Dear All,

Welcome back!

First of all, a huge thank you to our Room Parents, Jena and Grace. Once again, they designed an active and fun party, with the emphasis on games and crafts. Thank you so much for a great time! In addition, huge appreciation goes out to the many parents that came out and ran games, directed crafts, and or donated materials/ finances to the party. Finally, thanks to you all for my "Gift of Cozy". I love the blanket, mug and Bookshop Santa Cruz gift card, and I have used them all--already!

This week the class is starting new units in both reading and writing; hopefully your kid will come home and tell you about them with enthusiasm. Our Reading unit will be a Mystery Unit. We'll be exploring the genre, as well as reflecting on big ideas in literature such as theme and character development. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is our Read Aloud/mentor text, but every child will also be selecting and reading their own mystery books during the 3-4 weeks of the unit. In writing, the kids will be working on opinion pieces, after we have read some examples and practiced expressing our opinions in some "mini" debates.

I'll be sending home permission slips for 2 upcoming field trips in the next week or two. One field trip--Museum of Natural History-- is for 3rd grade alone, and the other to the Monterey Bay Aquarium is for the entire class. If you would like to drive on either, or both, please update your driver info in the office and let me know of your interest.

• Museum trip (3rd Grade)-- Friday, January 31, 2020 from 8:30-11:30
• Aquarium (3rd/4th Grade)--Friday, February 21, 2020 from 8-1:30

I'm looking forward to a spectacular second half year with this great class!

Carroll Mayer