Dear Third Grade Parents,

On behalf of her family, thank you to all who helped build Ember's care package.  We made her day.  She is recovering comfortably at home and should be able to join us again soon.    Thank you, again!

I would also like to thank Mrs. Daly and Mrs. Turquand for coming in to teach a  great Art Literacy lesson.  Their time and dedication to this amazing program is greatly appreciated.

Please check the Curriculum Update below to learn what the third graders will be up to this week.

Curriculum Update for the Week of January 19, 2015:

Religion:  Chapter 11 Quiz on Tuesday;  Begin Chapter 12- God calls us all to holiness

Reading:  Continue in guided reading groups; whole group-  read and discuss the story, "Rugby and Rosie";  Go over story vocabulary and comprehension questions;  "Who Was…?" book report due January 27th

Math:  Discuss addition methods;  the grouping concept in addition;  practice addition;  quick quiz on Thursday on rounding to the nearest hundreds and tens and addition;

Science:  Continue Chapter 6:  What are rocks and minerals; what is soil;  the layers of soil

Social Studies:  Begin Chapter 6:  communities grow;  communities grow with the gold rush; how to read population maps; the story of a community

Language Arts:  Vocabulary Workshop- Finish Unit 2 and begin Unit 3- word meaning and complete the sentences;  Grammar- Direct objects; Writing- paragraph titled, "What SMA Means to Me"

Art:  Continue to study Picasso and his use of abstraction, geometric shapes and balanced composition in The Three Musicians;

Music:  Continue to read music and play the recorder

As you can see, the class and I will have a busy week of fun and learning as we wrap up this last week of the second quarter.

Be on the look out for a field trip permission slip coming home this week.  The third graders are heading to Old Town to take a tour of the first community here in San Diego.  It should be a great living experience of what we are studying in Social Studies.

Have a wonderful week of San Diego sunshine.  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