Wednesday, October 12th- Out & About! Chaperones Needed!
12:50pm-2pm
Level 2 students will tour Goodwill too see how businesses can play a role in sustaining renewable and non-renewable resources, and have break at Bard Park.
Puffins will board a school bus at 12:50 pm, and will be walking back to the school after our tour. Students should dress for being outside and wear good walking shoes. If you are able to join us, please email: [email protected]
Friday, October 14th- NO SCHOOL for students:
Statewide In-Service day
Week of October 10th-13th- Level 2 students should bring in their pumpkin to decorate for our Pumpkin Book Project. (see explanation below)
Wednesday, October 19th- Out & About! Chaperones Needed!
Tualatin River Clean-up
9:30-2:00pm
Level 2 students will meet with the Tualatin Riverkeepers to learn about how litter impacts our local waterway. We'll work together to clean up trash and analyze our findings to think about how we could solve the problem.
If you are able to join us, please email: [email protected]
Friday, October 21st- NO SCHOOL for students:
Grading/Staff Development day
Monday, October 24th- All School Meeting: Puffins Present
Spirit Day: Dress as your favorite character!
Parents are welcome to attend the meeting:
Forest Grove School District building (1728 Main St.) in the Grove Room @ 9:45 am
Monday, October 24th- Puffins to Forest Grove Public Library 2pm-3pm
Chaperones Needed! We will be visiting the children's department every three weeks and can always use parent volunteers to walk with us, encourage our kiddos to make smart choices, and to help kids find and check out books. If you would like to join us, simply meet us in the classroom at 1:55pm on library days.
Students should bring their library cards and a tote bag.
NOTE: I can keep your child's library card in our class card-holder for these trips.
Thursday, October 27th - NO SCHOOL for students
Goal setting conferences
Thursday, October 28th - NO SCHOOL for students
Goal setting conferences
Homework: Weekly homework is due by Thursday morning 10/13
Reading: Spend at least 20 minutes reading (outside of school) every day.
When you finish a book, log onto your google classroom account and complete a reading log response.
Math homework: Students should log on to either Dream Box or Khan Academy (see below) and complete 30 minutes (minimum) of math practice.
I have worksheets for those who prefer a paper assignment, students just need to ask in class. If your home computer does not support Dream Box, or your kiddo prefers to use Khan Academy for math homework, create an account and add me as a coach by following these steps:
- Log in (or sign up) at khanacademy.org
- Visit khanacademy.org/coaches (the “Coaches” tab in your profile).
- In the “Add a coach” field, enter our class code: VQZX2Z
- Place Value
- Addition/Subtraction Algorithm
- Multiplication Facts 2-11
Current 3rd grade math topics:
- Telling Time to the nearest minute
- Multi-digit Addition and Subtraction
Typing Homework: This year, Level 2 students will have typing homework to develop and support important keyboarding skills.
Please practice at least 20 minutes per week on: Typing.com
Account usernames and passwords were given out during Family Visits. Contact Ginny if you have trouble logging into the typing account.
What's Happening in the Puffin Nest?
Pumpkin Book Project
In October, Level 2 students will be writing essays about some of their favorite book characters! Each student will select a special book to write about and then they will learn how to develop opinions about these stories during reading and writing workshop. Another fun aspect of this project is that they will be able to represent their beloved character on a pumpkin! We will be designing and decorating the pumpkins in the classroom and in Art. Parents are invited to see our pumpkin display during student-led conferences! After the presentation, pumpkins will be sent home with students.
Students should bring in their pumpkin this week (Oct. 10th-13th).
Pumpkin donations: If you are able to donate a pumpkin (or more than one pumpkin!), please send it with your kiddo. We would appreciate small or medium-sized pumpkins or squashes that the students can carry on their own. Because we are turning the pumpkins into a variety of our favorite characters, weird-shaped pumpkins and squashes are welcomed. We also had a lot of success with foam pumpkins from the Dollar Tree and other craft stores last year!
Project Work
This Wednesday, the Puffins participated in a LEGO engineering lab brought to FGCS by an Intel outreach program.
Students got hands-on with supply chain concepts:
Source - Make - Deliver - Reuse & Recycle
Students learned about how businesses use a Bill of Materials (BOM) as a recipe: it tells how many of each part is needed to make something.
They applied math skills to complete a Bill of Materials for the production of a LEGO car. Using those materials, they got to design and build their own car.
In groups, students got to tackle two production challenges!
They sourced materials, assembled cars based on their prototype design, ran quality checks and delivered the product to a customer.
Students were asked to reflect about their experiences after two challenges. At the end of the activity, students worked together to recycle parts.
STEM topics included: ratios, story problems, quality engineering, line assembly, prototype production, and supply chain competition.
Read Aloud
In class, we just finished reading Kate Dicamillo's: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane explores the theme of learning from one’s journey. The plot involves the trials and triumphs of a China rabbit as he is lost at sea and then must find his way home, all the while understanding and experiencing the miracles of love and compassion.
Throughout our read aloud, students have been thinking about character traits. They learned that character traits are all the aspects of a person's behavior and attitudes (both good and bad) that make up that person's personality. Using the read aloud as our guide, students considered how characters can grow and change as a result of learning from experiences.
SECOND STEP: Skills for Social, Emotional and Academic Success
This program consists of short lessons, games, songs, skits and stories that address skills for learning and getting along with others. Topics we have covered:
- Empathy
- Listening with Attention
- Being Assertive
- Respecting similarities & differences