Dear Third Grade Parents,

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving Break spending time with family and friends.  I know I sure did.  I am now looking forward to this special time of Advent as we prepare to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.  This has always been a favorite time of year for me.  I cannot wait to share it with my third graders.

Please be sure to check this week's Curriculum Update to see all that we will be up to.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Curriculum Update for the Week of December 1, 2014:

Religion:  Advent introduction- preparing for the Son of God; Saints of Advent- Lucy, Nicholas and Mary; Begin chapter 10:  Jesus teaches his followers how to pray; praying by ourselves and with others;

Math:  Add and subtract time; Solve word problems involving time; Read and create pictographs; Read and create bar graphs with multi-digit numbers

Reading:  Continue in guided reading groups- Chasing Vermeer, The Courage of Sarah Noble, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Stone Fox

Social Studies:  Begin Chapter 4:  A changing way of life for Native Americans; Preserving the culture; Indian Island

Science:  Begin Chapter 5:  What is an ecosystem?;  Places for living things; Parts of an ecosystem; How living things get energy; food chains;

Language Arts:  Spelling unit 11;  Spelling Test on Friday;  Begin Advent writing piece- "How My Family Prepares for Jesus' Birthday

Music:  Continue to practice for Christmas pageant;  Practice recorders and learn new songs

Art:  Continue to work on self-portraits


This week should be a quiet week.  Tomorrow the third graders will be receiving the Sacrament of Penance.  We will be reviewing the steps of penance so each student feels prepared for this special sacrament.  Also, don't forget, this Friday is the first Friday of the month and there will be an all-school mass on Friday at 11:15.  Please feel free to come and join us as we celebrate the mass together as a school community!

Have a wonderful week.  Thank you for all you do to make Stella Maris Academy an amazing place to learn.  Take care and God bless.

Sincerely,
Ms.  Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Let the holiday happiness begin!  This week is promising to be quite busy with learning the best we can despite the four half days and SMA's upcoming Spirit Run this Thursday.  Please be sure to look over this week's Curriculum Update for a tentative schedule of what we are covering this week in third grade.

Curriculum Update for the Week of November 17, 2014:

Religion:  Continue Chapter 9- professing our faith; the Apostles' Creed; the Holy Spirit guides the Church

Math:  Telling time; telling time before and after the hour; elapsed time; Continue to review multiplication tables

Social Studies:  Continue to read and discuss What Was the First Thanksgiving

Science:  Finish and review chapter 4- animal life cycles

Reading:  Continue to read and discuss Ramona Quimby, Age 8- chapters 6-9;  meet in guided reading groups

Language Arts:  continue and finish Thanksgiving paragraph; Spelling test on Friday

Art: Continue to work on self portraits; Art Literacy with Mrs. Daly on Monday

I hope all of you have a blessed and restful Thanksgiving.  Thank you for all you do to help make Stella Maris Academy an amazing place to learn.  Take care and God bless.  See you this week during Parent Teacher Conferences.

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Thank you to all who were able to come and celebrate SMA's annual All Saints' Day celebration.  It was a great day of celebrating our Catholic role models and heroes of faith.  I especially enjoyed seeing all of the costumes and hearing the students' reports.  We still have a few more to get through, but so far, so fabulous.

Thank you, parents for guiding your third grader through the process of creating a power point presentation.  I know it was not an easy task, but I knew the end results would be worthwhile.  The presentations are outstanding!

Tomorrow the third graders and their sixth grade buddies will go on their walking field trip to Casa de Manana to visit with our senior friends and begin the Veterans' Day celebrations a day early.  We are planning to sing some patriotic songs and deliver some decorated cards.  I think it will be a valuable experience of community outreach and I know the students are looking forward to putting their Christian Service in action.

Please be sure to review this week's Curriculum Update!

Curriculum Update for the Week of November 10, 2014:

Religion:  Finish and review Chapter 8;  Chapter 8 Quiz on Friday;  Finish Saint power point presentations

Math:  Metric units of liquid volume; customary units of weight and metric units of mass; solve word problems involving liquid volume and mass; Telling time;  Study 5 times tables!!!

Social Studies:  Continue to read and discuss What Was the First Thanksgiving;

Reading:  Continue to read and discuss, Ramona Quimby, Age 8;  complete comprehension activities for chapters 3-6;  Continue guided reading groups

Language Arts:  Grammar:  End of the unit test on Monday- subjects, verbs, prepositions and prepositional phrases, complete subjects and complete verbs. Students will be able to use their list of prepositions to assist them;  Spelling:  Unit 10 Test on Friday

Science:  Finish Chapter 4-  animal life cycles: butterflies, frogs, and mammals

I hope everyone has a fantastic week.  Thank you for all you do to help make Stella Maris Academy an amazing place to learn.  Take care and God bless!

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Happy November!

Dear Third Grade Parents,

This week marks the start of the second quarter of third grade.  As I told the class last Friday, new quarters mean a fresh start and many of the students were excited to hear that, to begin again and to work toward greater successes.  I know they can all do it!

Here is this week's Curriculum Update.

Curriculum Update for the Week of November 3, 2014:

Religion:  Continue Chapter 8- the Apostles lead the Church; the popes and the bishops are the successors of the Apostles;  the Marks of the Church;  Saint Report due Friday!

Math:  Unit 2 Review;  No Unit 2 Test!;  Begin unit 3:  Customary units of measurements; customary units of liquid volume

Reading:  Begin 2nd quarter novel study:  Ramona Quimby, Age 8- chapters 1-3;  guided reading groups- read and discuss group novels

Language Arts:  Finish review of unit 1- subjects, verbs, imperative sentences and prepositions;  Unit 1 Test on Thursday;  Spelling unit 9 Test on Friday

Social Studies:  Read "What Was the First Thanksgiving" and complete comprehension activities and graphic organizers

Science:  Continue Chapter 4- inherited and learned behaviors;  animal life cycles- frogs, mammals and butterflies

I hope everyone has a fantastic week.  Don't forget, this Friday is our All Saints' Day mass and procession.  Come watch the students dressed up as their saints as they parade into the church.  I hope to see you there.

Thank you for all you do to make Stella Maris Academy an amazing place to learn.  Take care and God bless!

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher