Mrs. McGovern's Classroom Connection

For those of you wondering about how the Internet can enhance your child's learning this year, I'd like to mention some of the sites available that will correlate with our third grade curriculum.

In addition to the favorite sites that Mrs. Rosellini has listed on the opening page to our blogs, most of our textbook series have their own interactive sites. The one that I will be using from time to time as a homework assignment is from the Science series. The address is www.sfcscience.com. You will see some worksheets coming home that will require the students to "go online", with your supervision, of course. If a computer is not available at home, I can arrange fro your child to complete these assignments in the classroom or the computer lab after school...just let me know.

Other sites can be found in the front of the textbooks. Some of those I know of are:

Religion www.blestarewe.com
Vocab/Spelling www.sadlier-oxford.com (Vocab. Workshop, Level Green)
Math www.mmhmath.com

More...

www.teachersfirst.com/getsource
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorations/bug/index.htm
They are worth the trip, if you can find the time....Have fun!!!

Our mealworms have arrived!!! This year the two third grade rooms will be observing the 4-Stage Life Cycle of the beetle. Last week, we created the habitats for each group's insects. The boys and girls were excited to fill their tubs with a mixture of oat bran and grits and include a slice of raw potato to nourish and provide water for their mealworms. They even came up with creative names for their developing beetles. Over the next couple of weeks, they will see the mealworms go through the metamorphic process. They will shed their exoskeletons of the larva stage and enter the pupa stage where they remain in a chrysalis. This stage may take a while to complete, but the end result will be a fully developed adult beetle. The project will be an ongoing one. Along the way, the students will chart their observations in their Lab Manual Logs, noting such things as feeding habits, behavior, and body changes. It's a fun experience for the children. Don't forget to ask, "How's your beetle doing?"