Quarter 1 Week 4

We had a fun, full week of activities last week, from Map testing, to school pictures, to a messy but enlightening lab on bird beaks. We learned a couple new Shurley English jingles this week that helped us figure out what adverbs and adjectives are and had fun reading Trumpet of the Swan. Next week will have just as many fun, exciting things to learn. We will also begin reciting poems on Wednesday, so help your student be ready for that.

Spalding
We continue learning new spelling words with a little bit more challenging words this week. Last week there was a little confusion on Thursday's practice spelling test homework. I am planning on sending home a complete list of spelling words every Thursday so they can practice them.

Science
We continue classification this week by looking at fish and how they differ from birds.

Math
We continue to work on mental math strategies for adding and subtracting math up to four digit numbers

Grammar
We will begin making up our own sentences using the different parts of speech we have learned about and we will have a test on Friday.

Literature
We continue to read Trumpet of the Swan this week, as well as look at a few other literary devices.

History
We are learning about different geographical features and near the end of the week the students will be creating their own islands with different geographical features on them.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

~Miss Carnahan

Quarter 1 Week 3

Another week has come and gone and I was so glad to see so many of you at Curriculum Night! I will be uploading my power-point to my blog sometime later this afternoon, but if you have any additional questions please send me an email and I'll be happy to answer them. I'll also be looking into the subscription function on my blog to try and get it fixed.

A few notes:

• This week I sent home a poem that the students should be memorizing. The recitations will be on August 31
• This week we begin cursive in earnest--everything but math will be completed in cursive.

Spalding

We begin spelling words this week! Their homework will include writing their spelling words (with markings) each evening and the spelling test on Friday.

Science

We are using the classification information we have been learning to begin classifying birds this week.

Math

We begin working on mental math strategies for both addition and subtraction for 1, 2, and 3 digit numbers

Grammar

We are working on parts of speech and sentence structure. We will be adding another jingle about adjectives sometime during the week.

Literature

We continue reading Trumpet of the Swan.

History

We will be solidifying our understanding of latitude and longitude as well as begin talking about different types of land forms found in the world.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Miss Carnahan

August 14, 2016

Dear Families,

A week of school has come and gone and we are already getting into the swing of things and creating a good rhythm in the classroom. I began to send home reading logs this week, and have enjoyed reading the summaries of all the different books our students are reading. It makes me itch to go to the library and check a few of them out myself because they all sound so interesting and entertaining. This week we also began our differentiated math classes, and the transitions between teachers during math time has been quick and smooth. I hope the students can keep that up all year :) We are having Curriculum night this week on Thursday, August 18 where you will get a chance to meet your student's math teacher-be on a lookout for a flier with the schedule of events coming home with your student Monday or Tuesday.

This week I also started sending home missing homework papers. Some of your students got those papers for missing reading logs on Friday. Because there was a weekend spot many had planned on filling that out this weekend, but I sent home a new one which I would like to be filled out for this weekend. The missing homework sheet mentions that students have "extra homework" if they receive one of those papers. What it means is that if the homework was not completed it must still be completed and turned in the following day. If the homework was completed but left at home, the sheet merely must be stapled to the late homework and turned in the following day. Because I was not clear with my instructions on reading logs this week, the missing homework sheets will not count against students this weekend.

The students have been flooded with a lot of content information this week and we are already beginning to quiz them on some of it, and there will be a grammar quiz on Monday, a math quiz on Thursday, and a geography quiz on Friday. The grammar review was sent home with your students on Friday (Shurley English Review). I encourage you to ask your students about the sentence "jingle" we learned this week. If they don't understand what that is the first line is "A sentence, sentence, sentence..." and they should know the rest.

The rest of this week we will be learning a lot of fun things as well:

Grammar
We will start learning about different parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives and we will probably be learning another jingle or two. A link for the next few jingles we will be learning can be found here. I also plan on sending home a list of punctuation and capitalization rules that we learning this week so you can reference them at home. Some of the quizzes and worksheets might ask for specific rule numbers and I want you to have a reference at home to look things up.

Science
We continue our unit on classification and will begin learning what Cornell notes are and how they can be useful study tools.

Math
This week we will continue our exploration of rounding to the nearest tens, hundreds, and thousands as well as talking about what estimating is and how it can be useful. We will be having a test on Thursday, and begin talking about strategies for adding and subtracting using mental math skills on Friday.

Literature
We will read chapters 3 and 4 of Trumpet of the Swan this week. The students will also start thinking about cause and effect.

History
We continue to look at and learn about the different parts of maps, such as the compass rose and lines of latitude and longitude. On Friday we will have a quiz on the continents and oceans of the world.

