Happy Friday 3^rd grade families,

I have scanned and attached the Letters to Santa article from the Elk Grove Citizen. I apologize to those who did not receive their copy in the Sunrise folders this week.

Since we are learning about how a democracy works in our studies of Government, this week and next the students get to vote for our Student of Character by voting for who they think is a responsible student. We had three candidates for this election. The students really enjoyed using the ballot system… the anticipation while counting the votes was fun!

This week our class voted for Kingston!

Congratulations to Kingston!!! He is our Student of Character this week. This month we are focusing on Responsibility. Responsible students come to class on time and are ready to work. They complete their homework, are accountable for their decisions, and are honest and trustworthy. Thank you Kingston for being a Responsible Spartan!

Events and Reminders:

• Kings Spirit Night tickets are selling fast. As a reminder the game is Sunday, January 15th (MLK weekend so no school Monday) at the new Golden 1 Center. Tickets are $45/each for upper level seats. Join the PFO for an evening of fun and checkout the new arena. There will be a chance for all families that purchase tickets to the event to have the opportunity for an on court fan experience. Participants for courtside warmups will be selected at random. Tickets can be purchased by completing and returning the order for that went home in Wednesday folders or through the Sunrise PFO website www.sunrisepfo.org. We anticipate selling out before the end of the year. We hope to see you there!
• Mid-trimester progress reports will go home January 13, 2017  Students should be hard at work on their AR goals.
• Dinner Night Out will be at Steve’s Pizza on January 18^th! Proceeds go to support the Sunrise PFO!
• Family Skate Night is Tuesday, January 24^th 6:00-8:00!
• Box Tops – bring in 20 Box Tops on February 2^nd for a Ring Pop!
• Please use the Home Connect feature to track your child’s progress towards reaching their AR goal. The link to Home Connect can be found on the Sunrise Elementary website or use this link: https://hosted17.renlearn.com/286588/HomeConnect/
• Would you like to volunteer in our classroom this trimester? If so, please use this SignUp Genius link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f48a4a72fa0fb6-trimester3/

Fieldtrips:

We have a few fieldtrips planned in 2017. Please mark your calendar for these dates. More information will come home as we approach each trip:

• February 14, 2017: SHAPE – EGUSD Food Processing Plant
• February 21, 2017: Maidu Community Center – permission slips went home last week and are due January 18^th!
• April 24, 2017: Sheldon High’s Advanced Theatre performance of Untitled Robin Hood Project

What are we learning in class?

• In Math, we are wrapping up Chapter 7: Division Facts & Strategies. Our vocabulary sheet for this chapter went home last week and has been uploaded to our class blog.
• In ELA, we will read several selections (expository text) about our government. We will explore how people make government work. The information sheet providing more information about our learning objectives for this lesson went home last week and has been uploaded to our class blog.

• In Social Studies, we continue learning about Native Americans. We will explore how American Indians developed their cultures and used the land to meet their needs. Students will receive the one and only home project of the year, finding facts and information about a chosen tribe. More information will be coming home for this project on Monday. Students will have two weeks to complete a graphic organizer, pamphlet, and make an artifact. All details and the rubric will be provided in the packet for the students when it goes home.

• In Science, we continue learning about Environment Change. We will explore how changes to environments affect living things. We will talk about pollution, reduce/reuse/recycle, and other vocabulary related to environmental change.

Hope you enjoy your weekend!