Sierra Club Hike

The group of hikers

SaNay Maung climbing the huge tree we came across

3rd graders in the tree

      Last Friday we spent a great day with volunteers from the Sierra Club.  First we went to Mission Trails where we went on a great hike to a small water fall.  There were trees and boulders along the way for students to climb.  After a delicious picnic lunch we drove up to Mt. Laguna where we spent a fun-filled afternoon sledding and having snowball fights. 
     Thank you Christina, Mabel, and Suzie for chaperoning & making this trip possible!  We also want to thank the Sierra Club and Bill for taking us on this awesome trip.  We are planning a possible camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park in April.  If your student is interested please let me know.

Bill, Jennifer, & Arianna flying in the sled

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SaNay Maung & Javhi getting some air

 

 

 

 

February Update

Dear Families & Friends,

This past week was a great one in the 3rd grade classroom & we have a lot of exciting activities coming up!


Dates To Keep In Mind:
Tuesday, February 14th - Free Dress Day & Valentine's Day Party
Friday, February 17th - Sierra Club Hike (be at school at 9:00am sharp)

Friday, February 17th and Monday, February 20th - No School
Tuesday, February 28th - Field Trip to the Barona Cultural Museum (permission slip went home today)

Last week in MATH the students began their GEOMETRY unit.  This unit started with learning about rays, lines, & line segments.  Then the students moved into parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting lines as well as right, acute, and obtuse angles.  Here are some photos of the students practicing lines and angles as a class...

intersecting lines - 2 obtuse angles & 2 acute angles

parallel lines

perpendicular lines - 4 right angles

right angle = 90 degrees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

acute angle = smaller than 90 degrees

Thank you so much to all of the volunteers that helped us on our field trip to the City Heights Library.  Our fun trips would not be possible without you!  We had a great time at the library.  We learned all about many animals from Africa.  We saw animals like an alligator, hedgehog, a turtle, a tortoise, milipedes, and a kit fox.

Broc petting Ali the alligator

Ashea got to pet the desert fox

The students knew all the right answers when comparing and contrasting a turtle & tortoise thanks to our recent reading lessons.  I was a very proud teacher!

 

 

 

On Wednesday, Heather from Revolutions Food came in for a lesson about healthy eating.  We got to sample dark chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate.  Then we compared and contrasted the 3 types of chocolates.  We learned how chocolate was made & that dark chocolate is the best for us because it has the least amounts of milk and sugar.  Then we combined chocolate with dried cranberries, pretzels, popcorn, and nuts to make a healthy trailmix snack.

Heather came in to teach us about healthy eating

healthy snacks

excited to try out trail mix

February

Hi Families & Friends,

The 3rd graders have been very busy since we returned from vacation.  In math we just finished a unit on place value.  The students learned place value up to the millions and down to the hundreths.  The unit test went home in their blue folders today.  Please look over the test with your student.

place value to the hundreths - decimals & fractions

We have now moved on to GEOMETRY.  Yesterday & today the students were learning about line segments, rays, & lines.  Next week we will be moving on to angles.

In Language Arts the students are learning a lot!  We are using double bubble maps to compare and contrast information from expository (informative non-fiction) text.  We are then taking this information and writing summaries of the expository text.  

comparing & contrasting alligators and crocodiles

The students are also learning how to use apostrophes to show possession for singular and plural nouns.  For example:

The boy's book is lost.  (singular)

The boys' books are lost. (plural)

The man's hat is brown. (singular)

The men's hats are brown. (plural)

Each Friday we will continue to write our Friday Letters.  Please read your letter with your student over the weekend, sign it, and return it to school with them on the following Monday.  If you would like to write any questions or comments to me on these letters, feel free!

In social studies we are continuing to study the Kumeyaay, who used to live all over San Diego county and even parts of Mexico.  The students have been learning about the types of shelter, food, clothing, and tools the Kumeyaay had.  Next week will learn about the economic systems and how the Kumeyaay got what they needed through trading & bartering.  On February 28th we are scheduled to visit the Kumeyaay Museum.  Please keep this date in mind as we will need chaperones!

poster categorizing the food the Kumeyaay ate

IMPORTANT DATES:

February 9th - field trip to the City Heights Library for African Animal show

February 14th - Valentine's Day party & Free Dress Day

February 17th & 20th - No School for President's Day

February 17th - Sierra Club Hike (more information below)

February 28th - Filedtrip to the Barona Cultural Museum

February 10 - 16th - Scholastic Book Fair (in the auditorium)

AFCS is teaming up with the Sierra Club in order to take our students on fun, outdoor adventures!  The San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club sponsors hundreds of outings and trips each year. They vary widely in type and difficulty. All outings are led by Chapter Outing Leaders (COLs) who have been through required training courses.  Our COL, Bill, and I will be taking eight of our 3rd graders on a hike February 17th.  This will just be a relatively easy day hike.  We will leave from school and return to school for pick-up after the hike.  Students will be chosen based on demonstrations of respect to classmates & teacher, responsibility, and effort given in class.  If your student is selected a permission slip & more information will go home.  This is a great opportunity for your student to see parts of San Diego they have never seen and to get exercise!

Congratulations to Giovanni, Javhi, Ethan, Citlaly, Bryan, Kyi, and Sanay Maung for your perfect attendance awards in January.  Keep up the great work!