Upcoming Dates & This Week

Hello Families!

I hope you all enjoyed our short break. The next break is just around the corner, and we will soon be at the end of our first semester. Here are some dates to put on your calendar between now and then:

• November 30th: November birthdays bring snack to snack time 
• December 7: Nervous System Quiz 
• December 11th: Test on Rome Unit --study guides will be provided prior to the test
• December 12th: ALICE IN WONDERLAND PARTY! 9-11 A.M. 
• December 11th-14th: Half-days for students
• Week of December 10th-14th: Human Body cumulative assessment (skeletal, muscular, nervous systems)
• December 14th: Last day of First Semester (and Second Quarter)

Thank you to all parents who volunteered at the Fortune-Telling booth. It was truly a fun event and it was only possible because our wonderful volunteers. Thank you. I am already looking forward to next year. 

We have another amazing event coming up very quickly: the famed 3rd grade celebration of reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland! You should have received an email about the Alice in Wonderland party, including a link to a signup genius. We will need many volunteers for this event, as the entire third grade participates. If you are unable to donate your time, please donate supplies for the event.

Click for link to Volunteer Sign Up

Click for link to Supplies Sign Up

On Monday and Tuesday this week we worked on getting our list of spelling words back to a full 20 and practice testing on whiteboards. Students will be tested on the list starting with the word "muscle" tomorrow. Friday, they will be tested on the list starting with "relieve." In literature, we are focusing on Point of View. We are working on editing our second drafts of our expository paragraphs in writing. Finally, in grammar, we will review prepositional phrases, discuss subject-verb agreement, and classify nouns with skill building exercises.

Students took a quiz on the muscular system on Tuesday and overall did very well. We will introduce the nervous system this week, which will include discussion of the Central and Peripheral Nervous System (CNS & PNS), spinal cord, neurons, and parts of the brain including: medulla, cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and cerebrum. Next week we will discuss how messages are sent through the body and take a more in depth look at some of the wonders of the nervous system and the senses. We plan to have a quiz by the end of next week, depending on how the week goes. 

In History, we are continuing to study the wonders of Ancient Rome. Students are learning Roman Trivia of the Day in addition to daily lessons. Lessons for the week: Roman Expansion and Two Roman Leaders (Caesar and Augustus), Engineering Feats of the Romans, Famous Buildings I, Famous Buildings II, and Pompeii.