Waterworks!

    We are learning about the properties of water in science class.  We learned about surface tension by piling drops of water on a penny.  It was fascinating to see the water form a dome and raise high above the penny surface.  We also looked at how surface tension works with water in a plastic cup.  We learned that soap can break the surface tension of water by putting a drop of soapy water onto the penny.  It spilled onto the tray.  We also learned that salt does not break the surface tension.  We will be doing lots of experiments with water!!

Welcome To Our Class!

Dear Parents,
   Welcome to our class!  Join me in welcoming our student teacher, Lyndsay Parnigoni to our class.  We have enjoyed these last two days getting to know your children and preparing something special for you for Open House.  We are very impressed with how the children are behaving and working! We believe we will have a great year.  Third grade is a big transition year for students and does take time for some students to adjust to the new work demands expected of third graders.  We understand that some students need more time than others to make this transition.  Please fell free to write a note or e-mail me if you have any questions.  I will get back to you as soon as possible!


Miss Parnigoni has  wriiten a short bio for you to learn more about her:

     My name is Lyndsay Parnigoni.  I am a resident of Westerly and a senior at Keen State College.  During the school year and summer I work for the Westerly Pawcatuck YMCA and have been for 8 years.  This past year I became site director for the older children at Camp Watchaug which was a phenomenal opportunity!  I am very excited to be student teaching for your children under Mrs. Rathbone!  This semester will be a great learning experience and I cannot wait to get to know your children and help them learn and grow.

Here are some photos of our class !

URI Learning Landscape

We had a lot of fun on our trip to URI.  The gardens were beautiful.  The children learned a lot about plants and their habitats, animals and their adaptations, using worms for composting, and things that harm our habitats.  The children participated in hands-on lessons at different stations throughout the garden.  Our students were very knowledgeable about all the various topics.  I was very proud of them.
Here are some photos of our trip.  I will post a slide show later with more pictures.

Discovering Things About Stringed Instruments

We have been learning a lot about pitch by studying our homemade stringed instruments or harps.  We experimented with different lengths of string, different tensions and different thicknesses of strings.  The children discovered that the tighter the string, the higher the pitch, the longer the string, the higher the pitch and thicker strings have lower pitch than thinner strings.

Checking Out the Chicks!

We have been weighing the chicks periodically.  They are growing very fast!  We are weighing them in grams and this has been helpful to us in our study of metrics in math.  We gently handled the chicks and observed them on the floor!

The Peepers Have Arrived

Our baby chicks were born last week.  They arrived right on time on the 21st day.  We had a great hatch this year.  Ten out of our 12 eggs hatched!  Above are some pictures of the hatching and soon after.