We returned to school after Thanksgiving break with a bang (as well as lots of “Ooooos” and “Aaaaahs”) by going on a field trip to see the legendary Mummenschanz perform at Zellerbach Hall at Cal! Thank you to our parent volunteers who braved the light rain and elusive bus rides to chaperone for our Berkeley adventure. Third graders were terrific audience members and reflected on the performance though writing and illustrating when we got back to TBS. These reflections are being sent onto Cal Performances and the Mummenschanz troupe by request.

In math we continued our rich, real-world investigations of multiplication with the story of Muffles Truffles. Ask your mathematician/candy maker how they figured out how many boxes of 10 per truffle flavor, how many extras there were, and how many assorted boxes could be made. Then they figured out how much money could be made by selling all those yummy boxes of truffles! We also started practicing and assessing our multiplication fact fluency by doing weekly “Five-Minute Frenzies.” Try out some online games to practice multiplication facts at home and watch for some triangle flashcards to come home before Winter Break.

In reading workshop this week we discussed how main characters often change throughout a story as they face challenges and pursue goals. We analyzed beloved characters from our read aloud books and then applied this skill by analyzing a character of choice from Patricia Polacco’s, Trees of the Dancing Goats. Buddy Reading continues to be a highlight of the week when we practice accuracy, fluency, expression, and other reading skills. It’s also a way to learn about new books.

Our cursive practice continues! We are also wrapping up our expository essays explaining three things we are most thankful for, and will be sharing them in our Celebration of Learning the Friday before Winter Break from 8:30-10:00. This is typically a busy day at TBS with lots of visitors so come early to find parking in front of the school or in the Ledger’s lot (spots 1-20).

In cultural studies and science we have been learning about all kinds of landforms and created flip books with Julianne to demonstrate our knowledge.

Our Calendula seeds that we planted with Mariah from the Ohlone Herbal Center are sprouting and we watched part of a Nature PBS documentary “What Plants Talk About” and learned how plants communicate, respond, attack, and help each other. We discovered that plants behave a lot like animals, only much, much slower.

Next week, we will be having the Hour of Code in the classroom and starting holiday letter writing.