Exciting Events...

Dear Families & Friends
There are many upcoming events at AFCS

Open House & Art Gala - December 8th 4:00-8:00 pm
Please come see the wonderful learning that has been going on in our classroom.  Open house in the rooms is from 4-6pm.  The Art Gala will follow in the show room from 6-8pm.  Tickets for the art show are $5.00.  Open House in the classroom is FREE.

3rd Grade Biome Museum - December 8th 1:30-2:00 pm
The 3rd graders have been working so hard on their biome displays.  The students broke into research groups & learned all about the special plant and animal adaptations that help these species survive in each biome.

Aquatic - Ethan, Blake, & Sa Nay Maung

Tundra - Karen, Kyi, & Giovanni

Grasslands - Jennifer, Alissa, & Luis

Rain Forest - Arianna, Bryan, & Philip

Coniferous & Deciduous Forets - Hailey, Javhi, & Broc

Desert - Belle, Citlaly, & Mariah

  

Reading Buddies - Mondays at 3:00 pm

The 5th graders have teamed up with us on Monday afternoons to help us with our reading.  Sometimes we read to them & they help us with decoding and vocabulary.  Other times they read to us and we get to enjoy stories that may be too difficult for us to read.













Math has been so much fun in the 3rd grade.  We started multiplication and division this week.  The students are beginning to understand the idea of equal groups, bringing them together and splitting them apart.  Here are examples of the different ways the students are finding to solve multiplication & division problems.

Five different ways the students found to solve 16 divided by 4

Javhi using counters to help him solve a multiplication problem

Thank you for reading!  Feel free to come in, call, or email me with any questions!

Back from Thanksgiving

Dear Families & Friends,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break.  There is so much for us all to be thankful for.  Before the break the class took some time to think about what they were thankful for.  They displayed these through their "turkey glyphs."  A glyph is a graph that tells the viewer information through visuals. A key is used to determine what the glyph means.
Here is our key as well as some examples of the turkey glyphs.  See if you can figure out information about the students who made each turkey...
Key:
brown body - born in San Diego     white body - born outside of San Diego
big eyes - 9 years old     small eyes - 8 years old
white feet - like to play sports     orange feet - don't like to play sports
orange beak - boy    yellow beak - girl
red wattle - wear glasses     orange waddle - don't wear glasses
feathers = we are thankful for....
green - family, dark blue - friends, pink - having a home to live in, light blue, having food to eat, purple, having clothes to wear

Before vacation we also took a fieldtrip to the City Heights Library.  We saw a great animal show with animals from the rainforests and deserts of South America!  The students even got to pet an alligator!  After the animal show we were given a tour of the library and the students had an opportunity to read.  Thank you so much to all of the chaperones!  This fieldtrip would not have been possible without you!

Another exciting occurrence in 3rd grade was that the La Jolla Rotary Club came to our classroom & donated dictionaries!  Each student now has their very own dictionary that they can use in class and at home.  We have already found so many uses for them.

Thank You La Jolla Rotary Club!

Into November

Dear Families,    

The class at the Dia de los Muertos festival wearing their calaveras masks.

The students making paper flowers

     Last Friday the 3rd graders took a field trip to the City Heights Library, where Proyecto de Casas put on a Dia de los Muertos festival.  The students were excited to meet members from the community and learn about Dia de los Muertos traditions, such as creating altars and decorating sugar skulls (calaveras).  

learning about the Kumeyaay

     When we returned to school we were greeted by families who were joining us for our publishing party.  The class worked really hard on their memoirs & were so excited to share their work.  The students wrote their memoirs about a time in their life that was very important or memorable to them,  Thank you so much to those of you who were able to join us for the party & for bringing treats.  If you were unable to make it to the publishing party we are planning many more throughout the year.  I will also be hanging up many of the memoirs in the classroom.  Feel free to stop by and read them before or after school.

Philip's dad talking to Broc about his memoir

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broc's mom is listening to Bryan's memoir

    

    

     This week in writing the class began their letters to their pen-pals.  One of my good friends teaches 4th grade in San Francisco & we thought it would be fun for our classes to be pen-pals.  I am sending the letters out on Friday & hopefully we will hear back from our new friends very soon! 
     In math we are starting a measurement unit.  The students are learning how to read rulers to the nearest milimeter, whole, 1/2, and 1/4 centimeter & inch.  We will eventually move into determining area and perimeter.  Please work with your students at home on these topics.  If you are working on a project that involves measurement, get your students involved or just measure objects around your house.  I am also going to be sending home "fact triangles" in your student's go home folder.  These can be used like flash cards but are so much better because they will help the students learn the relationship between addition & subtraction.  Your kids have used these in class, so please ask them to show you how to use them.  Quiz your students daily to help them learn their basic math facts.  Knowing these facts will help them in every aspect of mathematics.
     Our biome project is in full swing.  The students have broken up into groups & each group is focusing on creating a "museaum display" highlighting one of the six biomes.  Once we have finished our projects we will be inviting you in to take a tour of our museum.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday, November 11th - no school for Veteran's Day
Friday, November 18th - Filed trip to the library - permission slip is going home tomorrow
No school the week of the 21st for Thanksgiving Break
    

End of October

Dear Family & Friends,

It has been a great week in 3rd grade.

We have been reviewing the classroom expectations that we set at the beginning of the year.  The class is working on quick & quiet transitions so that we can maximize our learning time. 

Our science unit on world biomes is in full swing.  We have read and watched videos about the different biomes.  Now the students have broken off into groups to create museum-like exhibits.  Each group is in charge of one biome and will decorate a part of the class to highlight the important aspects of their biome.  Students will focus on plants, animals, climate, and changes occurring in each biome.  We will have a museum opening once the projects are complete.

