Hello 3C Parents,

I hope this update finds you well and you're holiday plans are happily underway! This is a bit early, but the 3rd grade team wanted to give you a look at what your scholar's week will look like upon our return to school after winter break.

Language Arts:

Spalding will consist of the next 20 words in our list as we do not return until Tuesday. In Literature we will start reading The Trumpet of the Swan right away so please be sure your student has his or her copy as soon as we return; we are all greatly looking forward to diving into this E. B. White classic! Grammar and Writing will be combined for the week as we practice writing a descriptive paragraphs. Our next poetry recitation will be January 29th, the poem is:

Portrait by a Neighbor

by Edna St. Vincent Millay 

Before she has her floor swept 
Or her dishes done, 
Any day you’ll find her 
A-sunning in the sun!

It’s long after midnight 
Her key’s in the lock, 
And you never see her chimney smoke 
Till past ten o’clock!

She digs in her garden
With a shovel and a spoon, 
She weeds her lazy lettuce 
By the light of the moon. 

She walks up the walk 
Like a woman in a dream, 
She forgets she borrowed butter 
And pays you back cream!

Her lawn looks like a meadow, 
And if she mows the place 
She leaves the clover standing 
And the Queen Anne’s lace!

 

Math:

We will begin our new unit on measurement, our focus will be on measuring length in both standard and metric. We will be sending home our old 3A books and start fresh in our 3B books! 

 

History:

Our Ancient Rome unit will officially come to an end as we discuss the decline of the empire and the rise of Christianity. I'm sad to see this amazing unit end, but the good news is, we are opening the door to the Vikings unit.

 

Science:

We will have our introduction to energy, a perfect reason to get everyone in the classroom moving! :)

Have a wonderful break! 

Best,

Ms. Caro 

Dear Parents,

Here is an update for the last week of quarter 2! 

Please note that there will be no tutoring next week, tutoring will resume the second week of Quarter 3.

Quizzes and Tests:

Tuesday - Science

Wednesday - Math

Language Arts:

We will be having a Spalding review week, we are looking back on words that need a bit of review from earlier in the year, there will be no spelling test this week. We will have our summary and narrative exercises in Writing and continue diagramming sentences in Grammar. With Pinocchio complete we will wrap up the quarter by exploring one chapter from The Jungle Book, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Please send your student to school with his or her copy of The Trumpet of the Swan as soon as you can, we will start to enjoy this book upon our return from Winter Break.

Math:

We will wrap up our unit on interpreting data and have our final test of the quarter on Wednesday.

History:

We will take a look at Roman gladiators, the preservation of Pompeii, and do a Reader's Theater activity to continue our Rome discussion.

Science:

Our unit on the skeletal system and muscular system comes to an end with an assessment on Tuesday.

Week of December 7th

Dear Parents,

Only 2 weeks until winter break!  This year is passing so quickly.  I am so grateful for my job and my students this time of the year.  I hope you are all enjoying this festive time of the year! 

There are still a few spots we need filled for our Rome Day Celebration.  Please see the link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f4daead2aa75-rome

There are also a few spots left for reading groups for the next quarter.  The time has changed.  It is now on Tuesdays at 8 am.  You are welcome to park and walk in with your student on this day.  The link is here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0d49abac2ca5fc1-literature

Here are the updates for the coming week- 

Tests and quizzes:

Tuesday: Caesar's test

Thursday: Pinocchio project due

Friday: Pinocchio test, spelling test, poetry recitation 

Language Arts:

Our Pinocchio unit is coming to an end with a discussion of the virtues we've seen in the book. We will have a end of the unit test on Friday. We will share our marionettes in class on Thursday! Grammar will consist of noun and verb review with practice in sentence diagramming. In writing we will continue our summaries of stories about Ancient Africa. Our individual poem recitations will take place in class on Friday.

Math:

We will begin a new unit on interpreting data; constructing bar graphs and tables will be our focus.

History:

Our discussion on the Caesars comes to an end with our test on Tuesday, we will then begin our discussion on Roman conveniences and architecture.

Science:

Our look at the central nervous system continues with an in depth look at vocabulary terms as well activities.

Please reach out with any questions or comments.  E-mail is still the best way to reach me. 

