This has been a crazy week in Stanford!  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all been ordered to shelter in place and all students are doing Distance Learning until at least April 13.  Chromebooks have been distributed and distance learning packets have been assigned to keep scholars practicing and reviewing their skills.  As officials are still getting a handle on the severity of this situation, things are changing on a day to day basis.  My hope is that we will at least be able to finish out the last month of school together, in person, but if that isn't possible, our Google Classroom is becoming a vibrant place of learning for all 3 of my classes, as we learn to navigate and share our ideas online.  And this is the perfect opportunity to explore the many online resources that are out there!  Stay healthy and keep learning something new everyday!

We're looking forward to a great week in Stanford Science!  3rd graders are starting Chapter 3 in our Inheritance and Traits Unit.  This week we will be exploring how environment can affect our development of traits, reading How the Sparrow got its Song and  examining data about the wolves hunting styles so we can determine which traits are inherited and which are from the environment.  Toward the end of the week we will be doing a Celery test, to determine if the trait of green in a stalk of celery can be affected by it's environment.
4th graders will be continuing into Chapter 1 or Earth's features, doing several hand's on explorations of different kids of rocks.  We will be drawing a diagram of different sedimentary rocks and building a model of a sedimentary rock formation.  We will be working in the Earth's Features Simulator as well,to determine how and where fossils form.

Welcome to March!  We have one more week of our second round of Interims for the CAASPP- this week we are doing the Math portion.  Again, this is giving 3rd grade time to work on their PBL project, How can tiny homes help the homeless population in Oceanside?  Groups have begun planning their blueprint of the tiny home and we are getting close to beginning to build our models!  We are wrapping up our Chapter 2 in Inheritance and Traits and then students will have time to work on their Scientist Who Was/Is project.  We will also get a chance to listen to the podcast, But Why? A podcast for curious kids.  This one will be about How do we taste food? This is one way we will be working on strengthening our listening and note taking skills in third and 4th grade.  Check out the one we will be tackling this week: https://www.vpr.org/post/how-do-we-taste-food

4th graders are continuing into their Earth's Features unit, working in our Earth Features Simulator in order to observe the changes that occur in the Earth over thousands of years using time lapse.  How do fossils form and how does the sedimentary rock around the fossil form?  We will be observing some rock samples as well, in addition to drawing diagrams of the observations we are making.

Upcoming Dates

3-8 CAASPP Interim Testing, February 24-March 6


SPS Board Meeting, March 3, 4:30-6:30 pm


Parent-Teacher Conference (by invite only) March 4 and 5, with a 12 pm release Wednesday (¾) AND Thursday (⅗)


Fundraiser for End of the Year Carnival, March 6

Kona Ice at dismissal in the dirt parking lot



ASB Canned Food Drive, March 9-13


OS Pep Squad Meeting, March 9, 6-7 pm


NOTE CHANGE: OS 1-4 gr. Spring Performance, March 18, 6-8 pm


PBL Showcase, Open House, and Book Fair, March 19 from 4:30-6:00 pm with a 12 pm release Wednesday (3/18) AND Thursday (3/19)




Fechas siguientes

3-8 Pruebas provisionales de CAASPP, del 24 de febrero al 6 de marzo


SPS Board Meeting, 3 de marzo, 4: 30-6: 30 pm


Conferencia de Padres y Maestros (solo por invitación) 4 y 5 de marzo, 12 pm lanzamiento miércoles y jueves


Recaudación de fondos para el carnaval de fin de año, 6 de marzo

Kona Ice a la salida en el estacionamiento de tierra



ASB Canned Food Drive, del 9 al 13 de marzo


OS Pep Squad Meeting, 9 de marzo, 6-7 pm


NOTA DE CAMBIO: OS 1-4 gr. Rendimiento de primavera, 18 de marzo, 6-8 pm


PBL Showcase, Open House y Book Fair, 19 de marzo de 4: 30-6: 00 pm con un lanzamiento de 12 pm el miércoles (18/3) Y el jueves (19/3)

