We have been learning so many amazing things about the animals, layers, and people of the rain forests.  The children have helped to create a board in our classroom demonstrating the various layers and some of the species of animals that live in each. We watched a video of a man doing a walking tour through the canopy, and saw how lizards and different insects can camouflage their bodies for protection.

We have also been studying birds and parts of the egg.  We saw the entire sequence of how the eggs we eat arrive in the store, including talking about free range!  We have even listened to different bird songs.

For a kindness project, our students helped to make carrot cake cupcakes for the local fire station.  They got hands-on experience with grating, mixing and measuring. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers, they turned out delicious!

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Coco’s parents came to our classroom to give an eye-opening presentation on water conservation.  Did you know 60% of our body is made up of water?  We learned that it takes 1 gallon of water to produce 1 plastic bottle, and 1 almond and 400 gallons to produce a shirt!  As a class we discussed ways to conserve water such as use leftover water from our bottles in the garden instead of pouring it down the sink, turn off the sink while brushing your teeth, and do not fill the tub all of the way up when bathing.  This is a strong discussion that you can have at home with your children to decide, as a family, how to protect our Earth. We watched this commercial too, it might give you the chills!

Our field trip to the Children’s Museum was wonderful!  The children had such a great time and could not stop talking about their favorite exhibits!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, TO OUR FANTASTIC  VOLUNTEERS…WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOUR HELP!

April Studies Include:

Environmental Awareness

Care of the Earth

Rain Forests

Birds

South America

Parts of the Flower

Important Dates to Remember:

Saturday, April 30th: Faith Lutheran Track Meet K-8th Grade

Friday, May 6th: Mother’s Day Tea 9:30

Thursday, May 19th: PTO General Meeting

Friday, May 20th: Kindergarten Late Night

Monday, May 30th: No School, Memorial Day

Wednesday, June 1st: Kindergarten Moving Up Ceremony

Friday, June 3rd: Half Day, Last Day of School (dismissal @ 11:15am)

Snack and Flowers Provided By:

April 25th-29th: Robinson Family

May 2nd-6th: Hanlon Family

May 9th-13th: Stanisic Family

April Monthly Volunteers:

Circle Presentation: Sharpe Family

Hands-On-Activity: Robinson Family

Cooking Project: Ghaneian Family

May Monthly Volunteers:

Circle Presentation: Mohlman Family

Hands-On-Activity: Dannin Family

Cooking Project: Barghi Family

Practical Life Supplies Provided By:

Watermelons: Nivatvongs-Tobin Family and Hanlon Family

Clear Hair Gel: Gross Family

Cotton Balls: Sciscento Family

Ziploc Bags: Sciscento Family

It is already April P3 families, can you believe it?!?  This school year has been flying by! The children have been growing and learning, and we are so proud and amazed by all of their progress!  That being said, we still have so many things to learn before the end of the year!!!

We finished our March studies by learning about  different species of dinosaurs.  The children were able to make a wonderful craft with Melody’s mother that was a “stained glass” piece in the shape of a dinosaur.  They enjoyed working outside and this was a fun and unique project!  Thank you Williams Family!

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Teacher Appreciation Week was absolutely amazing.  We cannot put into words how grateful we are to have such thoughtful families.  Your generosity was overwhelming and we enjoyed every second of our wonderful pampering!  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We hope that everyone had a restful Spring break as well!

We returned to school and were able to do a cooking project that connected with our unit study of Asia.  The children made fruit spring rolls, using fresh rice paper that they soaked in water, then chose their fillings and rolled independently.  They even tried a honey/jalapeno dipping sauce!!! Yummy! Check out the link to the recipe below!

http://www.thekitchn.com/summer-fruit-spring-rolls-recipes-from-the-kitchn-205562

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We have started our animal kingdom unit on birds.  We read a fact book, and then the children spoke about the information that they remembered.  It’s incredible to watch how much they can retain!

It was wonderful to see everyone at the PTO Family Fun Run/5k!!!  Thank you to our PTO for all of their hard work to make this such a great success!!!

Our April Studies Include:

Environmental Awareness

Care of the Earth

Rain Forests

Birds

South America

Parts of the Flower

Important Dates To Remember:

Week of April 4th-8th: FMS Service Week

Friday, April 8th: PTO Family Kic-Nic

Wednesday, April 20th: Primary Field Trip to the Children’s Museum (depart FMS @ 8:30)

Friday, April 22nd: Earth Day

Saturday, April 30th:  Faith Lutheran Track & Field Meet (K – 8th grade)

Snacks and Flowers Provided By:

April 4th-8th: Dannin Family

April 11th-15th: Sady Family

April 18th-22nd: Ghaneian Family

April 25th-29th: Robinson Family

May 2nd-6th: Hanlon Family

Monthly Volunteers:

Circle Presentation: Sharpe Family

Hands-On-Activity: Robinson Family

Cooking Project: Ghaneian Family

Practical Life Supplies Provided By:

Watermelons: Nivatvongs-Tobin Family, Hanlon Family

Clear Hair Gel: Gross Family

Cotton Balls: Sciscento Family

Ziploc Bags: Sciscento Family

We have started our unit on reptiles.  Reptiles are vertebrates that are cold blooded. They usually live in warmer climates such as desserts and rain forests.  One type of reptile is the turtle which we studied all of its body parts.

Dr. Seuss Day was wonderful!  The children had a great time dressing up as their favorite characters, working on the amazing crafts in the classroom, eating green eggs and ham, and listening to some of the best children’s books.  Thank you to our volunteers, we couldn’t have done it without you!