Best,

Ms. Caro 

Week of November 30th

Dear Parents,

Here is an update for the week we return after Thanksgiving break!  I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends.  I know the students will enjoy their R&R.  I will be spending Thanksgiving in Kansa City, visiting my fiance's extended family.  It is sure to be a fun ( and chilly) trip.

Tests and Quizzes:

Friday: Math (Multiplication by 8s and 9s) and Spelling Test

Language Arts:

We are nearing the end of Pinocchio and seeing some interesting developments in this wonderful novel! In grammar we are still keeping our focus on prepositional phrases and we will be reading about Ancient West Africa for our summary exercises. Spalding will continue with our usual 30 words.

Math:

We will continue multiplying and dividing by 9s and focus on estimation to solve math problems.

History:

We will be introduced to Augustus Caesar and compare the two Caesars. We will end our week with a Reader's Theater activity on Friday!

Science:

We will wrap up our muscle discussion and introduce the nervous system.

Best,

Ms. Caro

Reading Groups Link

Dear Parents,

I am excited to post the link for reading groups for next quarter.  We will be slightly altering our schedule next quarter.  I am going to be teaching Literature first thing in the morning from 8:00-8:40.  I am hoping to get 3 volunteers for each Tuesday so that we can split the students up into 5 groups (1 for Miss Austin and myself).   Next quarter we will be reading "The Trumpet of the Swan".

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0D49ABAC2CA5FC1-literature 

Best,

Ms. Caro

Dear Parents,

Here is an update for our short Thanksgiving week!  

Wish List:

Hand Sanitizer

Language Arts:

We will have a shortened Spalding word list this week; we will not have an assessment due to the 2 day school week. We are still creating summaries about Ancient China in writing class and focusing on prepositional phrases in grammar. We continue to follow Pinocchio in his journey toward virtue in chapters 28 and 29.

Math:

We will continue our multiplication and division unit by focusing on 9s.

History:

We will be looking further into the life of Julius Caesar by creating a mini book on the most important events in his life.

Science:

We will be discussing the different types of muscle and continue our discussion on how important stamina, strength, and flexibility are.

There will be no tests of quizzes due to the shortened week.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Ms. Caro 

Dear Archway Parents and Students,

This year Archway Arete will be competing in the Scripps Spelling Bee! We are excited to refine our spelling and public speaking skills in this friendly and fun competition.

The timeline for the spelling bee program is as follows:

Mon. 11/16 – Spelling Bee information distributed to Parents and Students

Tues. 11/17– Optional spelling practice for 1st and 2nd graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Tues. 11/24 – Optional spelling practice for 3rd and 4th graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Tues. 12/1 – Optional spelling practice for 5th graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Friday 12/4 – Each child will take a grade-level qualifier test in their classroom. The test will be a selection of 20-25 words from the challenging Scripps 100 word list for your child’s grade level. The top five scorers in each class will be selected to participate in their oral classroom spelling bee.

12/7-12/10 – Oral classroom Spelling Bees will take place within this week.  The top speller from each classroom will go on to participate in the Archway Arete school-wide spelling bee on 1/6.

Wed. 1/6 – The school-wide spelling bee will be held in the evening at Archway Arete! The top spellers in each class compete in the school-wide bee and only the top speller in each grade will move on to the Great Hearts District bee after winter break.

Tues. 1/26 – The top five spellers from Archway Arete will compete in the Great Hearts District Bee at Archway Veritas! (Details and times will follow.)

While participation in the spelling bee program is voluntary, we encourage every student at Archway Arete to participate in their written and oral classroom spelling bees, as well as the optional spelling practice bees! Here are the word lists that your child will need to study to prepare for this competition: 2015, 2016 Spelling Bee Word Lists. You may also go to Spelling Bee Resources to find additional material and helpful strategies. Students should first learn the 100 study words for their grade level. Please note that the words on this list are quite challenging. The challenge is part of the fun! When your child masters the 100 grade specific words, they are ready to learn the study words for all other grade levels. There are a total of 450 words on the 2016 School Spelling Bee Study List. Finally, when your child masters the study words for grade levels 1-8, they may get a head start on the next level of competition by learning the words on the “Spell It.” This will prepare them for Great Hearts District Bee should they advance to this level of competition.

Please direct questions to Ms. Porcelli and Ms. Smith at MPorcelli@archwayarete.org and hsmith@archwayarete.org. We are delighted to celebrate the English language with your children through the Scripps spelling bee program!

