New Timbers Soccer Field and Playground Remodel.

Our New Playground will feature a new AstroTurf Timbers Soccer Field along with amphitheater, new foursquare, tether-ball  and kickball diamond.  There will be significant landscaping with new trees  and a running path outlining the playground.  Thank you to our major donors: Adidas , Portland Timbers, 107ist, for funding this major project.  A big thanks to James John Parent Joe Purkey for staying on top of this project for us.

Club 7:59

These are our kids who made it into the exclusive Club 7:59  Thank you parents for getting your 3rd Grader to school on time every day this week.

BOOK FAIR THIS WEEK

Come to the James John School Book Fair in our Library  Tuesday - Friday 7:45- 4:30

Check Out Checklists.

I often hear from parents how difficult it can be to get kids to do chores, put laundry away, etc.
I was just at a BBQ of one of our great James John Families and saw this great home checklist from a 5th grader.

SUN School Spring Showcase Last Night

The James John School Auditorium was packed last night with parents and kids of our after school SUN program.

PAST&E started things off with a raucous fitness rap . . . 

and then some pretty sweet dance moves.

Baile Folklórico

Our Ethos Ensemble starring Thea and Deondre had way too much fun playing their songs.

"My Mom's on Facebook All The Time!"

This is what I heard in our morning meeting yesterday.  In fact several 3rd Graders asked if I had an FB page.  So for all you parents on Facebook, which it sounds like most of you are.  I set up a newsfeed from this blog for you this morning.  You can check it out here.  Let me know if it's helpful.

Last chance to see our artwork at St. Johns Starbucks.

Our beautiful poems at St. Johns Starbucks are coming down June 3rd.  If you haven't gotten a chance to see them up, be sure to stop by this weekend.

SUN SCHOOL SPRING SHOWCASE TONIGHT

SUN School Showcase is TONIGHT @ 5:30-7:30

Congratualtions Jesus

Jesus ran the more miles during Run for the Arts, than any other kid in our class.

Congratulations to our Students of the Month

Orlando, Thea, Taylor and Elias are May's Students of the Month for Rm 12.

Thank you JP for taking pictures of all our Students of the Month.  You can see all of their pictures up in the Cafeteria.

New Recess Sightings Videos Are Up

Check out the new videos on the Recess Sightings Page. 

Here's Orlando getting a Home Run.  There's no throw outs in 3rd Grade and Orlando knows it!

What's in a Name?

This week we have been working writing our full names in cursive.

We practiced writing our full name in cursive.

We drew lines on our poster very lightly on final copy..

Next we filled the paper with our  full name switching between cursive and printing.

After writing out our full name in pencil we went back and inked it.  Then we erase our pencil marks.

The last step will be drawing, coloring, inking and
cutting out our initials and gluing them onto our poster. 

Later we'll talk about our names and the stories behind who we were named after.

Mr. L on K103 tomorrow.

Listen to K103 tomorrow morning at 7. Mr. L. will be on bragging about his great 3rd Grade class.Check out the their Teacher of the Week Page

Homework

Unless your kid is a speed reader, make sure they are choosing
books they can read in a week.

It is the end of May.  We, and when I say "we" I mean parents, kids and myself, have been working very hard on homework all year long.  As the weather warms up (hopefully) the days are getting longer, and your 3rd Grader is involved in after school sports and activities, summer is just around the corner.  
You have probably noticed that homework packets are no longer coming home.  What IS coming home are Book Reports.  Your 3rd Grader is getting these on Friday and they are due the following Friday.  

Reading along side your child
 is just as important as reading with your child.
Penelope hasn't learned about just right books yet. 

You can help your 3rd Grader by making sure they are reading a Just Right Book  It needs to be a realistic fiction or fantasy book they can read in a week.   Can't find the Book Report?  Just let me know, I have plenty of extras.

Give your 3rd Grader a jump start into 4th grade, keep up the healthy habit of reading with your child over the summer.  

Vinegar + Baking Soda = Magic

 Yesterday we learned about chemical reactions.  We worked with a pop
bottle of vinegar and a balloon of baking soda.

 We learned what happens when you put the two together.

In the next few day we will be be making and testing hypothesis
about what will happen when we add different types of materials to our
vinegar.  We will be finding out if they are chemical or non chemical reactions.

7:59 CLUB

Here is this week's 7:59 Club.  We are thinking of changing the title to "Club 7:59".
We are seeing a trend in our club membership.  The same 3rd Graders are on time every day at James John.  You could say they are habitually on time.  Thank you for getting your kids to school on time.

Building Bridges

We have been learning about different types of bridges during Learn for Life.
Yesterday we learned that the St. Johns Bridge was a suspension bridge.

We built paper models of the St. Johns bridge.

We used yarn for the suspension piece.

Ms. Elisa helped us put them together.

You can see all our bridges up outside Room 12.

Sunday Parkways Tomorrow

The first Sunday Parkways  is happening tomorrow 11-4 on the Eastside.  

Emmie, Penelope and I hope to see your family there.

Congratulations Sara!

 Sara is our Learn for Life Student of the Week!

Fern Gully

Super PTA Parent JP stopped by today with a bunch of plants for our Reading Garden!

Thea and Brenda finished their work early so they went down and helped plant some ferns!

New Recess Sightings

It was a beautiful day today and all the monkeys were out on the bars.  Check out more recess sightings.

Thank You Tom Stubblefield for promoting our work!

Thank You Trinity & Taylor

Over the weekend Taylor was going through Trinity's books and Trinity  thought it would be a great idea to donate a bunch of her books that she had already read, to our classroom. Taylor thought it was a great idea too. So this morning they brought in a big bag of full of really great books.

Mad Science.

Dr. Chaos was back to teach us about water and why we shouldn't waste it.

We knew the world was made up mostly of water, what we didn't know is that less than 1% of it is drinkable.

Jesus learned just how much water could be saved by not letting the faucet run while he brushes his teeth.

Which makes more sense: brushing using a cup of water or five gallons of water?

Dry Ice! Goes from a solid to a vapor instantly!