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Charlie’s family came to our classroom and made delicious French Toast with the students!  Some of them cracked an egg for the first time! Thank you Michel Family!

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The children have also been enjoying some wonderful assemblies over the past few weeks!  They saw animals from the rain forest and Egypt!  We also had the Chinese Dragon Assembly, which is always a favorite!

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Coco’s family joined our classroom to give a terrific presentation about Australia!  The children tried vegemite on bread and fairy bread!  We learned about various Australian  animals, as well as different traditions and what their money looks like! Thank you Sharpe Family!

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Our Valentine’s Day celebration was as sweet as ever!  It is so cute to watch the friends hand out their valentines and to watch their expressions!  Thank you to our volunteers, we love you guys!  We hope that everyone had fun at the Family Dance!  Thank you to our AMAZING PTO for everything that you do!  You always go above and beyond!

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Guillermo’s Family came to school and read a book about SHARKS!  This was a favorite for the children!  Some of the sharks are huge and some are very small.  Some are very strange looking as well!  Thank you Sciscento Family!

Our Monthly Studies Include:

Dinosaurs

Amphibians

Reptiles

Asia

Important Dates to Remember:

March 14th-18th: Teacher Appreciation Week 🙂 🙂 🙂

March 18th: Half Day of School, Dismissal @ 11:15: Spring Break Begins!!!

March 21st-25th: No School: Spring Break!

March 28th: No School, Teacher In-Service

March 29th: School Resumes

Snack and Flowers Provided By:

March 1-4: Ghaneian Family

March 7-11: Gross Family

March 14-18: Dunn Family

March 29-April 1: Joe Family

Hard Boiled Eggs: Dancer Family and Barghi Family

Dr. Seuss Day Volunteers:

Robinson Family, Tyler Family, Urquidez Family, Sady Family and Dunn Family

Monthly Volunteers:

Circle Presentation: Coleman Family

Hands-On-Activity: Williams Family

Cooking Project: Williams Family

Hello P3 Families!!!

We had a busy end to our month of January as we finished off our solar system studies by learning about the later planets.

Jupiter: Is the largest planet.  It is the first of four ringed planets known as the Gas Giants.  It has many moons and a thin, faint ring system.

Saturn: Is known for its beautiful ring system made of billions of pieces of ice and rock.  It takes nearly 30 years to orbit the Sun and is very cold.

Uranus: Has 15 moons, and a distinct blue coloring caused by methane in its atmosphere.

Neptune: Is the last of the Gas Giants.  The surface of Neptune has huge storms and clouds always moving and changing. It has many moons as well.

Pluto: A very small planet made of mostly rock and ice.  Sometimes known as a Dwarf Planet.

Planet Nine: The predicted planet would be a super-Earth with an estimated mass of about 10 times that of Earth.  A thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, and a highly elliptical orbit so far away that it could take 15,000 years to orbit the Sun.

Mason and Bronx’s families came to our classroom to make Solar System Snow Globes. This was an awesome project for our students to participate in!  We hope that they are enjoying their globes at home!

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Coco’s family came to make banana pancakes with the children…but the only ingredients were bananas and eggs!!!  They were nutritious and delicious, served with whipped cream and blueberries. This was a first-time experience for some of our students with cracking an egg. They were very excited to see what was inside!

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On Thursday, February 11th we will be having our Valentine’s Day Celebration in P3. Please supply your child with Valentines to hand out to their friends during our exchange.  Valentines can be homemade or store bought.  Please make sure there is a Valentine for each of our 31 students.  Have your child only sign their name and not personally address each Valentine. Please do not send sweets or candy to share.  However, children may bring pencils, erasers, stickers, etc. if they wish to share something, but is certainly not necessary! We will be decorating bags in class to store their Valentines and crafts, so no need to provide any extra boxes or bags. Let us know if you have any questions! Thank you!!!

February Studies Include:

Oceans

Fish and Marine Life

People, Plants and Animals of Australia

Valentine’s Day

Important Dates to Remember:

Wednesday, Feb. 3rd: Kindergarten Information Night @ 5:00

Thursday, Feb. 4th: 1st Grade Information Night @ 5:00

Monday, February 8th: Rainforest Animals Assembly @ 10:00

Thursday, February 11th: P3 Valentine’s Day Celebration

Friday, February 12th: No School, Teacher In-Service

Monday, February 15th: No School, President’s Day

Tuesday, Feb. 16th: Kindergarten’s 100 Day of School Celebration

Wednesday, Feb. 17th: Kindergarten Field Trip to Marine Lab

Friday, Feb. 19th: PTO Family Dance

Monday, Feb. 22nd: Egyptian Animals Assembly

Snack and Flowers Provided By:

Feb. 1st-5th: Coleman Family

Feb. 8th-11th: Sciscento Family

Feb. 16th-19th: Barghi Family

Feb. 22nd-26th: Mohlman Family

Feb. 29th-March 3rd: Ghaneian Family

Monthly Volunteers:

Circle Presentation: Sciscento Family

Hands-On-Activity: Hsiao Family

Cooking Project: Michel Family

Practical Life Supplies Provided By:

Cinnamon Graham Crackers: Robinson and Krauss Families

Bananas: Parimi and Nivatvongs-Tobin Families

Ziploc Bags: Ghaneian Family

Valentine’s Day Celebration Supplies Provided By:

Special Treat: Williams Family

Stickers: Gross, Bristol, Sady and Hsiao Families

Bags: Dancer and Treese Families

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