Happy December,

I apologize for the strange substitute situation last week.  I have a plan in place so this doesn't happen in the future.
 Last week we finished reading aloud The One and Only Ivan. It was a powerful and emotional book. 
We are getting ready for a field trip to Reed College on Dec 7th. 

Math: This unit is all about geometry.  We are learning a lot of new vocabulary.  Please ask your student about quadrilaterals, congruent, polygon, and perimeter. 

Writing; We are finishing our unit on writing non-fiction books.  Students are looking forward to publishing their work. Ask them about their topic.

Reading: We ended our unit on reading mystery books, in celebration the students did a wonderful job teaching what they have learned to a 2nd grade class.  We are launching our unit on reading non-fiction text and discussing the differences of reading a novel or story and of reading expository text. 


Science: We have been doing STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) challenges this month.  Last week we did a building challenge where students needed to build a cup tower, but without touching the materials with their hands.  This week they were able to see what scientists face when cleaning an oil spill.  Next week we will problem solve with paper airplanes that carry 'cargo' across a designated line. 

November is upon us!

Dear Families,
Social Studies
We are very excited to continue studying our democratic process.  Next week we will be sending home 'take home' ballots, for you to vote in our mayoral campaign on Monday.  Please take some time to ask your child about what we have been doing to make our campaigns happen.  Please see the links for each precinct (classroom), to see the positive campaign videos the students made. 

Parent Teacher Conferences
Please connect with your classroom teacher to sign up for a conference time if you have not already done so.  Conferences are Nov 9 and 10.  I will try to get our conference sign ups posted soon as well.

Recent Assemblies
Last week we had a 'Tarter Patrol' assembly preformed by Oregon Children's Theater
Today we had Ed Edmo, a Native American storyteller, come share some legends that he heard from his grandfather when he was growing up near Celilo Falls.

Other events
We had vision screening today with our school nurse.
Our Halloween Parade was a lot of fun.  To the parents who got pictures: can you send me copies so I can post them?

Upcoming field trip
We have a field trip to Reed College's Cooley Art Gallery.  Mrs. Neal on Dec 6 in the morning.  Mr. Guron on Dec 7 in the morning.  Ms. Van Clock on Dec 7 in the morning.

The first two weeks of school we had a drama residency.  These are the commercials the 3rd graders created and acted.