“O flock of heavenly cranes

Cover my child with your wings.”

May 9, 2008

Dear Families,

           We finished reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes this week. Students focused on how Sadako and her family brought hope to one another and their country despite her illness and death. At the end of the novel, we discussed how Sadako’s spirit continues to live on and bring hope to the world through the Folded Crane Club started in her honor. The crane is a symbol of hope and life in Japanese culture, and folding paper cranes and other origami shapes has quickly become a favorite activity in our classroom. Today we also wrote a review of this novel on Barnes and Noble’s website. Before writing it, we read a few examples and the rules to get ideas and make sure we wrote it well. Our class review will be published online on Monday if you would like to read it. Also, students were told they may write an online book review for their book report this month if supervised by a parent. Students who choose to do this will need to turn in the title and author of their book and the title of their review (and the website if other than Barnes and Noble), so I can find it. Student names are not allowed to be published in the review, so the title of the review is very important for me to be able to find the review.

            Students have been continuing their poetry writing this week by learning to write Haiku. After reading some examples of Japanese Haiku, they discovered that Haiku are usually about nature and have words to announce the season in which it occurs, capture one moment, are three lines long and sometimes have a surprise at the end. We discussed that many translated Haiku do not follow the pattern of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. Students also learned that as a beginning Haiku writer it is more important to try to capture a single moment with carefully chosen words than to limit their words by trying to follow the pattern of syllables. Watch for their Haiku writing to come home soon!

            In social studies, students reviewed their knowledge of Japan’s geography and used this in a lesson teaching about cause and effect. They were introduced to a new type of graphic organizer to organize their ideas (a fishbone organizer). Using this graphic organizer they were able to think of many features in the land that would cause the cities to be crowded.

            In science, we began an experiment to test for calcite in rocks. Calcite is a common mineral with a special property. It reacts with cold acid -- we used vinegar. The calcite fizzes when placed in vinegar. Students tested and observed this happening. When we tested four other rocks to see if they contained calcite, the answer was not clear for two of the rocks. We decided to leave these rocks in the vinegar over the weekend to see what will happen. Next week, we’ll find out the results.

            We are wrapping up our formal study of division (although we will continue our math fact binders using this operation). Most students seem to have a firm grasp on the concept of division and how to use multiplication to find the answer to a division problem. They have been practicing with more story problems lately which is strengthening both their problem solving skills and their ability to apply the correct operation to the story problem. Please review the chapter test and cumulative review that are coming home today. Working through the errors with your child can become a mini lesson for them and would be very helpful.

            This week students learned a song by Rush of Fools called “Can’t Get Enough” that used metaphors to show our relationship with God. We discussed how the lyrics showed our need to be connected to God and how God is always with us and waiting for us to be with Him. Many really enjoyed watching the pictures that were added to the song on You Tube. We also completed our next two lessons in our Talking about Touching program. Students learned about gun safety and the “always ask first rule.” Most students already seemed to know that they should not play with guns, and gave impressive answers such as “I would ask to go home if someone wanted me to play with a gun.” It’s good to know they know the right things to do to keep themselves safe. The “always ask first rule” means that children need to ask the adult in charge of them before leaving with anyone. They seemed to know right away why it would be unsafe to leave with someone they did not know. We also discussed why they needed to ask before leaving with a friend or a friend’s parent. We discussed how their parents and whoever is in charge needs to know where they are to be able to keep them safe. We ended the week with a discussion of Pentecost. Students learned that Pentecost was the day our church really began. We learned that the Holy Spirit is symbolized by fire (strength), wind (spreading invisibly), and water (life-giving). They drew pictures and wrote about what they thought it might be like to be there on the first Pentecost.

Coming Up:

· May 16-18 – ASB Spring Musical

· Friday, May 23 – noon dismissal for faculty luncheon

· Thursday, May 29^th – Field trip to Uwajimaya and Bush Garden

· Friday, May 30 – Book report due – Students need to read a fiction book of their choice and complete one of the choices for the book report.

