I'm excited to announce that the third grade students at NMES will be participating in a collaborative online project with students from around the world! Thanks to an amazing educator, Jen Wagner, this is the second year this project has been held and the second year my students will be participating! This year's theme is Mondrian artwork and students will be assigned one piece of a larger mosaic based on this artist's style. Through a partnership with our art teacher Mrs. McCarthy, students will color their designated piece of "Mondrian with a Twist" and then we will mail each piece to a classroom in our group. To learn more about this project visit the Picture It! information page. Stay tuned for more images and information about our mosaics!

All second and third grade students have begun to explore the Scratch program developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Lab at MIT. Over several sessions in the computer lab, students will develop an original creation by "snapping" blocks (scripts) together within the program. Once completed, student work will be uploaded the the Scratch website for the world to see!

To learn more about Scratch or to download the free program for at home use, just click on the picture at left!

As an introduction to MS Excel, third grade students explore rows, columns, and cells while utilizing the fill feature as well as importing clip art to personalize their gingerbread houses! Enjoy!

Students at CSES learned about what it takes to become President of the United States by watching the Brainpop Jr. President video. Afterwards, students wrote a message to either President Obama or Mitt Romney, the two candidates for President. Take a look at the class messages below!

Mr. Walt's Class

Mrs. Egan's Class

International Dot Day happens every year on or about September 15th. You can learn more about Dot Day by visiting the Fablevision website. In honor of Peter Reynolds' book, The Dot, third grade students at both CSES and NMES created dot pictures using Tux Paint. Enjoy some of student slideshows below!

Miss Leach's class at NMES

Mrs. Smith's Class at NMES

Mrs. Dean's Class at NMES

Mrs. Barrett's Class at NMES

I'm so excited to share our assignments & projects in this space! You can scroll down to see what students at West & FFES did during the last school year as a preview!

I love, love, love Projects By Jen! When I first learned about the new Picture It! project Jen Wagner was organizing, I knew I wanted my students to take part. I also knew I coudn't do it alone. Where would I have my computer lab students create/color the artwork? Working with our art teacher, Mrs. Whynott, I signed up the three third grade classes from FFES and the project has taken off! 

Each class has been assigned to a group with 23 other classes from around the world. Within each group, classes have been given a specific piece of a mosaic entitled, "Monet's Waterlillies Up Close", to color. Our classes were given piece #4 which is the large leaf with the ladybug in the top row of the picture below. Students color (with crayons) their pieces in the art room and then we will mail each one to the other classes within the group.

In the computer lab, each class completed an information sheet sharing details about our school and each individual class. These will be mailed along with the mosaic pieces. Mrs. Whynott created a fabulous display for all of the mosaics so the entire school can view the artwork take shape over the next few weeks. Be sure to check back for photo updates as the project progresses!