Thinking Third Grade

This week, our Grade scientists began exploring the amazing systems inside the human body! To share what they already knew, students worked in teams to investigate the respiratory, circulatory, and skeletal systems. Each group created a giant human-body poster by tracing the outline of one of their teammates on a large sheet of paper. Then, they filled the outline with drawings of the body parts they thought helped their assigned system do its job. There was plenty of lively discussion, creative thinking, and teamwork as students shared ideas and turned their posters into fantastic “body maps”! This hands-on activity helped us discover what students already understand about body systems, as well as some ideas we will investigate further. As our inquiry continues, students will become curious body detectives—asking questions, testing their thinking, and uncovering the facts about how their amazing bodies work.

This week, Grade 3 students kicked off the school year by building community and settling into new routines. They met classmates and teachers, learned the updated timetable, and discussed changes for the year. In small groups, students co-created essential classroom agreements, then reviewed and approved peers’ suggestions together. They also explored the idea of being lifelong learners and linked it to key learner attributes: knowledgeable, thinker, caring, reflective, inquirer, open-minded, risk-taker, principled, balanced, and communicator. Working in teams, they designed simple but meaningful posters for each attribute to show what it looks like in everyday school life. For their first unit task, students examined pictures of different body organs and identified relationships between them. They demonstrated these connections by drawing lines between pairs of organs that are related. All in all, it was a busy and engaging first two days back at school.