Disguise a Turkey Narratives and Crafts

The students are starting a new narrative writing assignment called Disguise a Turkey. We read the story, “‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving” and "Turkey Trouble." Turkey Trouble is about a turkey who is trying to avoid getting cooked for Thanksgiving dinner. He disguises himself as a cow, a rooster, a horse, a pig, and other animals. But unfortunately, the other farm animals are still able to identify who he is. 

For our narratives, we will be pretending to have a pet turkey that we have to help disguise and hide so that it doesn't get cooked for Thanksgiving. The students can use their imagination and "dress" their turkey as anything or anyone.

There is also a paper craft to complete with the narrative (templates will be sent home Monday, November 3rd). Students can use any materials to color and decorate their paper turkey (please keep any decorations about the same size as the paper turkey and to not extend it past 8.5"x11"). 

The writing and paper craft project is due Monday, November 17th.

Save the Date: History of Orange County Play

Screen-Shot-2011-12-02-at-9.13.31-PM1.png

Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 16th, from about 1:15 - 1:45 PM We will be having our third grade play about the History of Orange County that day, and you are invited! Each third grade class performs their own show, and so the more parents in the audience to support the children, the better! Grandparents, aunties, and uncles are welcomed to attend as well.

More information will be provided when all the details are ironed out, but please plan on attending the play to watch your child perform! It is sure to be one of the most memorable events of third grade!

Creature Cafe

Screen Shot 2020-10-22 at 8.35.37 PM.png

With Halloween around the corner, our class practiced math skills in our Creature Cafe. Students collaborated to make a slideshow filled with spooky Halloween themed food. They searched for images, made creative meal titles, and decided the cost. Then in class, students pretended to order food and practiced adding and subtracting the cost of their meals in our Creature Cafe math booklet.

Fall Fun Day 2025

Fall Fun Day was a blast, and it was great seeing the kids dressed up. The kids also loved seeing Mrs. Snyder and Mr. Finley dressed up as well.

2025: Artists and Paint Palettes
2024: Inside Out 2
2023: Mr. Battenfield
2022: Mario Kart
2021: Flavors of La Croix
2020: Crayola crayons

In the weeks leading up to Fall Fun Day, the kids shared their Haunted High Rise stories, made a robotic zombie hand craft, spent time with our Little Buddies, and had a great Fall Fun Day party.

Thank you to our Room Parents and volunteers, and all of the families who donated food and supplies to help make our Fall Fun Day extra fun. :0)

Haunted High Rises/Fall Fun Day Project: Due 10/27

hhr-e1349750659178.jpg

Update: 10/31/25: The students did a great job on their narrative stories, dioramas, and presenting their project to the class. Take a look at the spooky projects for each student!

Today your child will be bringing home a set of directions for our Haunted High Rise/Fall Fun Day project. This project includes designing a creative diorama in addition to writing a creative and/or spooky story to go along with it. On the assignment page, there will be a detailed step-by-step instruction sheet to help students with work progress and time management. We will begin the rough draft of the stories in class, but any portion unfinished will be continued as homework. The general timeline (please see the instruction sheet for further details) will be:

20111018-photo-56.jpg

  • START DATE: Tuesday, October 14th- Start a rough draft. You will be given time in class, however, if you do not use your time wisely, it will be homework. You may select one of the Sentence Starters provided, or make your own.

  • Start typing rough draft onto Google Docs by Friday, October 17th.

  • Have an adult/parent at home read your rough draft. The adult can offer suggestions on how to edit. Complete by Monday, October 20th.

  • Have a writing conference with Mrs. Dyer by Thursday, October 23rd. After your conference, you will work on your final draft. Final drafts will begin in class, however, any unfinished portion will be completed as homework.

  • FINAL DUE DATE: Monday, October 27th- Turn in your final draft with your completed diorama.

20111104-photo.jpg

The entire project (story and diorama) is due on Monday, October 27th. Additionally, there is a speaking portion for this project. Students will be presenting and reading their creative and spooky stories to the class and to 2nd grade students! At home, students should practice telling their stories with expression! For example, use long pauses to build up suspense… raise voice volume to show excitement…. lower voice volume to demonstrate nervousness… etcetera!

This will be a great way to kick off our Fall Fun Day festivities! See below for pictures of some excellent samples from previous years--- this will help give parents and students an idea of what the final projects will look like.

