Welcome to my class website!

I have been an OUSD teacher for 11 years, the last 5 at Crocker Highlands, and have taught grades 1, 2, and 3.  I became a teacher because learning excites me.  I am a life-long learner and hope my students will be too.   I view the role of teacher as facilitator, not as someone who has all the answers.  Children need to be given tools for learning, and should be encouraged to be critical thinkers and be responsible for their own learning.

Third grade is a transition year.  Students transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.”  They learn to find the main idea and supporting details in non-fiction selections, and to identify elements of various types of fiction (characters, setting, problems and solutions.)   Third graders in our class read independently, and enjoy reading some of the great, recently published chapter books, as well as the “classics.”

As authors, they learn to organize their thoughts to make their own writing enjoyable and comprehensible.  Writing is done across the curriculum. We use a variety of notebooks and journals, including science notebooks, to record our observations and learning. 

There are great science units in third grade:  we use the OUSD adopted Foss materials to learn about the sun, moon, and stars; structures of living organisms; and matter and energy.

Third graders learn about their city and why people came here to live, recently, and long ago.

Students eagerly anticipate learning MULTIPLICATION in third grade.  

Third graders work hard but we try to have fun too!

Susan Fisher

Third Grade, Room 7