Grand Ave. 3rd and 4th Grade Disability Unit

The third and fourth grade students at Grand Ave. have participated in activities in various classes to increase their understanding of what it is like to have a disability. In art, students watched several short films about a blind painter, a painter that uses her feet to paint and an artist that is autistic. Students then drew a picture and colored it using their feet or non-dominate hand. After working without their dominate hand we discussed the challenge of having a disability.

13 Moon Calendar Necklace

Fourth grade students learn about how the Native Americans use the lunar cycle as a calendar.  There are 13 moons in a calendar year, hence the name of the necklace.  Each necklace represents one year.  There are 13 moon beads with 28 seed beads in between each moon, representing the 28 days in each lunar cycle.  The children created patterns between each moon.  Some even used ideas from what is happening in nature at the time of the moon to decide on their pattern.  This shows a great connection to the Native Americans.  They named their moons based on what was happening in nature.  For example, there is the Strawberry Moon and the Maple Sugar Moon.  Can you figure out what time of year those moons happen?

Completed necklaces.

 

Working on a necklace.





Tower Rock Birch Tree Forests

3rd and 4th graders at Tower Rock  observed birch trees and simulated their outer bark by using the paint and scrape method.

Students then painted a warm background for their trees using watercolors.

(Heidi, Morgan, Gracie, and Briar demonstrating "Happy Brush" and "Sad Brush" )