Classroom Update: Quarter 4, Week 5

Greetings, Parents!

I hope that every one has taken the time to recover from our AzMerit Testing over the weekend and are ready to start working hard for the remainder of the quarter!

Our tests and quizzes for the week:

Monday, April 20:

Math Quiz (Unit 10, Chapter 4)

Tuesday, April 21:

Literature Quiz (The Little House on the Prairie, Chapters 7-12)

Wednesday, April 22:

None!

Thursday, April 23:

None!

Friday, April 24:

Spelling Test (30 Words)

Here is a look at what will be happening this week in 3B:

In Language Arts, we will be continuing our current units. In Literature, we will be quizzing on Chapters 7-12 on Tuesday. Be sure that your scholar is reviewing vocabulary words from those chapters, as well as studying from our Little House on the Prairie notebook. In Writing, we will continue working on summary skills after reading short passages. In Grammar, we will be focusing on applying our newly acquired knowledge of grammar to the way that we speak and the verbal usage of correct grammar. Our poem for the week will be "Furry Bear" by A.A.Milne.

In Math, we will be continuing our study of fractions. On Monday, we will be taking a quiz covering the addition and subtraction of fractions.

In History, we will continue learning about the thirteen original colonies. We will be covering slavery in the Southern Colonies this coming week. We will be sensitive to the emotional development of our students while discussing this part of our history. Some questions will not be addressed in class, so your scholar may come home with challenging questions regarding this difficult topic.

In Science, we will be looking at each of our planets more closely. Each student will be filling out a fun fact book on the planets!

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Best,
Ms. Sexton

Third Grade Field Trip

Dear Parents,

I’m excited to say that we have our field trip scheduled for May! We will be going to see a performance of Pinocchio at the Arizona Broadway Theater in Peoria on May 8^th. The buses will pick us up at 8:15, so it is vital that your student be dropped off at school on time. After the performance, we will go to nearby Hidden Meadows Park to enjoy lunch, please be sure to send your student to school with a nutritious sack lunch. After lunch, we will return to the school around 1:30. Admission is $20 per student. Each class will need 4 chaperones, if you are interested in chaperoning please send an email to your child’s teacher. To be a chaperone, you must have a Fingerprint Clearance Card on file at Archway Arete.

Here is a schedule of our Field Trip Day!

8:15- Leave Archway Arete

9:35 to 9:45- Seated in Theatre

10:00- Pinocchio Performance Begins

11:00- Performance Over (Head to Buses)

11:30- Lunch in Hidden Meadows Park

12:00- Head Back to Archway Arete

1:30- Arrive at Archway Arete

Listed below is a link to a permission slip for this trip:

https://archwayareteclubs.wufoo.com/forms/arizona-broadway-theater/

Best,

Ms. Sexton, Ms. Welch, Mrs. Hervas, and Mr. Naaktgeboren

Classroom Update: Quarter 4, Week 4

Hello Parents!

I hope that everyone has a restful and relaxing weekend. This week, our scholars will be taking the AzMerit state test. Please make sure that your child comes to school well-rested and with water bottle and a healthy snack. Please see below to read a message from our Assistant Headmaster, Miss Pantalena. 

Dear Parents and Guardians,
Your child will be taking the AzMERIT English language arts and mathematics tests on April 14th, 15th, and 16th. Testing will begin promptly at 8:15am and students will have until the end of each day to complete the scheduled exam(s). Upon completion of testing each day, students should engage in a quiet activity like reading a book or solving word puzzles, so please send your child to school with something to do when s/he finishes. Instruction in the classroom will continue as normal upon completion of testing each day, and neither homework nor tests will be scheduled on AzMERIT testing days. Just as we always encourage healthy habits, during testing week we especially stress the importance of a good night’s rest and eating a well-balanced breakfast. We also ask that students come to school with a water bottle and healthy snack to eat between tests.
Your children may naturally be curious about the test. If prompted, simply give them a few words of encouragement to try their best and to enjoy the challenge. To learn more about this test, please click here to be brought to the AzMERIT website. You can find the testing time table below. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our District Testing Coordinator, Lucia Pantalena at LPantalena@ArchwayArete.org.