· Friday, June 6 – Pen Pal Picnic at St. Joseph School

Thank you to all who showed their appreciation of Christine and me this week! We enjoy working with all of you, students and parents, and truly felt appreciated this week. The cards, flowers, and goodies were fantastic! Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Grace

Birthdays: none

May 2, 2008

Dear Families,

Happy May! We enter this month learning about metaphors and similes – another way to make our writing rich. The kids have been working with poetry and have had the opportunity to use a variety of figurative language to make their poetry create both music and images in the reader’s mind. We have learned about onomatopoeia, alliteration, personification, rhythm and rhyme. Some of our students are on a poetry writing spree, filling their journal with wonderful writing. We also worked this week on the spelling patterns making /s/, rhyming and compound words, and unusual spelling patterns.

We have been progressing nicely through our chapter on division and the kids seem to have a good grasp of this concept and how it relates to multiplication. We have been learning a variety of strategies to help us with the division facts we don’t know, such as using repeated subtraction, using manipulatives (cubes, beans, etc.), using a number line, and using the related multiplication fact (remember the concept of fact families?). We have also been working with quite a few story problems, especially those that require multiple steps.

In social studies we have continued learning about the geography of Japan and how it affects the culture of a country. We learned several reasons why cities are built where they are and that cities built on bays are offered protection from the harshness of the ocean. They tied in the fact that our own capital, Olympia, was chosen partially because of the protection it was offered way down at the southern end of Puget Sound. We are learning about some of the similarities and differences between Japanese life and our own as we read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr. This short novel tells about the life of a Japanese girl who is sick with leukemia. As background information to aid in understanding this book, we briefly discussed WWII and our involvement with Japan. This discussion included the bombing of Pearl Harbor as our impetus to join the war, and also our decision to bomb Hiroshima as an attempt at ending the war. We have been careful to keep things superficial and have not gone into anything graphic, including pictures, as this is too much for this age group. However, the novel has its merits in broaching the subject of cultural differences and similarities and how understanding these can help lead us towards peace. We also learned about Children’s Day (May 5^th), a festival in Japan in which families hang carp from their homes to represent the importance of perseverance and strength that children need to succeed. We created our own carp and will hang them in our classroom for the duration of our unit on Japan. *Note: Please return the folder your child used to organize his/her LRS research. We will reuse these as we gather facts about Japan’s geography, home life, school life, and food.

In science we identified four different minerals, quartz, fluorite, calcite, and gypsum. Students used careful observation and a scratch test to decide which mineral was which. The scratch test is used by geologists to test the hardness of minerals. We used a paper clip, a penny, and our fingernail to scratch the minerals. Only the softest mineral, gypsum, could be scratched with our fingernails. We were able to put the minerals in order from the hardest to softest based on what would scratch them. Students also learned that geologists often need to use more than one property to identify a mineral.

In religion we have continued learning about the history of our church and how this helps us to understand who we are today. We have also begun a unit on discipleship and how we can make a difference in the world today. We began our Talking About Touching program and completed the first two lessons which touched on walking safety and fire safety. We will continue with other ways to keep ourselves safe in the next few lessons.

Art Parents today taught about the use of pictorial narrative – using pictures to add to the story we are reading. This lesson included how illustrators sometimes use borders around their pictures to enhance the storyline. The kids made pictures illustrating one part of the story “The Lion and the Mouse” using water color. They made their illustrations more defined by including permanent marker around the figures and by adding a border. Students are bringing these home today.

Dates to remember:

· Friday, May 9 – May liturgy – 11:00 am Mass in the church

· May 16-18 – ASB Spring Musical

· Friday, May 23 – noon dismissal

· Friday, May 30 – Book report due – Students need to read a fiction book of their choice and complete one of the choices for the book report.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Holden

Birthdays: none

April 24, 2008

Dear Families,

It has been a busy week. We finish with the last portion of the ITBS this week. Thank you to all who have let me know about absences in advance. We also had a visit from Mrs. Simmons this week to make truffles. Mrs. Simmons spoke to the students about how her passion for chocolate as a child led her to learn to make truffles as an adult. The students practiced measuring and weighing the chocolate, and then helped to roll and dip the truffles. They were able to make enough to share some with 3A and take some home.

Language Arts: This week students have explored metaphors and written some of their own. They completed the statement “Love is . . .” and worked on adding a sentence to describe their metaphor. They also wrote their own metaphor to describe a picture from a magazine. We are creating a class book of metaphors with these. Next week we will continue to practice this skill and begin to discuss and write similes. Learning about metaphors and similes will help students to develop skills in recognizing them when they are reading and using them in their own writing. We have also been working on using apostrophes correctly. Students should know the two ways that apostrophes are used (to show possession and for contractions).

