Happy to Learn Hieroglyphs

French: Pictures at the Eiffel Tower

 We are so glad to be back home, but were certainly sorry to leave Paris.  Here are pictures of the girls in front of the Eiffel Tower.  When I passed them out in class, one of the girls asked how I made them.  I took the opportunity to talk about photo adjustments in Photoshop and how you cannot always believe every picture you see.  The girls wanted to see an example so I showed them this video clip from Dove showing how women in advertisements are often adjusted with photo editing software. 

Walters Art Museum

After enjoying two SNOW DAYS, the third graders arrived this morning ready to go to the Walters Art Museum!  Our adventure began on the yellow school bus which delivered all its usual thrills, especially going over speed bumps.  Three experienced docents guided us through the Ancient Egyptian Exhibit.  The girls' background knowledge, listening skills, and genuine interest in learning were quite noticeable and appreciated! 

Back in the classroom, the girls connected with the field trip by making their own Egyptian cartouche.  They traced hieroglyphic symbols which represented the letters in their names.  The girls learned that the cartouche, an oval loop with a knot at the base, represented eternity.  Pharaohs placed their names inside it, hoping to live forever.    

Guess whose name had the most hieroglyphic pictures?

Art: Op Art Meets Egyptian Art/Maps

Third graders have begun an intense investigation of Op Art, Ancient Egyptian art, and maps. They will be visiting the Walters Art Gallery in December, and this project is based on a work they will be viewing, a papyrus scroll called the Book of the Faiyum. 

The girls learned about the artist Bridget Riley and the were some of the words they used to describe her work: moving, sliding, spaces you can move into, shimmering, shaking, a roller coaster ride, optical illusion. Bridget Riley also visited Egypt and was inspired by the color she saw in the art there. 

Third graders also isolated pattern from ancient Egyptian art and created a test print using scratch foam as a printing plate. Students noticed commonalities between the two disparate art forms. Both use pattern, contrast, and symmetry. Ask your third grader to describe the printing process. 

(A plate and a print)

Next third grade began to research maps, exploring the differences between Google Earth images and maps, particularly maps made by artists. They researched a certain place, and then began planning an op art map of this place using iPad tools. The abstract map image they created will become a print, so they used a low tech solution to reverse their map image. 

(Getting inspiration from fellow third graders)

(Reversing abstract map image)

Archaeologists in Ancient Egypt

    

Never giving up their search like Howard Carter, archaeologists recently discovered beautifully painted mummy cases. 







Cheerful colors and detailed pictures were carefully placed on each well-constructed case. 











Also found were neatly written pieces on papyrus paper, in cursive, of course! 









These paragraphs opened the doors to learning about the lives of interesting young ladies. 










Surprisingly, the mummies were found in "The Valley of the Queens,"  just east of the Nile River.

 

 

French: Enjoying Paris

We are having a great time in Paris.  The girls have toured the city, had breakfast in their hotel rooms, gone shopping in the French markets, and eaten in a French restaurant.  Next week they will be visiting the French monuments and museums.  They are having a blast, but they also miss you all.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone back in the U.S. on December 8th. 

Reading: Inferring

Today we introduced our third Reading Strategy: Inferring.  To concretely demonstrate this strategy, the girls were told a very believable, but fictional story.  As the story goes, I took garbage from my mysterious, new neighbors so I could learn something about them.  After presenting the girls with each item, they were able to make inferences about the neighbors.  For example, the girls inferred the neighbors had a baby after seeing an empty jar of baby food.  The girls were amazing as they supported their inferential thinking with evidence from the garbage. In the end, they were relieved to learn I had made up the whole story. 

Science: Rock On!

The girls are learning how to test minerals and rocks to see how hard they are.  Once they do a series of tests on the rocks, they will use the results to try to discover the identity of some unknown specimens.

Golden Days of Fall

Flossing Our Spelling Words

The girls received good check-ups after learning to apply

 the "Floss Rule."

 

 

What do they know about double consonants?  ff, ll, ss, dd, tt, zz

     Each double consonant sounds like one letter.

 

What do these words have in common?  smell, buzz, sniff, kindness, gruff

     Each word has one syllable with the short vowel sound.

           Also, the last two letters in every word are doubled.

 

Wait, what about words like bus and gas?

     There are always rules which are broken!

 

Remember the "Floss Rule" when
reading and writing!

 

The letters f, l, and s are the most common

letters that double at the end of words.

 

 

 

Trick or Treat

 

 

Third Grade Celebrating in Style 

 

     

 

  

 

Halloween Fun!

From the Library

Third graders started the year by reading the latest installments in some of the series we read together in second grade last year.  Dodsworth and his travelling buddy the duck found their way to Tokyo in Time Egan's 2013 Dodsworth in Tokyo. In which major city will they land next? How will they get there?  Two beloved characters shared a few more adventures in Bink and Gollie, Best Friends Forever.
Our most recent project has been to design, in teams of scientists, an experiment that fails. Easier said than done! After reading Jenny Offill and Nancy Carpenter's very funny 11 Experiments that Failed, groups of scientists designed questions, hypotheses, a list of things needed, steps for what to do, results, and an illustration, and sprinkled them with a little humor.
One team wrote:
Question:What happens if you put ice in Dad's socks?
Hypothesis:  Dad will like it because he usually has sweaty socks
What You Need: Socks and Ice
What to Do: Put Ice in Dad's socks
What Happened: Dad freaked out and his feet got numb and he had to stay in bed

We followed this up with a reading and discussion of cause and effect with another book by the same authors, 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore.

It's About Time!

     The girls are learning to measure units of time.  After carefully analyzing the placement of the hour and minute hand, they log onto Think Central using a digital and analog clock to individually assess their work.   

Science: What is Inside the Earth?

From examining soil on the surface of the earth, the girls are moving on to learn about the nature of the earth's crust and what lies beneath it.  Earth Science is even more interesting when you understand that what is below can cause the tectonic plates to move and affect the earth's crust.  After learning about Mt. Vesuvius and its impact on Pompeii in Social Studies, the girls got to experience the eruption of our very own Mt. Mawr in the Science Center.  They enjoyed seeing a model of a volcano in action! 

Spelling: Observing and Applying

    
     As October displays its seasonal colors, we find the girls becoming more observant.  During recess they are even found playing games with fallen leaves.  Inside the classroom, as weekly spelling lessons are introduced, the girls focus on observing and applying letter patterns.  A variety of strategies are used to help reinforce these skills.

Visuals help paint pictures in our minds.

 

 

Manipulatives are used to build a better understanding of directions.

 

 

 

“Can you frown or growl?” shouted

the proud brown cow.

Silly sentences create clues to spelling patterns.

 

 



Values

Talking with...Third Grade about the Value of Loyalty

The Third grade girls and I spoke about our Founder's Day Celebration and what it meant to them.
We spoke about the strong and enlightened women who founded Bryn Mawr School.
We imagined what it was like for them 129 years ago, and what they would think of  Bryn Mawr
2014. Together, we discussed the loyalty these women had for each to her, and for their belief
in educating girls. The Third grade defined Loyalty as believing in their dreams and staying true to what they believe. Look for their definition on our Value of the Month Board, located in the LS lobby.
Talk with your daughters about what Loyalty means to them, and why it is essential in our
everyday lives.

We Have Spirit, How About You?

Spirit Day, always a colorful day of learning.
 

 Mills' Homeroom:  morning spirit, 8:15 a. m.

 

Rogers' Homeroom: continued spirit, 2:30 p. m.

 

 Happily, waiting with friends.

 

Spirit from head to toe!

 

I see the #1 queen!

 

They're riding in style.

 

Cheering Bryn Mawr spirit.

 

"When is the next Spirit Day?"