African Drumming Circle

Every year we have a drumming expert facilitate workshops with the whole third grade around the time of our Third Grade West Africa Museum. This year, Ibrahima, visited us the last week in February to share his expertise! Third graders participated in drumming circles in half groups, allowing them to have a more authentic and intimate experience. Ibrahima gave them an introduction to the djembe as a drum that can come in different sizes, what materials he uses to make and repair drums, and the three notes that can be played. He led them in learning three different rhythms, explaining that expert drummers keep a rhythm while each one takes turns overlaying another more complex beat. They learned different techniques for holding the drum and how to hold their hands to create particular sounds. They certainly left this experience having a greater appreciation for the art of drumming!

100th Day of School

The 100th Day of School was an exciting day! Third graders participated in a variety of activities to get them engaged in all things 100! They started their day with a challenge, "Identify 100 classroom artifacts." Once the festivities began, they moved through seven stations of activities:
1. 100 Exercises - completing 100 exercises in repetitions of 10
2. Roll a Die 100 - rolling die and tally as the numbers show
3. Make 100 - Find as many ways as possible to make 100
4. 100 Beaker - What are all the ways to skip count to 100?
5. All About Me 100 - What will I be like when I'm 100?
6. I Wish I had 100...
7. 100 Days - "My favorite thing in school so far is ..."

Learning about Photosynthesis

The concluding lesson of our plant study was "How do plants make food?" Third graders grappled with the difficult concept of photosynthesis by building models of water and carbon dioxide molecules. They used gummy drops and tooth picks to demonstrate what happens when these two come together. Below you will see them moving through the process of rearranging molecules to discover glucose and why we get oxygen from plants and trees!