Headlines, 12/14

We are in the home stretch and have a busy week ahead of us.  Please let me know if your child will be gone later in the week as there are still tests and quizzes we will be taking.  Thank you to everyone for your generous donations for our winter celebration.  We are looking forward to a great time!


Math: We are in the middle of learning how to divide fractions and will continue with that this week.  We will have math tutoring on Tuesday, but not on Thursday of this week.

Writing/Grammar:  This week we will continue with sentence diagramming of compound parts.  There may be a short quiz this week!

Literature: We are still in our poetry unit and will continue analyzing poetry.  We are also looking forward to hearing poetry recitations.

Science:  We took our test over Classification today and will take a short break from Science as we finish up

History:  Today we finished up The Reformation by talking about Galileo.  The students will finish the study guide in class today and we will take the test on Thursday.
 

 

 Announcements
 

• We will still have math groups this Wednesday.  Thank you so much to the parent volunteers who have given their time this semester!

 

Important Dates

• Monday, 12/14: Poetry recitations begin
• Wednesday, 12/16: Reformation Test
• Friday 12/18 Winter Celebration
• 12/21- 1/4 Winter Break

Headlines 12/5

It is hard to  believe we are nearing the end of 2015!  The next few weeks will be quite busy as wrap our studies of the first semester.  I encourage you to help your scholars stay up to date on tests and quizzes in this busy time of year.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Also, thank you for the generous supply of glue sticks!


Math: We began Unit 4 by learning how to multiply fractions, use cancellation, and solve bar model problems.  We will continue next week by moving into division. 

Writing/Grammar:  I am very impressed with the persuasive writings I have read thus far.  Next week we will take our sentence diagramming to the next level and begin to diagram compound parts. 

Literature: Our students did an AMAZING job on their 100 point projects.  There was much effort put forth and we enjoyed presentations last week.  We are now learning about poetic devices and will be using these skills to analyze poetry beginning next week.

Science:  We took a short open note quiz last week over Kingdom Fungi.  Next week we will be learning about Kingdom Protista.  A study guide will be going home on Monday for the Classification test and our final test will be Thursday. 

History:  The Reformation has sparked much conversation among our class, as we discussed the different viewpoints of the churches of the time.  We will finish the Reformation next week and students will receive a study guide for the Unit.  The final test will be the following Wednesday.
 

 

 Announcements
 

• Tutoring has changed formats.  Monday will now be grammar and writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be Math.  I have talked to quite a few parents about their students attending math tutoring.  If so, please make sure they are going on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  This is an excellent time to receive extra instruction over the concepts we are studying.
• Our winter celebration will be December 18, a sign-up genius will be emailed soon!

 

Important Dates

• Thursday, 12/10: Classification Test
• Friday, 12/11: Roots Test
• Monday, 12/14: Poetry recitations begin
• Wednesday, 12/16: Reformation Test
• Friday 12/18 Winter Celebration
• 12/21- 1/4 Winter Break

Please read the following about the Bard Competition.  Since we are all memorizing poetry right now, I would love to see our students take place in this worthwhile endeavor!


Archway Arete's First Annual Bard Competition

Throughout Western civilization, bards have been keepers of tradition, reciting the poetry of their people and passing on oral history. At every grade level, our students practice memorization and recitation of poems in the classroom. This year, we will be joining our fellow Great Hearts schools and holding a Bard Competition for our 3rd through 5th grade students, whom we will challenge to memorize and recite poetry. Over the course of two rounds and two poems, we will winnow the field to find our school's most skillful bard. That student would be named School Bard for the year and will represent Archway Arete in the Great Hearts Archway Bard Competition. If your student is interested in competing, you can download the competition guidelines and registration form. These forms will also be available through the School Office or your student's teacher.  Whether your student participates or not, we invite all of our Archway families to these public recitations, which promise to be engaging reminders of this tradition.

 

 

Spelling Bee and Other Info!

Please note the memorization of the poem is due Monday, December 14.  Students have chosen their poem and should start practicing today!

We are in DESPERATE need of glue sticks!  We are sharing about ten very sad partially used glues sticks for the whole class.  If you are able to send in a few with your student it would be greatly appreciated.

