St. Jude's Grade 3 & 4 Class: Transparent, Translucent, and Opaque

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Transparent, Translucent, and Opaque

Today we wondered what transparent, translucent, and opaque materials were and what they have to do with light. Students shared their thoughts on what they thought these terms mean, helping us create class-generated definitions. We then used non-fiction texts to discover the meanings of these terms. The children discovered that they had had a pretty good idea of what transparent meant, a so-so idea of what translucent meant and no idea what opaque meant. Reading helped them give correct meanings to these words. The children then designed an investigation to test a variety of materials to determine if they were transparent, translucent or opaque. They discovered that their predictions were spot on. Tomorrow we will consider how a material reflecting, absorbing or letting light through affects people and the different ways these materials can be used.
The children attended gym, music and French class today.
In math, the grade 3s worked on understanding and solving problems with elapsed time. The grade 4s had a fun time estimating how long an activity would take, then carrying out the activity and timing the actual time. The children are bringing home the Data Management unit test and unit problem they worked on last week. Be sure to check your child's test folder.
We ended the day with the grade 3s working on their poems and the grade 4s working on their their speech planner. Both grades worked on spelling and agendas too.

Homework & Reminders: