Classroom Update: Quarter 3, Week 8

Hello Parents!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful week!

Our tests and quizzes this week:

Monday, February 23:

None!

 

Tuesday, February 24:

Literature Quiz ("Tiger! Tiger!" and "The White Seal")

 

Wednesday, February 25:

None!

 

Thursday, February 26:

Math Quiz (Liters and Milliliters)

Science Quiz (Light)

 

Friday, February 27 [Half Day]:

Spelling Test (30 Words)

 

 

Below is what we'll be covering this week:

 

In Language Arts, we will be continuing the majority of our current units. In Literature, we will be taking a quiz on Tuesday on our most recent chapters, "Tiger! Tiger" and "The White Seal". On Wednesday, we will be having reading groups and explore a new chapter., "Rikki-tikki-tavi". In Spalding, we will continue with another 30 words. We will also be having a monthly Spalding Assessment to measure their growth from the beginning of the year. In Grammar, we will be reviewing conjunctions, compound subjects, and compound  verbs. We will also review diagramming! We will not have an idiom this week due to the half day. We will also be finishing our memorization of "The Charge of the Light Brigade"!

 

In Math, we will review liters and milliliters. Our focus will be on conversion, as well as adding and subtracting with compound units. There will be a quiz on Thursday. On Friday, we will introduce gallons, quarts, pints, and cups.

 

In History, we will be using this week to review how to find important facts in books and take notes on our assigned explorer. These notes will be preparation and research for the essays we will be creating in the next week.

 

In Science, we will be review and discussing this week's activities to gain a better understanding of light. These discussion will also act a s review for our quiz on Thursday.

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Warmly,

Ms. Sexton

3B Wish List!

Hello Parents!
We are in dire need of some more supplies here in 3B. We have gone through all of the regular pencils and tissues. We are also in need of some dictionaries and thesauri. These are necessary for the AZ Merit testing that we will be taking in April. We need 12 dictionaries that have either ISBN: 978-1-59695-123-5  or 978-0-87779-930-6. We also need 21 thesauri with the ISBN 978-1-5965-115-0. I have updated the classroom wish list in case you would like to donate something to our classroom!

Thank you!

Third Grade Research Essay

Dear 3^rd Grade Parents,

The 3^rd grade will be completing a research project and essay during the last three weeks of Quarter 3. The majority of the work will be completed in class with the guidance of the teachers. In the case that a student is unable to finish his or her writing in class, some portions may be assigned as homework. Also, the final product will need to be typed at home. If printer access in an issue, please don’t hesitate to let me know. The typed essay will be due on Thursday, March 12^th. This essay will be graded as a test.

Timeline of Events

 

Step 1 (In Class: Feb. 20th):

Students will be assigned an explorer from the following list:
Christopher Columbus
Juan Ponce de Leon
John Cabot
Samuel de Champlain
Henry Hudson

Step 2 (In Class: Feb. 20th):

Students will choose and record 2 resources.

Step 3 (In Class: Feb. 23rd- Feb. 26th):

Students will take notes on their explorer’s accomplishments, personal life, and hardships.

Step 4 (Begin In Class: March 2nd):

Students will fill in the Student Outline of a Three-Paragraph essay. These are the exact sentences they will type in their essays. This outline is due on March 9th.

Step 5:

Students will type their essays as homework using the typing template. The final product is due Thursday March 12th.

 

While the writing will be done in class to ensure proper format, parents are strongly encouraged to help students review spelling and grammar. Students are able to include an image of their explorer in their essay (this skill was learned in their recent typing class), however, this is not required. There is a link below connecting you to a Google Doc of the project. Please do reach out to me with any questions or concerns.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZfhWgiV5qLIrmCm3ujZoOkJgTEC2bjyDH2HdB5W_KSk/edit?usp=sharing

 

Warm Regards,

Ms. Sexton

Classroom Update: Quarter 3, Week 7

Hello Parents!

I hope that everyone had a restful and relaxing long weekend!

Our tests and quizzes this week:

Monday, February 16:

NO SCHOOL

 

Tuesday, February 17:

None!

 

Wednesday, February 18:

None!

 

Thursday, February 19:

Math Test (Units 1-7 Cumulative Assessment)

History Test (Earliest Americans)

 

Friday, February 20:

Spelling Test (30 Words)

 

 

Here is what your scholars will be learning this week:

 

In Language Arts, we will be continuing all of our current units. In Literature, we will be continuing our exploration of The Jungle Book with a new chapter, "The White Seal", this week. In Writing, we will continue our work with comprehension and identifying the central narrative thread. In Grammar, we will be focusing on interjections and diagramming them, as well as reviewing contractions. In Spalding, we will get back to covering our usual thirty words this week. We will also be learning the next stanza of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Please make sure that your scholar is memorizing our poem. There has been some struggle with remembering this poem since we started it. Please practice it with your scholar each night, both with the text and from memory. Our idiom this week is "on its last legs".

 

In Math, we will cover addition and subtraction of pounds and ounces. We will have our cumulative unit assessment on Thursday, with a review day on Wednesday.

 

In History, we will be finishing up with the Earliest Americans on Thursday with our unit test. On Wednesday, we will be reviewing and playing a study game in class, so that we are all prepared for our test. This should also be continued at home. Our next unit in History is the Early American Explorers. This will begin on Friday with an intensive writing and research project. This project will be done largely in class.

 

In Science, we will continue our analysis of light with a hands-on approach. We will be having activities and discussions addressing reflection, prisms, and the light spectrum.

