Sunrise School Garden, Class Talent Show, CAASSP testing, and donations

We are getting a Sunrise School Garden!  Mrs. Young (1st grade, C Track) has been organizing and planning for our school garden for over a year, and it is finally coming to fruition.  We will be having a community garden day to help build the raised beds, put the soil into the beds, and attach irrigation on Saturday, March 14th from 8 am to 12 noon.  So please drop by before noon with your garden gloves, shovels, wheelbarrows, hammers, brooms, and power drills to help.

The students have requested to have a Class Talent Show.  They have voted to exhibit their talent on March 12th and 13th.

Wow!  We are quickly approaching the end of the school year with our month off in April!  A big deal and transition in 3rd grade is the CAASSP Standardized Testing.  The exact dates have not been set, yet, but are likely to be in May.  Practice and Training tests can be viewed on the CAASSP website at http://www.caaspp.org/.   These tests don’t score the students’ work or provide results.  They are still helpful to have students review the content and become familiar with the format of the test.  The Think Central on-line math homework also helps students become more accustom to the format.  Plus, it grades and provides results of the homework.

Donations requested of student white board markers.  Thank you for all of the donations at the beginning of the year.  We have just used the last white board marker.  So, if you may please donate some to our class and/or buy some for your own child it would be greatly appreciated.

I am collecting cardboard egg cartons, old Altoid containers (for Mrs. Mendez), and liter plastic bottles.  If you have any, please send them in.

In the Classroom we will . . .

Math:  We finishing Chapter 8, Understand Fractions.  Chapter 8 test is tentatively scheduled for Friday, March 6th.   We will begin Chapter 9, Compare Fractions next week.

Your children are so enthusiastic about memorizing the multiplication facts!  They love to be tested on them.

Reading:  We have been reading expository text and learning the text features of it.  Many students are struggling with our “Cold Comprehension” tests.  The students read these tests and answer questions independently; the tests have not been read as a class.  Some students are struggling with the stamina it takes to read two selections, make notations, and refer back to the text for the basis for the answers.  Please have your child read each night.  You can read/share a book with them by having them read parts aloud to you, you read parts aloud to them, and make comments/discuss the book.

Writing:  Students have written opinion pieces on the Grand Canyon and a friendly letter from Abraham Lincoln’s point of view.

Social Studies:  the students have learned about national landmarks and African American heroes.

Science:  We are continuing the GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition) unit on Ecosystems and Biodiversity.  We are studying and investigating the adaptations of plants and animals.  The students were also introduced to the Scientific Method and completed a “lab activity” using it for the topic of bird beak adaptations.

March:

2nd:  Dress as your favorite book character for Dr. Suess’s Birthday

3rd:  Conservation Ambassador (Wild Things) Assembly

4th:  B Track Academic Awards

5th:  Minimum Day; Report Cards go home

10th:  Jump Rope for Heart Assembly

12th and 13th:  Classroom talent show

14th:  Community Garden Day 8 am – 12 pm

20th:  Family Picnic Day ~ bring a sack lunch to eat with your child

27th:  Track Off – Minimum Day

April:

30th:  Track Back On ~ on a Thursday

May:

20th:  Stonelakes Wildlife Preserve field trip

25th:  Memorial Day ~ No school

28th:  A/B Open House 6 pm – 7 pm