Tues. 4/14 Writing (90 min.) 8:15-9:45
Wed. 4/15 ELA Part 1 (75 min) and Math Part 1 (85 min) 8:15-10:55
Thurs. 4/16 ELA Part 2 (75 min) and Math Part 2 (85 min) 8:15-10:55

Sincerely,
Lucia Pantalena
Assistant Headmaster and District Test Coordinator

Our tests and quizzes for the week:

Monday, April 13:

None!

Tuesday, April 14:

 AzMerit Writing

Wednesday, April 15:

AzMerit ELA Part 1

AzMerit Math Part 1

Thursday, April 16:

AzMerit ELA Part 2

AzMerit Math Part 2

Friday, April 17:

None!

Here is our plan for the next week:

In Language Arts, we will continue with our journey through the plains of Kansas with Laura and her family in The Little House on the Prairie. We will be covering chapters 7-11. We will also be covering 40 Spalding words this week, but there will be no homework or test on Friday due to the AzMerit testing taking place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In writing, we will be working on narration and summaries. In grammar, we will be working on the verbal use of irregular verbs. There will be no poem or reading log this week. There will not be a new idiom this week, but we will be reviewing all of the idioms that we have learned this year. 

In Math, we will continue to practice equivalent fractions, as well as adding and subtracting fractions. 

In History, we will continue with our study of the 13 original colonies. Our focus this week will be on the Virginia colony and how it went from barely making it to thriving due to cash crops and plantations. 

In Science, we will be learning about the planets of our solar system!

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

Best,

Ms. Sexton

AzMerit Testing Next Week!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Your child will be taking the AzMERIT English language arts and mathematics tests on April 14th, 15th, and 16th. Testing will begin promptly at 8:15am and students will have until the end of each day to complete the scheduled exam(s). Upon completion of testing each day, students should engage in a quiet activity like reading a book or solving word puzzles, so please send your child to school with something to do when s/he finishes. Instruction in the classroom will continue as normal upon completion of testing each day, and neither homework nor tests will be scheduled on AzMERIT testing days. Just as we always encourage healthy habits, during testing week we especially stress the importance of a good night’s rest and eating a well-balanced breakfast. We also ask that students come to school with a water bottle and healthy snack to eat between tests.

Your children may naturally be curious about the test. If prompted, simply give them a few words of encouragement to try their best and to enjoy the challenge. To learn more about this test, please click here to be brought to the AzMERIT website. You can find the testing time table below. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our District Testing Coordinator, Lucia Pantalena at LPantalena@ArchwayArete.org.


Tues. 4/14 Writing (90 min.) 8:15-9:45
Wed. 4/15 ELA Part 1 (75 min) and Math Part 1 (85 min) 8:15-10:55
Thurs. 4/16 ELA Part 2 (75 min) and Math Part 2 (85 min) 8:15-10:55


Sincerely,
Lucia Pantalena
Assistant Headmaster and District Test Coordinator

Classroom Update: Quarter 4, Week 3

Hello Parents!

I hope that everyone has had a restful R&R Weekend!

Our tests and quizzes this week:

Monday, April 6:

None!

Tuesday, April 7:

Math Quiz (Unit 10, Chapter 2)

Wednesday, April 8:

Literature Quiz (Chapters 1-6 in The Little House on the Prairie)

Thursday, April 9:

None!

Friday, April 10:

Spelling Test (30 Words)

Science Test (Astronomy)

Here is what we will be doing this week in 3B:

In Literature, we will be continuing our progress through The Little House on the Prairie. There will be a quiz on Chapters 1-6 on Wednesday. To help prepare your student, please go over the questions and vocabulary words on the chapter worksheets with them each night. There are still many volunteer spaces open for our reading groups. If you are interested and have a Fingerprint Clearance Card, please sign up! We would love to have you in the classroom! In Grammar, we will be working on creating opinion paragraphs. In Writing, we will continue with our typical narration and summary exercises. In Spalding, we will cover another 30 words and have a spelling test on Friday. Our poem this week is "The Cow" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Our idiom for the week is "The show must go on!".

