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Animal Reports, Elapsed Time, Life Cycles, and more!

Hello families,
Today students added at least 5 animals to their individual brainstorms, and have the homework to share these with you (and put it back in the hw folder to be sure it's with them in class tomorrow). Please have a brief conversation, and help your child move towards an animal or two that would make for a great research project. The requirements are that the animal be local, wild, researchable (at least one age-appropriate book available), and interesting to your child. Book availability may help make that final decision - if the classroom and school libraries don't have a book, perhaps the public library does, or you might choose to order one from the bookstore or online. We'd like to have books in the classroom by next week. Speaking of which...the writing will primarily happen in the classroom - I'll send home a sheet with information in tomorrow's Thursday envelope about how you can help guide research and plan the related family project.
We will also be studying plant and animal life cycles as a class, as well as having guest experts visit us to present. Thank you for all you do to support these and all activities for our students.
Reading a clock & elapsed time - you've been seeing these concepts as you check over homework. If you don't already have one, you might consider an inexpensive analog clock for your home or child's room. It will be great practice to integrate real-life math into your conversations...
"How long do we have before we need to leave for soccer?"
"These bake for 17-21 minutes. When will they be done?"
"It takes 20 minutes to get to grandma's, and she wants us there 45 minutes before dinner, which is at 6:15. What time will we need to leave?"

Auction Basket Plans & Donation Request

Hello 3rd grade families! 
 
The "Denim and Diamonds" auction fundraiser is a great parent's night out event!  Mr. Hendricks, Carlee Miller and I have decided to put together a "Chicken Starter" basket for the auction. With the price of eggs, who doesn't want to have their own chickens?  The basket will come complete with chicks once the class hatches them in May (thank you, Andes family, for providing the eggs). In order to make this happen we need your help!  We will do the shopping, but we'll need donations to make that possible. If you'd like to help create the basket, please either send money to me via Venmo (info attached) or send in some cash in a sealed, labeled envelope and I'll get it from Mr. Hendricks.  If you have any questions, please send me an email [email protected].
 
Thanks for your support! 
--Heather Beahm and Carlee Miller
 
Click on title of this post for QR code

Auction Basket for Denim and Diamonds

Hello Families,
As part of the Denim & Diamonds fundraiser evening, each class has been asked to create a themed auction basket. If you would be interested in organizing the donations for a Room 8 basket and/or have ideas for a theme, please send me an email. The baskets will be due by April 12 in preparation for the April 25 event.
Denim & Diamonds Auction and Sponsorship Opportunities:

PTC Coordinators are currently seeking auction items and business sponsors.  Interested parents can email to learn how to help support our amazing school! [email protected]

Thank you for all you do to support learning at Alta Sierra.

End-of-Week Updates

Hello Families,
It was great to hear how well the last few days in the classroom with Mrs. Quinlan went, and I had a very productive time at the YouCubed math conference at Stanford. In fact...today's math lesson was a direct result, as is the homework. Today's homework (in addition to reading journal completion), as written in the math box of our homework chart:
   Must Do: explain "How Close to 100"
   May Do: Play it!
The kids learned this dice game today, and brought home a blank game sheet. Hopefully you have a pair of dice you can borrow from another game at home. If today's not the day that time allows for the kids to play the game with you or a sibling, perhaps this weekend? What a great way to increase fluency of multiplication facts and develop executive functioning skills, all while playing a game! Here are the Rules and a link to print off more game sheets, if you so desire: How Close to 100 Have fun!
Reminders for tomorrow:
  It's Friday - let's fill Room 8 with Alta Sierra blue.
  It's the last day of the trimester. Most kids have met or exceeded their AR points goals and many who have not yet are close!
  Please return completed (both sides) field trip permission slip in the Thursday envelope.
  It's a minimum day - 12:00 dismissal

Friday Spirit Days

Tomorrow Alta Sierra will get back to a weekly spirit day count in each classroom. Be sure to encourage your children to wear their Alta Sierra blue tomorrow and every Friday. Have a great evening, Friday, and weekend!

Canned Food Donations

179!

Thank you for your generosity!
On an unrelated topic...do we have one more family who is close by and would be able to bake pasties tomorrow (9:30-11:15)? Thank you! Sign Up

Pasty Making & Holiday Celebration

Families,
Thank you for so quickly volunteering to help out. We have several  essential slots left to fill. If you are able to make dough (the day before) to bring in Friday morning and/or help with baking/dishes, it will be much appreciated, and make for a special way to culminate our Nevada County Gold history unit.

spirit week
Considering our plans for cooking on Friday, you might also send in an apron (and know that stuffies will be in backpacks while cooking and eating are taking place).

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