Welcome Back!

Dear Friends & Families,
   I hope you had a wonderful vacation.  I was so excited to have the kiddos back this week.  I didn't realize how much I missed them until they walked in the door on Tuesday morning.  As many of you know, I fractured my foot over the break & your students have been so patient & sympathetic.  They help me walk down the stairs & are constantly asking me if I am healing quickly.  It warms my heart!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Tuesday, May 8th is PICTURE DAY!  Students must wear uniforms.

Thursday, May 10th is the pizza party for the students who completed the reading challenge.

   This week we were reviewing the math concepts we had covered before vacation.  Please ask your students to tell you about: area, perimeter, 2/3 digit x 1 digit multiplication, place value from the hundreths to the millions, and rounding.  Next week we will begin a unit on measurement; length, volume, capacity, & weight.  This is a really easy unit to supplement at home.  Have students practice measuring things around the house, finding perimeters of objects, have them weigh themselves and their siblings, or measure how much water it takes to fill up different sized containers in your kitchen.
    In language arts we are beginning a "Testing as a Genre" unit.  CST testing is quickly approaching & although it is no one's favorite time of the year I want to ensure that your students are not taken by surprise.  We spent time this week discussing the difference between "real reading" & "test reading."  The students are learning that during the test you must:
1. know what to look for in the passage so they read the questions first
2. know that the test makers choose the answers & there is only 1 correct answer
3. know the questions & directions are like little puzzles & we have to figure out what the test makers want us to figure out
4.  know the teacher cannot help
5.  know that all of the passages do not relate to each other
     We were practicing answering questions about "how-to" passages so the class thought it would be great to make a  3rd Grade How-To Book.  Each student decided on a skill that they believe themselves an expert in and are creating pages to share their skill or expertise.  We will have it in our classroom library when we are finished, so come check it out!
     We are finishing our solar system unit.  We read a great book called Postcards from Pluto.  Then the students pretended to travel to a different planet & write postcards back home telling about their trip.

   Another exciting event in our classroom...we have class pets!  Bill & his father went hiking over the weekend and brought us tadpoles.  We are having so much fun watching them grow.  A few have even sprouted their hind legs.  Check back soon to see if we have any that transform into frogs.

Joshua Tree National Park

Dear Friends,
    Over the long vacation a few students and I had the opportunity to go camping in Joshua Tree National Park with volunteers from the Sierra Club.  We had an incredible campsite that backed up to a large mountain of boulders.  The students were able to explore, climb, and build their confidence in the process. After learning how to set up a campsite we spent 2 days exploring many great hikes throughout the park.  The Sierra Club volunteers even took us on a night hike, where the kiddos saw geckos, snakes, tarantulas, and owls.  We talked about the desert biome & the students were able to use what they learned in our science unit and apply it to this experience. 
     We are so grateful to the Sierra Club & the great volunteers for making this experience possible. 
     The online news site, Speak City Heights, came out to join us for a day & will be publishing a piece on our trip.  I will post a link to the site when the story has been posted.  The story & our class might also make it onto PBS again!

Setting up our campsite.

Exploring the rock scrambles around our campsite.

Kyi & Sam inside the hollow rock.

Broc & Javhi in the hollow rock.

Out of This World

The 3rd graders have been exploring the solar system for the past few weeks.  We have been exploring our solar system.  The class has been reading non-fiction and fiction text about the solar system.  They are learning about the sun and the 8 planets, the Earth's moon and its phases, and how everything in the  sky follows a pattern.

A great book to teach about the phases of the moon

     We went on a great field trip to the Reuben H Fleet Science Center where we watched an IMAX on the Hubble Telescope.  The kids and I were mesmerized by the film and the incredible photos the telescope was able to take.  Thank you to all of the fabulous chaperones who made this trip possible!  And a big thank you to Mary O'Brien, who works at the science center, for helping to organize the trip!

Byron exploring the great exhibit on Black Holes!

getting ready to watch the IMAX!

fun with colors

The class with all of my wonderful chaperones!

   This week the students presented their planet reports.  The students got in groups of 3 and each group was responsible for researching one of the 8 planets.  They organized the information into a summary of expository text and presented their reports to the class.  The class took notes on each presentation and used the information to create planet books.

I also want to thank Helia, Priscilla's mom, for printing us that great image of the solar system.  The kids LOVE it!

Into March

Dear Families, & Friends,

The 3rd graders just finished their Kumeyaay Unit.  The class spent the past month learning all about the Kumeyaay that lived in the San Diego area long ago & about those Kumeyaay who still live here today.  The class compared & contrasted their lives with those of the Kumeyaay thousands of years ago, they categorized & classified the food the Kumeyaay ate, and played Kumeyaay games. The students also participated in a trade and barter activity that taught them about supply and demand of goods and services.  As a culminating activity we took a field trip to the Barona Cultural Museum.  Each student will be taking home a book of their work at the end of the week.  A big THANK YOU to all of the chaperones!

 

 

 

Playing 'emarr' - a dice game the Kumeyaay played

Outside the Barona Cultural Museum

Hailey & Ethan bartering for goods they need to survive

 

 

Sanay & Hailey agree on a trade

In math the class is finishing their mid-year assessment.  This test is assessing the students on every standard we have learned from September through February.  Each student will take their test results home at the end of the week.  These results will show you where your student stands in relation to where they should be at this point.  This will also be a good predictor of your student's achievement on the CST that we will be taking in June.  When this test is over the class will move onto multiplication & division.  Please practice multiplication facts at home!  This is the only way your student will be able to memorize all of their facts.

We are so excited because we just got our letters from our pen-pals & have started to write back!  Our pen-pals go to school in South San Francisco, CA.  We have been writing to them for a few months now and we feel so lucky to have friends in another city.  Please ask your student about his/her pen-pal. 

In Language Arts we are beginning a unit on fables, folktales, and myths.  If your family has any fables, folktales or myths that are near & dear to you please have your student bring them in to share with the class.  The class will be learning how to determine the moral or lesson of each story & explain how it is conveyed through supporting details in the text.  Then each student will have an opportunity to write his/her own fable or myth to teach a moral or a lesson.  The students are also focusing on prefixes and suffixes this month.  As you read or converse with your students point out prefixes/suffixes you notice and discuss how they change the meaning of the root words.

IMPORTANT DATES & REMINDERS

March 16th - field trip to the Reuben H Fleet Science Center
                      cost is $3.00/student & we will need chaperones
March 28th - AFCS spaghetti dinner & art show

READING LOGS:  Each Monday a reading log will come home with your student.  Please follow the instructions on the reading log.  The logs should be returned the following Monday.

GO HOME FOLDERS:  Check your student's blue folder each Friday.  Important communications are in the folder.  If your student has lost his/her folder please replace it as soon as possible.  They are available at the 99 Cents Store or the Dollar Tree as well as Target, Wal Mart, etc.

REPORT CARDS:  Report cards are going home this month.  If your student is below grade level I will be scheduling conferences.  If I do not schedule a conference with you, but you would like to meet feel free to email or call me.  I am happy to meet with everyone.

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!