Social Studies and Science: In social studies this week, Mrs. Eusebio taught the students about Japanese festivals. We made carp kites to celebrate Children’s Day on May 5. These kites will be hung in the classroom until after the celebration. The carp symbolizes strength and determination. Students also learned about the cherry blossom festival and the significance of the cherry blossoms as the first sign of new life in the spring. They have decorated our windows with beautiful tissue paper cherry blossoms. In science, students were able to observe the salt crystals formed when the water they had mixed with their mock rock ingredients evaporated. Using hand lenses, the students matched the crystal shape to an identification sheet and clearly identified the crystals as kosher salt. They recorded their observations and were able to write a recipe for the mock rock because they now had evidence of all the ingredients needed.

Math: Students are working on using multiplication to solve division problems. For a problem such as 9÷3=? the students have been taught to ask themselves, “What times 3 equals 9?” We are still working on memorizing all multiplication facts, and knowing these facts solidly will help your child in division as well. Keep up the good work!

Religion: This week students are studying a brief overview of our church’s history. They have learned that the catholic faith started with the Jewish faith, and the Jewish faith started with a promise that God made to Abraham and Sarah. We noticed how Abraham and Sarah’s descendents were all waiting for a savior, who we believe is Jesus. Then we read about how the saints and others kept the church growing over time. Next week we will begin studying how we continue to live that same faith today. We will also be starting our Talking about Touching program to teach about personal safety. You received a more detailed letter about this last week. Please be sure to contact Lori Landes if you have more questions about this program (llandes@asbschool.org).

Coming Up:

· No school – Friday, April 25 for a faculty retreat

· Poetry book report due Wednesday, April 30

· Art Parents – Friday, May 2^nd

· Progress Reports – Friday May 2^nd

· Book order and highlights forms are due Friday, May 2^nd. If everyone returns the highlights forms (signed), we can get some supplies for a surprise Father’s Day gift. You do not need to purchase highlights for us to be able to get the free supplies.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: John

Birthdays: none

April 18, 2008

Dear Parents,

We had a great week of testing – the kids entered the classroom confident and ready to show us what they’ve got. We finished most of the language testing and will move on to the math portion of the test next week and finish the language testing. If you would like to see the testing schedule for our classroom, please refer to our class site on the ASB website. The schedule will be listed below today’s newsletter on the site. Remember to continue sending in healthy snacks next week and to be sure that your child is getting plenty of rest each night.

We have finished our book Hundred Dresses as well as our Steps to Respect bullying prevention program. We talked today about how we might have changed the way things happened in the book by simply being the right kind of bystanders when the bullying first began. We role played how we might have helped avoid or stop the bullying. Role playing can be a powerful teaching strategy as it “arms” the students with the right words or actions to use when the real situation occurs.

The next program we will be teaching is called “Talking About Touching”. I am sending home information about this program, and Lori Landes, our school counselor, will be offering more information about this program if you are interested in attending one of her meetings at the end of April. Look for more news about this to come.

In religion this week we learned about the four marks of the Church, that it is one (one family of God, sharing in the same beliefs), holy (connected to God), catholic (universal, offered to everyone), and apostolic (spread originally by the apostles, but now spread by us).

Social studies had us in the “Land of the Rising Sun” studying Japan’s geography. We created a map to help us remember where Japan is located relative to the rest of the world. We also highlighted the major islands, the mountains, the bodies of water around it, and the major cities of this country.

In science we broke apart our rocks and recorded observations about what we found in our science journals. We separated the various parts of the rock and put these things in water to see if they would break down further. We also began an experiment to see if the rock contained sodium by putting the small rock particles in water first, then letting the water sit in an open container to evaporate. If there is a salty deposit, we will know that the salt came from the rock.

Most of our math time this week was taken up by testing, but we did manage to squeeze in a few quick reviews of the concepts learned thus far, as well as learning some of the vocabulary associated with division (dividend, divisor, and quotient). Language centers also dwindled this week, but we were able to begin our poetry writing unit with a couple of lessons about the rhythm and rhyme of poetry. Students wrote a poem about their own imaginary machine. Ask your child what their dream machine does.

