Grade 3

Dear Parents,

The end of the year is fast approaching and soon you will see all of the hard work come home in the students’ portfolios. Please go over the assignments together and chat about what they learned and how they can apply their knowledge in another setting or area of interest. Please tuck this portfolio away and take it out years from now to remember the fun educational activities from the 3rd grade.

Thank you for a great year and good luck to all my third graders as they move on to fourth grade.

Have a wonderful summer break!

God Bless you and your families.

Mrs. Lisa Castillo

Here are a few dates coming up to keep in mind:

June 4th- Some have a Dick’s lunch in the classroom(this was an auction purchase)

June 5th -Buddy Lunch is a free lunch day provided by the school

June 5th- 8th-grade assembly at 1:45 in the gym

June 6th– Free Dress Day- for all students that brought a small donation for the 8th-grade fundraiser for clean water in the developing world.

June 6th- Class cleaning day- Expect backpacks to be full of notebooks, folders and school supplies. Send in a grocery bag to carry items home.

June 7th-Field Day-Free Dress- Please come with sun screen on and a labeled water bottle. We will eat lunch at Sandel Park, so lunch should be disposable. If you are a parent volunteer, please meet in the classroom at 8:50, we will leave for the park at 9:00.

June 8th- Dress Uniform- Prayer service and dismissal at 10:30.

Summer Reading and Math Program- Please look for a handout in the report card envelope and a link on the St. John webpage. When students complete the program they receive a free dress day in September.

Dear Parents,

The Spring Concert was such a big hit! Thank you to Mrs. Kelly for creating and teaching such fun-filled songs to the third, fourth and fifth graders. I have been humming the last song, The Best Day of My Life, to myself ever since the show.

There are a lot of important dates coming up that I will summarize for you here:

May 1st-The Crowning of Mary-9:00 am, dress uniform, please.

May 7th-8th-10th-MAP Testing– please make sure your child has a healthy, protein filled breakfast and snack, thank you.

May 10th- Jump Rope for Heart- Free dress, athletic wear- your American Heart Association contribution can be turned in or made online after this date.

May 16th-18th-Book Fair

May 25th-3rd Grade field trip to The Moore Theater, 10:30, to see the Bishop Blanchet musical, Guys and Dolls.

May 28th-Memorial Day-no school

May 29th-3rd Grade Breakfast-Auction Item-7:30 in the classroom for all students signed up by parents at the auction. Thank you for your support of St. John School!!

May 30th-Skipping School for Sundaes-Auction Item-For all students signed up by parents at the auction. Again, thank you for your support for this auction item!

Religion: The students are designing a short prayer experience for the class. Each student will be in a collaborative group with clear guidelines. Some requests might come home to parents for items such as: a table cloth, candle, cross, special song or inspirational quote. Thank you for your guidance with these requests.

Math: The students are wrapping up measurement and will move into Interpreting Data with graphing and charts. Please continue to keep those math facts sharp as the students move into summer and then into 4th grade. If students have addition/subtraction and multiplication/division facts memorized by heart or quick recall, it will help them next year.

Reading/Writing: The students are diving into Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White. This classic story informs the students about friendship as the main theme. The students will also focus on characters. Which qualities make this character kind? angry? impatient? At the end of the month, the students will have character day. More information to come about this fun day.

Science: The students are beginning the unit about Magnets. They are investigating the properties of magnets and designing a solution to a common problem by using magnets. Look at where magnets are in your daily life and imagine that item without a magnet. Conversely, look at an everyday item and add a magnet to its functionality to see if it makes the item work better.

As the year speeds by, I want to thank you again for all of your positive support in and out of the classroom.

