Comparing Folktales Across Cultures

Third Grade readers continued to build on their knowledge of Asian tales during Reading Workshop this week. Students read a novel by Grace Lin, an Asian American author who weaves her own cultural background into her stories. Scholars investigated the qualities and characteristics that influence society. This novel provided readers with a great opportunity to identify characters and track the relationships between characters as they read, to notice how relationships change over time. Brave readers even tackled strategies to identify the theme in a story using their inferencing skills. Ask your Third Grader what they enjoyed most about reading The Magic Paintbrush!

Geography

This week, Third Graders compared and contrasted the key points of the grassland and mountain biomes of Asia. Scholars examined the flora, fauna, soul, water, air and energy in each of these two biomes. Students participated in a shared reading to explore how mountains are formed. We discussed the slow movement of plates and modeled these movements to show how mountains are formed. Third Graders continued practicing identifying the continents and oceans on a world map. We examined the countries that make up Asia and are working to name 5 of these countries!

Fun Times with Drama Friends!

The week Third Graders enjoyed a special treat! Brave actors and actresses enjoyed drama with our friends from Charleston Stage Company. Each day they started drama class with exciting warm-ups of their bodies, voices and imaginations. Students participated in the development of dramatic interpretations about the creation of the universe. Third Graders enjoyed performing these skits for their classmates.