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. 

Robotics, Keyboarding, 3D Printing... Oh My!

The third graders have been very busy in tech this month!  Mrs. Roger's class has been working on keyboarding skills as well as 3D symbols of their Greek god or goddess.  Mrs. Mills' class has been working on creating a Lego playground with both moving and non-moving pieces.  They also created 3D symbols of Greek gods or goddesses.  

Science: Weather - Which way does the wind blow?

It certainly has been an interesting time to study the weather! The girls learned that hot air rises and cold air goes down. They were able to observe a similar process using warm and cold colored water, which was easier to see. Recording the experiment on the iPads meant it was easy to watch it over again.

After observing the movement of the water, the girls understood that wind is caused when warm air rises and cold air moves in to take its place. To determine the wind direction, each girl made her own wind vane. Then the girls got creative as they worked in pairs to design original wind socks.

They designed and built their wind socks.

The girls used a fan to test their windsocks, making sure they could move freely.

It was especially fun to take the wind vanes and wind socks outside! We used a compass to determine which direction was north so that we could orient the base, then we watched as the wind vanes and wind socks gently turned in the breeze.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

....................... We did!

In Andrew Clements' book, Dogku, he writes:

An idea knocks:

I open, think, and smile.

And then it's your turn.

            This dog-gone, charming book is written in traditional Japanese haiku form.  Each three line poem has 17 syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count.  

       The girls modeled haiku writing with the inspiration of their favorite furry dogs.  

    Really cute and small
    Big and furry brown eyes
    Soft fur black and white

      






Small tiny pink leash
Dreams of bones and other treats
Good night cute Snowball

Soft grass high trees, cat
Chasing time teasing cats, woof
The cat won, now angry, grrrr

We'd play together
How I helped her and fed her
Because she was old

I am scared, bath time
I rolled in mud, dirty slush
So I am hiding

She looks good with gold
Muffin is the cutest dog
I wish we met once

Sound asleep all day
Playing all night, no rest
I'm a happy dog

Fluffy, old, pretty
I love her, she loves me
Friends forever

  

         We dedicate our dogku writing in loving memory of Honey Webb, Muffin Orlando, & Kelty Rogers.