 

 

 

As always, if there are any questions and/or concerns, please feel free to contact me!

 

Best,

Ms. Sexton

Third Grade Coffee Shop Conversation: Thursday, February 19th

Hello Parents,

At Archway Arete, we aim to develop a culture that encourages communication.  This is true of our students, our staff, and our families.  This is particularly important in the first year of a new school.  To that end, Mr. Gillingham will host small group conversations in the Arete library over a cup of coffee in the third quarter. The informal setting gives parents a chance to discuss things regarding student and family life here on campus.  Please join us on your assigned morning, and be a part of the ongoing discussion. Space is limited (35 people max) because we would like the discussion to be more intimate, but we will consider a second meeting in the 4th quarter if some families are unable to attend due to size restrictions.  We will meet Thursday mornings from 8 am-9 am, starting on January 29th in the library.  Each Thursday will be a different grade, starting with kindergarten parents (all sections, KA, KB, and KC).

The Coffee Shop Conversation for 3rd grade is scheduled for Thursday 2/19/15. Here is a link if you would like to join:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e084da5a929aa8-coffee

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Warm Regards,
Ms. Sexton

Classroom Update: Quarter 3, Week 6

Good Morning, Parents!

I apologize for the late post. I hope that everyone had a relaxing weekend! Here are a couple updates for this week:

We will be starting our typing class this week! It will be Monday through Thursday for 90 minutes and then on Friday for just 60 minutes. Our third-fifth graders will be taking this class. Due to this, we will not be having an grammar or writing lessons this week. Our History and Science class times will also be shortened to accommodate.

We will be having our Great Hearts Day celebration on Friday, February 13th from 10:30-11:30.  If you are interested in donating something to the class or being a volunteer, please feel free to sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0b4bafac2da2fd0-3bgreat . Thank you to everyone who has contributed already! Volunteers, please check in at the front office and they will direct you towards the classroom. All classroom volunteers must have their fingerprint clearance cards. Thank you so much for understanding!


Our tests and quizzes this week:

Monday, February 9

Math Quiz (Weight)

Tuesday, February 10:

Literature Quiz (The Jungle Book, Chapters 1-2)

Wednesday, February 11:

None!

Thursday, February 12:

None!

Friday, February 13 [HALF DAY]:

Spelling Test (30 Words)

Here is what your scholars will be learning this week:

In Language Arts, we will be continuing all of our current units, with the exception of Grammar and Writing due to the typing class this week. In Literature, we will be continuing to explore the jungle with Mowgli in The Jungle Book, with reading groups on Monday from (12:25-1:15). If you are interested in being a volunteer for our future reading groups, you can find the Sign-Up Genius here. We will have our quiz on "Mowgli's Brothers" and "Kaa's Hunting" on Tuesday morning. In Spalding, we will be working on a few new rules this week, so our spelling test will be shortened to 10 words for our test on Friday. We will continue to memorize "The Charge of the Light Brigade" for our recitation and lesson on Friday. There is no idiom this week.

In Math, we will continue learning about weight. We will also be doing a in-depth review of word problems.

In History, we will continue with our study of the Earliest Americans by looking closely at the Mound Builders and the Southwest Tribes.

In Science, we will being our new unit on Light! This week we will spend time observing the effects of light and applying the vocabulary terms to the observations we have.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a great week!

Kindly,

Ms. Sexton

Classroom Update: Quarter 3, Week 5

Hello Parents!

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!

Our tests and quizzes this week:

Monday, February 2:

Galileo Math Test

 

Tuesday, February 3:

Galileo Reading Test

 

Wednesday, February 4:

None!

 

Thursday, February 5:

Literature Quiz (The Jungle Book, Chapters 1-2)

 

Friday, February 6:

Math Quiz (Weight)

Spelling Test (30 Words)

 

 

 Here is what your scholars will be learning this week:

 

In Language Arts, we will be continuing all of our current units! In Literature, we are working on Kaa's Hunting (Chapter 2) for this whole week. There will be a comprehension quiz on Friday covering "Mowgli's Brothers" and "Kaa's Hunting". In order to prepare your scholar for this quiz at home, I would suggest re-reading each of these chapters with them each night. As always, if this is how you choose to prepare your scholar for the quiz, feel free to use the time spent re-reading as minutes to put on their Reading Log. In Spalding, we will continue with another 30 words with our weekly spelling test on Friday. In Grammar, we will be reviewing adverbs and sentence types. In Writing, we will be working on comprehension and how to use prepositions and direct quotations in our own writing. Our idiom for this week is "let bygones be bygones." We will be continuing to memorize "The Charge of the Light Brigade" this week by adding on stanza two to our first stanza. Please be sure that your scholar has both stanzas memorized.

 

In Math, we will be taking our middle of the year benchmark Galileo test on Monday. This is just an internal tool that we use to make sure that students are on track with our pacing schedule. For the rest of the week, we will begin learning about weight! There will be a quiz on what we have learned on Friday.

 

In History, we will begin a new unit this week on The Earliest Americans! We will start with a review of timelines and then take a close look at Beringia. This close look will include a look at Paleo-Indians, the Inuit, and the Anasazi.

 

In Science, we will continue our study of sound, focusing closely on how our ears pick up sounds. We will also review how the cochlea communicates sound to the brain. There will be a science quiz on sound on Thursday. Your scholar should have all of the material that they need to study in their purple folder.

 

Have a fantastic week!

 

 

Best,

Ms. Sexton