WEEK 48

Hello again...

HOMEWORK

• Keeping up with the Weekly Reading Logs?

• No MATH PACKET this week
• SCIENCE HOMEWORK: I have posted the whole thing here, which the kids also have. It is not the easiest homework in terms of logistics, but it should be fun. I told them not to buy anything if they would just end up wasting it... the best would be to use something already at home, or take/draw a picture of an item in the store, or, if possible, buy the item and bring it in and eat it for snack! Don't buy anything if it'll be wasted or if you'd rather not! Ask me if you have any other concerns/suggestions.

How Much Packaging is…

                          …too much packaging?

           

Remember that fruit snack Margareta brought in, the one that showed us how some companies just use way more packaging materials than needed? Remember when we talked about the banana and where it came from, the amount of resources it used in order to grow, and how it got from the tree to our hands?

·         Well, I want you to find a packaged food item that you think has…

1.)    too much packaging (can you see this in the above picture?)

2.)    many ingredients that come from a long way away.

3.)    many ingredients that took a great amount of resources to grow.

·         I want you to try and diagram the origins of this item. Origins are…

-What material was used to package the item? Where do those materials come from? (ex: plastic comes from oil, paper from trees)

-Listing each ingredient

-Where does each ingredient comes from? (if you don’t know, you can guess, ask your parents, ask me, or do an online search!)

-How has each ingredient been grown… what resources (land, water, chemicals) does each ingredient need? (if you don’t know, you can guess, ask your parents, ask me, or do an online search!) So…On the next paper, fill in the questions and complete each task…

1.)    What is your item?____________________________________

2.)    What company makes your item?___________________________________

3.)    What materials were used to package the item? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.)    Where do those materials come from?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.)    List each ingredient…

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6.)    What resources does each ingredient need (use an extra paper if you need it)?

Item                                                                                         Resource

______________________                                           ______________________

______________________                                           ______________________

______________________                                           ______________________

______________________                                           ______________________

______________________                                           ______________________

______________________                                           ______________________

Draw and label the item and its origins, like Andy did on the board…Use another paper if you need it.

• ANNOUNCEMENTS

• So sad about our conference call and the sudden "incident". Still trying to work out a new date... there are MANY parties involved (3E, Brazilian class, Ericsson Sweden, Ericsson Brazil, the Newspaper).. I'll let you know.

• Holiday Class Party... Wednesday December 21st... have the kids bring in some tasty snacks (baked goods, cookies, chips, saft, juice (no soda please), etc!). The kids will be celebrating together with the Swedish 3rd graders, with a movie room, a game and crafts room, a snack room, and a dance room.

• UPDATED "Rio+20 News Page" on the Johannes Skola website... check it out...http://www.johannesskola.se/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=158

OUR CLASS

MATH:

• Next Wednesday, the three 3rd grade classes will be working with "volume" experiments, estimating and experimenting to see how much liquid some given containers will hold. The kids will work in groups of 3, 1 from each class, and will be solving volume-based measuring problems.

READING/WRITING:

• Reading Groups continue every Monday and Thursday

• Grammar Practice: VERBS
• Free Writing every Monday
• Writing Workshop: SAME... "A Scary Story": brainstorming about character, setting, description, plotline (events, beginning/middle or climax/end)... making a story outline... writing the ending FIRST... and following straight through to the end.

SCIENCE (NO):

We talked about "atoms" today... wow, mindblowing! If you have a minute, ask your child about what all matter is made of, what happens when atoms join each other, what happens to molecules in heat/cold... they totally grasped it until I pointed out that atoms are mostly made of space! "How are things made then?". Good question. Welcome to quantum physics, and the movement of electrons! We got it!
We'll be discussing more...

As you can see from the homework, we've been working a lot with where our food comes from, what goes into our food, how it gets to our plate, and how more sustainably grown food can work towards a better future...we tracked a McDonald's Hamburger from it's begininning to your mouth!

"Fast eller Flytande" going strong. See the LPP page.

OK, thanks for reading...

ANDY