We are starting our first week of Interims for the CAASPP.  This means scholars will be testing in ELA during the morning on Monday and Thursday of this week and we will not be rotating on those days.  This week will give us an opportunity to continue our PBL Project in the afternoons.  We had a presentations by Mrs. Crowe last week about how our school supports families and scholars who are "in transition".  This opened up our eyes to the many simple ways we can help homeless youth in our area, such as providing sandwiches or canned goods to a food drive, even donating our time to a local food pantry. This week, we will have a visit from a volunteer with Operation HOPE, a shelter for women and families in Vista.  We will also begin building our tiny home models and finish up the Slides presentations, which will be presented at our PBL Showcase on March 19!  For Science, we will be continuing to practice our vocabulary with our word relationship cards and analyze the family data for each wolf pack, to see if we can find more evidence as to why Wolf 44's fur color is different than the rest of it's pack.  It's hard to believe we are halfway through the unit already!
4th graders I will not be seeing as much this week, but we will be continuing to work on our Scientist project and finishing up a lesson in our Earths Features unit.  We will be reading a book called Clues from the Past, which discusses the role of geologists in determining how our Earth has changed over time. We will also discuss the differences between inferences and observations.

Happy President's Day!  No school tomorrow, and the rest of the week is looking great!  In 3rd grade we will be investigating an interesting question about Inheritance and traits- why do siblings all look different when they are offspring from the same parent?  We will be reading The Code in class to understand the role genes play in the traits we are born with and creating our own sibling creatures out of clay.  This exploration will be useful for scholars to be able to continue to practice using the language of the discipline as they compare the similarities and variations of the other "sibling" creatures in the class.  We will also be continuing to work on our PBL project, with a guest speaker on Wednesday, who will be speaking to both 3rd grade classes about homeless youth in our area.  This week we are beginning to shift our research toward what is a Tiny home and how could this be one solution for homeless youth and families.
4th grade has a field trip to the San Luis Rey Mission on Tuesday, so we will only be doing 2 days of Science together.  Once we finish our pre-unit  writing assessments, we will be continuing onto the 2nd lesson in our new unit on Earth's Features.  This lesson focuses on the book Clues from the Past, to understand how geologists use observations of fossils in the present, and cause-and-effect relationships, in order to make inferences about the past.

Upcoming Dates

No School: President’s Day, February 17


Coffee with the Founders, February 20, 4-5 pm


Dine out: Chick fil A, February 20, 4-7 pm


3-8 CAASPP Interim Testing, February 24-March 6


SPS Board Meeting, March 3, 4:30-6:30 pm


Parent-Teacher Conference (by invite only) March 4 and 5, with a 12 pm release Wednesday AND Thursday


ASB Canned Food Drive, March 9-13


OS Pep Squad Meeting, March 9, 6-7 pm


HOLD: OS 1-4 gr. Spring Performance, March 11, 6-8 pm




Fechas siguientes

No hay clases: día del presidente, 17 de febrero


Salir a cenar: Chick fil A, 20 de febrero, 4-7 pm


Café con los fundadores, 20 de febrero, 4-5 pm


3-8 Pruebas provisionales de CAASPP, del 24 de febrero al 6 de marzo


SPS Board Meeting, 3 de marzo, 4: 30-6: 30 pm


Conferencia de Padres y Maestros (solo por invitación) 4 y 5 de marzo, 12 pm lanzamiento miércoles y jueves


ASB Canned Food Drive, del 9 al 13 de marzo


OS Pep Squad Meeting, 9 de marzo, 6-7 pm


MANTENER: OS 1-4 gr. Rendimiento de primavera, 11 de marzo, 6-8 pm

3rd grade Science is off to a busy week!  We are continuing Chapter 2 of Inheritance and Traits, starting to focus more on why is Wolf 44’s color similar to one pack but different from the other pack that also lives in the Valley.  We will also be continuing our group research for our PBL Project on Families and Youth experiencing homelessness in Oceanside. On Thursday, we will be taking a field trip to the Natural History museum to see the Native American exhibit.  And to wrap up our busy week, scholars will be bringing in their Engineering Projects to share with the class on Friday.   This was assigned as a take home project over the week, to engineer an enclosure that meets the criteria provided, as a way to transport their Valentine goodies safely home.   I can't wait to see what scholars have built and the creative process they engaged in!

