Christmas Cheer!

Season's Greetings  Families of Third Graders,

Christmas Cheer is in the air!   Your kids are so excited for Santa Clause to slide down their chimney's with their wishes in hand.  May we begin with some of the advent blessings we have witnessed during our first week of December;

• First, Coach Mitchell has relayed to us, that our third grade gentlemen are exhibiting positive behavior choices during their P.E. class and are showing tremendous growth in the area of conduct as a third grade unit.  Yay boys!  Keep up the hard work.  All of your teachers are so very proud of you.

• Also, Grandparent's Day was such a memorable morning for all of the third graders.  Your children are so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents.  The joy on the faces of both the grandparents and the children was just priceless.

• Last of all, your children are experiencing the "Examen" prayer every day at 11:00 a.m. with Ms. Cavnar's guidance.  Seeing your children quietly reflect in meditative prayer, is a blessing that we teachers are fortunate to be a part of.  

We have so many tremendous blessings here at S.F.X.!  Here is what lies ahead for this week:

• Our annual Music concert takes place this week.  The date of the concert is Thursday, December 11th at 6:30 p.m. in Xavier auditorium.  Please return your child's permission slip so that we know who is able to attend.
• Both 3A and 3B will celebrate Christmas in their classrooms on Dec. 19th.  For our party, we plan on having the children decorate gingerbread cookies, play board games, and enjoy a video while snacking on popcorn and juice boxes.  Please look for a follow up e-mail to sign up for the treats.  Thank you in advance for all of your help in regards to making our third grade celebration a success!
• Our class treasure box is in need of replenishing.  Any dollar store donations would be greatly appreciated and small stuffed animals are always a huge hit!

Focus Wall


  Spelling ~ Contractions
  Grammar ~ Subject Verb Agreement and Review of Using Contractions Correctly
  Reading Strategy ~ Fluency, Compare and Contrast, Story Message, Analayzing and 
  Evaluating the text.

Social Studies ~  Both classes will complete their studies on World Explorers.  The third graders will then begin learning about the science concept of "light."

Math ~ The students will complete their lessons on the relationship of arrays with the concept of multiplication.  We will then move into learning basic multiplication concepts which will include the idea that multiplication is repeated addition.   The students are going to be introduced to a new website to begin practicing their multiplication facts.  The web site is called,

Multiplication.com

Please have your child visit Multiplication.com three times a week for about 10 to 15 minutes.  The children should also visit Dreambox, but only once a week for a 15 minute session.  This will allow the students to stay current in their Dreambox skills, but will also allow them to begin mastering their basic multiplication facts.

Religion ~  The students will continue their "Jesse Tree" lessons, and they will continue to experience our daily "Examen" every day at 11:00 a.m.   The entire school will attend Mass on Monday, Dec. 8th due to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  This is a holy day of obligation.

Homework: 

There will be no homework on Thursday night due to our annual Music concert!

• Read nightly for 20 minutes and log it!
• December's book report is due on Dec. 18th prior to our break!
• Practice your multiplication facts on multiplication.com 3 times a week.
• Practice on Dreambox once a week for 15 minutes.
• Visit studyladder.com to practice your spelling this week.  The focus is on contractions.
• Check your child's agenda for any additional assignments.