From the Library

Third graders have been reading some imaginative books in library recently. Anthony Browne's Voices in the Park tells a simple story of two families walking their dogs in the park. We see and hear the story from four different points of view. The girls were especially delighted at the illustrations, many inspired by Belgian painter Rene Magritte. Anthony Browne writes big books that are great for individual readers who want to take time to study the illustrations. If you are looking for books at your local library, check the B section in children's fiction. Perfect the Pig by Susan Jeschke led to a discussion about fitting in (he's a pig with wings) and being accepted and loved for who you are. In Marjorie K. Rawlings'  Newbery Honor-winning The Secret River, young Calpurnia turns hard times into soft times in the dark Florida forest. In Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Richard and Tanya Simon we met a young Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany arriving in New York City on the seventh night of Hanukkah and receiving small acts of kindness while exploring the city and finding his way to his aunt's house. We read biographies of Sammy Lee, Olympic diver, and Audrey Hepburn. We also read this year's Newbery Award-winning Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena. The Elementary Center is enjoying the company of all the famous people third graders constructed. Visitors have also been very impressed!

French Dollhouse Rooms

The girls have been working very hard on their dollhouse rooms.  We are having so much fun admiring them in class.  I wanted to give you a glimpse into what we are doing with them in class.  For each dollhouse, we look at them and list all of the things in them that we know how to say in French.  Then the girls tell me sentences describing the room and I type out what they say and project it on the board.  I add a beginning and an ending sentence.  When we are done writing our paragraph, we practice reading the paragraphs.  This is a great introduction to reading in French.  Here is an example of our work from today in Mrs. Mills' class.

 Bienvenue dans la bibliothèque de Pete.  La fenêtre est à droite.  La lampe est à droite aussi.  La lampe est blanche et jaune.  Les murs sont blancs, orange, bleus, verts, et violets.  La table est à gauche.  Il y a une chaise entre la table et le mur.  La table est à droite de la chaise.  Sur la table il y a des livres.  J'aime tous les livres dans la bibliothèque de Pete.

Science: The Weather!

What a time this has been to study the weather! Mother Nature has provided us with a variety of examples. The girls started learning about this topic by making their own thermometers. Though the thermometers were not calibrated to provide a numeric reading, the girls took them outside into the cold air and observed that the liquid moved down lower in the straw as it cooled.

They did experiments to show that hot water rises while cold water sinks and they were able to apply these principles to the movement of air, as well.

The small jar was filled with red-colored hot water and was gently lowered into the larger tub containing cold water. 

To observe the cold water sinking, the girls watched a blue ice cube as it melted in a tub of room-temperature water.

The girls discovered that wind is caused by masses of warm air rising while the cold air moves in to take its place. To determine the direction the wind was blowing from, they made wind vanes. Then they used their creativity and engineering skills to design original wind socks. 

Testing the wind socks, both inside and outside the classroom was almost a much fun as creating them!