TISA 3rd Grade

The highlight of this past week was without a doubt our field trip  to the Columbine-Hondo trail with the outdoor organization Rivers and Birds. Thanks to all the parents, grandparents, and friends who joined us that day. We visited a spectacular place, and everyone had a great time. We also learned some important things about how to enjoy and take care of the natural environment. We hiked up about a mile along a beautiful stream until we got to a wide-open, sunny meadow. Here we had lunch and split into groups so that people could explore a cave, which was really dark and deep, and required headlamps to see inside. Other groups went down to a waterfall, where several people got their feet wet balancing on a log across the stream! In the classroom, some exciting stuff has been going on as well. In Social Studies last week, the students completed brochures for Mexico based on a reading we all did together. The brochures included some nice artwork along with a few very intere...

Last week we mixed art and science for our science unit on sea animals. The students got the chance to explore certain aspects, such as the characteristics, habitat, and diet of certain sea creatures, and teach each other about what they learned. Several groups also made some beautiful posters showing a lot of important information about their animals. At the end of the week, we used what we had learned to make a large-scale under-the-sea art piece, which was submitted to the Taos Fall Arts Festival. Our daily Spanish classes continue to go well. We have a number of fun songs that everyone enjoys singing, which remind us about important Spanish words for numbers, colors and good morning greetings! Next week, we will continue learning numbers higher than 10, and practicing our basic math skills using only Spanish. We will also start to learn how to speak in complete sentences, ascribing attributes like color to certain basic objects.  In other 3rd grade class news, ou...

The 3rd grade at TISA went on a great class trip on Tuesday, September 3rd. We spent the morning at Kit Carson park where we visited the Stables Gallery to see the Art de Descartes exhibit. The students played a fun cooperation game in the courtyard, then went into the gallery where they went on a scavenger hunt to find particular types of art pieces. After that, we walked all the way back to school. This class has a lot of strong walkers! In addition to the interesting stuff we are learning about in the classroom, the students also are improving their performing arts skills through additional lessons in Theatre, Dance, and Music. The students picked up some new dance moves in a recent class, which explored self expression through movement. For the week of September 9th, we have more exciting school events coming up. In Science the students are going to studying and teaching one another about different types of sea creatures, and how they have adapted to take on the part...

The last week in August was full of fun events and projects. We had our GlamTrash fashion show, in which the kids used recyclable materials to make their own costumes to show off for the whole school. Ms. Nicole was kind enough to visit our class and guide the kids in using the materials to make meaningful art. In the coming week, we will further explore how art can be made out of anything, as we visit the Art des Descartes exhibit at the Stables Gallery in Kit Carson park for a field trip on Tuesday. In class, we finished some important work that will serve us throughout the year. We completed our Class Charter, which the whole class agreed to and signed. It states how we want to feel every day in school, and what we all need to do to work together in order to ensure that everyone feels that way. We also kicked off our Third-grade Read-o-thon by completing several reading tracker forms about some of the stories we have read together and on our own. As the term progresses, students...