Thursday, January 29, 2009

Body Systems



Body Systems




Learning about body systems is fun - especially when you get to make life-sized posters of each system! Here are each of the groups with their Body Systems posters. They did a GREAT job!

Nervous System - Carter, Mitchell, Brooke, Maddie
Muscular System - Monte, Kaysha, Hannah
Digestive System - Chayla, Tanner, Dylan T, Elena
Skeletal System - Payton, Abby, Kiana
Respiratory System - Korbyn, Elle, Devon
Circulatory System - Dylan S, Mia, Eli

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Visitors





Visitors




Last week should have been called "Visitors Week" since we had 3 guest speakers come and talk to us. On Tuesday (20th), Payton's mom Jill came to visit while Payton was Wildcat of the Week. Jill is a nurse at the Sanford NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). She takes care of babies who are born early or born with some kind of sickness/disease and can't leave the hospital right away. She showed us some pictures of some premature babies (hooked up to all kinds of machines) and even showed us some of the TINY diapers they have to wear. We learned that she has a VERY important job!

On Wednesday (21st), Mitchell's dad Tom came to talk to us. Since we have been learning about Body Systems, Tom (who is a veternarian) talked to us about the bodies and systems of some of the different animals he takes care of (mostly dogs and cats). He showed us some very interesting x-rays and even some more interesting "specimans." (Including a dog's heart and eye and the exoskeleton of a tarantula!)

On Thursday (22nd), Paulette DeWeerd, who is a chiropractor from Rock Rapids, came to talk to us about the skeletal and muscular systems. We learned some very intersting facts about both...including what is the strongest muscle and how our reflexes work.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Washington D.C. Projects




Washington D.C. Projects





Washington D.C. Projects





Washington D.C. Projects






During our Government Chapter in Social Studies, we learned and studied a lot of cool things about our Country's Govenment. It was especially exciting since this was an election year and we got to see a new President elected for 2009-2013 - Barack Obama! We learned about the 3 Branches of Government, different symbols of the United States, and some of the monuments and buildings that are in our Nation's Capital - Washington D.C. Each of the students also got to choose one of the former Presidents of the US and research and learn more about them. The funnest activity, however, was choosing a building or monument from Washington D.C. and recreating them at home with their families. Some chose to create a model while others did a drawing. Each student also went to the computer lab to research their building or monument to find out interesting facts. On December 17th, the students presented their projects and their reseach to a room full of parents and grandparents in the form of a powerpoint slideshow.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Todd Heitkamp speaks to the 3rd Graders





On Friday, December 12th, meterologist Todd Heitkamp came to speak to the third grade classes about weather, focusing mostly on tornadoes. He showed the students a slideshow of different tornadoes from over the years and informed them how they could stay safe if a tornado was to hit our area. He also showed an actual weather balloon that they send up on a daily basis to check the weather. He shared a lot of interesting information and answered many questions the kids had about weather. He came to speak while the third graders were on their Weather Unit for Science.