Mrs. Fraser, October 14, 2013

REVIEW CHARACTER TRAIT:  Diligence

Reference:  Colossians 3:23-24

Review Bible Verse:  

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.

As working for the Lord, not for human masters,

Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

 Definition:  Working hard to accomplish a task in a way that pleases my Lord

Opposite:  Laziness or slothfulness

SPELLING:  LESSON 10

Pattern Words-Consonant Blends & Silent Letters

1.  calf

2.  silky

3.  built

4.  palm

5.  lamb

6.  fields

7.  world

8.  helper

9.  gulped

10.  crumb

11.  melted

12.  Psalms

13.  building

14.  climber

15.  calmed

16.  halftime

17.  yourself

18.  cornstalk

High-Frequency Words

19.  nothing

20.  machine

Challenge Words

* folklore

* reservations

PARENT CORNER

END OF THE FIRST QUARTER

The first quarter concluded Friday, Oct. 11th. Grades will be finalized by Tuesday evening. You will be able to view your child’s report card on Powerschool and print it by Wednesday of this week.  These reports should help serve as a guide to set goals for the second quarter.  Congratulations to those students who worked hard to do their very best and to those who exhibited strong character traits and faith!

COME PRAY WITH US!

Moms in Prayer International gathers women together to pray specifically and scripturally for our children and schools.

Who: Fresno Christian K-12 Moms

Day/Time: Fridays, 8-9 am

Where: People’s Church, Room 204, behind the church office.

Contact: Janet Moore @ 448-0947/349-1643 or rjdamoore@att.net

FALL FESTIVAL

 Our fall festival this year will take place on October 19th from 4:00 PM- 7:00 PM on the North Field.   Bring your blanket or chairs and come enjoy the food and fun!  This is a great time for family and friend’s fun!

TUESDAY LIBRARY DAYS

Just a reminder that every Tuesday afternoon is Library Day for our third grade class from 2:00-2:45 PM.  Please remember to return your library books to the library in a timely manner.  Students may keep their books for book report projects until the projects are due.  Students also should check out a minimum of 1-2 Red Star books weekly for the Reading Counts program.

MINIMUM DAY

Wednesday, October 16 will be a minimum release day at 12:00 PM due to staff in-service.

BOX TOP LABELS

Congratulations third graders!!!!!  We are in the lead with the most box top labels so far!!!!!  Keep those Box Top Labels coming in every Friday!  We want to take first place at the conclusion of the contest.  Collecting labels actually generates quite a bit of money for our school and we are proud to help our school!

BURN AWARENESS ASSEMBLY

The Fresno Fire Department will present an interactive Burn Awareness Assembly  for Grades 1-3 this Thursday, October 17 from 1:00-1:45 PM in the Student Ministries Center Main.  Fire Safety and Family Emergency/Evacuation Plans for the home will be covered in helping children to think smart and quick in an emergency.

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week we begin Unit 2 Native American Indians.  We will learn about  “The Land and the First People”  including tribes of California, using the land, trade and government, customs and folklore.  We will also study about “California Native Americans Today” and learning to preserve the culture.

DISCOVERY OF THE YOKUTS

On Monday, October 21, Silas Emerian’s great aunt, Nancy Hoyt, will visit our classroom.  She visits many 3rd and 4th grade classrooms in Fresno and the surrounding areas to give a presentation about local Native American tribes.  She will be our guest from 12:30-2:30 PM to share original artifacts and photos about the Yokuts tribe (who lived from Stockton to Dinuba).  

After the presentation the class will break into four groups:

One group will grind acorns (she has the original pestles)

One group will look at books of animal footprints, foods the Indians ate, etc.

One group will make copies of woven basket designs on fake leather;

One group will examine arrowheads  

It will be a very hands-on afternoon and Mrs. Hoyt has an amazing way with children to bring these things alive.  We look forward to a great day of exploring and discovering!

SCIENCE

Last Friday we learned how to draw the largest creature on Earth– the endangered BLUE WHALE!  We learned that they can grow up to 100 feet long!!  Our sketches turned out beautiful!!  This quarter we will begin a study of the ocean habitat.  We will learn about the rocky seashore, the sandy shore,  the wetlands, kelp forest, deep sea canyons, tide pools, open ocean, marine mammals, sharks, skates, and rays, fishes, and food webs in the sea.  We are so excited about our approaching  hands-on experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Thursday, November 7.  Next week I will list the parents who are planning to accompany our class as chaperones.

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

Operation Christmas Child brought smiles to the faces of 7.7 million poor, sick and suffering children in more than 100 countries last year through shoeboxes filled with school supplies, hygiene items, toys, candy and other small gifts.  But these boys and girls received something even more important than a Christmas present.  They also leaned about the greatest gift of all—God’s son, Jesus Christ.

Each year, Operation Christmas Child delivers millions of shoebox gifts to children in desperate circumstances around the world.  In addition to bringing happiness to boys and girls who other wise wouldn’t receive any presents, this exciting project of Samaritan’s Purse also opens doors for presenting the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Through children’s literature and evangelistic programs, many lives are changed for eternity.

We would like to invite you to join us this year as we again reach out to boys and girls in the Name of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to collect 250 shoeboxes at Fresno Christian Elementary by November 7 for children who face a daily struggle against war, persecution, disease, natural disaster, poverty, illness, or neglect.  Pray that God will meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

BIBLE

This quarter we will finish our study in Unit 2 of Abraham and the story of Isaac.  We will begin Unit 3 with the story of Jacob and his brother Esau and their struggle over the birthright and blessing. We will also explore the challenges of Joseph and his 11 brothers and learn how Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt, follows after God’s own heart, and rises from prison to palace as the second highest in command of all of Egypt, the most powerful country in the world at this time in history.  We will also continue to hide God’s word in our hearts as we memorize character trait verses each week which teach about following Christ’s example.

MATH

Wednesday, October 16th our class will have a test over Chapter 2 Money and Time.  A pre-test will be sent home as a study guide in preparation for Wednesday’s test.  Please return the completed study guide the day of the test.

This week we will also begin spending the next few weeks learning to add and subtract greater numbers.  We will also round numbers to estimate sums and differences.  You can expect to see work that provides practice in adding and subtracting numbers with up to four digits, using regrouping.

WRITING

This 2nd quarter our third grade class will be  focusing on writing a personal narrative on an event or an experience in their lives.  They will be taught to write a beginning paragraph which will include the characters and setting,  a middle paragraph with the events, supporting facts or details to help the reader imagine the event or experience and an ending that ties it all together.  We will continue to review correct grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.  Students will also learn how to use the rubric to see the expectations and to grade their own writing.  Benchmark writing assessments will be in December.