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Gingerbread House Contest

Entries are still being accepted for this contest at the Winter Wishes family evening event:

If parents would like to enter their student’s gingerbread house, they can follow the link to sign up.  Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners!

https://forms.gle/VQCA6kSfSpC1hPe6A

Canned Food Drive

Hello Families,
As your children make their final preparations to share their "Why I'm Rich" speeches with you over the Thanksgiving weekend, we realize how much we all have that make us "rich" in our lives. Enjoy the speeches, and please be sure to send back the signed reflection in the HW folder on Monday, December 2.
Canned Food - Alta Sierra will be collecting canned and non-perishable food for those who can use a helping hand in our community. Please consider this as you wrap up your Thanksgiving grocery shopping, take advantage of sales or bulk purchases, and send food in with your child beginning on Monday, December 2. Thank you for all you do for our classroom, school, and community, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Updates from Room 8

Hello families,
It was great to meet with each of you this week - it was a pleasure to discuss the great things your children are doing, and the areas in which we can work together as a team to support them.
If you have not yet done so, please take a look and consider signing up to help out and/or send in supplies for upcoming celebrations. It would be great to have a gallon or two of apple cider to serve as we celebrate our writing next Tuesday, and the remaining slots are for making Cornish pasties on the last day of school before we part ways for winter break.
Students worked tremendously hard during our minimum days this week, particularly to move through the writing process to draft, revise, edit and publish the final copies of their "Why I'm Rich" writing. We'll share these in class Monday and Tuesday, and you can expect to overhear your kids rehearsing in front of their stuffed animals at home before they read it for the family! Please think about a time that this will work well - some choose the Thanksgiving table, but any time over the long weekend will work well.
Thank you for all you do, and have a great weekend.

Updates from Room 8

Room 8 Families,
As we head into the Veterans' Day weekend, I wish to extend a sincere thank you to all those we honor for their service within your households, families, community, and those who are no longer with us.
It has been another busy week in Room 8. We started the week with a book by Byrd Baylor: The Table Where Rich People Sit. Many predictions about the lifestyle that would be described were adjusted as we read and talked about what makes the fictional family, and then by connection our own families, truly "rich." This has led us into the early stages of a piece of writing you will be privileged to hear your child read over the Thanksgiving weekend.
As we head into this busy time of year, please consider signing up to help us out in person or with donations: Holiday Sign-Up

Sign-Ups: Conferences and Halloween Fun

Hello Families,
If you haven't already done so, please be sure to sign up for a parent-teacher conference: Room 8 Conferences
Next Thursday, we'll start the day on Halloween with a school-wide costume parade at 8:15. School policies include no excessive gore/scary costumes, and no weapon accessories. All students are expected to change out of costumes after the parade, so please be sure kids wear school clothes underneath or have an easy change with them. We'll return to the classroom to create Pumpkin Chuckers (miniature catapults to launch pom-pom "pumpkins" - you're welcome to stay and help), and have other Halloween activities throughout the day. Don't forget "Trunk-or-Treat" in the school parking lot from 4:30-6:00 that evening. If you're able, please consider sending in an item to help out with our festivities:

Field Trip, Fall Break, and Conference Schedule

Hello Room 8 families,
What a busy week it was for our third graders, from our Food Love Farm field trip on Wednesday (a big thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan, Mrs. Dunne, and other third grade families for making the bus ride to the farm possible with their donations), to our assembly on Thursday and after a Mystery Reader today, Fall Break has arrived. It sounds like many of your families have some great plans, whether staying home or big trips. Regardless, have a safe and enjoyable week with your families. Students brought home their homework folders knowing that if they (or their parents) choose, their reading journals can be completed as "extra credit."
In a little over one month, we will have the chance to meet for parent-teacher conferences. I look forward to the opportunity to meet with you to discuss your child's strengths and plan together for his or her continued and increased success. Please sign up for a conference using the following link:

Field Trip Next Wednesday!

Hello Families,
A few reminders about our field trip next week to Food Love Farm in Nevada City: This farm is run by Sierra Harvest as an educational farm. Kids will learn about and help with farm tasks as well as cooking and eating some of the farm produce! We are fortunate that the forecast shows us getting closer to average temperatures by that point, but it will still be important to pack water and consider a healthy "pocket snack," sunscreen, hats, and appropriate shoes. An Alta Sierra t-shirt would be a great choice. We'll depart Alta Sierra at 8:45, then head back to campus after eating our lunches (packed from home or pre-ordered) at the farm. Please remind your child about the importance of listening, following directions, and showing appreciation when we venture off campus for a trip like this.