Upcoming events:

· Monday, April 21^st – Making truffles with Mrs. Simmons at 10:30

· Wednesday, April 23^rd – class pictures (please have your child in full uniform with sweater or sweatshirt if they need one)

· Friday, April 25^th – No school (faculty day of service)

· Wednesday, April 30^th – Poetry book report is due (look below to see the grading sheet for the book report)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Maddi

Birthdays: 21^st Chase, 23^rd Quinn, 24^th Allison

Poem Presentation

Name_________________________

Presentation

Length of Poem _____________________

Did the presentation include the following?

Title of Poem Yes/No

Author Yes/No

Memory (Were prompts needed?)

Yes/No If yes, number of prompts ___________

Did the speaker speak . . .

Loudly Yes/No

Clearly Yes/No

Slowly Yes/No

*Handwritten Poem

Completed and turned in on time ______

Written Correctly (no spelling errors) ______

Handwriting (neat and legible) ______

Illustrations ______

April 11, 2008

Dear Families,

What a wonderful day of LRS presentations! The students’ hard work really shined in their boards and ability to speak about their topics. The students enjoyed being able to share their learning with the rest of the school and the parents who attended already. We look forward to seeing everyone tonight at 6pm!

We will be continuing the ITBS testing over the next two weeks. Students will be completing about 45 minutes to an hour of testing each day. Please let me know in advance of any absences in these two weeks, so we can better prepare to make up any missed testing. Attached to this letter is our testing schedule for your information. This testing allows us to compare how our students are performing compared to the average third grader. It allows us to evaluate and make adjustments to our curriculum as needed, and to track individual student progress from year to year. It is important that students get a good night’s rest during the testing, and packing a healthy snack can help to keep to keep them focused.

Language Arts: Students finished writing their letters to their pen pals this week. Overall, the students have grown a lot this year in their ability to write descriptive, detailed letters. They are clearly communicating their ideas and describing experiences they wish to share with their pen pals. They are looking forward to meeting them in June. We also nearly finished (and some students finished) reading The Hundred Dresses. Our discussions this week have focused around what the bystanders in the book could have done differently to stop the bullying that was happening. An interesting conversation also came up when several students suggested that one of the girls involved in the teasing, Maddie, was the friend of the girl being teased, Wanda. We discussed how Wanda only ever talked to Maddie when Maddie was teasing her, and that we were the ones who heard Maddie’s thoughts about how she wanted the teasing to stop. We discussed how Wanda and Maddie’s relationship might have changed if Maddie had spoken these thoughts out loud, and how that could have changed the events of the story. Next week as a final project, students will be rewriting the scene of the dresses game to show what might happen if the bystanders stood up for Wanda.

Math: We completed our official study of measurement and time this week, so look for your child’s pretest and posttest from this unit in the Friday Folder. We will continue to review these concepts throughout the rest of the year in science and other ways. Many students continue to need practice with elapsed time. They especially need help slowing down and using the skills they have rather than rushing to answer the first thing they think of. This week we also spent time reviewing some concepts that will show up on the ITBS such as geometry, addition, and subtraction. Students also received their first lesson in division in a lesson on sharing cookies equally. This lesson also required them to use fractions, so it was a good opportunity to introduce and review writing fractions.

Science and Social Studies: This week Mrs. Eusebio introduced the students to their unit on cultural understanding and Japan. . . .

Due to LRS presentation day being during our regular science time, we did not introduce anything new this week. Next week students will get a chance to work like geologists and take apart their mock rocks to see what they are made of.

Religion: Students completed their study of the church structure by making posters. Each table group was responsible for showing how people working in one role (pope, bishop, priests, nuns and brothers, lay people) lead and serve our church. They were able to find many examples of how we can all help build our church. In our Steps to Respect lessons, students have been practicing using assertive behaviors to refuse bullying. You can support this at home by encouraging your child to use assertive behaviors (look the person in the eye, staying calm, using a clear, calm voice, saying what you mean) when solving problems. Students have also learned how to report bullying and about bystander power. We discussed how bystanders have power to be part of the problem or part of the solution when they witness a bullying situation. As a reminder, our definition of bullying is that it is when someone keeps hurting, threatening, frightening, or leaving someone out on purpose and it is unfair and one-sided. Not all negative interactions are bullying. We would all like to be treated with kindness and fairness all the time, yet people will sometimes make mistakes in how they treat us. It is important to help children to label the behavior as bullying or inappropriate, but not the person. All children can change, and it is important to let go of past hurts and forgive to give that person, and yourself a chance to grow into better people. I appreciate all the work I see parents doing with their children to coach them on how to treat others with kindness and fairness. I can see them working hard at putting these lessons into practice.