Please accept my apology!  I did not send this information out earlier regarding the Spelling Bee. 

Hopefully if your child wanted to stay there were able to get a hold of you this afternoon, if not, they can still study the words at home.  This information is from Ms. Porcelli and Ms. Smith who are in charge of the bee this year:

Dear Archway Parents and Students,

 This year Archway Arete will be competing in the Scripps Spelling Bee! We are excited to refine our spelling and public speaking skills in this friendly and fun competition.

 The timeline for the spelling bee program is as follows:

Mon. 11/16 – Spelling Bee information distributed to Parents and Students

Tues. 11/17– Optional spelling practice for 1st and 2nd graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Tues. 11/24 – Optional spelling practice for 3rd and 4th graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Tues. 12/1 – Optional spelling practice for 5th graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

 Friday 12/4 – Each child will take a grade-level qualifier test in their classroom. The test will be a selection of 20-25 words from the challenging Scripps 100 word list for your child’s grade level. The top five scorers in each class will be selected to participate in their oral classroom spelling bee.

12/7-12/10 – Oral classroom Spelling Bees will take place within this week.  The top speller from each classroom will go on to participate in the Archway Arete school-wide spelling bee on 1/6.

 

Wed. 1/6 – The school-wide spelling bee will be held in the evening at Archway Arete! The top spellers in each class compete in the school-wide bee and only the top speller in each grade will move on to the Great Hearts District bee after winter break.

Tues. 1/26 – The top five spellers from Archway Arete will compete in the Great Hearts District Bee at Archway Veritas! (Details and times will follow.)

 While participation in the spelling bee program is voluntary, we encourage every student at Archway Arete to participate in their written and oral classroom spelling bees, as well as the optional spelling practice bees! Here are the word lists that your child will need to study to prepare for this competition: 2015, 2016 Spelling Bee Word Lists. You may also go to Spelling Bee Resources to find additional material and helpful strategies. Students should first learn the 100 study words for their grade level. Please note that the words on this list are quite challenging. The challenge is part of the fun! When your child masters the 100 grade specific words, they are ready to learn the study words for all other grade levels. There are a total of 450 words on the 2016 School Spelling Bee Study List. Finally, when your child masters the study words for grade levels 1-8, they may get a head start on the next level of competition by learning the words on the “Spell It.” This will prepare them for Great Hearts District Bee should they advance to this level of competition.

 Please direct questions to Ms. Porcelli and Ms. Smith at MPorcelli@archwayarete.org and hsmith@archwayarete.org. We are delighted to celebrate the English language with your children through the Scripps spelling bee program!

Very truly yours,

Ms. Porcelli and Ms. Smith

 

Headlines 11/30

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and was able to enjoy time with family and friends.  We are now in the "crunch" time of our year.  The students and I spoke this morning about working hard for the next three weeks as we prepare for the end of the first semester!


Math: We finished the week by taking our Unit 3 Tests, these should be coming home today or tomorrow and will corrections will need to be made.  This week we will be working on multiplying fractions.  We will be having math groups on Wednesday at our normal time of 8:00-9:00.

Writing/Grammar:  We continued our work on Persuasive Essays last week and I had the chance to look over their outlines.  This week we will be writing rough drafts, editing, and starting our final copies.  We will also be learning about compound subjects, verbs, and conjunctions and learning how to diagram these.

Literature: Most of the class has finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows and everyone should be working on their 100 Point Project.  The final due date for these is this Friday, December 4th.  We will set time aside in class to look at presentations and will give the students a chance to share their projects with their classmates.  Our next unit will last until the Winter Break and will be on Poetry.  Today we will be watching different readings of poems and each student will choose a poem to memorize and present to the class.  These will be due Monday, December 16th. 

Science:  We finished our week by taking an open-note quiz over the Kingdom Animalia.  We are now moving on to Kingdom Fungi.

History:  We began the Reformation by learning about the Printing Press, this week we will be focusing on Martin Luther and his influence on the time.
 

 

 Announcements

 

• Tutoring has changed formats.  Monday will now be grammar and writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be Math.

