Farewell letter from Miss Austin

Dear students and families,

I would like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to all the lovely students I’ve had the pleasure of teaching.  After spending two years as a third grade assistant for Archway Arete, I will be moving on to pursue a master’s degree in Musical Theatre at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales.

The past two years have been an exciting time of growth and learning. I have been so fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know you all and to help develop Archway Arete from its beginning. I will leave with many fond memories of our adventures this year. From the lamppost at the back of the wardrobe to Asteroid B-612 and the outer reaches of the universe, I have truly enjoyed sharing this wonderful journey with you. You each have grown so much and I am so very proud of all the work you've done. I wish you all the best of luck in the years to come.

While I will certainly miss Archway Arete, I am excited to have the chance to foster my passion for musical theatre and to continue in my own education. I truly appreciate the love and support I have received from my class and colleagues as I start this new chapter. Thank you, all.

Love,

Miss Austin

Dear 3C Parents,

I cannot believe it is the last week of school!  This year has flown by.  It has been such a privilege teaching your children.  I am so grateful to work at such a wonderful school with amazing students, parents, administration, and staff.  Thank you for all that you have done for our class this year.  I truly appreciate all of your help!  I look forward to seeing your children next year as they become 4th graders!!  I think I will be in the same room, but you will see a new name on my door if you are looking for me- Mrs. Bowers!  Please reach out if you have any comments or questions during this busy last week!  

Best,

Ms. Caro 

ELA: We will be review a small list of Spalding words this week, however there will be no homework or test at the end of the week. We will be having our test on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on Tuesday.

Science:

We will be having our final Science test on Wednesday.

Math:

We will be working on adding and subtracting money using real world scenarios.

History:

Our History units are complete for the year.

I went to PE today! Here is a picture of me running with some of my students.  It was so much fun.  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful gym, fun equipment, and an awesome PE teacher.  Thanks to Coach Rubino for letting me join the fun!

Dear 3C Parents,

We had another wonderful week in 3C!  The students had so much fun re-enacting the Punic Wars in our water balloon fight on Wednesday.  Today the students got a surprise visit from my fiance (Mr. Bowers) who helped explain the mystery of black holes and answered a lot of questions from our curious bunch of scholars.  I am excited for our last two weeks together.  I hope to make them as enjoyable and educational as possible to get us prepared for summer break and 4th grade!  As the year is coming to a close I am thinking ahead about ways I would like to improve things for the following school year.  Your feedback would be greatly appreciated if you have any thoughts to share please email me.  I hope you all have a beautiful weekend.

Best,

Ms. Caro

General Announcements:

• Our Wednesday Activity for this week will be to measure the area of the second deck of the Mayflower on the football field. The students will imagine what the voyage must have been like as they fit themselves into this small space. There were 102 Pilgrims and we have 90 3rd graders so our numbers are just about right! After a Socratic discussion on the freedom of religion that these people sought we will go right into a hunt for "gold" (chocolate and bubble gum coins as many settlers in the New World came in search of riches.
• End of the year Galileo benchmark testing will be held on Wednesday. Please make sure your scholars get a good night's rest to best prepare for this important data collection tool!

Language Arts:
We will continue our Spalding list. We are wrapping up our writing instruction with Story of the World and complete a few comprehension exercises for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

History: This week we will be discussing the founding of New York and Pennsylvania. Students will have a chance to review for the assessment through a favorite class review game- BINGO! The assessment is on Friday. This is our last assessment for the year in History!

Science: In science next week, students will be looking at what a galaxy and universe are, the Big Bang theory, and a history of space exploration. For many families and students, the origin of the universe can be a sensitive subject. The third grade team will be approaching the Big Bang theory as a possible way to make since of the physical evidence. At the same time, we will acknowledge that there are leading scientist who admit weaknesses to the theory and new evidence may give rise to an improved theory. We ask that you consider discussing the origin and age of the universe with your child if it is closely connected to your family's traditions.

Math: After spending this week preparing for the Great Hearts Singapore Math assessment, next week we will resume our study of geometry. We will have the assessment on Thursday. On Friday, we will start our look at money.

Assessments:

Friday 5/20 Spelling Test, History Test, Book Report Due

School Supply Kits

Dear 3C Parents,

We have recently send home flyers for next year's school supply kits!  The deadline to order is May 27th.  I know this deadline seems a bit early, but we are trying a new company with better pricing than last year.  Please reach out if you have any questions.

Best,

Ms. Caro

Dear Parents,

We had another productive week in 3C!  The students had so much fun working on their mothers' day poems/crafts!  I hope you enjoy them.  I had the best time reading what they had to say about their moms, they were very sweet.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  My parents are in town so I am excited ti celebrate mothers' day with my mom, which I haven't gotten to do in a few years.  Below is an update on what we will be covering next week!  

Also, this is a bit early, but I wanted to give you a heads up.  As many of you know i am getting married in May 28th.  Mr. Gillingham has graciously allowed me to take off on the 26th and 27th, but I will be coming by on the 27th to say goodbye to the students and any parents who are there for our classroom celebration.  I will probably tell the students on the last week of school, but I wanted to give you a heads up.  Any comments or questions, please reach out to me!

Best,

Ms. Caro  

General Announcements

• We are in need of just a few more boxes of tissues to get us through the rest of the year, the allergy count has just been so high this spring!
• Wednesday afternoon we will reenact the Punic Wars on the football field with water balloons! There will be solid ground rules to ensure the safety of all students and we will be throwing from a distance. They may come home a bit damp, but we will hopefully prevent them from getting completely soaked!

Language Arts:

We will continue reinforcing our diagramming and classification skills in Grammar. We will continue reading about Ancient Greece in our Story of the World writing exercises. We have almost come to the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, many of your scholars are already looking 

forward to reading the next book in the series next year.

History:

This week we will be discussing the Massachusetts Bay Colony and what life was like in puritan communities. We will also be learning the history Rhode Island and begin learning about the middle colonies. We are giving out a study guide on Monday, which can be filled out as we go this week. The study guide is to be completed and turned in on May 17th. We will be having the final history test of the year on Friday, May 20th!

Science: 

This upcoming week will be an exciting one in science as students are introduced to the wonders of the sun as they consider nuclear fusion and the tremendous heat it creates. However, we will, I hope, be humbled by seeing how small our sun is, and us with it, when compared to some of the larger stars in the universe. At times, we struggle with thinking to highly of ourselves, but when we consider the great vastness of the heavens it should lead our souls to reflect on our finite nature. Other topics discussed during the week will include constellations and how to orienteer by the stars. We will finish the week by discussing what happens to some of the larger stars in the universe when their lives end, namely blackholes, and we will try to rectify some of the misconceptions that surround them.

Math: 

In math this week we will be doing a large cumulative review to prepare students for our final Singapore math test.  This test will be given on Friday, May 13th.  The test will not be part of the students grade, but is an opportunity for us to learn how much the students have grown (they took the pre-test at the beginning of the year) and for the 3rd grade team to figure out how to improve our practices for the next school year.