In Math, we will continue our units on fractions. We will be focusing on comparing and ordering fractions. There will be a chapter quiz on Tuesday. Later in the week, we will focus on adding and subtraction fractions.

In History, we will be starting our final unit on the 13 original colonies! We will begin with the Southern Colonies this week. The Third Grade Team would like to let you know that during week 5 of the quarter we will be having a class discussion regarding the slave trade. This information will be presented in a manner that is appropriate for third graders, but we wanted to let you know when we would be talking about this in case there were conversations you would like to continue at home on the topic. We are including a link to a Google Doc that has the information that your students will be reading in class on the subject. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

In Science, we will continue our astronomy unit. On Friday, we will be having our first test that will cover what we have learned so far. 

As always, please contact me if there are any questions or concerns!

Best,

Ms. Sexton

Classroom Update: Quarter 4, Week 2

Hello Parents!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend! Quarter 4 is off to a great start!

Our tests and quizzes this week:

Monday, March 30:

None!

Tuesday, March 31:

None!

Wednesday, April 1:

None!

Thursday, April 2:

Spalding Assessment

History Test (Explorers)

Friday, April 3 [NO SCHOOL]:

None!

Here is what we will be doing this week in 3B:

In Language Arts, we will be starting one new unit and continuing the other units. In Literature, we will be beginning our final book of the year, The Little House on the Prairie. Please let me know if your student needs to borrow a copy from the school. Here is where you can sign up for our last set of reading groups. In Writing, we will continue working on reading comprehension and question sentences. In Grammar, we will continue with practicing our dictionary skills, as well as, applying what we have learned in written grammar to how we speak verbally. In Spalding, we will continue with another 30 words this week and then an assessment on Thursday. This assessment will be used as a gauge to see how our students are progressing through our word lists. There is no poem or idiom this week due to not having school on Friday. 

In Math, we will be continuing our fractions unit. This week we will be discussing equivalent fractions. We will also be learning how to multiply and divide them. By the end of the week, we will be discussing how to express fractions in their simplest form. 

In History, we will be finishing up our unit on the Explorers. There will be an in-class review day on Wednesday and then the final test will be taken on Thursday. 

In Science, we will be focusing on Kepler and his additions to our understanding of the solar system. We will also begin to focus on gravity and how it affects our world.

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

Best,

Ms. Sexton

Classroom Update: Quarter 4, Week 1

Good Morning, everyone!

I hope that everyone had a restful break! We are beginning our last quarter!

Our tests and quizzes this week:

Monday, March 23 [No School]:

None!

Tuesday, March 24:

None!

Wednesday, March 25:

None!

Thursday, March 26:

Literature Quiz ("Rikki-tikki-tavi, "Toomai of the Elephants", and "Her Majesty's Servants")

Friday, March 27:

Math Quiz (Unit 10, Chapter 1: Fractions)

Spelling Test (30 Words)

Here is what we will be covering this week:

In Language Arts, we will be finishing up some of our units and continuing with others. In Literature, we will be finishing up The Jungle Book on Thursday with our final chapter quiz. Tuesday and Wednesday will be used as review days in preparation for our quizzes. In Grammar, we will continue with our dictionary lessons as a way of preparing for our Arizona state testing in April. In Writing, we will continue identifying the central narrative thread of passages and then writing our own summaries for them. In Spalding, we will continue with another 30 words this week with a test on Friday. Our poem for this week is "At the Zoo" by A.A. Milne. Our idiom for the week is "rule the roost".

In Math, we will be introducing fractions! We will be working on them for a while now. We will spend the week learning and reviewing fractions with a chapter quiz on Friday.

In History, we will be continuing our Explorer's Unit with learning about De Soto's march, the Search for El Dorado, and two English explorers.

In Science, we will be beginning our unit on Astronomy!


As always, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.


Best,
Ms. Sexton