Welcome to Third Grade

This year all of the third graders at Longfellow will be participating in a unit in which they learn about and raise Atlantic Salmon.

At the beginning of March we received 100 Atlantic Salmon Eggs. These eggs are native to the Androscoggin River and once they hatch, they will be returned to the river in Brunswick to start their lives in the wild. The eggs are currently living in a tank whose temperature is regulated to match the current temperature of the river. Each week the students record the current air temperature, weather conditions, river temperature, and tank temperature. They also make observations of the salmon as they develop. Each week they sketch a picture of what they eggs currently look like and fill in to sentences "I notice..." and "I wonder..." to push their thinking about the salmon.

In addition to observing the salmon grow, the third graders are learning about the species of the Atlantic Salmon. They have learned that Atlantic Salmon are a unique species because Maine is the only state that they can still be found in. We have discussed that we are helping raise them as a way to try to help this endangered species survive.

They third graders have explored the different components of a habitat that salmon eggs may need to survive. They then learned the life cycle of the salmon and the complexity of their lives. They then have explored the river ecosystem in which salmon live. In this exploration, the scientists focused on how each organism in the ecosystem relies on each other by creating a web. Each student became a different organism. From the sun, to water, to algae, to salmon, all the way to osprey. They then worked on seeing how they were all connected. Then a component like trash came into the ecosystem. The third graders then thought about how this component would impact that rest of the ecosystem.

As we continue in this unit, some of the topics the third grades will learn about include the different adaptations salmon have to help them survive, different salmon species, and threats facing salmon.

As the third graders finished their first reading unit of the year, we took a minute to pause and reflect on what they remembered. We discussed highlights of their first weeks of reading as a third grader. This unit was all about building a strong third grade reading life, and they sure did that! To wrap up their work, each student brainstormed sentences of things they remembered. I chose one sentence from each third grader and constructed this poem. Take a look at their memories below.