Tech Time

This month Mrs. Mills' class has been working on keyboarding skills while Mrs. Rogers' class has been working on creating a Lego playground.  We discussed the engineering process and the students are keeping a journal in Book Creator. Next, they will be using the Lego WeDo kits to create moving playground pieces!  

 

Envelope Please

The excitement of learning never ends as the girls open their envelopes and discovery the state which they will study!  Take a quick peek into the classroom.

From the Library

Third graders have been reading some favorites that parents (and grandparents?) might remember. Bernard Waber's Ira Sleeps Over (1972) and Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach (1991) were big hits, along with Waber's 1998 sequel Ira Says Goodbye. Ask your daughter why Reggie was worried and how Cassie owned the George Washington Bridge by flying over it. We then moved to a less urban setting with The Frog Prince Continued, in which author Jon Scieska reveals the "shocking truth about life happily ever after", and with Marjorie Rawlings' The Secret River. Ask your daughter how Calpurnia turns hard times into soft times. Our most recent oldie but goodie was Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. Can you remember the name of Mike's beloved red steam shovel and what happened to them once they'd dug the cellar of the new Popperville town hall in one day?

Art: Floral Still Life

Third graders are painting floral still lives from observation. They began with a review of color mixing, which many of them recalled from second grade. Using their knowledge of the color wheel, girls tried to find at least six different colors in a single flower by looking carefully. Next third graders focused on composition, figuring out how much of the still life they wanted to focus on. They created an underpainting using burnt siena and white to find lights and darks. Some girls have also begun thinking about their backgrounds as part of their composition. Next they will begin applying color. Ask your third grader about the materials she is using in this project.