Coming Up:

· Poetry book report is due on Wednesday, April 30. I will put up a sign up sheet for presenting poems next week. Students can present their poems between Tuesday, April 22 and Wednesday, April 30. They can present to the whole class or to me alone.

· ITBS Testing – Monday, April 14 – Thursday April 24

· No school for faculty retreat – Friday, April 25

· Progress Reports – Friday, May 2

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Will M.

Birthdays: none

April 4, 2008

Dear Families,

We were blessed with beautiful weather for our field trip on Wednesday. We had a great day learning about the cathedral, climbing the water tower, and walking through the cemetery to hear the students share about the pioneers who started our city. The students worked hard on their presentations and their work really shone brightly when they shared. We will be keeping these at school until the end of April for other students to read. Then you can expect to see them at home.

Language Arts: This week we began reading The Hundred Dresses. As we read this book, we are discussing the themes and events that are connected to what we have been learning in our Steps to Respect program. The book specifically addresses the issue of the power bystanders have to help end bullying behavior. Students have been responding to what they are reading through writing and drawing. Students have started working on their next letter to their pen pals at St. Joe’s. We are continuing to work on adding details and description to their writing, so that their pen pal can picture what they are writing about.

Math: Students have been learning about the metric system this week. We worked on measuring length, weight, capacity and temperature. Students learned how the prefixes milli-, centi-, and kilo- can help them to remember the conversions. They received an extra chance to practice using these units of measure in science when they measured the depth, diameter, and circumference of mock rocks.

Social Studies and Science: We wrapped up our unit on Seattle history with our field trip this week and a great game of charades today to recap what we learned. In science, we have begun a geology unit. The students are learning to examine rocks carefully as geologist do. This week they drew pictures, made observations, and took measurements of a mock rock. In later weeks they will be breaking the mock rock apart to find out what it is made of. This will lead to a study of the difference between rocks and minerals and eventually to a study of mountain formation, which will tie nicely into our study of Japan and how its mountainous geography affects its culture.

Religion: In preparation for our field trip to the cathedral this week, students studied the structure of our church leadership. We have been discussing what it means to be a good leader and how the pope, bishops and priests help the people in the church. Students also discussed how lay people can be leaders and how they work to help the church grow. Next week, students will be using what they know to make posters showing how people in each role contribute to the church.

LRS: Display boards are due April 11, which is LRS sharing day. The expectations for the board are written on the planning sheet. If you need another copy, please let me know. Students should have a board that will stand up on the table. There will be time in the evening from 6-7pm for parents to come view the projects. Please feel free to email or call with any questions.

Reminders:

· April 11^th – LRS presentation day during the school day, plus 6-7pm

· April 14^th – May 2^nd – ITBS testing

Tonight is the third grade overnight. Be sure to arrive at 7pm. Also, we would like to mention that students should limit the Webkinz/stuffed animals that they bring to the overnight to two. We are looking forward to a fun time together!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Francesca

Birthdays: 4^th Harris

March 21, 2008

Dear Families,

I can hardly believe spring break is here! Thank you to all the parents who contributed to making our Seder meal a success last Tuesday. The students really seemed to enjoy it. Many gave the new foods a try and discovered that they liked them.

Language Arts: This week we finished reading the biography of Helen Keller. The students have been asking good questions about what they are reading. They discovered that with higher level thinking questions, they needed to stop and think before answering in order to give their best answer. This came up again in math as we worked through some story problems. Students had to stop and think about how to use the information to solve the problem in order to get the correct answer. Students have also been working hard on researching and writing about their famous pioneers. When we return from spring break, we will put the finishing touches on these projects before our field trip on Wednesday, April 2. Students are thinking of creative ways to present the information they learned, such as news broadcasts and interviews.

Social Studies/Science: Students continued to add to the Seattle timeline this week. Now our timeline is bursting with the important events from Seattle’s history. We will be starting our Foss kit on Earth materials when we return from break. In this unit we will explore how rocks are made and what they are made of. Students will be able to do a lot of hands on exploration with the materials in the kit.

Math: Students have continued working with customary measurement. Students have studied measuring weight with ounces and pounds. They learned the abbreviations and felt how heavy an ounce feels compared to a pound. Finally, students explored measuring temperature with degrees Fahrenheit. They are determining what temperatures would be considered hot, cold, warm and cool. At the end of the week, we played jeopardy to help review all the new terms and concepts they have learned in the last two weeks.

