Last week and this week we are immersed in a Touch Typing intensive lead by Susan. It is laying a solid foundation with an emphasis on correct finger placement, posture, and hand/wrist stretching. We have seen Temescalians really hit their stride this week! Next week we will be assigning typing practice for homework and will give instruction on how to log in to your child’s account, along with important directions on how to supervise their ongoing practice for the rest of third grade and through the summer.

In math we started a geometry unit investigating polygons. Pairs created posters on a quadrilateral that creatively explains the attributes that make their quadrilateral special. We have been learning a lot of vocabulary in the process including:

angle
acute angle
attribute
line of symmetry
obtuse angle
parallel
parallelogram
perpendicular
polygon
quadrilateral
rectangle
right angle
square
symmetry
vertex or corner
We also created Tangrams after learning more about them and their history through Grandfather Tang’s Story. With our tans we worked to create different shapes and explore important geometric concepts.

Seventh grade buddies came in on Friday and shared their Humanities portfolios. During writing workshop last week we wrote our buddies encouraging letters that they were surprised with during their four-day Outward Bound trip.

Noke-taking for our local animal research started up and we are learning how to identify the most important facts and use note cards and a folder system to organize the research process. Our walking field trip to the West Berkeley library branch just down University is being scheduled for the first week in April. Please make sure your child gets a form filled out to get his/her own library card and we will take it from there. If your Temescalian already has a card, please have it in their backpack and ready to go for next week.

Other reminders:

  • Scholastic book order forms went home yesterday with directions on how to order online or bring the form back completed and accompanied by a check by April 6. This is a great way to get your child excited about reading new books this spring!
  • Grown ups are welcome to join us tomorrow for the Kenyan Boys Choir performance. We are walking down University to Realm at 9:15.
  • Author Visits are taking place on Wednesday, April 4. Look for an email sent yesterday from the Communications Office for more information.
  • The book swap is Thursday, April 5, and we are accepting book donations in the office until April 3.
  • If you would like to share a special read aloud in Temescal during the Readathon next Friday, April 6, please email us and we will schedule a time for you. You are also welcome to just come by and hang out and read on your own with us. The Readathon in an annual favorite so help your child get ready to bring in a bag of books, wear PJs if they want to, and gather up stuffies, blankets, and pillows. Remind your child that they need to be able to carry all their labeled Readathon gear in by themselves and that the focus of the day is on READING. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

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