Art

In the art room, third graders are learning about the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. Klimt was an inspiration to Fritz Hundertwasser, another Austrian artist we learned about. Inspired by his image, "Tree of Life" (below), we began painting beautiful swirling branches in gold. We learned that Klimt used actual gold in his paintings! Next, we will be adding patterns and details in bright colors. I am so excited to see the finished trees displayed in the hallway. Teacher Amy

Cooking, Clay and Community Caring Mini-Course The recipes posted here are for cookies that we in the Cooking, Clay and Community Caring group are making as part of our mini-course. Each week we bake a batch that we then in turn add to the batch we made the week before.  Our goal is to make one for each member in the school who would like one. We are also making clay cups and at the very end of of course. We will celebrate our success by having cookies and cocoa in the cups – all of our own creation!

Recipes Biscochitos from Mexico Mantecaditas from Puerto Rico

Third Grade Scientists Investigate Oobleck

“It’s hard when you pick it up, but then it drips through your hands.” “It sticks your hands together.” “It looks alive!” These just a few observations made by third grade scientists as they investigated a mysterious substance called Oobleck, after the Dr. Seuss story Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Their first task was to describe the properties of this weird and delightfully messy stuff, and to determine when it behaves like a liquid and when like a solid. Next they applied their new knowledge to the challenge of designing a space ship that could land on a gooey ocean of Oobleck without sinking and take off again without getting stuck. To supplement their own creative ideas, they watched You Tube video of “People Running on a Pool of Oobleck” and saw pictures of other scientists’ work designing a real spacecraft to land on Mars. Finally it was back to the laboratory to do a series of tests on four unknown white powders, then to analyze the data collected and use it as evidence for identifying the key ingredient of Oobleck. Although our study of Oobleck is over for now, students generated lots of new questions and ideas for further experiments: “What happens if you cook it?” “What if it gets really cold?” “What if you add more water, or less?” “What if . . .?”

Our Oobleck investigation was inspired by Oobleck: What Do Scientists Do?, a publication from Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS), Lawrence Hall of Science , University of California at Berkeley.

KinderCooks

After a bit of spontaneous exploration in the garden, several kindergartners were drawn to the red, orange, yellow, and green treasures peeking from under leaves and basking in the warm sun. We tired to figure out what we were looking at in our garden. Sharing knowledge with one another, the children identified our ripe vegetables as tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Someone knew that the colors of the vegetables indicated they were ready to be picked. As a few children industriously pulled tomatoes from the vines and sorted them into two piles, one for eating, one for composting, others quickly filled a stainless steel bowl with colorful sweet banana and bell peppers. Out of the rich brown earth we pulled two aromatic onions. While bees hummed in the sunflowers nearby, children excitedly exchanged ideas about what to do with the harvest.

Thus, the idea emerged for our first cooking project: Tomato, Onion, and Sweet Banana Pepper Salsa and corn chips. On salsa-making day, teachers introduced the young chefs to healthy hand-washing habits and the practice of using a “helper” hand to hold the vegetable and a “working” hand to slice the vegetable into pieces. Bowls of salsa were prepared individually, every kindergartner making choices of ingredients for him/herself. Using corn chips as scoops, we enjoyed our salsa from our washable, re-usable snack bowls. At the end of our cooking day, leftover cores, seeds, and uneaten pieces of vegetables were added to our classroom compost bucket and delivered to the outdoor compost bin.