April 15, 2025
Hi Families!
It’s such a busy time at school and in our class. Some highlights:
- CAASPP Testing starts next week!
- Our third graders will take the ELA Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) tests next week and the Math SBAC the week after that. Tests are scheduled for 2 days, first thing in the morning, and are untimed. As a result, students may continue their work on any of the tests through May 2ns, the last day of testing this year.
- As it’s our third graders first year of testing, we will spend extra time practicing logging in and taking the tests.
- You can work with your child on SBAC practice items at home using this link.
- Start with Guest User and Guest Session.
- Regular instruction is also continuing:
- Reading: Students are continuing to practice previewing nonfiction texts, taking notes on key details. and summarizing what they have read. We will begin focusing on character in fiction using class novels and read alouds.
- Writing: Students are practicing taking a theme or topic and reorganizing their drafts for different forms or purposes- persuasion, information, or poetry. This is a challenging concept but I think students will be surprised at how well they do! We are also experimenting with writing for different purposes across the curriculum, using a variety of formats including 6 word memoirs, jot dots, and one sentence summaries.
- Math: We jumped ahead in the math journal to work on Area this week. Origo has prepared students to use multiplication to find the area inside a shape by exploring the basic concepts from a variety of perpectives; we will continue to explore Area as well as fraction concepts this week and next. Please see the attached newsletter for more information.
- Social Studies: We continue our study of California Indians by examining ways they impacted their environment and, later, how European contact changed how they lived.
- Science: We are getting class caterpillars for a life science unit soon! Third grade has a weather unit planned for the end of the year, and our class is going to study how changes in the environment affect living things-connecting this to what we are learning about in Social Studies.
- Social Emotional Learning: This week we are on the topic of Emotion Management, identifying emotions in our bodies and learning ways to calm ourselves so we can problem solve. Next week our focus will be…Test Anxiety. Please see the attachment here for more information on this week’s Second Step lesson.
- Enrichment-
- Project Cornerstone’s last visit is Thursday and the last Art Vistas of the year will be next week. Please see the attached file for more information about this week’s Cornerstone visit.
- Music-students are loving the songs selected for their grade for the Spring concert: “Count on Me” and “Wonderful World”. Lyrics for both are attached if you would like to have your child practice at home.
- Speaking of music: Students loved their visit from the brass section of the San Jose Symphony today. They learned about trumpets, the tuba, French Horn, and Trombone; listened to selections from the “William Tell Overture” and “Star Wars”, and even got an idea for a home project. If your child asks for a hose and funnel, you’ll know why. Here’s a quick video we watched to review the sounds of each brass instrument. Check in with your child about the 6 word memoirs they wrote about brass instruments.
- The Youth Science Institute Field trip to Sanborn Park was amazing and we just could NOT have done it without family volunteers! 🙏🏼 Students walked the path Ohlone band members may have walked hundreds of years ago, learned how to weave tule, and played games with handmade toys and musical instruments. Our class got many of their questions answered on that trip. Check in with your child and find out what they learned!
- San Jose Unified Health Lessons-
- All SJUSD students are required to take a series of health lessons on grade level appropriate topics, such as stranger danger or making healthy food choices. For informatio on 3rd grade’s curriculum, please see the attached parent latter. Let me know if you would not like your child to participate in these lessons.
- NOTE: Our classroom password will be “tiger”.
- All SJUSD students are required to take a series of health lessons on grade level appropriate topics, such as stranger danger or making healthy food choices. For informatio on 3rd grade’s curriculum, please see the attached parent latter. Let me know if you would not like your child to participate in these lessons.
- Walkathon-
- The annual reed Walkathon is this Friday! Our grade will walk right after school starts in the morning, so remind your child to be on time! We have the students’ T-shirts and are keeping them in class so they are ready for Friday! We will send more information home Thursday. For now, just remember that your child will need to wear comfortable shoes Friday.
Current read aloud: Other Words for Home
Monday’s poem: Naomi Shihab Nye reads “One Boy Told Me”
Ms. Seyan’s Poetry month posts from 2020 start here. (Click the arrows at the bottom right to advance to the next page.)
Thanks for your attention!
Warmly,
Ms, Seyan
Educator
sseyan@sjusd.org
408.535.6287 x37143
A-2 All-Stars 
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