Week of May 20th 2013

Dear Families,

            I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was great to see you at Pentecost mass and the Spring Festival. The children had a fantastic time dissecting clams last week. I hope they shared their experience with you! The hands-on experience was wonderful for the children to learn about the texture and body parts of a clam.

            As a final assessment in Science, the children are creating a game to show their knowledge of the solar system. In Math, we have finished geometry and will finish off the year with data, graphs, probability and fractions. In Social Studies, we have learned why communities change over time. Next, we will learn about how people in a community meet their needs.

Have a wonderful week, and hope your children enjoy Spirit Week!

Peace and Love,

Christine Cosbey 

Thank you

Ms. Wallice and I would like to thank the 3rd Grade families for the beautiful flowers and card for Teacher Appreciation Day! We are enjoying our flowers. Thank you so much!! We love being partners with you to educate your children. They are all so wonderful.  

The Buzz in 3rd Grade: May 13th 2013

Dear Families,

I hope all the mothers had a lovely Mother’s Day this weekend! The children put a lot of thought and work into their letters and I hope you enjoyed them. We practiced our letter writing by first making 2-column notes to gather our ideas, then we wrote our rough draft, and lastly the final draft. We practiced writing with a topic sentence and supporting it with details, and ending with a closing sentence.

            Educators from Lawrence Hall of Science’s MARE program will be teaching a lesson on dissecting clams this Tuesday! We are SO excited for this lesson, especially since we have background knowledge about the Wetlands and clams already. It will be very fun to have this hands-on experience to learn even more about clams and their anatomy.

            In math, we will be ending our chapter with lessons on solid figures and volume. Remember that your children can always go on mathletics to practice. I assign activities that go with what we are learning in class. Please also help your children continue working on their multiplication! We are still doing the 1 minute timed tests in class.  

 Peace and Love,
Christine Cosbey 

Walk and Talk with our Principal on Wednesday Mornings!

Miss Wilkie would like you to join her on Wednesday morning walks! Let her know your thoughts and get to know one another better! Here is her invitation: 

Do you enjoy walking and chatting?  I invite each of you to join me on the remainingWednesday mornings of this school year.  We will leave the campus directly after morning assembly for a half an hour walk around our beautiful neighborhood.  It is important to me to be available to the parents of St. Jerome to answer questions and catch up regarding various activities and events at the school, and I thought that this would be a great way to accomplish that and promote healthy habits at the same time. There is no need to RSVP, and you can join me for 1 or more Wednesdays. I hope you will put on your tennis shoes and join me!

Parent Appreciation Party

Hello Parents!

This is a reminder that there will be a Parent Appreciation Fiesta on Wednesday, May 29, 2013 from 6:00pm – 7:30pm! 

I look forward to seeing you there to thank you for all your support your give to your child(ren) and our school. 

Week of May 6th 2013

Dear Families,

            May is the month of Mary! It would be wonderful if you could talk about how you feel and what you know about our Blessed Virgin Mary at home. The children will learn more about Mary this week and will be able to share some of their knowledge and thoughts with you too! Don’t forget that this Friday we will be having our May Crowning mass at 8:45 AM. It will also be Grandparents Day and a noon dismissal day.

            In Science, we are learning about the Wetlands on a deeper level through the MARE (Marine Activities, Resources & Education) program from Lawrence Hall of Science. Come see the children’s beautiful artwork on our hallway bulletin board! Along with MARE, we are also continuing our studies in the Science book. We will be finishing our unit on the Solar System as well.

            In Social Studies, we have learned how miners fled to California for gold after 1848 and that towns near gold mines were called boom towns. Next, we will learn about Lakewood, CA in order to be able to describe in the end how each historical period of settlement left its mark on the land.

Peace and Love,
Christine Cosbey 

The Buzz in 3rd Grade: April 15th 2013

Moon phase calendar

Please use this link to check the phases of the moon if you are not able to look up at the sky at night:

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases_calendar.phtml

The Buzz in 3rd Grade: April 8th 2013

Dear Families,

Welcome back from Easter break! I hope you all had a restful time with your family. May you be filled with the peace of Christ’s love this Easter season.

The children continue to be excited about taking their timed multiplication tests. Please make sure they are practicing at home. You can look on our 3^rd Grade website for math games websites if you are interested. We are now learning about the customary system of measurement.

In Science, we have our first home project. Please help your children to make a poster of what the moon looks like each day of this week (Monday-Friday) and have them label the day of the week under each picture. This will be due next Monday, April 15^th.

In Social Studies, we are ending our unit on the Kumeyaay tribe, and we will begin learning about the Spanish that came to California, then the new settlers who came for gold, and about Lakewood, California (one of the country’s first planned communities.

Peace and Love,

Christine Cosbey 

The Buzz in 3rd Grade: March 11th 2013

Dear Families,

Who will be our next pope? The 3^rd graders have learned about this search for a new pope and along with the rest of the grades, we will be presenting one of the candidates. The candidate that 3^rd grade will present to the school at morning assembly on Tuesday, March 12^th is Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi from Italy. The class has learned important facts about him, and has made a poster to share with the school. 

Last week we had a very lively and critical thinking- filled conversation about generals, captains, and council of the Kumeyaay tribe. This week we will be ending our chapter by comparing and contrasting the Kumeyaay tribe in the past to today.

After analyzing the length of our shadows, we have developed a conclusion to state whether we were correct in our hypothesis or not, and explaining our findings. This week, we will be learning about how the seasons change.

Lastly, we are writing a limerick poem for St. Patrick’s Day, which the children are having fun with. Have a wonderful week!

Peace and Love,

Christine Cosbey