Field Trip to the Mississippi Museum of Art

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Originally uploaded by nolteowen

On Tuesday, August 28, 2008, Ms. Bentley's 4th graders and Mrs. Holder's 3rd graders took a field trip to the Mississippi Museum of Art. During August, Mrs. Tarleton and I co-taught lessons to prepare for the field trip and the special exhibit at the museum titled "The Sight of Music." During library and music classes, we researched musical instruments, listened to recordings of different instruments, and discussed what visual representations of sound might look like.

At the museum, students, parents, and teachers participated in a scavenger hunt to locate musical instruments depicted by artwork in the exhibit. Teachers also modeled different ways of interacting with art by choosing their favorite piece in the exhibit and sharing personal thoughts and reactions. Then, parents led small groups of students around the galleries of "The Mississippi Story." Some students chose to remain in a quiet corner and sketched artwork that they liked, and some students wandered excitedly through every room. Finally, we gathered outside on the patio for our picnic lunches.

In library on Thursday, third and fourth graders reflected on the field trip and practiced letter-writing skills by writing thank you notes to the wonderful parents who accompanied us on the field trip. In addition, students wrote thank you notes to the Mississippi Museum of Art and to the generous sponsors of our trip, Trustmark National Bank and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi.

Other photos from this field trip are located in my Flickr photo collection for the St. Therese Library in the right hand column.

Second Graders Make Books

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Originally uploaded by nolteowen

On Tuesday, August 12, second grade students made books from recycled library catalog cards (you know-- those cards that we used to have to look through to find books before computers were invented). Ms. Kizer's second graders are studying China and comparing American culture to Chinese culture as part of their August social studies unit. We read a book called "Count Your Way Through China" by Jim Haskins about Chinese culture that introduced different aspects of Chinese culture with each numeral.

Olympics Book Challege!

The Olympics started today! If you are looking for more information, the official websites are:

http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp

and

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

The online knitting community is sponsoring an Olympic event of starting a new project during the Olympics and trying to finish it before the Olympics conclude in 17 days. This gave me the idea to start a book today and try to finish it before the Olympics conclude on August 24th, 2008. Or, you could also keep track of how many books you read in the next few weeks. Challenge your mind like an athlete challenges his or her body! The book I'm starting was recommended to me at the poolside this summer by a fourth grader. It is a children's book titled The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera.

Happy Reading! Julie Owen