Town Designs

Finally, here are some photos of the towns we designed based on the math prompt from last week.

Slideshow: http://picasaweb.google.com/thirdgradestonypoint/TownDesigns#slideshow/5379952592080522162
Album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thirdgradestonypoint/TownDesigns#

Sketching Our School

This week for homework students have been sketching their houses/apartments. Today we met with Mary Lou in the Art Studio to learn some strategies when it comes to attempting to draw buildings. For practice, we all sketched Stony Point. Our sketches have so much detail.

Slide show of sketches:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thirdgradestonypoint/SketchingOurSchool#slideshow/5379943094817011698

Album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thirdgradestonypoint/SketchingOurSchool#

I can't wait to see what everyone's final sketches look like tomorrow morning! We will be adding these drawings to our large map in the hallway.

Author Study: Chris Van Allsburg

Over the past few days we have been reading a variety of books by Chris Van Allsburg. As a child, he was absolutely my favorite author-illustrator. Today I even shared a letter that I received from Van Allsburg after I wrote him in the fifth grade. Studying Van Allsburg's work is the perfect compliment to work with I wonders. His books are all very mysterious and leave us with so many questions. He has a great website that we looked at a little today:

http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/flash.html

Today we read The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. 

Some our wonders included:

• I wonder how Chris Van Allsburg got the idea for the book?
• I wonder if the magician will do something to Fritz (the dog)?
• I wonder why there are no dogs allowed in the garden?
• I wonder if Abdul Gasazi really did turn Fritz into a duck... or was it a trick?
• I wonder how long the spell on Fritz will last?
• I wonder what Miss Hester will say?
• I wonder how Alan's hat got back?

All of these I wonders are helping us have conversation with a partner and as a class. We are learning what it means to work together to make meaning of a text.

I wonder...

Today we read aloud The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg. It is a mysterious tale that made us all wonder a lot! We had so many questions as we read. As I read aloud, I would pause every so often and students were invited to turn to their partner and share an "I wonder...." The aim for students was to keep this conversation going for at least one minute. Take a moment to ask your child to summarize the story or share his/her I wonders.

Where do you live?

We are trying to put together a VERY large map of the area around Stony Point Road. We were inspired to create this map after taking the virtual fieldtrip to everyone’s house using Google Earth. This week we will be adding important landmarks to the map, including our own houses (once we figure out where they should go). Students are invited to do three sketches this week of their own house or apartment. On Thursday we will be meeting with Mary Lou to learn some strategies for sketching buildings. 

Today everyone took a sticky note with their address and tried to guess where their house/apartment should go on the map. The only roads that are currently marked are 20 (Stony Point Road), 250, and Profitt. There were also a few landmarks. including Stony Point Elementary School and McDonald's (shockingly EVERYONE knew where that was). Over the week we will be adding more labels and symbols to the map to make it easier for everyone to pick out their neighborhood. We'll be sure to take pictures of the map as we go to keep everyone updated on our progress.

A "Green" Town

Designed by & excerpt written by: Charlie L.

"My town name is Bob. It is environmentally friendly. There are wind turbines and solar panels. I have fire pits along the side walk. For the pets there is a vet and a park. When you get bored in my town you can go to the ice skating rink. There is also a large forest. I chose 10 towers that are 6 floors high . I picked it because there is more room for other things in the town and it is not too high. Pick me, it's green!

Designing and Persuading

Today we spent time in math finishing up the designs of our "research towns" and also writing speeches to persuade the Governor of Alaska to choose our plan. Tomorrow students will be sharing their designs using the Elmo and giving their speeches. We spent awhile today discussing what the word persuade meant before heading off to write. Those of us who decided to watch President Obama's speech today were also able to connect our new understanding of the word persuade to what we thought his "big message" was. Some of our ideas were that Obama was persuading kids to "stay in school," "work hard even when things seem challenging," and "grow up to do something to help people in our country." It is powerful for students to be critical thinkers and realize when someone/something is trying to persuade them to think a certain way or do something. Advertisements are powerful messages of persuasion. The more the conversation went on, the more I think kids realized how much persuading they've already done (especially with their parents). Check back again tomorrow and we should have an album up with everyone's town designs and also excerpts from their speeches.

The task we are working on:

Governor of Alaska now wants your recommendation for the best possible design of the town. Remember, each building must be exactly the same height. Which building size do you think is the best? You should use the grid of the available land to map out your town. One box on the grid is the size of one multi-link cube. Don’t forget to include all the things that a town needs. Below are some suggestions from the families that will be coming to live in the town to help you do research:

Cindy Gola

“I am a mom. I have a large family and I want my children to have lots of room to play outside. They also need a school that is safe to walk to each day.”

Dwight Smith

“I want to have my own backyard where my dog can run around.”

Jessica Hardy

“I want to live next to a large forest so I can go hiking in the snow.”

After you design your town, you will need to write a speech justifying the design to the Governor of Alaska. She will want to know why you chose the size and location of the buildings. Also, she will look at how well your town will work for the families that will be moving to Alaska to investigate the ancient civilization.