Couture's Crocodiles Blog Kindness

Mrs. Couture's third grade students have been blogging in their classroom.  On her website, she has a page called "Random Acts of Kindness."  Students may write comments, which are then approved by Mrs. Couture before being posted.  During computer lab this week, her students will add it it and another blog about good books to read.  According to Mrs. Couture, " I am trying to foster a community of readers and create a bully-free environment where students find the good in others."  Congratulations to the Crocodiles for using blogs to help build their community and for finding so many good things about each other!

Mercado's Students Explore Science with Technology!

Mrs. Mercado's students participated in a science project in which they learned about scientific tools and crystals.  The students used various tools, including water, salt, string, a washer, a clear container, and a ruler.  According to Mrs. Mercado, "We saturated the water with the salt, tied one end of the string to the washer and the other end to the ruler. We placed the washer in the water so it held the string tight but did not touch the bottom and laid the ruler across the top. The ideal experiment would have the salt cling to the string as the water evaporated. Ours did not work that way. The salt came up the string and sat on top of the ruler but did not cling to the string at all."  After observing the crystals with their eyes, the whole class came to the computer lab and used a ProScope, a microscope that attaches to the computer through a USB port, to observe the crystals.  The students were able to hold the ProScope to see how the salt looked magnified while the others observed the image on the wall with the help of the classroom projector.  After observing the salt, the students explored the ProScope a bit more while looking at many things, including their hair, skin, clothes, freckles, bows, and jewelry.  All of the students are looking forward to using the ProScope again. They would like to look at a collection of leaves and bugs.  Way to go, Mrs. Mercado's students!