Month: February 2026

Good afternoon! Wow, a full week of learning and academics. It felt great! Students worked really hard and it was great to get back to a full routine with reading groups and math centers. If you have extra time to volunteer, or simply need hours, math centers are a great way to help out in third grade. Starting at 8:30, you can grab coffee and come support the best students around! See sign up genius attached to this email or simply let me know what day(s) work for you and I’ll plug you in!

Student Treasure Order Form – In your child’s Friday Folder you will find an order form for our class book. Orders can be placed online and the class code is on the small order forms. These are fun keepsakes to have and the students are working card revising their writing to publish! There is an option to sponsor a book for a student. Also, if you find this is a hardship, please let me know. I like to try and get every child a book.

Optional Conference Day – March 18th is an afternoon offered for optional conferences. I will reach out in the Wednesday envelope next week but if you don’t see a request form and you would like to meet with me, please reach out via email.

Book Report Update – Students shined as they presented their reports this week. It was fun to see them select their interests and have fun using their personal gifts. I’ve never had so many choose the written one ;). Students are getting into the grove and know they should have their March book to me by the end of the day on Tuesday, March 3rd (our library day). They are doing a great job choosing a variety of books and at their reading level!

(In case you missed it) Donation? – Third graders are looking to go to a storytelling Education feature at Mount Baker Theater with our 5th grade buddies on April 20th. Each class has been given permission to ask for families to sponsor our trip. Each ticket is 8$ and you can donate a part of the trip or generously donate the tickets for our class. Please let me know if you might be willing to help us. We have a portion covered already by one family.

Academics

Literacy -This week we continued with the skill of point of view/perspective. We read another story of Cinderella and in reading groups students had fun picking out skills we are learning including hyperboles, and lots of adjectives! Grammar this week was comparative and superlative adjectives and in writing students peer editing their pieces, learning proofreading marks, and adding more descriptive language to their paragraphs.

Math -Third graders covered area in all shapes and sizes! Base times height is the formula we learned and repeated over and over. Next week we will transition into perimeter and then put them together! They are really enjoying this! If you are in the halls, come see their fun names on display, labeled with area.

Science -We put all our knowledge about traits, genetics, and offspring into action as we rolled traits, determined dominant and recessive ones, and plotted them on punnett squares. It was hard, but the students were up for a challenge and even persevered through multiple attempts for some. They drew adorable, some scary, and many very unique monsters from the traits they determined. So fun!

Religion -This week we dove into the stations of the cross, along with watching our daily videos. Students each choose a station to create a shadow art depiction. Can’t wait to show you how these turn out!

Art –This week in art class, students learned and practiced how to create emphasis in their artwork by making one part of their composition stand out as the focal point. They explored techniques such as using bright colors, larger shapes, strong contrast, and thoughtful placement to guide the viewer’s eye.

Library -This week we read  Built to Last.  We talked about friendships and did different activities to get to know each other better.  To look at the story or other library activities, check out library page.

PE -This week in PE, students practiced the 8 basic jump rope skills and challenged themselves with an endurance activity. They also learned face-to-face and side-by-side partner jump rope tricks and practiced jumping with a long rope. Great effort and teamwork were on display!

ESPAÑOL, 3rd -In their book “Juguemos a Leer” they practiced words with the consonants R and L: rata, lima, remo, luna. Also they are reading small sentences such as: Alma se ríe, Omar suma siete mas seis, La isla está sola.

Peace walk today <3

Welcome to the season of Lent! I just love the liturgical year and how much richness it can bring to teaching. This week students began by learning about the stations of the cross with their buddies and receiving ashes. We made a crown of thorns and looked at all the symbolism. Students are focusing on good deeds and sacrificing, recognizing each other, and breaking off thorns in hopes of taking all the thorns away (lessoning the pain on Jesus). The crown is transformed on Easter with flowers and jelly beans!

Lunar New Year -THANK YOU ANNESLEY, MIA, AND LILY for sharing your beautiful heritage, traditions, and even food.

Math Books -We began the second math book this week and you should find the first book in your child’s backpack. You will notice that there is a lot of content still in the books and it is wise to keep these for review or summer options. It might be fun to even play school with neighbors or little siblings!