Religion: As we prepared for the Seder meal, students explored how the Seder meal and the Eucharist are connected. Students also read about the Triduum and finished their art projects representing three of the main events we remember in the Triduum. Your child should have brought the project home and explained the three panels to you on Thursday.

Students have been continuing to learn about preventing bullying through the Steps to Respect program. We have been discussing how to recognize bullying (unfair, one-sided, when someone keeps threatening, frightening, hurting, or leaving someone out on purpose), and how to respond assertively to bullying or in any situation where you disagree with what is happening. We began to look at how bystanders can help by refusing to let the bullying behavior continue in an assertive way. Students will be exploring this concept more in depth in further Steps to Respect lessons and when we read The Hundred Dresses.

LRS: Display boards are due April 11, which is LRS sharing day. The expectations for the board are written on the planning sheet. If you need another copy, please let me know. I recommend that you go over the checklist with your child as they are completing their board. Students should have a board that will stand up on the table. Homework time to complete the project will be given after spring break. We will also be sending home more information about the sharing day after the break (set up, clean up, requests for outlets or wall space, etc.). There will be time in the evening from 6-7pm for parents to come view the projects. Please feel free to email or call with any questions.

Coming Up:

· Wednesday, April 2 – Field trip to the Cathedral and Lakeview Cemetery 9:15 – 2:00

· Friday, April 4 – Art Parents

· Friday, April 4 – Third Grade Swim Party and Sleepover

· Friday, April 11 – LRS Sharing Day

Have a relaxing, refreshing break and a happy Easter!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Audrey

Birthdays: March, 30^th Beatriz; April, 4^th Harris

March 13, 2008

Dear Families,

We were blessed with beautiful weather for our field trip to the Underground Tour and Pike Place Market. It was a great trip, and the students were able to see many pictures and sites that they have been studying about in social studies. Pairs of students are continuing to research the original settlers, and many heard information about their pioneer on our field trip! Thank you to all who volunteered!

We have been working on measurement in math. We will focus on the customary system until spring break and work on the metric system after spring break. This week I asked students to look at the containers in their refrigerators and cupboards to see what units of measurements are being used.

LRS: This week we looked at an example of a completed LRS board and discussed the planning more in depth. Information about the requirements and planning the presentation should be in your child’s binder. Please let me know if you need an extra copy. A storyboard plan is due March 20. If you have any questions, please feel free to write an email or note, or call.

Coming Up:

· March book report is historical fiction. Book report forms are in your child’s binder and available in the classroom. Book reports are due Monday, March 31.

· Please make sure not to drop off your children before 8:15. We have seen several children here earlier and there is no adult supervision until 8:20. Extended care is available in the morning.

· Tuesday, March 18 is the Seder meal in St. Benedict’s Hall from 11:30-12:30. Thank you to all who volunteered to help make this experience a success!

· Friday, March 21 is a half day. March 22- March 30 is spring break.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Cole

Birthdays: 17^th Jack K., 19^th Drew

March 7, 2008

Dear Families,

It’s hard to believe it is already March! The students are really starting to take off in their writing, reading, and math skills.

Language Arts: We are continuing to study nonfiction reading this week. Students focused on finding the main idea and choosing the details that support that idea. We related it to writing a paragraph, only we were working in reverse. Students learned to ask themselves “What is this part mostly about?” when looking for the main idea. Students are continuing to work towards a final draft of their LRS opinion paragraph written in their best cursive. Students also began a research project that involves computer class and social studies. Pairs of students were assigned a famous Seattle pioneer to research and write a short character sketch about. With their sketch, they will create a picture or symbol that represents their pioneer. After spring break we will be visiting Lakeview Cemetery where these pioneers are buried. As we visit each pioneer, the students will present their sketches to the rest of the class to teach us about the person they researched. The purpose of this project is to help the students realize they are studying people who were actually alive and living in Seattle at one time.

Social Studies and Science: This week in social studies, students continued to add to the timeline. They also learned more about Chief Seattle by studying his speech that is recorded in the book Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. Students learned about Chief Seattle’s care for the environment and his people. In science, we are completing our study of matter. This week we looked at many different ways matter can change. We compared fast changes, and slow changes. Some of the changes we explored were rusting, fire, how expanding and contracting of water change things like roads and water bottles, and how time changes things like houses and seeds. Students created drawings that showed how matter can change. These were put together in a class book for everyone to see the many ways matter can change. Check it out next time you stop by!

