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!