• We began our typing program this will continue every Friday from here on out.

 

Important Dates

• 12/4 100 Point Project Due
• 12/17-18 Half Day Release
• 12/21-25 Winter Break
   

 

Sixth Grade Enrollment Information:

Students scheduled to graduate from our academy are not automatically enrolled into 6^th grade at our designated recipient school, Arete Preparatory Academy.  You will need to submit a new application to Arete Preparatory Academy during the open enrollment period in order to be considered for enrollment at that academy for the 2016-2017 school year. 

Frequently asked questions:

When can we submit a 2016-2017 application?

The open enrollment period dates for the 2016-2017 school year are Monday, November 30^th, through Monday, December 14^th, 2015.  

Will we get an application priority status?

Applications received from graduating 5^th grade students will be given “Archway Graduate” priority application status on their Arete Prep application. Archway Graduate is the highest priority that Great Hearts Academies offers for students that enroll.

Does my application go back through the lottery?

Although all applications received during open enrollment will enter a lottery, the graduating students from Archway Arete will be given a waitlist number based on the Archway Graduate priority status, the highest priority Great Hearts offers.  

What if we miss open enrollment?

Applications can still be submitted even after the open enrollment period but will not be eligible for the lottery and will be considered post-enrollment applications. These post open enrollment applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis but will still give Archway Graduate priority status. Please be aware post enrollment applications are not guaranteed an offer of enrollment. It is recommended that families apply during open enrollment since initials offers will begin January 19^th, 2016.

Can my student go to another Great Hearts academy?

Families may also choose to apply to a Great Hearts academy other than Arete Preparatory Academy but will not be eligible for “Archway Graduate” priority status.  Instead, you may submit a Transfer Request form to your desired academy after your 2016-17 application for that school has been submitted.  You can find a Transfer Request form on the Enrollment page at www.greatheartsaz.org.  If all requirements are met and it is approved, your 2016-2017 application will be marked for “Transfer” priority status. 

Please note: Archway Arete works closely with Arete Prep to ensure that all of the graduating 5^th graders have the option to attend Arete Prep. The hope is that all Archway Arete 5^th graders will continue on to Arete Prep through graduation. While working closely together to ensure seats are available for all Archway Graduates, there is still no guarantee that each student will receive an offer. For more information about Great Hearts enrollment policies, please visit the ENROLLMENT page at www.greatheartsaz.org or call 602-438-7045 #351.

 

Headlines 11/17

Even though we had an odd week with Wednesday off, we managed to accomplish quite a bit.  I am also happy to report that the overall behavior and level of respect was greatly improved this week.  Thank you for your support!


Math: Last week we used our knowledge of fractions to practice converting measurements.  We will be reviewing these concepts next week and will take the Unit test on Friday.  Please be sure your child stays for tutoring Thursday if you feel they need some extra support.  We will also be having our math groups on Wednesday from 8:45-9:45 again this week.  After this week we will back to our regular schedule.

Writing/Grammar:  We reviewed parts of speech last week and began talking about methods used to persuade audiences.  The kids had fun looking at some old advirtisements.  Ask them about "Gillete Safety Razor!"  Next week begins the writing process for persuasive essays.

Literature: We have had some wonderful class discussions in our book study.  We are over half way though the book, so I hope that there has been work started on the 100 point project.  The due date will be Tuesday, December 1st.

Science:  We have been learning about the different classifications of animals and we will continue climbing the Animalia ladder this week.

They also enjoyed a hands-on experience with worms!

History:  A study guide should have gone home last week. I apologize for not getting the test date on the blog.  We will be reviewing for the test tomorrow and will take it on Tuesday.  We will begin our new unit covering the Reformation on Wednesday.

The students did a wonderful job memorizing and performing their poem.  Enjoy the recitation!

 

 Announcements

 

• Tutoring has changed formats.  Monday will now be grammar and writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be Math.

• As of Monday, November 2, the winter uniform guidelines go into effect.  Boys will be required to wear long pants, girls may wear pants or skirts with knee socks or tights.

• We will begin our typing program on Friday.  To begin this will be in-class work, however, as we progress in the program we may ask for practice at home as well. 