Math: Students studied elapsed time this week. They looked at both story problems and abstract problems (such as what time will it be in 5 minutes if it is 4:45 now). A few students asked if the website we used for practicing this skill was on the school website, so I added it. You can find it on the 3^rd grade homework page. When working with your child on this concept, many children find it easier to solve problems when using a clock with moveable hands. I have many of these at school. If you would like to borrow one, please ask. We also worked with problem solving this week on deciding whether an answer is exact or an estimate. The biggest challenge for most students was in explaining their reasoning. We worked on finding specific words that helped them to make their conclusions and decide on the answer.

Religion: We continued our Steps to Respect lessons this week by practicing assertively saying no to someone. Students learned that you can say no to someone respectfully and that when saying no, being assertive shows that you mean what you say. We practiced standing up straight, looking the person in the eye, using a clear, strong voice, and saying what you mean. Students role-played saying no to situations such as, someone asking you to tease other kids, someone copying your work, and someone taking something out of your lunch. This is an important skill to help prevent bullying because responding assertively lets others know when you want their behavior to stop and when you don’t want to join something they are doing.

This week we also began learning about the Passover in preparation for our Seder meal on Tuesday the 18^th. Students heard the story of the Israelites in Egypt and the ten plagues that freed them from slavery. Students also performed short skits about the ten plagues. Next week we will begin learning about each of the foods we will eat at the Seder meal and the meaning behind each food. Please respond to the email from Lynn O’Connor if you can help with food or set-up/clean up.

LRS: Many students are finishing up collecting information about their topic. I will be asking students to bring their facts in for me to check over them when they are done, so feel free to send in your folder if you are finished. Next week, I will show the students an example of a completed LRS board and discuss the planning more in depth. Information about the requirements and planning the presentation will come home on Monday. A storyboard plan is due March 20.

Coming Up:

· March book report is biography. Book report forms are in your child’s binder and available in the classroom.

· Tuesday, March 11 is our field trip to the Underground Tour and Pike’s Place Market – 10:15 to 2:30. Please send a disposable lunch and an extra big snack as we will be walking all day.

· Thursday, March 13 – Report Cards

· Friday, March 14 – Teacher In-service

· Tuesday, March 18 – Seder Meal - 11am-1pm

· Wednesday, April 2 is our field trip to the cathedral and Lakeview Cemetery.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Haylie

Birthdays: 8^th Emma

February 29, 2008

Dear Families,

Happy Leap Day! Hopefully you enjoyed your extra day this year! We had a great time this morning discussing what would happen if your birthday was on leap day.

Language Arts: Students began writing their first draft of their LRS opinion paragraphs. They are focusing on connecting the reasons to their opinion by using words such as “which,” “that shows,” and “to explain.” We will continue working with these drafts by revising with a partner and writing the final draft in cursive. These paragraphs will be displayed with their LRS project in April. We have also been focusing on reading nonfiction text with an emphasis on graphic aids (pictures, maps, charts, timelines). Students are learning to use the graphic aids to learn more information than what is in the text and to visualize what the text describes.

Math: Students enjoyed playing multiplication Jeopardy on Monday to review the concepts we have learned about multiplication. Many students are becoming more confident with story problems as we continue to practice them more often. This week we also began working on telling time to the quarter hour and to the nearest minute. You can support your child at home by having them figure out what time it is on an analog clock. Next week we will begin working on elapsed time, so asking your child questions such as, “What time will it be when soccer practice starts, if it starts in 20 minutes?” will be helpful in developing this skill as well.

Social Studies and Science: This week students began creating a timeline of events they have studied in Seattle’s history. They are making decisions such as when to put the markers, and students chose every 10 years or decade. Building the timeline also helps them to work on their organization skills by deciding the best way to write the information and hang it on the timeline. It will be hanging in the hallway outside our classroom if you want to stop by and take a look. In science this week, we explored the different states of water: solid, liquid and gas. Students observed a dish or water covered with saran wrap for two days to see what would happen. They saw how the water evaporated and then condensed back into water droplets on the saran wrap when it cooled down. We discussed how this is similar to what happens to the mirror when you take a hot shower or bath, so don’t be surprised if they want to check it out a little closer. Students also predicted the fastest way to melt an ice cube and found that a hot hair straightener worked the fastest. Heat is the energy making all these changes happen.

