Harris- Grade 3 Ramsay

Science- Balance and Harmony in Nature I can understand and give an example of the importance of nature and humans working in balance and harmony with one another.  Since the beginning of the school year, room eight has spent a lot of time on our weekly community walks observing nature and in the classroom and discussing the importance of balance and harmony. Unfortunately, we have seen many examples of how nature or humans can easily affect this balance. An example of this has been the beavers along the Elbow River. We have been watching firsthand how the beaver population has altered the landscape by gnawing down very large Cottonwood trees. As a class we debated if we should leave the beaver well enough alone to remove the trees. Or, should we prevent the beavers from accessing these trees (putting wire around the tree's base) so that other animals can use them for their habitat use? Nature's balance and harmony was also debated regarding crayfish living in the Elbow River.

This week our students competed a final project as it relates to our Science- Buoyancy and Boats Unit. The criteria for building their boat was as follow;    Boat Building Final Project   Your boat must meet the following criteria:   a. float   b.    be stable   c. able to carry a load     You must also include (see attached sheet):   a. a labelled diagram of your boat of the materials    b.    an explanation of why you chose the materials you did and how the parts work to make the boat effective     Criteria Description   Yes   A good start   Not yet   No attempt   Constructs a boat that meets all 3 criteria                   Neatly and accurately draws a labelled diagram of the boat                   Provides an explanation about the choice of materials                   Provides an explanation about how the parts work to make the boat effective                   Provides an explanation about what worked well and what could be improved                   The challenge also incl