Second Quarter

Second quarter has passed by so quickly. In our previous post we shared all the special events of Advent. It is such a joy to be I. A Catholic school and share our faith in such special ways. We started the New Year with our unit on prayer. Special prayers have been written and placed in our prayer corner. This quarter we explored Native American cultures. Working in cooperative learning groups we researched using the iPads different tribes and designed posters to share with our classmates. Book reports were on Native American themes and a scene from the book was painted and created into totem poles. To culminate the unit we made dream catchers that are on display in our classrooms. In reading we shared as a group the novels The Best Christmas Paegant Ever and Annie and the Old One. We continue reading a variety of literature in guided reading and working on comprehensions skills of predictions, analyzing information and inferences. Writers' workshop has involved writing about personal events in our lives. It's fun writing on special memories. Our skills are improving as we work on nouns, verbs, and sentence structure in our grammar book. We continue reinforcing cursive writing. Math has been a challenge in understanding multiplication. Many strategies have been introduced such as illustrating groupings, arrays, using counters, and specific strategies for 2,4,5, and 9's. The challenge is to transfer this knowledge to fluency of the facts. The motivation is an "Ice Cream Sundae" party in completing our multiplication facts. We are finishing our units on Earth Materials and Sound. We are looking forward to starting Project Lead the Way. We will keep you posted!

 

Advent

Advent is a special time of year for the third graders. We did many activities to make the season meaningful and fun as they prepared their hearts for the birth of Jesus. During this season we had an Advent wreath and each week we lit a candle and had a prayer service on Monday mornings. Each day we shared the Jesse Tree story where we discussed and learned about Jesus' ancestors through the different bible stories leading up to Christmas. Each child had a coloring packet of the story that illustrated the story. We enjoyed learning the history of Jesus' family. The "Kindness Elf" visited each classroom and left messages of kind acts that the children could do each day. We made cards for a soldier in Syria who lost his friend in a bomb explosion. Cards were also made thanking the lunchroom helpers, Mrs. Holton, Mr. Leonhardt and Mr. Charlie. Cards were also made for the residents at Newcastle and LaSata. We helped the 3K kids make a special ornament for their parents. They are fun to be with. The Christmas program was a huge success and we loved our songs. The whole school gathered at the end to sing Silent Night. It was a special night that will always be remembered. We read the Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It is a beautiful story helping us to understand the true meaning of Christmas and how we need to be thankful for all that we have. On our last day before vacation the teachers made a delicious "Pancake Breakfast." What fun! We decorated cookies with our 8th grade  buddies and took them to share with the residents of LaSata. We sang many Christmas songs for the residents and shared the cards we made for them. It was a joy to bring happiness to the residents. We have been truly blessed at Lumen Christi and we are thankful for God's gifts to us.  Wishing blessings to everyone in the New Year!