DECEMBER

The month of December has been a busy one in 3rd grade. We've been focusing on Advent as we await the light of our world, Jesus Christ. We've been to confession, and we continue to examine our conscience daily in silent prayer.
The students have been reading books by a given author each week. We had dialy DEAR time in which the children cozy up with a blanket and read silently. They are now working on a trifold panphlet advertising books by their author.
December 9th brought our wonderful Christmas Concert. The children sang their hearts out and sounded beautiful!

Our entire school is collecting warm coats, mittens, hats, finger and toe warmers for the needy. The spirit of giving is truly inspiring!
We'll wrap this month up with a Birthday Party for Jesus, and then we'll all enjoy some family time during Christmas break.
Merry Christmas to all!

NOVEMBER - What a Month!

The month of November has been busy for our third graders! It was wonderful meeting with all my supportive parents during conferences. I am very proud of all the children and I thank their wonderful parents for the huge role they play in supporting their children. With the help of Mrs. Barnes, the children have completed our beautiful Christmas Tree Platter. That platter will be auctioned off at our annual school auction - wait until you see how awesome it is! We've begun our author study, learned about how the Native Americans helped to shape our state and many of its customs, wrote Thanksgiving stories, and best of all - we started to learn cursive!

Advents officially begins today. I cannot praise God enough for the gift of his son. Jesus is the light of our world and we keep our eyes on him as we proceed with our learning and spiritual growth in the third grade!

Happy Halloween!

The third graders had a great time at their Halloween party. They ate donuts hanging from strings - not so easy, made crafty masks and finger puppets, made witchy poo hands with popcorn & candy corn, made ghost suckers, and decorated cupcakes and cookies. A huge thank you goes out to all the parents who donated items and helped at the party! Happy Halloweeen everyone!

A Trip To The Science Lab . . .

The third graders made their third trip to the science lab today. They made models of how the earth's crust folds, making mountains.

St. Pius Annual Jog-a-Thon

The annual St. Pius Jog-a-Thon to raise money for technology was held on October 1st. The kids had a great time and put forth a lot of effort running! Thanks to the parents who were able to be there to help keep track of their laps. Thanks also to the PTO for providing us with yummy popsicles and a lunch too!

September Update

It is hard to believe Fall is really upon us. The third graders have been busy this year. We are in the process of writing our second piece of writing - a personal narrative. We've begun our new Reading series - F.A.S.T. The children are excelling in it! We've been to the Science Lab two times already for experiments about our Earth. We are looking forward to Picture Day this week, and the annual St. Pius Jog-A-Thon in October!

Let the New Year Begin!
The new year is right around the corner. I am blessed to be teaching 3rd grade this year, and I can't wait. Hopefully everyone got their post card in the mail this summer. I can't wait to see all of you next week!

The End is Near...

It is hard to believe that the end of the year is upon us! In these last days, we hope your children will continue to learn through some less traditional activities, and that they will enjoy their time as they look forward to summer. They have all grown so much. On the last day of school, we'll be sending home a folder with work we've saved throughout the year. It is amazing all they have learned!

We hope you have a restful summer. Best wishes to all the students in 2nd grade.
See you in the Fall!

Thank you Special People and Grandparents for visiting our school last week. We all enjoyed the day together! We hope you liked our poem and the rest of the skits put on by the Students of St. Pius!

Grandmas and Grandpas are everything nice
Like presents and candy and raspberry ice.

And chocolate fudge sundaes with cherries on top
And peanuts and popcorn and grape soda pop!

In winter or summer in rain or in sun
Grandmas and Grandpas are wonderful fun!

Science Day

We all received gold medals for our hard work on Science Day!
Our planes are flying out of the gym!

We made paper airplanes with a partner from Room 23,

then went to the gym to see how they fly!

We built a bridge! Tomorrow we will see if our toy car can drive across it!

CELEBRATE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WITH SPS!

St. Pius School celebrated Catholic Schools all week long! On Monday, we wore our PJs and had a read in! On Tuesday, we celebrated Mass together and honored Fr. Bob, Deacon Bob, Mr. Wesselman and Mrs. Perry. Mass was followed by a dedication of our library to Mrs. Perry! Wednesday was Mix and Match Day. The children also competed with the second graders in our annual Catechism Bowl (check out the pictures above). Thursday got even crazier with Crazy Hat/Hair Day (more pictures above). We rounded off week with Green and Gold Spirit Day and sports games of all kinds. Our class came out the winner of grades k-3. (again more pictures...) I was most proud of the good sportsmanship the kids showed in all of their games that morning! Way to go guys and gals!

Cozy Up With a Good Book!

Along with our study of The Mitten by Jan Brett, we had Cozy Up With a Good Book time each day this week. During this time, the children snuggled up with a blanket from home and read and read and read. What a joy it was to see 15 children engaged in actually reading - all at the same time!!!

A SNAKE! A SNAKE!!

After reading our story this week about snakes, Mr. Loewenbruber was kind enough to bring his snake in for us to see. The children loved learning about this corn

snake that eats one mouse every week or two. It was amazing how brave they all were in touching the snake! It was also impressive how many facts they recalled from the story, and how many appropriate questions they had for Mr. Loewengruber!