4th grade will be starting the week off with independent work on their Who Was/Is Scientist project.  They are provided 2 sources of information on a Scientist they chose, and create a summary of their life and what the scientist is known for.  Then they will create a Google slide presentation to present to the class so we can all learn about these scientists, some of whom are lesser known or even still alive.  Later in the week, we will begin our 2nd Unit on the Earth's Features, which begins to explore how rock layers form and tell us how the earth has changed over time. This will be an engaging, hands-on unit that starts with the question, How did the fossil get inside the rocky outcrop?

Upcoming Important Dates:

Pep Squad Meeting, February 10 from 6-7 pm


SPS Board Meeting, February 11 from 4:30-6:30 pm


Dine out: Chick fil A, February 12, 4-7 pm


No School: President’s Day, February 17


Dine out: Chick fil A, February 20, 4-7 pm




Fechas siguientes

Pep Squad Meeting, 10 de febrero de 6-7 pm


SPS Board Meeting, 11 de febrero de 4: 30-6: 30 pm


Salir a cenar: Chick fil A, 12 de febrero, 4-7 pm


No hay clases: día del presidente, 17 de febrero


Salir a cenar: Chick fil A, 20 de febrero, 4-7 pm

This week is going to be a great start to February!  In 3rd grade Science, we are wrapping up our first chapter in Inheritance and Traits, with scholars collaborating on a scientific explanation for why the wolves in Greystone Park look different even though they are all the same species.  We have spent a lot of time discussing variations in traits of other species, and it has been a great way to develop the skills of describing the features of a particular organism, not just saying "it looks like a dog."  We are adding the Vocabulary words data, species, variation and explanation to our Word Wall, as well as reading about animal adaptations for our Fluency and Comprehension this week. 
This week, 3rd grade is also starting our PBL Project, with the driving question of " How can we design a tiny house that meets the needs of the Oceanside homeless youth population?"  This is a huge issue of concern in communities across America, and Oceanside is no different.  Our scholars will be researching statistics about homeless youth and families, as well as answering the class-driven questions they had, such as "Why are people homeless?" and "Who can help you if you become homeless?"  As we learn about the issue, we will be considering one possible solution of building tiny homes for homeless youth, and scholars will create a model tiny home. This project will be presented at our PBL Showcase on March 19, so this is only the beginning of an amazing project for our 3rd graders.

4th graders are working on  their final task in our energy conversions unit, presenting an argument for a solution for the electrical system improvements for the city of Ergstown.  They will be gathering data about all the possible improvements in an organizer, and from there, based on our criteria, they must make a claim and support with evidence which improvement they think is best.  This is a fantastic wrap up activity for the unit, as scholars get to practice all the skills we have been working on thus far: making a claim, using criteria to make that decision, backing it up with multiple forms of evidence and using the language of the discipline.  We will also be doing some reading comprehension about where rocks come from this week, and taking a few days to research in our Who was/is...Scientist Project.

Upcoming Dates

Parent Volunteer and Chaperone Training, February 4, 5:00-5:30 pm


Coffee with the Principal, February 5, 8:30-9:15 am, location: Art Room

Topic: CAASPP Scores and 20-21 Goals


Pep Squad Meeting, February 10 from 6-7 pm


Dine out: Chick fil A, February 12, 4-7 pm


No School: President’s Day, February 17


SPS Board Meeting, February 18 from 4:30-6:30 pm


Dine out: Chick fil A, February 20, 4-7 pm




Fechas siguientes

Entrenamiento para padres voluntarios y acompañantes, 4 de febrero, 5: 00-5: 30 pm


Café con el director, 5 de febrero, 8: 30-9: 30 am, lugar: Sala de Arte

Tema: Puntajes CAASPP y 20-21 goles



Pep Squad Meeting, 10 de febrero de 6-7 pm


Salir a cenar: Chick fil A, 12 de febrero, 4-7 pm


No hay clases: día del presidente, 17 de febrero


SPS Board Meeting, 18 de febrero de 4: 30-6: 30 pm


Salir a cenar: Chick fil A, 20 de febrero, 4-7 pm