 

Important Dates

• 11/17 Renaissance Test
• 11/18 Winter Concert 
• 11/20 Unit 3 Singapore Test
• 11/25-11/27 Thanksgiving Break, No School
• 12/1 100 Point Project Due

Headlines 11/9

The weather has changed and I hope everyone has enjoyed some time outdoors!  We have made good use of our outdoor classroom and hope to continue to do so.  Our week ended a little rocky, and we had a discussion of what respectful scholarly behavior looks like in our classroom.  We discussed showing kindness to all and listening with respect to teachers and our classmates. I am happy to report that today was a much better day.  Please continue to reiterate to your fifth grader that a desire to learn and grow is the foundation of a classical education.  Thank you for all your support :)


Math: This week we will begin learning how to convert measurements.  We will take our time moving through this process as it can be a bit overwhelming for some students.

Writing/Grammar:  This week we will be learning how to diagram compound subject nouns and will begin the writing process for a persuasive paper.

Literature: We have had some wonderful class discussions in our book study.  We are over half way though the book, so I hope that there has been work started on the 100 point project.  The due date will be Tuesday, December 1st.

Science:  We have been learning about the different classifications of animals and tomorrow we will get a chance for a hands-on discussion as we take a look at earthworms!

History:  Our class has had quite the introduction to the Renaissance and we had the opportunity last week to see a mini-gallery of the artists we are studying.  This week we hope to conclude the unit, so be looking for a study guide in the near future.

 Announcements

 

• Tutoring has changed formats.  Monday will now be grammar and writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be Math.

• As of Monday, November 2, the winter uniform guidelines go into effect.  Boys will be required to wear long pants, girls may wear pants or skirts with knee socks or tight

 

Important Dates

• 11/10 Picture Retakes
• 11/11 Veteran's Day - No School
• 11/18 Winter Concert
• 11/25-11/27 Thanksgiving Break, No School
• 12/1 100 Point Project Due

Headlines 11/2

We had a great Monday and no-one appeared to have had a sugar overdose.  After a few gentle reminders that candy is not considered a healthy snack, the day went very well!  I want to say a HUGE thank you to the parents who came in to help on Friday.  You all are amazing and both the students and I are grateful for the time and effort you put into making the Read-A-Thon a huge success. We are a lucky bunch!


Math: The class seems to have a pretty firm grasp on the concepts we are studying.  We will be taking time to review fractions this week and will be testing next week.  If you find your child is struggling, please let me know and be sure they attend tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday.

Writing/Grammar:  We will be writing our final drafts of our descriptive paragraphs and then will be moving to the final step of Publishing.  We also will be going back to grammar, focusing on types of nouns and pronouns.

Literature: I hope everyone is enjoying Where the Red Fern Grows.  In this book we are focusing on using the text-based evidence to answer questions and make inferences.  Hopefully everyone has had the opportunity to look through the 100 Point Project with their students and make project choices.  I would encourage getting a head start on these and making a plan for the timeline in which to complete the project.


Science:  Most students did very well on the Chemistry test and it was clear they studied their notes.  We began our next unit this today on animal classification.

History:  Throughout this unit the we have been practicing various ways of taking notes and studying.  I encourage you to have your child bring home their notes to review the concepts we are learning in class.

 Announcements

 

• Tutoring has changed formats.  Monday will now be grammar and writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be Math.

• As of Monday, November 2, the winter uniform guidelines go into effect.  Boys will be required to wear long pants, girls may wear pants or skirts with knee socks or tight

 

Important Dates

• 11/6 Movie Night and Uniform Exchange 
• 11/10 Picture Retakes
• 11/11 Veteran's Day - No School
• 11/18 Winter Concert

 

Enjoy some pictures from the Read-A-Thon!

 

Headlines 10/26

After fall break, half days and a shortened week we have had our first full Monday in quite some time!  The students came to school ready to work and we had a very productive Monday.  I am looking forward to an excellent week ahead.


Math: We began our unit on fractions last week by reviewing mixed numbers, equivalent fractions, and improper fractions.  This week we will be spending our time focusing on adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators.  Math groups will resume this week as well.