While I plan to send most papers home on Fridays with the students, occasionally, with homework, I will send it home the same day. That happened this week and many of the students noticed a CAN in the upper corner of their paper. I did not have time to explain what that meant to them at the time, but I want to clarify it with all families now. CAN is an acronym meaning C-complete; A-accurate; and N-neat, and I grade homework on those standards.

I hope you are having a great weekend and I look forward to seeing your students on Monday

Miss Carnahan

News from around the school

At the beginning of the school year there seem to be so many little details that need to be passed on and attended to, and I have been asked to remind families of a few things from different teachers and organizations around school:

From Ms Blasi:

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

It was brought to my attention that the Theory Time - Grade Three workbook did not make it onto the Archway Lincoln consumable book list. This was an oversight on my part, and I want to apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this might have caused you. We will be using the Theory Time - Grade Three book in music class. However, since it was not on the original consumable book list, it will be optional for your student to have it. If you have purchased the book for your child, please have them continue to bring it with them to music class.

From the front office:

SchoolMessenger is a popular tool that the front office uses for important information. If you would like to receive text notifications directly to your cell phone, please text yes to, 68453 to opt-into text messages.

Quarter 1 Week 1

Even though this week lasted only 2 days, there was so much happening that it feels like it lasted a lot longer. I am so happy I got to meet all my students this week and started getting to know them as we had some getting-to-know you activities and began to dive into the material for this year. This next week we are beginning the curriculum in earnest.

Just a few notes:

• We are a nut free classroom. There are a couple of students allergic to nuts so your student cannot bring in snacks with nuts in them. 
• If you have not already sent in the Info sheet and Signature page that I mentioned earlier in the week, please send that in with your student by Tuesday August 9. Thank you to everyone who has already done so.
• We will begin switching for Math on Monday, so prepare your students for that. You should be receiving an email by the end of the day Monday informing you who your scholar's math teacher is.

This week we will be learning a lot of different things:

Spalding

We are not starting spelling this week, but instead will begin reviewing phonographs and good handwriting. We will review manuscript early in the week and end the week with cursive. 

Grammar

We use Shurley English for our grammar curriculum. On Monday we will be taking a pretest and on Tuesday we will begin reviewing what Synonyms and Antonyms are.

Science

We are beginning our science unit with classification. The students will be learning what "kingdom" "phylum" "class" and "species" mean in terms of taxonomy

Math

This week in math we will be reviewing place value and rounding. We will have a quiz on Thursday 8/11 on what we have been reviewing.

Literature

We will begin Trumpet of the Swan this week, as well as learn what cause and effect mean.

History/Geography

We will begin our unit by reviewing the continents and oceans and talking about where we fit in a global sense. 

I look forward to seeing the students on Monday morning. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me.

~Miss Carnahan

Welcome

Dear Families of 3C,

Welcome to the new school year at Archway Lincoln. My name is Miss Carnahan and I will be your teacher for third grade this year. I am excited to be joining the staff at this school and look forward to getting to know you and your students. I am sure we will have a lot of fun learning together.

I was born and raised in Phoenix proper, growing up 15 minutes from downtown Phoenix. I graduated from Veritas Preparatory Academy, and supported Great Heart’s goals since the beginning. Last year I moved to the east valley and have found the Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert areas very welcoming and fun places to live and explore. Before moving out here I spent some time in Utah, Italy, and China.

This will be my first year as a lead teacher. I worked the last two years at Archway Arete as an assistant teacher, both in 4^th and 2^nd grade, but wanted to be a lead teacher. I attended Brigham Young University and graduated with a bachelor’s in Classical studies emphasizing both in Latin and in Greek. After graduating I took the opportunity to volunteer teaching English to preschoolers in China where I solidified my love of teaching and working with students, as well as my love for learning and exploring.

When I’m not teaching I love going to museums, to farmers’ markets, to national parks and on bike rides. I have already been to five or six national parks this year, including the Grand Canyon and the Golden Gate Bridge. My favorite museum at the moment is the Getty Roman Villa right outside Los Angeles but it’s hard to choose. I also love going to the theater especially when it is Southwest Shakespeare.

I will do my best to keep the lines of communication open this year. Feel free to contact me via email if you ever have questions or concerns. I will also have a classroom blog that I plan on updating weekly and I encourage you to visit that regularly for news on what we will be doing during the week.

I am thrilled to be a part of Archway Lincoln’s family and teach in such a rich and uplifting setting as the Great Heart’s model. I love many of the units we will be studying this year and look forward to learning along with your children. I can’t wait to meet you and your students this week and start our adventure together.

Yours in Learning

Ms Clara Carnahan

ccarnahan@archwaylincoln.org