Happy Halloween

Science: The Earth!

After studying soil, the girls moved on to investigate what is underneath it. They learned about the layers of the earth and the material which makes up each layer. They discovered that the crust of the earth is divided into tectonic plates which move very slowly.  This movement of the plates can cause mountains to form and is responsible for earthquakes and some volcanic eruptions. The girls eagerly watched a model volcano erupt in the classroom.

They became engineers as they worked with marshmallows and toothpicks to design and build "houses" which could withstand the shaking of an earthquake.

Their "houses" were tested by placing them on a tray of jello and shaking them!

French: Safe Landing in Paris

We have been having a wonderful time in Paris.  Our flight went very smoothly and we have been enjoying discovering a new city.  We have taken a helicopter tour of the monuments of Paris and are currently preparing to order breakfast in our hotel room at the Ritz Paris.  The girls miss you very much but have been having a blast.  Here are a few photos of our flight. 

Tickets please.

It's almost time for take-off.

The girls watched the changing scenery out of the window.

Buckle up!

Our flight attendants bring around an in-flight snack...

While our pilot answers questions...

Mmm, French cookies and water, these snacks are delicious.

Thanks Mr. Graul!!

As the girls left the plane, they spotted the Eiffel Tower

Flossing Our Spelling Words

           Everyone received a good check-up after learning to apply the "Floss Rule" in spelling this week!

What do they know about double consonants?  

               ff, ll, ss, dd, tt, zz

Each double consonant sounds like one letter.

What do these words have in common?  
            sniff, smell, miss, buzz
Each word has one syllable with the short vowel sound so the last two consonants are doubled.

Wait, what about words like bus and gas?

There are always rules which are broken!

The letters f, l, and s are the most common letters that double at the end of words.  The girls have decided that some rules are really useful and will help them when ready and writing!  

The Treasures of King Tut's Tomb

Having read about Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in November, 1922, the girls found photos on Creative Commons of some of the 3,000 objects buried with him. They used the app popplet to show the results of their "dig." This activity illustrates how the 1:1 iPad program can make information immediately accessible to a class and encourage the girls to acquire more specific knowledge about a subject. Here are just two of their popplets.

Fun with Graphs!

After the girls finished the unit on graphs, they explored graphing activities available through Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's website ThinkCentral. One of the activities offered the girls the opportunity to make a bar graph. Here's an example of a bar graph made by Maria Showalter who surveyed her classmates and her teacher to discover which one of five animals was their favorite.

Reading: Schema

Several weeks ago we learned our second reading strategy, schema. Schema is your background or prior knowledge of a given subject. We introduced the strategy by having the girls share with one another some of the qualities that make them unique (born in Georgia, love to play the violin, has a little brother, etc.).  We compared the brain to a lint roller.  As the lint roller rolls along, it picks up little pieces of everything just like our brains pick up tidbits of knowledge all day long!  

The girls jotted down their unique schema on little pieces of paper and stuck their schema to the lint roller strips. The girls had great fun thinking of their own schema.

Last week we listened to the song Rachel Delevoryas, and then we made all kinds of connections.  We  made text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections.  

The girls wrote their connections on sticky notes and posted them in the correct circle. 

                  

 

 Ask your daughter about the connections she is making in her independent reading.

Music: Rhythmic Composition

Third graders are working on combining duple meter building blocks in various ways to create new rhythmic combinations.  After learning a folk song about gardening chores, "Do Do Pity My Case," the girls worked in pairs to write a list of chores.  Then, they determined which rhythmic values to use to notate their text.  Finally, they played their chores list on unpitched instruments.

Here is Mrs. Rogers class sharing their list of chores!

Computer Programming

This month the girls began an introduction to computer programming by learning about Ada Lovelace.  In 1843, Ada Lovelace became known as the first computer programmer and predicted the future of technology.  During Ada Week, October 13-17th, we watched various short video clips and read articles about her life.  The girls then chose to create a Popplet or book in Book Creator about Ada’s life.  Now we are working in Scratch Jr., an app that teaches the basics of computer programming.

Luck of the Roll

The girls continue to strengthen their knowledge of the base ten number system. This is a fun hands on activity to reinforce the concept of place value. 

