Happy Halloween

  Mrs. Mills & Mrs. Rogers  

Tech

During the month of October the girls in third grade have been very busy!  First, Mr. Mickel joined us to talk about a project he is currently working - fixing up bikes and giving them to the Salvation Army to sell.  The girls loved learning about this but then they were given a chance to become "bike doctors"!  We fixed up several bikes which have since sold!  The girls have also been learning more about Edmodo and used posted links to research and write about hurricanes.  

Music: Happy Feet

Lots of happy feet in class today!  The girls have a new routine of removing socks and shoes and here are some of their comments:

"I feel lighter!"

"My feet are free!"

"I have more control over my movements."

Science: Exploring the Earth!

The third grade girls began this year in science by learning about the characteristics and the importance of soil. They examined and described the 3 types of soil: clay, sand, and humus. They tested them to see how sticky they were and learned how each is formed in nature.

They made columns of soil and passed water through them to determine which soil water would run through most easily.

The girls enjoyed examining rotting logs as they discovered the critters which were turning the log into humus.

After learning about the importance of soil, the girls did a final experiment to determine whether bare soil erodes more than grass-covered soil.

From their soil studies, the girls progressed to learning about the layers of the earth, plate tectonics, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Of course, it was fun and challenging to design an earthquake-proof house. Happily, most of our engineers successfully designed marshmallow and toothpick abodes to withstand the rigors of a vigorously quaking pan of Jello.

Schema

We have recently learned about our second reading strategy; schema. Schema is our background or prior knowledge of a given subject. We introduced the strategy by explaining that some of the qualities that make us special make up our background or schema. The girls shared qualities ranging from the love of picking apples to often-found reading a book. Next, we compared the brain to a lint roller. As the lint roller rolls along, it picks up little pieces of everything just as our brains pick up tidbits of knowledge all day long. The girls wrote down their unique qualities (or schema) on little pieces of paper and stuck them to the lint roller strips. Thinking about their schema and sharing it with classmates was great fun for the girls. Be sure to ask your daughters about their schema.

Mrs. Hanley, Mrs. Mills, & Mrs. Rogers

Art: Personal Artifacts

Third graders asked questions in relation to their theme for the year, "Perspectives." Knowing that perspective can mean opinion, they wondered "How do artists identify what is important to them? How do artists show what is important to them?" Girls used brainstorming and peer feedback to choose one thing that is important to them. They then created a "3D sketch" using paper and masking tape in preparation for making a ceramic sculpture using slab and other hand-building techniques. Ask your third grader what is important to her, and about the skills she is using with clay. 

Music: Group Composition

The girls are working in groups to manipulate the rhythm of a known melody by changing some of the quarter more values to eighth notes.