a note of the weather temperatures for Friday and what it's like outside (The meterologists are saying, "Chance of rain").

Read this page about the water cycle, then watch the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al-do-HGuIk    THIS IS THE WATER CYCLE VIDEO LINK

If you can print out the water cycle picture I attached to the email , label the parts of the water cycle. Color if you want too. Or, if you want use this as a guide and draw your own water cycle picture, that's fine too. As you go outside or watch things boiling on the stove, look for evidence of the water cycle in action.