Each player rolls a dice and then determines where to place the digit in order to build the highest five digit number. Being able to view the number your partner is making, strategic planning, and a high roll all help to win each round.
  

The Bryn Mawr Spirit

Spirit Day may have come and gone, but the girls' excitement about learning makes them lively participants in classes every day. In math we are having fun making bar graphs and line plots. Today the girls in my math group discovered what a line plot is by standing in a line behind a card marked with her number of siblings. We discovered that three members of the class are only children, two have three siblings each, the greatest number of classmates have one sibling, and no one has either two or four siblings.

In social studies the girls made a map of ancient Egypt yesterday and read about archaeologist Howard Carter's search in 1922 for King Tutankhamen's tomb. After social studies, several girls in Tech class used Google Earth to find the Valley of the Kings where Howard Carter finally discovered King Tut's tomb while others used the app Make a Mosaic to create original designs. Here are two, one of Mt. Vesuvius erupting and the other of King Tut's golden mummy mask, that illustrate how a third grader has used an ancient art form in a 21st century application to depict historic "landmarks."

                                                       Mt. Vesuvius Erupting

                               

                                          Tutankhamen's Mummy Mask

Mosaic Wall Complete!

Just outside the Rogers' door you will find the girls' mosaic wall. Each tile was carefully selected by a team of four to create a vibrant display of colors and patterns inspired from ancient Pompeii. Working together they experienced the need to listen and value others' opinions in order to complete their mosaic design. As we cross the Mediterranean Sea we anticipate spine tingling adventures in ancient Egypt!

Art: Triangles Everywhere

Third graders began by experimenting with a variety of art materials on different types and sizes of paper. They were challenged to combine media and work within various time constraints in order to find out the strengths and limitations of the materials. Next, students took these paper experiments and created a collage composition using triangle shapes to help organize their work. They learned about the art elements, and each chose to focus on one in their composition. (Ask your child if she can name an art element!) They also examined and discussed the work of Lecia Dole Recio to see how another artist organizes the art elements with triangle shapes. After their own works were completed, third graders went on a scavenger hunt using iPads to document one artwork that embodied each art element. 

Art: Perspectives

Each grade level in the lower school focuses on a certain theme throughout the year in art. The third grade theme is "Perspectives." Students will examine how their ideas and works fit into the trends and eras in art over time. 

Packed and Ready

All our bags are packed, we're ready to go! 

The girls came up with a way to organize their backpacks!

We are ready to leave Pompeii and head to Paris! 

Math: Organizing and Analyzing Data

In third grade we are working with data!  There are lots of different ways to organize data to make it easy to use.  Today we learned about creating Pictographs, graphs that use pictures or symbols to show information.  Then we created a human pictograph.

In this example, each "picture" (student) actually represents 5 students, but the girls learned that the picture or symbol used in a pictograph can be worth whatever amount it is assigned in the key.

Go Team!

We're cheering for the team and not just the O's!  Watch our teamwork and see how enthusiasm starts bright and early every morning.  With help from our parents, 17 conference forms were happily returned the next day. The smiles of working together carry on!  

Social Studies: Mosaics Inspired by Pompeii

After reading about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buried Pompeii and looking at mosaics, frescoes, and other artifacts recovered by archaeologists, the girls made their very own mosaics. The girls worked enthusiastically on this activity and many of them made more than one mosaic. Enjoy looking at this collection of mosaics and ask your daughter to identify hers.

Reading: Metacognition

In 3rd grade reading class this year, we will be talking a lot about reading strategies.  The work we do is based on Tanny McGregor's book Comprehension Connections.  Several weeks ago we introduced metacognition - thinking about our thinking.  We talked about "fake reading," when you can read the words, but you don't actually really understand what you're reading. Many of the girls admitted to fake reading, too! Then I took out my salad bowl (yes, you read that right) and we "tossed"together our reading and our thinking.

Last week I used a two feet wide thought bubble to show how proficient readers think while they are reading.  Many of the girls had a chance to demonstrate thinking with the giant thought bubble.

Today the girls worked in pairs to practice their metacognitive knowledge using wordless picture books.  Metacognition is a critical foundational strategy and we will refer to it frequently.  Ask your daughters to tell you all about this strategy.