April 3, 2026

Dear American Academy Families, 

Welcome to April, 3rd Grade Families!

We’re excited to step into a fresh new month filled with growth, learning, and plenty of springtime energy. As the days get longer and brighter, our students are continuing to build strong skills, explore new ideas, and show just how much they’ve grown this year.

April will bring engaging lessons, fun activities, and opportunities for students to shine both in and out of the classroom. We’re so grateful for your continued support—it truly makes a difference in your child’s success.

Makeup Policy

Just a friendly reminder that third grade students are not permitted to wear or bring makeup to school. Per our AA Uniform Policy, makeup is not allowed for K–5 students. We have recently had a few instances of this occurring, so we wanted to clarify expectations. Aside from colorless chapstick or lipbalm, which should be kept in backpacks or pockets, cosmetics should not be worn or brought to school.

Thank you for your support in helping us maintain a focused and appropriate learning environment for all students.

2nd-4th Grade Lego Building Club

LEGO Building Club is starting on Tuesday, April 21st. This is a FUN hands on LEGO club that will run for four Tuesdays (4/21, 4/28, 5/5 and 5/12). Students will come to our 1st floor STEM room at 4 pm and will finish at 5 pm. Get your child signed up on the AA School Store!  

CLICK HERE   

CMAS and End-of-Year Testing Windows for the 25-26 School Year

We know many families like to plan ahead for vacations and appointments. As you’re making those plans, please keep our CMAS and benchmark testing windows in mind so students don’t miss these important days. Benchmark assessments give us valuable information to guide instruction and ensure each child is placed in the ability group that best fits their needs.

• CMAS ELA April 7th, 8th 9th (one 90-minute session each day)

• CMAS Math April 14th, 15th, 16th (one 65-minute session each day)

• End of Year Benchmark Testing Window: April 13th-May 13th 

Classroom Wishlists

Consider donating items to your teacher's classroom wishlist! Remember items purchased can be turned in towards your volunteer hours!!

Ms. McMorrine’s Classroom Wishlist

Ms. Medina’s Classroom Wishlist

Ms. Newman’s Classroom Wishlist

Ms. Pearson’s Classroom Wishlist

Ms. Shaw’s Classroom Wishlist

Literacy Class Scholastic Book Club Links

Ms. McMorrine’s class code- MJKYD

Ms. McMorrine's Classroom Book Club

Ms. Newman’s class code- XR6KM

Ms. Newman's Classroom Book Club

Ms. Pearson’s class code- R7ZKX

Ms. Pearson's Classroom Book Club

Curriculum Updates

Responsive Classroom: During our Responsive Classroom time, we are taking a deeper dive into social awareness. Students are engaging in thoughtful discussions and activities focused on understanding others’ perspectives and recognizing the importance of treating everyone with kindness and respect. We are exploring practical ways to show respect in our classroom and school community, helping students build positive relationships and a strong sense of empathy.

McMorrine Math: In math, we have successfully completed Chapter 10: Time Measurement and Intervals. Students demonstrated strong understanding as they learned to tell time using both digital and analog clocks, as well as how to calculate elapsed time and interpret time intervals. Moving forward, we will revisit and integrate additional third-grade math concepts to further reinforce learning in preparation for Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS). Students will also continue participating in weekly multiplication quizzes and targeted CMAS practice activities.Please note that during CMAS testing weeks, math homework will be paused to ensure students have adequate time to rest and feel fully prepared for their assessments.

Medina Math: We are on Chapter 9 this week - Understand Perimeter. Our lessons were using a formula to find the perimeter of a rectangle, comparing areas of rectangles that have the same perimeter, and comparing perimeters of rectangles that have the same area. We are also continuing to work through our multiplication facts and completed our CMAS practice tests. During the week of CMAS testing, the students will not be getting homework to allow them to rest and be more prepared for each testing day. 

Newman/Shaw Math: Over the next few weeks, we will begin previewing a variety of important math concepts, including time, fractions, measurement, graphing, and geometry. As we continue through these topics, we will keep focusing on building accuracy, explaining our thinking, and choosing efficient strategies when solving problems. Please continue to support your child at home by reviewing multiplication facts regularly, as fluency remains an important skill across many areas of math. Students will also continue taking a weekly fact quiz. We’re proud of the growth we’re seeing as students build confidence and deepen their understanding!

Pearson Accelerated Math: We’ve officially wrapped up Chapter 14 in math and are excited to begin Chapter 15, where students will explore and learn more about angles. During the CMAS testing window, we will pause homework to help students get plenty of rest and feel their best each day. We will continue learning together in class, engaging in meaningful math activities and building new skills along the way.

McMorrine Literacy:In literacy, we have successfully completed Unit 4: Ancient Rome and will begin our new unit on Light and Sound next week. In grammar, students have been focusing on verb tenses, specifically the verbs “to be” and “to have,” as well as practicing the use of irregular verbs. As part of our writing work, students completed an engaging compare-and-contrast assignment examining The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs from the wolf’s perspective. Please be on the lookout for the next set of spelling words, which will be distributed after CMAS testing. Additionally, there will be no homework assigned during the CMAS testing window to ensure students have adequate time to rest and feel fully prepared.

Newman Literacy:In literacy, we are wrapping up our study of Ancient Rome next week after an engaging and insightful unit. This week, we also began exploring poetry. In grammar, we continue to build our understanding of verb tenses while strengthening vocabulary through the use of suffixes. Please note that our next spelling test will take place on 4/6. After that, we will pause spelling tests until CMAS testing is completed.

Pearson Literacy: We’ve wrapped up our literacy unit on Ancient Rome. We also completed a fun compare-and-contrast writing assignment, where students explored two versions of a fairytale. We are now beginning Unit 5, Light and Sound, where students will read engaging nonfiction texts to learn about how light and sound work, including topics like shadows, reflection, sound, and important inventors. Along the way, students will continue to build their reading fluency, strengthen spelling patterns, practice grammar skills such as adverbs and conjunctions, and deepen their understanding of word parts and meanings. During the CMAS testing window, there will be no literacy homework so students can rest and be well-prepared each day. We will continue meaningful learning in class as we build new skills together.

Medina History: We continued learning about the Early Americans. The students in their small groups continued practicing their play presentation to show a tribe’s way of life. They also started working on their tribe posters and making props for their plays. Their play presentation will be in the next two weeks. 

Shaw Science: Starting April 6th science and STEM groups will be switching. Science students will finish the rest of our unit on Forces and then move on to our weather unit.

Jones STEM:  The first group of STEM is wrapping up this week with students building an animal using their Spike Essential Kits that features a motor, sensor or light to show an adaptation an animal uses to survive.  Students are honing the skills they learned over the last 5 weeks to make a wonderful project! This is the student's first year with word block coding and they are learning a lot! Additionally in STEM we spend a lot of time focusing on the skills it takes to be successful in working with others as part of a team. We develop engineering skills like communication, collaboration and compromise as we work through the steps of the Engineering Design Process.  It is fun to see the growth and confidence develop as students practice new strategies for working with others.  Group 2 of STEM starts Monday and will go until the end of the year. This unit is longer in time, but because of CMAS testing shortening the learning blocks on testing days, we have more days to balance out the time.    

For more event dates, please visit the Event Calendar on www.aak8.org. For questions or concerns about an event date, please contact our Communications Department.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support,

Ms. McMorrine, Ms. Medina, Ms. Newman, Ms. Pearson, Ms. Shaw, and Ms. Winder