Writing/Grammar:  Last week we learned about transitions in our writing and this week we will be putting our skills into practice by writing a descriptive paragraph about a favorite pet or place.


Science:  We finished our chemistry unit last week by focusing on chemical and physical reactions.  We completed the study guide over the unit today and we will be taking a test over the unit on Thursday.  Please help your child study daily for this exam!

History:  We are continuing our study of the Renaissance this week by looking closely at the Medici family and the role of the popes. 

 Announcements

 

• Tutoring has changed formats.  Monday will now be grammar and writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be Math.

• The Read-A-Thon is on Friday.  Students are welcome to dress up as a literary character or historical figure of their choice, they may also bring a pillow to school for our reading time.  If you are unsure if your child's costume is appropriate please check in with me!  You should have received an email with a link to sign up to either read or send in a donation for this fun day.

• Join me Thursday, October 29 for Fifth Grade Coffee Shop Conversations in the library from 8-9 am.

• As of Monday, November 2, the winter uniform guidelines go into effect.  Boys will be required to wear long pants, girls may wear pants or skirts with knee socks or tight

 

• The book fair is here, details are as listed:

The Archway Arete book fair will run from Monday, October 26th through Friday, October 30th in the resource room. We look forward to providing this exciting opportunity for students and parents to purchase books for their personal and classroom libraries. The class that purchases the most books from the week-long book fair will be awarded a pizza party. Profits from the book fair will go directly to children's books for the Arete library. The book fair will be open for parents at specific times during the school day, so please plan to attend. There are prizes to be won for participating!

Details for the event:

• The fair is open to students all day.
• The fair is open to parents at the following times: 7:30-8:00am,  11:00am-12:30am, 2:30pm-4:30pm, and 2:30pm-5:00pm.
• Do not check-in at the front office.  The entrance to the book fair is through the most southwest gate of the Archway building. 
• A purchase of four books or more enters your child into a raffle to win a basket of books. One basket will be drawn every single day of the fair!

All proceeds from the book fair will go towards  Arete's Library.

 

Headlines, 10/19

It was wonderful to have the chance to sit down with all of you last week.  Conferences are always educational for me and I am so appreciative of your willingness to partner with our school in your child's education.  I really enjoy learning about your families, hobbies, and what makes your kiddo tick.  Also, a HUGE thank you for all the amazing meals you so generously provided; we were truly spoiled!



Math: The Unit 2 tests were graded over the weekend and I am happy to say that our math grades are improving.  We will be handing back tests tomorrow to go home for corrections. I will be holding a special tutoring session directly after school tomorrow for those students who would like to stay for some extra help.  If you aren't sure if your child should stay, feel free to shoot me an email tomorrow and I will let you know.  We are now working on fractions, so please keep practicing those math facts at home.  The better they know those, the easier fractions are!

Grammar: This week we will be using our Grammar time to focus on the elements of a descriptive paragraph and the writing process.


Science:  We have spent quite a bit of time discussing different types of chemical reactions.  This week we will be reviewing these and will take an open note quiz on Friday.

History:  We began our unit on The Renaissance today by looking at the location of the papal states.  This is a meaty and interesting unit.  I encourage the class to bring home their folders daily and review the notes from the day! 

 Announcements

• Be on the lookout for more information regarding the Read-A-Thon on Oct. 30th. Students have the opportunity to dress up as a character from a classic text or from history and we will spend a few hours reading and snacking together....More info to come!
• Tutoring has changed formats.  Monday will now be grammar and writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be Math.

Headlines, 10/12

I hope everyone had a great fall break and enjoyed some much needed R & R!  It was great to see our scholars today.  They appeared to be well rested and ready to begin the second quarter.

Because we have half days this week, our schedule will be modified.  We are taking a break from Spalding and will start our new Literature unit next week.

Math: Right before break we took a quiz over the material we have covered thus far in Unit 2.  We will finish up the this unit with long division this week and will take a Unit 2 test on Thursday.  We will be having math groups on Wednesday, so please let me know if you would like to help with these. 

