Technically Invisible

Tuesday was our Second Annual Third Grade Cranberry Day – did your students tell you all about it??

In the morning, students visited 6 different stations to learn more about (and celebrate!!) Massachusetts’ official state berry!

Students were split into groups of 3, each named after a state known for growing cranberries: New Hampshire, New York, Michigan, Maine, Wisconsin and Oregon.  Each group rotated through the following stations:

Cranberry Consumer: Given a bag of fresh cranberries – students were faced with the question of whether or not “serving sizes” are accurate.  They found that a bag of cranberries has 6 half-cup servings.  After estimating the number of cranberries in the bag, each group went about counting the berries.  There were roughly 300 berries in that particular bag.  Divide that amount among 6 servings, and that gave us 50ish berries.  Low and behold – when the students counted out those 50 berries, they did indeed fill a half-cup measure perfectly!  Imagine that!?!  Thanks go Ms. Mara and Mrs. Steele who helped out at this station.

Cranberry Consumers

Weights and Measures: Mr. Brooks manned this station, where students created their own, new unit of measure: The Cranny!  A cranny is 10 cranberries laid end-to-end.  Each student created a custom Cranny ruler to measure things around the classroom such as desks, chairs and themselves.  Then, they changed gears to find out what items in the classroom weighed about the same as a Cranny (10 cranberries).  Using the balance scales, the students were meticulous about finding exact matches.  Love that attention to detail!!

Weights and Measures

Cranberry Creature: Students worked independently at this station to use the skills they had learned the day before in Arts Alive! to create a cranberry from cut-up construction paper shapes.  They named their creature, and some students wrote math problems involving their creature . They were VERY creative!!

Cranberry Creature

From Bog to Bag: At this Guided-Reading center with Mrs. Brooks, students read all about the process of growing cranberries.  From flooding the bogs, to arriving on our table, students had to work on their sequencing skills to re-tell this story.  It was trickier than they thought it would be!!

From Bog to Bag

Bounce Around!!: With Ms. Sally (Mrs. Brooks’ mom) and later on, Mrs. Baumann, students learned that fresh cranberries float – as they are filled with pockets of air that make them buoyant.  Students then had to choose 10 floating cranberries and see how many could bounce higher than 12 inches, and how many bounced less than that.  The freshest cranberries bounce the highest!  This was a new center this year, and I think the kids enjoyed it.

Bounce Around!

Compare & Contrast: With a collection of 5 cranberries and 5 craisins, students had to compare the two types.  What were the similarities:  What were the differences?  In the end, they were able to taste each of the two types – and you can believe there was a big difference between the two.  You should have seen their scrunched up faces!!  Thanks to Ms. Glidden for helping out at this station!

Compare & Contrast

An Extra Helping: Just in case anyone finished up early at a station, they were given the opportunity to extend their learning.  An Extra Helping included creative writing prompts, language puzzles and math challenges for students to try.   They certainly were kept busy!!!

After recess, the entire third grade met in the Pod to taste 5 different cranberry recipes.  There was cranberry bread, cranberry applesauce, cranberry sauce, sugared cranberries and cranberry orange spread.  After sampling the teacher-created treats, students voted on all the ones they enjoyed.  Ms. Sawyer built a chart to track the findings, and so the students brushed up on their charting skills.  It was a yummy get-together!

Who Liked This One???

Which was the favorite??

Our day finally wrapped up at an All-School assembly where we were treated to some performances by other classes, and shared some songs together.   Phew!  The day flew and we had a great time.