Religion: We finished our work on the Law of Love by talking about the Sign of Peace and what it really means to live in a peaceful world. The students concluded that when you give someone the Sign of Peace at Mass, you are really wishing them a happy life and telling them you care. This week we have also been working in the Steps to Respect program on how to join a group and defining and recognizing bullying. Students learned some steps for successfully asking to join a group and how to ask again if they are not successful the first time. The steps include: standing nearby to watch and listen, saying something positive, asking to join, saying or doing something helpful, and asking again. Of course even when we do everything right, things can sometimes still go wrong. Later in the week, we discussed a definition for bullying. Our definition is that bullying is something that is unfair, one-sided, and it keeps hurting, frightening, threatening, or leaving someone out on purpose. Students practiced recognizing it in different situations and in a video they watched. Over the next few weeks, we will also work on how to stand up for yourself and others and how to report bullying behavior.

LRS: Your child should continue to gather facts for their topic. Please remember to write the facts in short phrases, and don’t copy the entire sentence. This will help them to put the information into their own words when putting together their display.

Reminders:

· Wednesday, March 5 there will be a Reconciliation service in the morning.

· Remember to send back your permission slip for the field trip on Tuesday, March 11. Thank you for the overwhelming response for drivers! We may not need everyone, so we will let you know next week.

· Tuesday, March 18 we will be having a Seder meal for the third grade. We are looking for someone to coordinate volunteers for set-up, clean up, and bringing food. If you are interested, please email Miss Harrell or Miss Cahill.

· Friday, March 14 – No school for teacher inservice

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Jane

Birthdays: 8^th Emma G.

February 22, 2008

Dear Families,

This week certainly flew by! However we did manage to squeeze in quite a bit of learning. Students finished up work on their writing projects for a specific audience. They have been working in pairs or threes to write a short piece for younger children (Pre-K – 1^st grade), children our age (3^rd-5^th), or older kids and adults. They definitely rose to the challenge and did a great job using graphic aids and words that fit their audience. We tied this idea to our LRS by remembering that people from all three of these groups will be coming to see our displays, and students will want to appeal to all audiences on their display boards.

Students also had the chance to participate in a Passport Live session in social studies. This was a live feed over the internet on reading different types of maps. The students could see the presenter as she taught them a little about what type of information can be found on different types of maps, and they could type in answers to her questions as she taught. This is a great learning opportunity made available to us through 21^st Century Learning. The students were very engaged and reviewed some of the skills they learned already this year, such as using a compass rose, and learned some new skills, such as reading an elevation map and natural vs. political regions.

This week we began the Steps to Respect program. This program is a bullying prevention program which will teach students to recognize bullying behaviors, get help, and learn assertive strategies to stand up for themselves and others when bullying behaviors happen. This week we reviewed what respectful behavior is and how that creates a school we want to be a part of. Preventing bullying behaviors from happening starts with building good friendships based on respect. This was a perfect tie in to our religion lessons this week which focused on forgiving others and loving your enemies. Students discussed why this is difficult and situations where they have the opportunity to be loving towards others who have hurt them or just those they don’t know well.

We are finishing up our formal study of multiplication strategies and concepts in the classroom. The students have learned strategies for solving multiplication problems, multiplying three factors, and finding a missing factor. At this point I expect that students know how to solve any one-digit multiplication problem using strategies like repeated addition or drawing pictures, be able to apply their knowledge to story problems, and that they have some of their facts memorized. Students will continue to work on memorizing their multiplication facts as we move on to the concepts of time and measurement next week.

LRS interviews were due today. Please email or write a note, if you have not been able to complete your interview for some reason and you have not notified me already. Students should continue gathering facts for their four categories. Remember there is no written report with your LRS project, but you will need your facts to help you organize your display board to show what you know. I will be sending home more information about the display boards in mid-March.

Reminders:

· Biography Book Report is due Friday, February 29.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Harrell

Miss Cahill

Superstar: Hanna

Birthdays: 1^st Elise (1/2)

February 15, 2008

Dear Families,

Happy Valentine’s Day! Thank you to everyone who helped us to have a successful Valentine’s Day party. The kids