God Bless,

Mrs. Lisa Castillo

 

Dear Parents,

I want to thank the chaperones on the field trip to, The Burke Museum, Kelly Kasper, Teresa Campbell, Betsy Smith, Emily Truong, Annie Martin, Adam Golbienko, Andrew Feudner and Elizabeth Hanley. It really makes such a difference to have parent support when we “take the classroom outside” and go to our local natural and cultural museum.  We Seattleites are lucky to have a world-class museum in our backyards. If you haven’t been to The Burke in a long time, now is the best time to join and check out the old museum before it closes so that all of the hundreds of museum collections can be moved to the new Burke, which will open in the fall of 2019. One student enjoyed the ice age exhibit and asked, “Mrs. Castillo were you alive during the last ice age?” I gently reminded her that the last ice age was 10 to 14 thousand years ago! Ahhh, the innocence of childhood.

Coming up in the next few weeks:

April 20th- is the school Auction, there is still a little space for the 3rd Grade  Breakfast on May 29th. Sign up with the auction committee.

April 26th-7:00 Spring Concert for grades 3,4,5- Please drop off your 3rd grader at the classroom at 6:40. Students may wear their Sunday best.

Reading– The students are collecting funny and interesting words and phrases from Roald Dahl’s, The BFG. They especially enjoyed the chapter about whizzpoppers!

Math- The students are investigating fractions in math class. With pie shaped and bar-shaped fraction pieces, they are comparing, ordering and finding equivalent fractions.

Writing– The students are trying out many forms of poetry for the month of April. The students are writing and sharing their poems. At the end of the month, we will hold a poetry slam for our 6th-grade buddies to read, write and share poetry. On Thursday, April 26th, the students are encouraged to have a poem in their pocket, to share with whomever asks them, “Do you have a poem in your pocket?” The whole school will be participating with this educational activity on Thursday.

Science- The students are enjoying reading, Magic tree House: Fact Tracker-Dinosaurs. They are writing about fossils, paleontologists, and dinosaurs. The students will end the fossil unit by designing a movie poster for a dinosaur movie. The students decided they wanted to write the plot for the movie too.  Look for these movies in a theater near you!

Future File-

The third grade will be going to Bishop Blanchet’s spring musical, Guys and Dolls, on May 25th at 11:30. If you would like to drive, email me. Field trip permission slips have been sent home and are due this Monday the 30th. Please drive if you can, chaperones are free.

Thank you for your continued support.

God Bless,

Mrs. Lisa Castillo

 

Dear Parents,

This will be a busy two weeks before we all go on Easter break. Your children are working very hard and growing by leaps and bounds, both academically and physically. Please read the following schedule of up coming events for our third-grade classroom.

Also, I attended a wonderful teacher training workshop at The Pacific Science Center and The Gates Foundation. I brought the S.T.E.A.M. activity we learned in the workshop to the classroom and the results were amazing. The students created a Mars Lander using limited time, resources and money, they only had $30 to spend. The collaborative skills that they exhibited made me realize how much they have learned this year through S.T.E.A.M. activities. Here are a few photos of their designs.

 

Thank you for all of your support and positivity.

Mrs. Lisa Castillo

March 19th- Monday-Reconciliation for all third graders. If your child isn’t Catholic they can ask for a blessing from Father Crispin.

March 20th-Tuesday-A musical performance in Egan by a local opera company at 10:00.

March 22nd– Grandparent’s Day for grades Pre-K through 1st, this is a Dress Uniform day for the whole school.

March 23rd– Stations of the Cross, 2:00, this will be a special one with siblings teaming up to read the stations together. Please join us at 2:30 if you can. It’s always nice to have parents sitting with us in the church. It encourages the class to sit a little taller and get more involved.

Holy Week-March 26th through 30th

March 27th– Tuesday- This is our celebration day for a job well done. All students will celebrate their progress in memorizing their multiplication facts with an ice cream sundae. Time TBA.

March 28th-Wednesday- Class picture day in Dress Uniform.

March 30th– Good Friday- Stations of the Cross at 2:00. This is the beautiful shadow stations by our 7th-grade classes. Please join us for this moving reenactment of Jesus’ journey.