Very truly yours,

Ms. Porcelli and Ms. Smith

Week of November 16th

Dear Parents,

Can you believe that next week is the week before Thanksgiving?  This year is flying by.  

Wish List

Hand sanitizer! 

Here is a look at next week: 

Tests and Quizzes:

Monday - Math Test (7s and 8s multiplication and division); Literature study guide goes home

Thursday - WPR

Friday - Spelling Test, Literatire Quiz 

Language Arts:

In Spalding we will have our usual 30 spelling words. Literature class will be further consideration of Pinocchio, who is starting to make some better choices at this point in the book! In grammar we are classifying sentences with prepositional phrases and continuing our jingle practice. In writing we will be learning about ancient China and creating 3 sentence summaries.

Math:

We will be placing focus on multiplication and division with 8s.

History:

Our trip to ancient Rome continues with an in depth look at Julius Caesar and how he impacted the Roman empire. We will also read about Cleopatra.

Science:

We will look at the human hand and discuss flexibility and stamina as it relates to muscles.

Have a great weekend!

Best,

Ms. Caro 

Shurley Jingles

Hello 3C Parents,

Our grammar curriculum has many fun jingles to help students remember various concepts.  The students love the jingles and are always sad when I say it is time to move on.  I told the students I would post the link to my blog so they could practice at home.  Warning: these songs will get stuck inside your head!!

Have a great weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmYU5XEduMw&list=PLqoYtqf5Wp-GVfVgBGtMse3iW4grs3A_u&index=14

Best,

Ms. Caro

Greetings Families,

At the beginning of the second quarter, we began having students fill out reading logs to show what they are reading. A number of students are failing to turn these in and it will significantly hurt their grade if they are not doing their nightly reading and recording it.

We also began having students take home books from a special class library, which includes some pop culture items. Students are required to read at least three books a quarter and fill out a brief report. They are welcome to use our classroom library or their own personal books. A number of students have completed three books, some even more. However, a few students have not completed one book report. With only six weeks left, please ensure that your child is keeping track to finish their reports by the end of the quarter.

Lastly, their will be a math quiz on Monday, November 16. This math quiz will focus on multiplication and division using the numbers 0-7 and 10. Please have your child reviewing these math facts on a regular basis.  You can find a list of twenty free multiplication iPad apps here.   I have not tried all of them, but I thought it was a good place to start. By now, students should be moving away from using their hands to count up and toward rote memorization. This will be absolutely necessary as we move through the second semester of third grade.

Again, if you need any support with homework and assisting your child's studies at home, please feel free to email me.

Best,

Ms. Caro

Dear Parents,

I apologize for the late blog post. Here is an update of what we will be doing in 3C this week!

Wish List
Hand Sanitizer
Tissues
Antibacterial Wipes

Tests and Quizzes:
Monday: Science Take-Home Test goes home
Thursday: WPR and Take Home Science Test is due; History Take Home quiz goes home (due next Monday)
Friday: Spelling Test

Language Arts:
Pinocchio's adventures continue; Carlo Collodi had quite the sense of humor and there is much laughter in the classroom. In grammar we will create synonym rolls and antonym apple pies, we will also continue to review prepositions and objects of the preposition. Our Spalding word list will consist of 20 words due to the shortened week.

Math:
We will begin dividing into the 1000s by 6 and 7. Long division is typically one of the toughest units for 3rd graders in general; please review math facts at home as memorization of these strongly supports the process of long division.

History:
We will dig deeper into our Ancient Rome unit with a close look at the Punic Wars. At the end of the week we will be creating our own recruitment posters for Roman soldiers.

Science:
Our human body unit continues with a look at x-rays and the arm. We will be asking our scholars to use their muscles with a fun dumbbell activity!

Week of November 2nd

Dear Parents,

Please see the cute pictures from the read-a-thon in the post below.  Thank you again to all who were involved!  I can not believe that next week will be the first week of November!  This year is really flying by.  I am so blessed to have this amazing job.  I hope you all have a fun Hallo-weekend!

Best,

Ms. Caro

Wish List
Antibacterial wipes
Tissues
Hand Sanitizer

Test and Quiz Schedule:

 

Monday: Math Quiz (Multiplication)

Tuesday: None

Wednesday: None

Thursday: Grammar Quiz (4 types of sentences)

Friday: Spelling Test and Science Quiz (Skeletal System)

 

*Please continue to work on your Pinocchio Projects at home.