Our math unit on addition and subtraction is coming to an end.  The students are taking their unit test tomorrow and we will be moving on to measurement.  Please continue to work at home with your students on addition and subtraction.  Knowing their facts by memory will help them in the future, as the math begins to get harder & harder.  Also, speak to them about how you use measurement in your daily life.  When the students see math concepts applied to the real world it makes it more interesting and helps them understand why they are being taught the concept.

In writing we are proud to announce that our memoirs are now complete.  The class worked diligently, writing, editing and revising their work.  They are excited to show the final product to you tomorrow during our publishing party.  If you can come, we would love to have you there!  We will begin the party at 11:00 and go to about 11:45. 

Tomorrow is our field trip to the City Heights Dia de los Muertos festival.  The class has read informational passages about the holiday and will learn more tomorrow.  We will leave school at 9:30am and return at 10:45am.

Thank you for your support!
Jennifer

Zoo Trip

Dear Families & Friends,

This week the class started a science unit on biomes and habitats.  The 6 biomes we are learning about are: tundra, rain forest, desert, grassland, aquatic, and deciduous/coniferous forest.  The field trip to the San Diego Zoo was a great research trip for the students.  I heard students reading the information about each animal they visited and this led to discussions about what biome they live in and why they are able to survive in that environment.  One group of students told me the rattle snake is able to survive in the desert is because it's light brown color allows it to camouflage itself in the sand, while the Green Mamba's bright green allows it to camouflage into the green leaves of the tropical trees in the rainforest.
I owe a big "THANK YOU" to the parents who chaperoned today.  This trip would not have been possible without your help!

 

Tomorrow is the American Stars Assembly from 2:00-2:45pm.  Each month three students will be honored for their outstanding behavior.  A letter will be sent home informing you if your student has been selected and you are welcome to come to the assembly and enjoy treats with your student after the awards are handed out.  This month we are honoring Alissa, Kyi, and Ethan for their continuous effort and good citizenship.  These students never say, "I can't," and are the first ones to do what is asked of them or to help a friend in need.

Next Friday, October 28th the 3rd grade will be having their first Publishing Party!  Your students have been working very hard on their Memoirs and want to show them off.  You are welcome to join us during writing time, 11:00-11:45 to enjoy their work.  If you would like to bring treats to celebrate their accomplishment you are more than welcome to.  Please post in the comment section below if you are planning to attend and what treats you would like to bring.  A flyer will be going home tomorrow.

Thank you,
Ms. Garfinkel

Finally Catching Up

Hi Families & Friends,
Sorry it has been so long since I last posted!  I am finally caught up and ready to post weekly now.  The past few weeks your 3rd graders have been working on so much in the classroom.

Math:  In math we are working on addition and subtraction with regrouping.  The students are working with whole numbers and numbers with decimals.  They are also finding patterns within the problems they are solving.  I have noticed that many students forgot about the regrouping rule.  Please work with them on that at home for extra practice.

In this math problem the students found the "rule" and then came up with different stories that would go along with the rule.

 

 In math centers the students are having fun using geometric figure blocks.

Luis's creation

Reading:  The class is focusing on non-fiction text this month.  We have read many books and articles about the government, weather, and our solar system.  The class is working on answering questions from the text as well as determining main idea and supporting details.  When reading at home with your students it is always a good idea to ask them questions directly from the text to determine their comprehension.  If they cannot answer a question try reading the passage again.

Writing:  We are in the beginning stages of writing Memoirs.  The students have listened to many memoirs by authors such as Patricia Polacco and Eve Bunting to help inspire them.  We are currently choosing meaningful memories about which we will write the memoirs.
To help make our writing exciting the class is learning figurative language such as personification and onomatopoeia.  This week the students wrote personification poetry.

"A Leaf in a Pond" by Javhi & Broc
The leaf swam in a pond.
It spins in the pond because the wind pushes it.
The waves push and pull the leaf
and it swims a little bit more. 

"The Pencil & Sharpener" by Belle & Arianna
The sharpener forced the pencil to go
around, around, around and around.
The pencil got dizzy and...
Fell right down!!!!

The students are also using dialogue to make their writing more exciting.  Here the students are working together in table groups to put together a sentence with dialogue.  They had to know where the punctuation, dialogue tags, and quotation marks went...

Social Studies:  The class has been learning about landforms and geographic features for the past month.  The students learned about landforms present in San Diego and created maps which highlighted these, such as: Cowles Mountain, San Diego Bay, Mission Bay, Mission Valley, Tecolote Canyon, and the San Diego River.  This unit's culminating project will be an atlas and a land they created out of dough that features at least 5 land forms.  Pictures coming soon!

 

Don't Forget!

Field trip to the San Diego Zoo:  Thursday, Oct. 20th

we will leave school at 9:00am and return at 2:00pm

 

 

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

Dear Families,
I am so excited to be starting 3rd grade at America's Finest Charter School.  I had such a great time at the BBQ and was so thrilled to meet so many of you!  School begins on September 6th.  The school day begins at 8:30am and goes until 4:00pm.
Below is a class wish list.  Any of these items would be helpful and appreciated.  If you are not sure about an item but want to donate please ask me, or gift cards are always appreciated!
                         3^rd Grade Wish List

                     Kleenex                       Construction paper

                                          Paper towels              Computer paper

                                          Pencils                         Dry erase markers

                                         Big pink erasers         Highlighters

                                         Clorox wipes              Tape – clear & painters

                                         Zip loc bags                Crayola tempra paint

                                              Old kids magazines for collages