Donation? – Third graders are looking to go to a storytelling Education feature at Mount Baker Theater with our 5th grade buddies on April 20th. Each class has been given permission to ask for families to sponsor our trip. Each ticket is 8$ and you can donate a part of the trip or generously donate the tickets for our class. Please let me know if you might be willing to help us.

Book Reports -Students were given their “choice sheets” this week and should have their directions based on what they have chosen. Book reports can be turned in any time next week, with the last day being February 27th. Hopefully this provides the students to shine with their God given gifts!

Walk for Peace -Next Friday our students will be receiving a special prayer and send off by Father Moore to walk one lap in prayer together around our campus. This is in solidarity with the Catholic school in Minneapolis, but we will call it a “Peace Walk.” We invite parents and volunteers to pray and walk with us directly after Mass. Students will write prayers and hold candles to remind them of their purpose on this walk.

Buddy time -Ash Wednesday

Academics

PE – We learned all 8 of the basic jump rope skills: single bounce, double bounce, bell, skier, hop, jogger, rocker and backwards.  We practiced these skills while jumping in the Endurance challenge and Thunderstick. 

Religion -LENT! Please check out Holy Heroes at home. I can’t say enough about this Catholic Resource, produced by kids, with rich Catholic content. There is so much to explore, where we simply do the daily videos. Hoping for a fruitful Lent for all of you!

Literacy – Students are working on the second paragraph of our “Dream School” piece in writing. It’s so fun to see them take off with writing at this point in the year. It’s truly impressive. For reading we continued with perspective and learned all about hyperboles. So fun! Our grammar this week is comparative and superlative adjectives.

Math -We wrapped up division feeling confident and excelling on the chapter test. There were a variety of assessments this week and we are excited to move on to the second book, beginning with area and perimeter. We wrapped up the week looking and exploring geoboards, which was fun!

Science -We are working our way through the Mystery Science lesson on the mystery fruit in our heredity unit. Students looked at traits, compared and contrasted, and made claims. The mystery fruit ended up being Buddha’s hand.

Art – This week in art, third graders learned how artists tell stories through pictures by showing characters, setting, and action in their drawings. Students created their own story scenes, focusing on clear details and thoughtful placement to help the viewer understand what is happening.

ESPAÑOL, 3rd -We review vocabulary about Miércoles de Ceniza y Cuaresma -Ash Wednesday and Lent-, such as: orar, ayunar, dar, morado, 40 días, cambio, camino -to pray, to fast, to give, purple, 40 days, change, journey-.

We had a fun filled week in third grade. From our field trip, to the 100th day of school, capped off with Valentine’s Day celebrations, they learned through it all. Thank you to the parents who joined us on Wednesday for my favorite field trip of the year. The students shined with their knowledge, asked great questions, and had so much fun touring the courtroom. For the 100th Day of school students teamed up with the first graders and rotated through STEM centers. Room parents capped us off with the Valentine’s party, where students hopefully brought you a nice handmade card. 😉

Please keep Caelan, Zakhary, and Kirat in your prayers as they are healing from some pretty serious illnesses. We are hoping they are able to return on Tuesday.

SCHOOL NEWS:

WHATCOM MATH COMPETITION 

Assumption has been invited to participate in a math competition hosted by Franklin Academy. We hope to form a team of students in grades 3–5 to compete on Saturday, March 21st. At this time, we are looking for one or two parent volunteers to help lead and support this enthusiastic group of young mathematicians. Assumption will provide you with a room, materials, and ideally the group will meet at least once a week after school until March 21st. If you are interested in leading this, please reach out to Bev Williams at bwilliams@assumption.school by Wednesday, February 18th. More information will come home for participants once we figure out if we have a team leader. 

Vote for Your Favorite ACS Teacher!

Brown & Brown Insurance Services, Inc. wants to give $5,000 to your favorite teacher. To nominate your teacher, head to bbrownexcellenceineducation.org and tell them why your teacher should be selected! If your teacher wins, they’ll get $2,500 for their classroom, and $2,500 to take home!

Students and parents can nominate their favorite teacher through March 1st. You can nominate online at bbrownexcellenceineducation.org/, in-person or by mail at 501 Front St, Lynden, WA 98264.

