Soaring News, Paws and Claws

Soaring high in the library, Wild Wings hears the different points of view from all the animals!

For this month's book report, the girls created clever animal masks to represent the main characters in the books they read.

 Each writing piece described a favorite scene from their book and was written from the animal's point of view. 

Their creativity is never ending! 

A Joyful Conclusion

Watching the movie Because of Winn-Dixie with your daughters, after we have read and discussed the novel, is one of our third grade traditions. While Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Hanley, and I enjoy this well-executed film version of the book every year, we loved your daughters' response to the film. They were excited to see each character make his or her appearance in the film, they were quick to take note of the differences between the book and the movie, and they were so caught up by the happy ending that they sang and clapped right along with the characters as the movie drew to a close. Their delight in the film revealed how much this poignant story by Kate DiCamillo has come to mean to them this fall. Reading in class and independently, the third graders are demonstrating through their class discussions and their well-prepared book reports how they are practicing the art of reading thoughtfully.

In the last scene (below) from the movie Because of Winn-Dixie, the characters gather to celebrate their newfound friendships.

From the Library

Third graders have been reading a few " clever strong girl" books with a few old favorites mixed in. Happy Like Soccer is a new book in which city-kid Sierra makes a plan with Coach Marco so her auntie, who works on Saturdays, can finally come see a game. Author Maribeth Boelts also wrote the discussion-spurring picture book Those Shoes. Clever Beatrice is set in upper peninsula of Michigan, near the Canadian border (so we talked a bit about geography around the Great Lakes). Ask your daughter how Beatrice outsmarted the Giant. This book reminded us of Jack and the Beanstalk. Old favorites included Bernard Waber's Ira Sleeps Over and Fred Marcellino's I, Crocodile (a nice link between Egypt and France). We are now reading a couple of books by Tomi Ungerer, including the mystical Fog Island (was it just a dream?).
Third graders have become experts at the Thesaurus Game. They are told the part of speech and how many strands of synonyms the word has. They listen to all the synonyms and guess the original word. We will continue to expand our vocabulary and stretch our brains with this thesaurus "work".

Art: Op Art Pyramids

Third graders have been looking at works of art by Bridget Riley in order to find out more about Op Art. They noticed how her early work used contrast, pattern, and value to create optical illusions. They noticed her later work looks significantly different, and learned that this change happened after a trip to Egypt where she was inspired by the work of the past. Girls practiced being inspired by the work of the past as they recreated patterns they observed in ancient Egpyptian art. 

Next they chose four adjectives that describe aspects of their personalities. They created optical illusions and patterns that match each of these adjectives, being sure to include a pattern inspired by ancient Egyptian art. Third graders added these designs to a pyramid template using pencil, permanent marker, and drawing tools, and then used hand-lettering techniques to add text of their chosen adjectives to the base.  They cut, folded, and assembled the paper pyramid. Girls practiced precision throughout the unit. Ask your third grader which was the hardest/easiest step for her, and why. Also ask her how she created a pattern that somehow depicted an adjective. 

Math: Commutative Property of Multiplication

Ask your daughter about the COMMUTATIVE PROPERTY OF MULTIPLICATION...

and she'll tell you that ORDER DOESN'T MATTER.

Art: Third Graders Explain Clay Artifacts

Third graders created clay objects to represent things that are important to them. They will store these tiny sculptures in their "time capsule" boxes. Girls explained why they chose their items and how they made each sculpture using coil, slab, and pinching, and mark-making techniques.

Room Service With a Smile

Earlier this week I decided to join the girls and wear my pajamas to school. The opportunity to order breakfast from my hotel room in Paris was so inviting. 



Their excitement was well understood as I observed the first room service phone call.  








The girls spoke French with confidence and listened to each others' reply with equal understanding.

Every student was able to place her order and selected hot chocolate and a croissant with butter or jam, or even both.  

Smiles continued as time was available for warn refills!

Merci beaucoup Madame Gray for the delicious delights of learning!

Math: Multiplication

We have started working on multiplication in the 3rd grade.  We learned that multiplication is repeated addition.  Check out all the methods we are using to solve a multiplication problem. Each student is quickly discovering which method works best for her.  Which one do you think you would use?

Pictures

Chips

Fingers

Number Lines

Tally Marks

And with any method...we use our BRAINS!

Art: Personal Time Capsules

Third graders are completing an extensive investigation into clay. They built ceramic boxes with lids using slab, coil, and pinch techniques and applied surface treatments inspired by prehistoric art. Girls will use these vessels as imaginary time capsules into which they will place personally meaningful objects. 

Our boxes and lids waiting to go into the kiln: 

Third graders looked at works of art from various locations in the world and used visual clues to figure out how they were made. They noticed one image seemed to be scratched and one seemed to be made using hands as a stencil or stamp. Girls used two clay techniques related to these methods of mark-making to personalize the surface of their box. Ask your third grader if she can recall the names or process involved in these techniques (stencil and sgraffito). They created a pattern or design using their own initials. 

Third graders had a choice of how to construct the handles for their lids, as long as they used slab, coil, or pinch techniques.

Here are some of the tools third graders have used to construct their slab boxes. Ask your third grader about the most important thing she practiced doing clay construction.

Finally, we will be creating small clay sculptures to symbolically represent things that are important to us.