Grammar: We are continuing our study of diagramming sentences with prepositional phrases this week.  There will be a short quiz on Wednesday to assess our knowledge.  Students should not need to study for this, as we have spent a large amount of class time on this.


Science:  The class did a great job on their element projects.  This week we will be learning how elements bond.  Tomorrow we will be assigning the class to make flash cards for the 30 most common elements, there will be a quiz over the element and it's symbol next Tuesday.

History:  We will be finishing our Ancient Civilizations unit this week.  A study guide went home today for homework and we will be going over this in class tomorrow.  The test will be on Thursday.  Next week we will begin our new unit on the Renaissance.

 

 

 

Announcements

 

There are few new clubs starting! 

• Is your child interested in learning a new instrument? Does your child already play an instrument? The Arete Prep Beginning Orchestra, Beginning Band and Intermediate Orchestra clubs are excited to invite your students to join us! Students have the unique opportunity to meet twice per week with the teacher: once as a full group and again with similar instruments to work on more specific technical aspects of playing. Students will also have the opportunity to perform several times throughout the year. The fee is $40 and this pays for their music, books, and other miscellaneous communal supplies. Students will need to rent or purchase their own instruments (Milano’s in Mesa is an excellent resource). The clubs will start back up after Parent-Teacher conferences on October 19^th.     Please contact Mrs. Lynch  if you are interested or have any questions!

Arete Preparatory Academy Instrumental Music Schedule Room 111
Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
3:45-4:45	Beginning Violin/Viola	Beginning Band	Beginning orchestra	Intermediate Orchestra	Beginning Woodwinds
4:45-5:45	Beginning Cello/Bass	Intermediate Violin/Viola	Intermediate Cello/Bass	Beginning Brass	Office Hours (By Appointment)

 

• 3rd-5th Grade Dance Club (Mondays: 3:05-4:05 pm) and 3rd-5th Grade French Club (Tuesdays: 3:05-4:05 pm). Please click on the links signup. Clubs will resume the week of October 19.

• Thank you for all of your generous donations for the playground expansion; our class raised a total of $157.85! Construction has already begun and we are looking forward to using our new space.

• Our next book will be Where the Red Fern Grows.  Please be sure to send this book to school by Thursday.  If you are unable to purchase the text for your students please let us know as soon as possible.

• There will be no tutoring this week.

Important Dates

• Thursday, October 15: Ancient Civilizations Test
• Friday, October 16: Unit 2 Math Test

 

Coference Sign-Ups

Thank you to those of you who have already signed up for conferences, if you have not had the chance to do so, please be sure to my  Sign-Up Genius page and do so soon!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4eaaaf29a75-mrs


If you would like a conference with one of the specials teachers, you can do that here:

Art, Ms. Arce-Lindsay
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0948AAAB28A7F85-quarter1

PE, Ms. Rubino
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C4DAFAD29A6F49-quarter2 

Music, Ms. Kaye
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0C4EA8A92AA7FE3-quarter1

French, Ms. Gebara
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c4bafa72aa2f85-quarter


Enjoy your fall break and I will see everyone Monday!

Headlines 9/27

It's hard to believe this is the last week of the first quarter!  The students have been working hard and I am sure everyone is ready for a chance to relax and hopefully enjoy some cooler weather.  However, we still have four more days of school so let's help our scholars remember that we are going to finish strong!

Math:  We have taken our time moving through bar models and I am impressed with how far they have come in their ability to use bar models to solve problems.  We will be moving on to multiplication and division of large numbers this week, hopefully this will be a review for most, and after the break we will finish Unit 2.

Spalding: We are taking a break this week from Spalding and will use this time to review our roots.

Writing/ Grammar: I am looking forward to reading everyone's personal narratives tomorrow.  For the rest of the week we will be reviewing parts of speech and sentence diagramming.

Literature: We only have a couple chapters left of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We are excited to conclude with a literature celebration on Thursday.  I will be collecting the Voyage packets on Thursday and these will count for a test grade.  I have been encouraging the class to keep on top of these and  these should have been taken home and checked over this weekend.

History: We have been enjoying learning about the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas and their culture.  The mini-books will be due Tuesday and we will be taking the test on Thursday. 