Robotic Zombie Hand

As part of the Halloween themed week, students participated in a STEAM inspired robotic “zombie” hand craft! We learned the names of the bones in our hands (distal phalanges, intermediate phalanges, proximal phalanges, metacarpals, and the carpels). Then we made our own robotic hands using cardstock, straws, and twine (thank you to the families who donated supplies). The kids loved the activity, and they are so excited to bring their hand crafts home.

Gabrielino Indian/ENC Field Trip

Third grade will be attending the Gabrielino Indian Field Trip at the Environmental Nature Center on Monday, November 10th. Suggested donation costs will be $30 for this field trip which will cover your child's admission cost to the ENC and as well as school bus transportation. Parents have already been emailed the field trip parent letter.

Please complete the digital permission slip and submit the $30 suggested donation by November 3rd. Donations can be submitted online through MySchoolBucks, cash, or check payable to Woodbury Elementary. *Please note, that while it is permissible under state law for Woodbury to collect fees for field trips and activities, contributions are voluntary and all students will be allowed to participate regardless of whether a donation is made.

Be sure to feed your child a hearty breakfast the morning of the field trip, as we will not have a "snack time” while we are out. We will return to campus at about 12:00 to eat lunch. Students must wear comfortable sneakers. We will be doing a lot of walking.

If you'd like to be a parent chaperone, please email me; I anticipate being able to take two parent volunteers (although, depending on the size of the buses the district provides, parents may need to drive separately). Parent chaperones will be in charge of a group of children while the ENC guide gives the lesson. If we have more than three parents volunteering, I will do a blind drawing to pick names.

Fall Fun Day Costume Guidelines

halloween-banner-blue-3.44-1-001-1-.jpg

Children will be allowed to come to school dressed in a costume, and we will be bringing back our annual costume parade. We will be starting the parade at 8:10 with the kindergarten classes snaking around the school. We will then march up the sidewalk along to Revival and curve around at the portables. We will come in at the gate leading to our blacktop area where we will convene for picture taking. Participation in dressing up is completely optional. Below are the costume guidelines:

  • Children come to school dressed in their costume. We will not allow costume changes to take place at school.

  • Children should wear a costume that can be comfortably worn throughout the entire day.

  • Be sure to have your children wear proper clothes and underclothes underneath their costume just in case they find their costume to be too hot or uncomfortable and wish to take it off before the day is over.

  • Children must still wear their protective face masks to school (even if it’s not part of their costume theme).

  • Children may not wear make-up to school. (For example, no full face make up, no dripping blood, no make-up on hands that will smear on papers.)

  • Children should not bring any object that they will need to hold in their hands. Of special emphasis is our State Education Code that states children may not bring any toy weapons to school of any sort at any time.

  • Children should not come in costumes that depict any kind of graphic violence.

  • Children should be discouraged from wearing any costume material that could be easily damaged.

Mighty's Medieval Town (Haunted Maze)

Our amazing Dad's Club (and by the way, if you're a dad, then you should be in the Dad's Club!), is putting together our popular Haunted Maze again! The maze will be open on Friday night, October 24th from 5:30 - 9 pm here at Woodbury Elementary.

The Dad’s Club will be hosting Mighty's Haunted Maze

  • Date: Friday, October 25th from 5:30 - 9:00 PM (MAZE DOORS OPEN AT 6:00 PM)

  • Un-Haunted Hour (Non-Scary, perfect for younger kids): 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM 

  • Haunted Hour (SCARY!): 7:15 PM - 9:00 PM

Where: Woodbury Elementary School
Cost: $12.50; Tickets can be purchased at WoodburyEvents.com.
Early-Bird Special $10.50

Please note, that strollers are not allowed inside the maze. Strollers may be parked outside the maze.

Please help make the decision for your child which maze would be appropriate for him/her to visit. 

IPSF Giving Day

orange.jpg

On Thursday, October 16th, all of Irvine Unified will wear orange to represent IPSF Giving Day!

Why Do We Wear Orange?

IPSF Giving Day serves as the official kick-off to the Educational Excellence Fund, a parent and community fundraising effort to provide access to opportunities that have disappeared in our neighboring school districts. We wear orange to raise awareness for the incredible people – mental health professionals, instructional assistants, school nurses, and athletic trainers – and afterschool and summer enrichment programs that make a difference in students’ lives every day. None of this would be possible without the generosity of parents and supporters like you.