From the Library

Third graders started off the year with Kate DiCamillo's Bink and Gollie series about friendship.

They've been honing their greetings around the circle. Ask your daughter about the crayon factory greeting and the fruit salad greeting. They've also created some imaginative two word stories.

We recently read a couple of chapters from Mysteries According to Humphrey, just as they were choosing books for their mystery projects in reading class. Ask your daughter about the word "piewhacked".

We've just finished The Hard Times Jar by Ethel Footman Smothers, which led to an interesting discussion and appreciation for having access to so many library books that we may not only read in school but also check out and take home.

Happy Halloween

Colorful and creative costumes anxiously await the Halloween party and a night of Trick or Treating!

Many thanks to the third grade parents who volunteered their time and sent in delicious goodies and party supplies!

French: Flight to Paris

We have safely arrived in Paris and checked into our hotel.  Please know that the girls have had a wonderful flight and I will take good care of them while they are here.

The flight crew anxiously awaits the arrival of our passengers.

All her documents are in order and she is ready to board the plane.

So excited for the trip!

Students carefully review safety instructions

and watch a short video with safety information.

No good trip is complete without an in-flight snack.

Yum, those cookies and water are delicious!

What a great flight!

Girls listen attentively as the pilot answers questions about flying.

Thank you to our wonderful flight crew!

Thanks to our pilot for such a smooth flight.

As they leave the plane, students catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

Third Graders are enjoying reading aloud once a week to their kindergarten friends.

Everyone loves a good picture book!

There is nothing like Mawrtian pride to cheer up a gray day!

Art_One Point Perspective Landscape Collages

The third graders are playing with lines to create the illusion of 3D. They have made cityscapes that push back into the distance with diagonal lines that all reach towards the vanishing point. They reiterated the visual trick by cutting their building shapes out of paper make a layered collage.  The sides of the buildings they "see" as rectangular prisms are trapezoids! Each work is an imaginary little world, a place to play with shapes and line. more will be on display by next week in the LS Administration building. 

Science: Investigating Soil

We often think of soil as just being dirt. But, as the 3rd grade girls found out, there is more to it than that. We studied the 3 main types of soil: sand, clay, and humus. We closely observed them and experimented to learn their properties.

We found that sand has the largest particles and clay has the smallest ones. We had soil races, where we put each soil into a separate column and then we poured water in to see how quickly the water ran through. Water ran through sand the fastest and through clay the slowest.

Measuring the clay

Getting ready to fill a column with clay

Ready to pour the water in each column

Watching to see which soil water runs through the fastest

Then it was time to learn how humus is made. We took apart rotting logs to find out what was making them decompose. Hint: water does not make it break down! That is done by small critters and plants. We found ants, termites, beetles, spiders, and more who were living in and eating the logs. We caught them and photographed them, then used the pictures to try to identify them. Who knew that there could be so much life in a seemingly lifeless log?

Trying to identify the creatures we had found was fun and challenging!

We even tried to mimic Mother Nature as we shook small stones in a bottle with water. After hundreds of shakes, we were able to see grains of sand. We even had much smaller particles, which turned out to be clay. This gave new meaning to the phrase, "Shake it up, baby!"

Who knew that soil could be so interesting and that learning about it could be so much fun?