 

Poetry Selection (Recitation Friday, December 11)

 

from Julius Caesar (Act III, ii, 76-109)

by: William Shakespeare

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

 

Language Arts:

In Spalding we are going forward with our word list in O, we will also be taking our monthly Spalding benchmark on Monday; this is purely to track student progress and not entered as a grade. In Writing we'll be reading the epic of Gilgamesh and putting the ancient tale into a 3 sentence summary. In Grammar we will continue to explore the 4 sentence types and classify sentences by labeling all of the parts of speech, identifying sentence type, and separating the complete subject from the complete predicate. Our Pinocchio journey is well underway, we are actively exploring how Pinocchio would be better equipped to make good choices has he only gone to school! In poetry we are starting a new selection from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to compliment our Rome unit.

 

Math:

We are beginning our division unit by introducing students to quotient and remainder. We will practice dividing 2 and 3 digit numbers by 3, 4, and 5 throughout the week.

 

History:

We are discussing the fascinating topic of the Roman gods and goddesses and discussing Roman myths. By the end of the week we will be learning about how Roman society was set up and considering the difference in the lives of Plebeians and Patricians.

 

Science:

We will go forward in our study of the skeletal system by observing what happens when a bone is place in vinegar for an extended amount of time. Please click here to review the study guide on the skeleton. We will look at different types of bone and joints.

Read-A-Thon

Hello Parents!! Here are some pictures from the read-a-thon.  The students all looked adorable and we all had a wonderful time.  A special thank you to the parents who came in and read with us, as well as the parents who donated food to our read-a-thon snack time.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Lysol Wipes

Dear Parents,

We are desperate for lysol wipes in our classroom so that we can continue to keep your children's desks clean and stop the spread of germs!

Any brand would work great!  Thank you!!

Ms. Caro

Hello Parents!

 

We are already well into quarter 2 and the excitement in the classroom continues!  The book fair is next week, we would LOVE for you to participate; students may purchase books for themselves or to donate to our classroom library.

 

 

Here is what next week will look like:

 

Assessments:

Monday - History (Rivers) take-home test will be sent home

Tuesday - Science (Cells, tissue, and organs) Quiz

Wednesday - History (Rivers) take-home test is due

Thursday - Spelling Test (20 words)

Friday - None

*Please remember to have your scholars working on their Pinocchio Projects.

 

Language Arts:

In Spalding we will be exploring our next 20 words in the O list; we will also be going back and adding a few of our current words to the rule pages at the front of our Spalding notebooks.In our writing class we are still exploring The History of the World; we will be focusing on comprehension and summarizing information on the 12 tribes of Israel and the Code of Hammurabi. In Grammar we are exploring the four kinds of sentences: declarative, imperative (or command), interrogative (or question), and exclamatory! We are also reviewing the functions of nouns, adverbs, and adjectives with the support of our Shurley jingles. If you would like to help you scholars with these here is a link to the jingles, but I must warn you, they are extremely catchy and may infect you with an ear worm. In Literature we are continuing on our Pinocchio journey, Pinocchio's antics are proving to be very entertaining in the classroom and we are having many beautiful discussions on the virtues because of this classic text!

 

Math:

We are continuing our exploration of multiplication, we will be reinforcing that the word "product" is prompting for the answer to a multiplication problem. We will be multiplying 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers by 2,3,4, and 5. We will also be creating a foldable for our math journals to reinforce the proper steps to completing a word problem.

 

History:

In History, our Rivers unit is coming to an end; we will be sending a take home quiz home on Monday which will be due back by Wednesday. Starting on Tuesday we are finally starting our Ancient Rome Unit!! We will begin by discussing the ancient Mediterranean world, introduce students to timelines and give instructions on how to use them and begin an introduction to the Roman Gods and goddesses.

 

Science:

In Science we are continuing our close look at the human body. Monday will consist of a review game in class to prepare for our assessment on Tuesday. On Wednesday we will begin discussing the skeletal system and memorizing bones; a fantastic extension of what our scholars are studying in P.E. Your scientists will come home with tales of fun observations they are making in the classroom.

 

As always, please reach out to me with questions or concerns.

Best,

Ms. Caro