Dear 3rd and 4th-grade families,
The students immersed themselves in the Houses and Buildings block this past week. At the beginning, we discussed the planet Earth as a home for humanity and the body as the home for each individual. Then we traveled to Mongolia and looked at a traditional ger, also known as a yurt in other parts of the world. The students listened to a story by Dashdondog Jamba, a Mongolian storyteller who spent many years traveling through Mongolia with his camel to bring books to children living in remote locations. The story is about seven brothers working together to rebuild a ger that their father had left them and which had fallen into disrepair. From this, they learned how gers are built and wrote about it. We will also look at other examples of dwellings this week and talk about grammar.
At the end of the week, the third-grade students will go home with an assignment to build their own dwelling. They will have approximately two weeks to build a miniature dwelling and then bring it to school to present and display. They should use natural materials. Materials such as sticks, leaves, or moss are great for building, while other natural materials, such as clay can be store-bought. The students will also take home a main lesson page to write a description of their project. Detailed project instructions will go home at the end of the week and will also be emailed.
The fourth-grade students will have a slightly different assignment this year. They have teamed up in pairs or will work individually on building a wooden bridge made of popsicle sticks. The goal is to create a bridge suspended over a “river”. The bridge has to be one popsicle wide and three popsicles long, and it needs to be able to support the weight of four small toy cars. All materials will be provided at school for this project. There will be instructions and a writing assignment for this project as well.
We are so happy that our fourth-grade students could work with Mr. Matan on building the hutch for our garden rabbits (to be established at the farm later this year), and our third-grade students are currently building a playhouse for the forest. These experiences have allowed them to work hands-on with carpenter tools.
Thank you all for signing up for conferences this week. I'm looking forward to talking with you about your child this week.
Reminders:
2/15-2/17: Half Days and Parent Conferences: Please sign up for your slot here.
2/20-2/24: Mid-Winter Break (No School)
2/27: Teacher In-Service (No School)
3/11: Community Work Day
3/31 Half Day - Grandfriend’s Tea
4/3-4/7 Spring Break (No School)
Happy Valentine's Day and enjoy the break!
Gaby Farrokhi