Science: I am looking forward to seeing everyone's atom projects, we have had a few students already bring theirs to class, and it is clear they have worked hard!  We will spend the rest of the week presenting to the class.

 

Announcements:

If your child will not be here Thursday, please be sure to let us know in advance.  We will be taking tests and grades that are important for quarterly evaluations.

 

Important Dates

 

• Monday, 9/28:  Personal Narratives Due
• Tuesday, 9/29: Ancient Civilizations Packet Due
• Tuesday, 9/29: Atom Projects Due
• Wednesday, 9/30: Roots Test (Study Guide will go out Thursday, however there may be a couple more roots to add next week.)
• Thursday, 10/1: History Test
• Thursday 10/1: Literature Celebration 



Spalding List, Sign-Up Link, Reading Logs

As you may have noticed your child did not bring home a reading log this week.  I apologize that I did not get this sent home.  I will NOT be collecting reading logs this week!

Many of our scholars did very well pre-test this week.  If they missed more than two they should write the words three times and will re-take the test tomorrow.  I again apologize that I did not put these out earlier, however, here is the list for this week, hopefully better late than never!

fought
fuel
genuine
growth
handful
hardly
investigation
involved
involve
stationary
stationery
*Be sure to know the meaning of each!
stomach
succeed
television
tough
whistling
whistle
wholesome
wreath
whistle
wrestling
wrestle
meant
mean
distinguish

Also, there is a sign-up genius for the literature celebration that was emailed.  If you did not receive it here it is:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f054da9a722a13-5thgrade

Thank you for your continued support! 

Headline 9/21

I hope everyone enjoyed their three day weekend.  I attended a workshop taught by our very own Mrs. Posner at Arete Prep and learned some great new tips and teaching tools on sentence diagramming which I am excited to share with our scholars. 

The next few weeks will be quite busy as we prepare for the end of the first quarter, so please be sure to read the newsletter carefully, especially looking at due dates for the weeks ahead.

Math: First off, I would like to thank the parent volunteers who came in and helped the class on Wednesday. The kids loving having a different face to guide them, so if you are interested in helping us out, please let me know.  We are currently in the heat of Bar Model Problems, we will be reviewing these for the next couple of days and then will move into multiplication of larger numbers.

 Literature: We are nearing the end of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I hope that the students have been keeping up with their comprehension and vocabulary packet.  In the next few days a sign-up genius will be sent out for our Voyage literature celebration, please  be on the lookout for that! 

Writing/Grammar:  Over the weekend the students should have completed their pre-writing for their personal narrative.  We will continue to work through this process as the week progresses and the final draft will be due on Friday.

Spalding: I hope having the lists posted on the blog helped you prepare your child for the test.  I will continue to do this.

History: Last week we began learning about the Mayans. We will start talking about the Aztecs and Incas this week and the students will be assigned a short booklet to make about one of the three groups.  These will be discussed tomorrow and will be due next Monday.  We will also be taking the Ancient Civilizations test next Thursday.

Science: Most students did very well on the mid-unit quiz.  We will be learning about chemical bonds this week and will have time to work on the atom project.  These will be due next Tuesday, however for extra credit the students may turn them in early!  Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this assignment.  Our hope is that this is an opportunity to see the creative juice flowing!

Announcements:

• I will be holding a special tutoring session for students who needed a little extra review of the packet we completed for last Wednesday.  I will be handing these back today, and will have a note if your child should stay.  Please check-in with your kiddo regarding this!
• A homework survey will be sent out soon, please take note of how long your child is spending on homework so that we can be sure we are giving an appropriate amount.

 

Important Dates:

• Friday, 9/25: Reading Logs due Friday, 9/25
• Friday, 9/25: 11:45 Dismissal
• Thursday, 9/24, 6pm-8pm: Spalding and Singapore Math Night
• Monday, 9/28:  Ancient Civilizations Packet Due
• Tuesday, 9/29: Atom Projects Due
• Wednesday, 9/30: Roots Test (Study Guide will go out Thursday, however there may be a couple more roots to add next week.)
• Thursday, 10/1: History Test
• Thursday 10/1: Literature Celebration