Dear Parents,
Two photos from our field trip on Friday. On top we are looking at photos of pathways of swimming mice, some with Alzheimers and some without. They are looking for a hidden 'dock'. Those Alzheimer mice on the left are having a super hard time finding anything. The below photo is Hannah trying to keep her dry ice soap bubble intact! All that AND time spent in the Buck educational lab looking at the difference soap makes in getting germs OFF of our hands! Wow! What a day. Thanks to everyone who drove us there. It was super interesting.

I can't remember if I mentioned the grant Jackie and I received from Kiddo!? It is a collaborative art/poetry project between 3rd graders in Sausalito, San Rafael and Mill Valley. The theme is pathways....although no Alzheimers in this one! Loosely based on the ancient Japanese art form of Renga, each student in each class begins their art and poem and sends it to the next school. When each of us receives art/poetry from another student, we will add onto it, being thoughtful to interpret best intent! Here are some examples of the art and some poetry:

Run over the bridge and down the stairs.

Go to your destination, be careful, you might fall off

It sure looks like a far way to go

I will wait for you, and good luck!

Leap from lily pad to lily pad

be careful for the flowers

they will blow you up with water

when you come down you will be at the bridge

I’ll meet you there.

The project is about to begin its journey to Sausalito, while we should receive something from San Rafael by the end of January!

In math we have created lots of graphs! The data we collected was the gender breakdown of room 24, third grade Edna, third grade MVSD, Edna, MVSD, Mill Valley, California, and the U.S.A. Then for good measure we graphed the gender composition of the House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Supreme Court Justices, and the Executive Branch Cabinet. No surprises there, however we discovered that while there are slightly more women than men in Mill Valley, California, and the U.S., there are more boys in every category in the Mill Valley School District. We have no idea why, but it was fun to research and think/talk about.

Room 24 continues to get good reports from their science teachers--first Ms. Shern and now Ms. Fisher!

I've been in touch with my Horse Hill contact, Suzanne Gooch. We are currently scheduled to visit the hill on February 15 to see the horse shoe ferrier (is that redundant?) do his thing. We will need to leave PROMPTLY in order to be back in time for chorus, but more about that later. Rain would cancel....and any chaperones are welcome.

It supposed to be clear next week. Personally, that makes me happy.

Enjoy the day,

Carrie

Welcome Back!

Here's the goofy photo of us in front of 85 toiletry kits!
Way to go third grade!!

Dear Room 24 Families,
Welcome back to school and the year 2019! I look forward to hearing of everyone's adventures during the break. Wasn't the weather gorgeous?
Now to jump right into the nitty gritty......Our field trip to the Buck Institute is Friday, January 18. Because of the craziness before break, I am missing a number of field trip permission slips. I am sending home new ones in homework folders tomorrow. Please check your child's homework folder/packet, if you don't see a permission slip it means I have yours! If you do find one, please sign it and return it. We have plenty of drivers already. In fact, we really have more than we need! The drivers signed up are: McIntyre, Boyd, Welte, Chaimongkol, Erving, Mount, and Terrier. This gives up a total of 27 seat belts, so one or two of you might want to do a raincheck? Just let me know. There will be MORE field trips!!
There are lots of new things happening in room 24. Our second science rotation begins this Thursday. Room 24 students will be joining Ms. Fisher for 12 lessons of coding. Pretty fun and all thanks to our wonderful PTA for purchasing the licenses for 80 third graders!
In social studies, we will take another look at our government and the Constitution. We will learn about Shirley Chisholm and Fred Korematsu this month. Give us a few weeks, but then go ahead and ask your child about them! And, if anyone is so inclined, the exhibit 'Exclusion' at the Presidio Officers' Club is well worth the visit....it's free, too!
We will continue to practice addition, subtraction, and multiplication, but will also begin looking at geometry next week. Specifically, we will calculate area and perimeter for polygons, or at least polygons that can be broken into squares and rectangles, and compare the rationale for learning them both.
We are finishing up our unit on character in fiction.....didn't quite finish that one before break. We are close though.
I'm ready to return. I hope you are ready to send your kids back to school!
Carrie