Friday Sept. 27

Hello Room 8 Families,
We had a busy week in third grade - multiplication (has your child pointed out any arrays around the house?), digital citizenship lessons, and learning a new game at PE. We practiced book talks and will begin having these daily conversations with peers next week (an added incentive for students to complete their reading journals and write down 3-4 meaningful notes that will guide these conversations). Students are moving along in cursive and very excited to point out words that we can write in our math books or on our Daily Language Review. Speaking of which, you might have your child log in to Google Classroom an show you how today's DLR quiz went. Remember - your child's login is your login. Please be sure to talk over the digital assignments we complete, as well as progress in AR (some families even set the preferences to email results when kids take tests at school).
A big thank you from myself and our PTC. Our class was among the top fundraisers in the school for the Jog-a-Thon. This makes such an impact on programs at Alta Sierra. It's no wonder that many of your children will be enjoying a pizza lunch on Thursday or throwing water balloons at their principal on Friday (feel free to come out to the field to watch at 12:30)! Additionally, we'll be scheduling an ice cream party to celebrate your extraordinary fundraising as a class!

PE Next Wed/Thurs

From Mrs. Rounsfull, our PE teacher:
On Tuesday and Wednesday[9/24-25], the students will be playing soccer games down on the field. If possible, have them bring an extra pair of socks and shoes to change into afterwards because the field might be wet. Absolutely no cleats! If students have shin guards, they can bring them too, but not required. 

Dots!

Hello Families,
The kids all looked their best for picture day today, and tomorrow will no doubt have a different feel with our running clothes on (don't forget to send your child in athletic shoes & clothes, and consider hats, sunscreen, and labeled water bottles). We jog at 10:40, and you are more than welcome to join our cheering section and mark Room 8 runners' laps as they come by our station.
Dots!
Mrs. Alonso read all Alta Sierra students the same book in the library this week: The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds. Each child was given their own "dot" to decorate. We'll have time for this at school tomorrow, but for those who wanted to take a little extra time or use supplies they have at home, they are in the blue HW folder. This is optional and last-minute, but have fun with it if time permits, and please send it back tomorrow. The only parameters given were to cut it out around the outside of the circle and that it be school-appropriate decoration. Consider gluing, stamping, coloring, etc.! These dots will be hung in the MPR (perhaps even by a Room 8 jog-a-thon volunteer after the jogging and tabulating is done?).
Have a great afternoon/evening.

Spirit Gear Store Open

Many of you have purchased spirit gear from our custom online store already. If you have not had the chance, it is NOT too late. Our store has one more week and we would love it if you could purchase some gear to show our school spirit!!
Go to www.spiritgeardirect.com or our custom link here. EAGLE STORE
Thank you for supporting our Spirit Gear sale and school. 

The First Week in Room 8

Families,
We have enjoyed getting to know one another as we learn and review routines and expectations for third graders at Alta Sierra. Kids have learned about their classroom through a scavenger hunt and learned about each other through their sharing bags and personal bingo. Next week, kids will receive their reading journal. We'll complete this together for a few days at school, so you'll have an example of expectations before it become part of the daily homework. Students have been excited to preview their math and cursive books, and this afternoon we had our first Mystery Reader. Please consider signing up to be our reader on a date that works for you - this can be done through the link in the sidebar of our classroom website. There's a similar link where you can select a date for your child to be our "Golden Eagle."
I look forward to an amazing year of learning and growth in Room 8. Thank you for all you do to support your children and their classmates.

Suggested Supplies 24-25

As you prepare for the upcoming school year, keep these supplies in mind when the back-to-school sales begin.Thank you for all you do for Alta Sierra students. One item that is not on this list that you might consider is a simple pocket folder - this will be the "Work in Progress Folder" that is kept in the desk at school. We'll have a variety for kids to choose from here, but it is always fun for kids to have one with a picture of a favorite sports team, animal, or color.

Welcome to Room 8!

Welcome to the 2024-25 school year. I look forward to a great first week of school as we embark on a positive year of learning and growth. I will continue to add to this webpage - please be sure to subscribe so that you will be notified each time I make a post or changes to a page. I look forward to meeting you and partnering as an educational team for your child.

pennants on classroom wall
Pennant Request!
It's never too early to instill aspirations of higher education. I have found that when students share a pennant from the college or university attended by a parent or family member, important conversations are started in the classroom, from "I want to go to ____ for college" to "Did you see that college basketball game?" Even the latter lets us talk about the fact that UCLA is a school, and that some of the students represent that school as part of the basketball team. Please consider donating a pennant from a college or university attended by parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles... We have a good collection started on the walls of Room 8. To avoid spending money on a duplicate, feel free to check with me before you purchase - we can still have your child point out the pennant and share who went there, what they studied, what they do now, etc. Thank you!