DIII Newsletter : April 30th 2008

THE OVERNIGHT
It may be a cliche phrase, but if "a picture says a thousand words", we can
shorten this newsletter by recommending you look at the display of our
Spring Overnight on the bulletin board outside the classroom.  Miss Ring's
website also contains updated photos.  Your children have grown so much
since the Fall Overnight, reflected by the way in which they managed
themselves and their gear. Living proximally with a "large" family for 36
hours also nurtured patience and altruism. The benefits of the Renaissance
Academy's expeditionary and life skills curriculum are hopefully as evident
at home as they are in new settings and in our classroom!!  The fee
collector at Manitou Lake complimented the class when she acknowledged that
DIII were "a very settled and organized bunch of kids".
Please pass onto you children how delighted their teachers were to share all
the experiences with them.

CURRICULUM
Science :
Helium, Oxygen, Lithium, Nitrogen, Carbon and Fluorine models made by the
students are now hanging above the different pods in the classroom. In front
of the school, the class participated in an active representation of
electron transfer. They enjoyed fulfilling their roles as protons, neutrons
and electrons, with some electrons "jumping ship" to the adjacent atom when
their energies aligned as they ran around their electron orbits. With this
visual and kinesthetic activity the foundations for grasping magnetism are
more in place. This week they are exploring different magnetic phenomena at
six different stations, in preparations for working with circuits starting
next week.
Cosmic Cinema has replaced Dinosaur Theater. Students arrive eagerly with
their lunches on Monday to share the opportunity to expand themes beyond the
regular classroom, by watching related videos to curriculum studies while
they eat their lunch. It also dissipates the crunch in the commons with
tables on that day.
Social Studies:
DIII is excited for a journey to Ancient Egypt.  Students will use their
knowledge of Mesopotamia to compare and contrast life of the Egyptians to
that of the Sumerians.  Next week the class will construct pyramids and
completing tasks to replicate life in the Nile River Valley.


Math:
Mrs H's Computation group: ( Mon, Tues, Wed)
We have continued practicing division with remainders. Last week we also
introduced Long Division, using grids to maintain alignment of numbers and
the mnemonic device Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother to aid memorizing the process.
Fractions are the next challenge on the horizon, a natural step on from
division.
Miss Ring's Computation group: (Mon, Tues,Wed)
is working with decimals and their fractional equivalents. Students are
exploring tenths, hundredths, and thousandths as they work with problems
dealing with money, logic, and computation.  The group continues to
strengthen basic skills through weekly practice.  Keep checking the website:
www.d3missr.blogspot.com for more practice problems and bonus opportunities!


Mrs H's A-Maze-ing group ( Wed, Thurs)
Critical thinking and problem solving skills were honed in to decide how to
change the areas of a polygon with the same perimeter. Using a  "scale"
helped them understand how to represent a large polygon onto a design sheet.
This week we will look at the properties of rhombuses, trapezoids and
parallelograms
Miss Ring's A-Maze-ing group ( Wed, Thurs)
is exploring perimeter!  A classroom measurement activity required group
members to work together to attain the correct measurements for classroom
objects.  Problem solving will be key in tomorrow¹s activity using tiles to
create polygons that meet guidelines for perimeter measurement.

Mrs H's Thurs Group
Critical thinking math mysteries will follow the giant remainder game, which
has been a popular hit for the past weeks for the first math group on
Thursday
Time will be the focus for the second math group on Thursdays.
Miss Ring¹s Logical Thinking Group is working with logic problems through
"correcting" Hurried Harry¹s  work and providing him feedback for future
assignments.


Language Arts:
The classroom is alive with dynamic language, both written and spoken, as
students easily incorporate weekly vocabulary into their everyday work.
This week¹s focus is on ­er. ­est words, as the class studied comparative
and superlative words.  Student writing this week has included letters to
DII and DIV buddies and 3.2 paragraphs about Egypt. At the end of the week
we¹ll compose and send Thank You notes to the community

Reading:
The class is wrapping up its exploration of classic literature.  This week
DIII has shared selections from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as
well as A Wrinkle in Time.  Projects and assignments have ranged from
individual book journals to creative writing.  Reading will switch focus to
a study of biographies.
Handwriting :
This week's letter is "X. The grade 3's are being encouraged to use cursive
in more assignments.  Practicing writing their names on their desk labels
also elevates comfort with cursive.  The demands of the weekly handwriting
session have elevated to include an additional self created sentence task as
well as the regular alphabet focus task.
Group novel  : "Perloo"
Focusing on the "torn" proclamation we can discuss symbolically how the
"truth" can be shaped and altered in devious ways. Perloo and Lucabara have
to face the challenge of how to "choose" what is the "right" thing to do and
how to go about it. Perloo is needing to decide whether to avoid
responsibility or take on the challenge of becoming "Granter" of his Montmer
tribe. Our journey with Perloo is coming to the eventful climax!!


CALENDAR REMINDERS:

WED 30th / THURS 1st  2:00 pm - James and the Giant Peach
FRIDAY 2nd May - Mid terms
TUES 13th May  - Field Trip : Red Rock Canyon Hike with
paleontologist Sharon Milito ­ any parents interested in joining us for this
insightful hike, please see Mrs H
MON 26th May  - Memorial Day
FRIDAY 30th     - Final Day - Picnic 10-1: Renaissance Carnivale


THANK YOU
To our DPR's, Carolyn Harvey and Kate Roach for supporting the organization
of the food for our overnight.
To Beth Toth, for collecting Friday's lunch from Woodland Park and then
meeting us at Manitou Lake
To all families who participated in and assisted with the Emerald City event
last Friday night


Welcome to May and the busy month before transitioning into the summer.
Amongst all the goals and tasks in all of our lives, may we remember
Theodore Isaac Rubin¹s quote to practice
" Kindness" as it "is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of
this is the beginning of wisdom"