Happy Holidays!

It was a busy week here at Francis Wyman.  We thoroughly enjoyed listening to your children share their traditions and celebrations.  The school concerts were all exciting and well done.  Hour of Code was a huge favorite for the kids.  Feel free to go to code.org to check it out!  Today's party in a bag and SOARS assembly were great fun.
Happy holiday!  Thank you for all the lovely cards, gifts, and words from all of you this week.  I hope you all get to spend some quality family time this coming week.  Relax, have fun, and see you next year!

Below I will have some links from the Burlington Science Center and the Music Department.  I also have some pictures and videos from our week.
 Burlington Science Center Vacation Video:

https://youtu.be/FZOGXJ91dCI

From Mrs. Peabody and Mrs. Samuels

http://listeningadventures.carnegiehall.org/

FW Mannequin Challenge:

Massachusetts State Symbols

This week we completed our Massachusetts state symbol projects.  As you can see below, they came out great.  First, we learned about all the Massachusetts symbols and how they relate to Massachusetts.  Then each student chose one symbol to research further.  Their final project was to draw and write a small informational text on the symbol they chose.
Did you know Massachusetts had a state dog, flower, dessert, sport, game bird. inventor, snake and more???

Magnetism

This week we have been focusing our attention on the science of Magnets!  Students have been rotating around the third grade classrooms to experiment with magnetism.
Monday:  Our class visited Mrs. Goguen's class to make a compass.  Students were able to test out and learn about the magnetic pull in a compass.  Did you know the earth was a giant magnet?  Ask your child about it at home.
Tuesday: Our students went to Mrs. O'Neill's class to answer the question, What is magnetic?  Students were able to test objects to see if they contained iron, nickel, or cobalt (the three magnetic metals.)
Wednesday:  Our class visited Mrs. Brown to do an experiment with iron filings.  Students were able to see the magnetic field and test out which points on a magnet are the strongest (the poles.)
Thursday:  Our class went to Mrs, Zani's class to learn about the poles of a magnet as well as the forces attract and repel.  Your child should bring home their "floating magnets" that they made in her class by facing like poles toward each other.  Ask your child to show and explain how it is working!
Friday:  We stayed in Mrs. Boucher's class on Friday to test out how powerful some magnets can be.  We got to use Neodymium magnets which are one of the strongest magnets on earth.  Students tested out different materials around the classroom to see what the magnets could work through  They discussed predictions and recorded results of their testing.  We also took a magnet quiz and did awesome!
Thank you to the Burlington Science Center for all the materials and support to make learning science an interesting, meaningful, and lasting experience!
Here are some examples of our science Notability notebooks

What A Show!

Today was the third grade Thanksgiving concert and it was awesome!  The teachers thoroughly enjoyed the show and think they did a fabulous job. I hope you were all able to make it this morning, but I took videos just in case anyone missed it or wanted to listen again.  I apologize for the camera work (not my best.)
Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you all get to enjoy some time off with your family and friends next week.
Don't forget Wednesday, November 23rd is an early release day.  We will be dismissing @11:15.

Plimoth Plantation

We had a great field trip to Plimoth Plantation!  It was a bit rushed due to traffic, but everything else about it was awesome.  We lucked out with weather and the staff at the plantation were kind and knowledgable.  Thank you to the five chaperones that volunteered their time to drive all the way to Plymouth to spend the afternoon with us.
Your children were very well behaved, respectful, and engaged in the history of the living museum.  Our students came up with interesting questions to ask the Pilgrim and Wampanoag people.  Be sure to ask your child about our trip!
In class we will finish up our unit with a final writing assignment.  Students will choose between a 17th century Colonial child or Wampanoag child to compare their life to.
Here are just some of the pictures taken today!