Book Reports – February is a short month, and we are essentially half way, which means your child should be well into their book for the month. I will send home the report next week. This month the students will have a choice of how they will report their reading and comprehension.

Academics

PE -Reviewed basic jump rope skills and learned the first four intermediate skills. Participated in the Endurance Challenge and Thunder Stick.

Literacy – We began our next unit on perspective this week. Our essential question discusses how people can view the same situation differently. We read the Cinderella story from her perspective, and then a fun read aloud from the Stepmother’s perspective. Our next figurative language lesson is on hyperboles and we are focusing on superlative and comparative adjectives in grammar. For writing, students are working on a longer piece about their dream school. Look for more information on our published book, coming this spring!

Math -Each day we have been covering two division numbers and plowing through this concept. The majority of our class is doing quite well and we are able to move faster than typical, which is great. KEEP PRACTICING MULTIPLICATION FACTS!

Social Studies – What a great field trip to cap off our social studies unit on government. The students shined as they shared their knowledge of the three branches of government with Judge Jones and had great questions. This week the students were assessed on their learning by writing me (or a friend) a letter sharing all they learned. They reviewed the rubric prior to writing the letter and did really well!

Music -This week in music we are…Reinforcing note reading and note naming by studying the sheet music for the Yellow Belt song, Singing the cumulative song Once an Austrian Went Yodeling and learning about the technique of yodeling, Learning to play high D on the recorder and beginning the Yellow Belt song

Science -We began a Mystery Science lesson on plant traits and related this to our unit. We will finish next week.

ESPAÑOL, 3rd -They learned vocabulary about classroom objects like: silla, reloj, pizarrón, pantalla -chair, clock, board, screen-.

Religion -Third graders learned of God’s covenent with Noah, the concept of foreshadowing, and the Israelites.

Art -Students learned about contrast and how it helps one area of an artwork stand out. They created compositions on dark paper, using contrast to highlight key elements while showing movement and unity.

We had a great, solid week of learning in third grade, even with Friday off. Teachers and staff are learning through a series of classes offered for the Archdiocese wide Professional Development Day today. I know we had a lot of great take aways.

Book Reports -At this point all students have given me the title for approval for their February book reports. I reminded the students that this is a shorter month and that I offer them time every single day to read these books, so it is wise to bring books back and forth. This month we will start implementing more of a choice selection for their reports and those are coming soon!

GO HAWKS!

Academics

Literacy -Third graders continued our Benchmark Unit and read about the history of voting, specifically with women and African Americans. We began a writing assignment highlighting the great things about our school and will put a fun spin on what students think we should add. For paragraph writing, they are learning how to add details to their 5 sentence paragraphs.

Math –We started the week with a division test and will be speeding up with division facts at this point. Lessons covered this week included dividing by 2, 10, and then learning about Roman Numbers with our football lesson.

Religion -Our chapter test covered concepts taught this week on Original Sin and the consequences of that. Students learned the big word, concupiscence. I told them to quiz you on that one ;). We talked about the chasm between us and God and how a savior was sent for us and how much God loves and and every one of us.

Social Studies – We continued with the branches of government to solidify that knowledge before our field trip next Wednesday. Please note on the permission slip if you would like to walk with us and join us.

Science -We finally got back to looking at the data students collected on mom and dad. They plotted the traits and made observations on each of the traits, determining if they were dominant or recessive. We wrapped up the week with an introduction to Punnett Squares.

ESPAÑOL, 3rd -They practiced the verbs QUERER y TENER -to want and to have-. “Yo quiero el rojo” -I want the red one; “Tengo el caballo” -I have the horse-.

Library -We read about We Are Definitely Human together in class.  February is kindness month, this book and all the others we read during our group times will discuss how we treat others.  We also helped contribute to our “kindness board” in the hallway by sharing different kind things that others have done for us by writing them down.

Music- Using the dance Pondering Penguins as a whole-body warm-up to move in 8-count patterns and feel the beat before recorder practice, Practicing the recorder notes C and A through repetition to build muscle memory and tone control, Passing off White Belts in Recorder Karate as students demonstrate readiness to move forward

Art -The students worked on creating unity in their compositions by repeating colors, shapes, and patterns. They learned how different elements can work together to make their artwork feel connected and complete.