Student Projects   What is a Glyph? Just as a graph is a chart that conveys information, a glyph - short for hieroglyphics - is a form of picture writing that conveys information. To make a glyph in the classroom, data is collected, a legend is created, and specific components of the final picture have significance. In classroom use, the legend explains what each feature of the glyph represents. The individual features of the finished glyph tell a story about the person who created it. Click on the Reindeer glyph above and see how good you are at reading this form of art!   Fourth Grade Students at McAvinnue Love Owls The fourth grade students enjoyed the book Poppy by Avi, during their Community of Learners Reading time. Looked WHOO Researched Owls The students worked long and hard to research the owl of their choice. After researching, the students typed their papers onto Alfasmarts and then downloaded them onto the computers in the classroom. After downloading, the students then went to owlpages.com and found a picture to match their research and copied the image to their word processed text. Here are the results of their projects: Barn Owl - Shane Great Horned Owl - Alexander Barred Owl - Amanda F. Barred Owl - Amanda M. Barn Owl - Brittany Eastern Screech Owl - Catherine Great Horned Owl - David Great Gray Owl - Derek Spectacled Owl - Jesse Spotted Owl - Joseph Spotted Owl - Michael Eastern Screech Owl - Pooja   What do you think? In the book Poppy, by Avi, the main character Mr. Ocax, a great horned owl died. The students wrote about wether they thought Mr. Ocax deserved to die or not. Here is one of those opinions.   The Owl Lady The students at McAvinnue had the opportunity to see the owl lady. She presented various species of live owls. It was exciting to see. Click here to see some photographs of her stay with us. Dissecting Owl Pellets After reading the book Poppy, by Avi all fourth grade students had the opportunity to dissect owl pellets. It was fun to investigate the pellets. Here are a few photographs from that activity! Book Making Across the Curriculum This year students in Mr. DiCarlo's and Mrs. Carmona's class will create their own books that are connected to our fourth grade curriculum. "Making books is a sign of civilization. The more complex societies needed ways to keep track of ownership and business transactions, record events, preserve history and important religious teachings, and express thoughts and feelings. The forms the books take vary according to the materials available. Early books were made from cloth, leather, papyrus, wood, bark, and leaves. The sizes, shapes, and methods of construction of the books were determined by the materials used." (Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord, 2000.) Therefore, our students will utilize the methods used during the ancient times to make books. Each book created will be a replica of a book from one of the ancient cilivizations. Take a look at our first book - Ancient Mesopotoamia Egyptian Accordion Book: Our students made accordion books that represented vocabulary about Egypt. Students brainstormed a list of important words (gods, godesses, inventions, geographical words, etc.) and chose six to define and illustrate in their accordion books. Students also designed the covers of their books to look like sarcophogi. If you would like directions for making an accordion book, please refer to: Multicultural Books to Make and Share by: Susan Kapuscinki Gaylord Objectives: Students will create three books that are connected to the curriculum. The first book will be coming soon! Student Integration: Students will integrate to develop their own books that are tied into different curriculum content areas. Parental Involvement Parents will be invited for a night of "book making" with their children. This will occur sometime in the spring of 2001. Parents will write a story with their child on the computer and then learn how to create their own books. These books will then be posted here to our website. Recources: MakingBooks.Com   Click here for last year's projects ....   This program is supported in part by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

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