Welcome to the season of Lent! I absolutely love teaching the liturgical calendar and bringing our faith to life. This week we began with Mardi Gras (congratulations to Taylor who found baby Jesus in our King Cake), dove into the three pillars of Lent (fasting, praying, almsgiving), and even collectively made our class crown of thorns. Now, the students will be working to do nice deeds, sacrifices, and acts of kindness to “break off a thorn.”
Congratulations! Third grade won the Penny Wars! Hip Hip Hoorah! This must be the class to beat, as they won last year. Thank you for supporting Catholic Relief Services and the good work they do!
**Kind reminder: please leave all Rubix Cubes, and Pokemon Cards at home or reserved for after school. I observed third graders trading with fourth and middle schoolers and they are also seeping into the classroom again. Thank you for understanding.
Mount Baker Theatre – I’m hoping to find a family who might be willing to sponsor our class to attend a showing at MBT this year. There are some great shows this year that align with our curriculum, dinosaurs and even an Ellis Island one. If you or someone you might know would like to help us get there, please let me know. The cost is 8$ per ticket.
Book Reports -This month I start offering the students choices on how they want to present their books to the class. You should see the four options in your child’s Friday Folder tonight. They need to turn this page into me on Wednesday, when they return, and I will give them the directions and information on what I am grading.
Academics:
Literacy -This week we read about a community in North Dakota that worked together to save their town from a flood, and an article on the history of voting. We learned about how it used to be only white men, over 21 who owned land that could vote and how that evolved with African Americans and women. For grammar we are covering irregular verbs and the skill is cause and effect. In writing the students are now independently writing about his/her grandma or grandma in the same format we have used based on the information they have gathered through their interviews.
Math -We are whizzing through the chapter on division now that we know the strategies. It should move quickly now that they know their facts!
Religion -Lent! If you want a great resource, check out Holy Heroes, especially since we are going to be out of school for five days. (www.holyheroes.com). I’ve used this for years and the videos and resources are made by kids. They are engaging and appropriate for all age levels.
Science -After learning about dominant and recessive traits we flipped a disc to determine various traits of a monster. The students are plotting these traits on a Punnett Square and now creating a monster. So fun!
Social Studies -With our government unit we started learning about the three branches of government, their roles, and who is involved in each. We are extremely excited to visit Judge Jones, and also have our very own class election. Students have now nominated three candidates who have accepted this nomination and will begin the campaign next week. I can’t wait!
Spanish –Una nota de Señora Anna- This week in Spanish, we drew our families in preparation for learning family vocabulary! We also had a small group of students lead our calendar and weather routine.
Finally, a huge thank you to Claudia Liu and her daughter Marina for sharing their traditions and customs around Chinese New Year. The students got to sample traditional foods, learn about the variations of how they celebrate in different parts of China, and even receive the famous lucky red envelopes with real treasures! So special!