The students will leave school in silence as a sign of reverence. Mrs. O’leary and the faculty encourage you and your family to join in with the silent reverence, until you are off school grounds. It is an amazing thing to see, 550 plus students in silence.

April 2nd through 6th– Easter Break and I’ll see you back again on April 9th!

Academic News-

Book reports for the March Women’s History Month books are due on or before March 28th. The students are making boardgames that match the major events in the lives of a famous woman they are reading about: Jane Goodall, Coretta Scott King, Malala, Princess Diana, Sonia Sotomayor or Mo’na Davis.  Most supplies will be provided at school and the board games will be created at school too. You might see them come home for finishing touches.

The Iditarod is wrapping up now that most mushers have reached Nome, Alaska. This year’s winner is a young man from Norway, Joar Ulsom. Our own, Ella, followed him and is our class winner. Her prize is to have the class, Siberian Husky, on her desk and she gets the honor of naming the dog too. We don’t know the Red Lantern, or last place musher yet. This is an honorary position because this musher gets to officially close the race and blow out the symbolic Iditarod lantern, found at the finish line in Nome. For our classroom, the student who has been following the musher who is the red lantern winner, gets to put out our red flashlight. The Red Lantern this year is Connor! Great work by all the mushers.

Looking Ahead-

April 12th is our field trip to the Burke Museum, 9:30 to 12:00.

April 20th is our school auction.

May 1st is the crowning of Mary and Mass at 9:00.

May 25th is our last field trip to Bishop Blanchet’s, Guys and Dolls, the field trip forms will come home in April.

June 8th- Early dismissal for summer break, 10:30.

 

Dear Parents,

Thank you for sending your child in warm layers for this surprise winter blast we have been experiencing. We were all hoping for spring to emerge but we will have to wait a while longer. I do have a few spare sweatshirts and jackets in the classroom if your child forgets their warm layer. On a similar subject, it remains flu season and many of the students have had the flu. Please continue to keep ill children home so that they can rest and come back to school fully recovered. Thank you!

The Stations of the Cross are said 2:30 each Friday during Lent. Please join the class during this important prayer service. The Catholic relief Services rice bowl in the classroom is collecting spare change as we remember to give alms during Lent. Rice bowls were sent home before Ash Wednesday to encourage families to give what they can for the world’s poor. Please bring your rice bowl back to school or church during Holy Week, March 26th through 30th. Thank you.

On March 7th we have an all-school Mass and this is a dress uniform day. Please come at 8:45 and sit with your child. You are always welcome to join us as we celebrate Mass together.

The Spring Musical will be on March 8th at 1:30 in Egan Hall. If you can’t make the evening performance, please join the school for the matinee. It’s sure to be entertaining.

The students are earning the parts of an ice cream sundae as they memorize and test on the multiplication facts 2-12. My hope is that all students will have completed their tests by the time we go on Easter break. The ice cream sundae party to celebrate this accomplishment is tentatively scheduled for March 27th. Please continue to practice math facts at home each night for 10 to 15 minutes.

The movie poster book report is due on February 28th. Many students have presented their posters to the class and they are informative and well made.  The students’ comfort with speaking in front of the class has improved over the last 6 months. Thank you for supporting and encouraging your child with this homework assignment.

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss who would be celebrating his 114th birthday on March 2nd. The students practiced their leadership skills by reading to their buddies in Pre-k. Enjoy these sweet photos.

The Iditarod Sled Dog Race will begin on, March 3rd, from Anchorage, Alaska to Nome, Alaska. Each student will follow a musher and dog team from start to finish. It is an exciting race with lessons that integrate Math, Reading, Writing,Science, Technology, Art and Social Studies. Please visit Iditarod.com for race results and updates.

If the cold weather seems never-ending, keep in mind that Easter break is only 30 days away.

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to call or email.

God Bless,

Lisa Castillo