Headlines 4/27

It is hard to believe we are heading into the last month of school.  We have a busy month ahead of us and lots to keep track of as we finish the year, so please keep reading the blog and adding important dates to your calendar!

Math:Last week we reviewed volume and conversions and the students took the Unit 8 Test.  This was not an easy test and the class worked very hard.  We began our unit on percentages this week and will practice converting fractions and decimals to percentages.

Literature: We introduced The Secret Garden last week, and began reading the book.  We will continue to read both in class and at home over the next few weeks.  There are still a few students who do not have the book at school.  If you are not able to purchase this book for you student please let me know as soon as possible!  

Writing:  The class did an amazing job on their presentations, I could tell they worked very hard on both their displays and presentations.  I will be grading their papers this week, so look forward to having these returned next Monday.  This week during our writing time we will be reviewing sentence diagramming and noun jobs.

Science: I was thrilled with the endocrine system test grades.  The students had an excellent understanding of the content and it showed in their grades.  This week we will begin our next unit on Plants by looking at characteristics all plants share.

History: Last week we entered the beginning of the Civil War by learning about the Battle of Fort Sumter.  This week we will be studying the Civil War battles and the impact these had on the rest of the country.

Announcements

• Tutoring on Tuesday will be invitation only.  I will let you know if your child should stay.

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Wish List:

• Glue Sticks
• Pencil Top Erasers
• Kleenex!!!!
• Index Cards

Important Dates:

•        Wednesday, April 29, PSO Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, 6pm
•         Wednesday May 6, Spring Concert, 5:30 pm
• ·         Friday, May 8, 11:45-1:30^: 5th grade tour of the PREP School and lunch/panel with           prep mentors. BRING a lunch.
• ·         Thursday, May 21^st, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony
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More Announcements!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

*Prep School Tour is coming up Friday, May 8th.  It will include a tour of the prep building by the 6th grade teachers, lunch in the gym with the middle schoolers, session with Mr. Wagner and then a Q&A with high school prep mentors.  On this day, ALL 5th graders will need a sack lunch (there will be no hot lunch), but they will be allowed to purchase SNACKS from the concession area.  This tour is especially designed for the students ONLY.  Mr. Wagner will be inviting the parents to a seperate Coffee Talk and Tour soon.

*The Phoenix Symphony will be putting on a concert in our gym this Thursday, April 22nd from 9:30-10:30AM.  Parents are welcome!

*The T-shirt design contest ended and a winner was chosen by a student vote.  The students do not know it, but they will each receive a t-shirt as a gift from their teachers with the winning design on the front and the names of all the 5th graders on the back at the promotion ceremony.  They will be allowed to wear it on the last day of school.


* Fifth Grade Promotion: On Thursday, May 21st, Archway Arete will honor the achievements of our fifth grade scholars and formally promote them to the 6th grade and the prep school!  This special ceremony will take place from 10:45-11:45AM on that Thursday in the gymnasium.  All parents, siblings and relatives are invited to attend.  Parents wanting Archway or Prep siblings to attend will need to come early and sign their students out in the office.  There will be light refreshments following the event and losts of photo ops.  For those who will not be able to attend, the event will be videotaped.



Fifth grade graduate attire is as follows:
    Boys:  Dress shirt & pants, tie/bow tie, belt and dress shoes.  There is no color requirement.  No jeans or shorts.  Boys may wear a suit, but it will be a warm day.  No hats.
    Girls:  A formal dress like one would wear to church or a wedding.  It should not have spaghetti straps or be strapless.  The length of the dress/skirt should reach the TOP of the knee.  Hoisery is optional.  Girls should wear appropriate dress shoes; a moderate heel is allowable.  There is no color requirement.  Hair should be neat and appropriate for the occassion. No hats, tiaras, etc.



The students will participate in a rehearsal on that Thursday morning from  9:45-10:35.  Guests may begin arriving through the south gym doors at 10:30.  There will be both floor and bleacher seating.  Friday, May 22nd is a half-day school day in which the students will be involved in reflection activities, self-evaluation/goal setting, desk clean out, and room inventory.  There will also be special festivities they will not want to miss.

If you have any questions concerning the ceremony, attire, or how you can help, please contact Mrs. Keffer @tkeffer@archwayarete.org.

*Lots of students have been sick ... it happens invariably this time of year.  If your student is miserable, keep them at home, shoot me an email and I can either respond with some of the HW they can work on or compile some books/assignments to be left in the office for pick up.  When your child returns after an absence, they will usually find a pile of papers and an absence sheet on their desk.  They should come and see me to go over things with them.  They get a day for every day they are absent to get caught up.  If they need more time, they just need to come talk to me!

Headlines 4/20

We survived AZMerit and the kids did a great job of staying focused and working hard.  Hopefully they were not too stressed about it and enjoyed a week of no homework!

Math:Our math unit last week was quite short as we spent most of our time working on the test.  We did have a fun day on Friday, when some of the eighth graders from the Prep came and helped lead us in math games.  This is something we will be doing every Friday, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it!  We will spend this week reviewing for the Unit 8 test on conversions and volume.

Literature: We completed our reading of Across Five Aprils last week and it has been a wonderful addition to our Civil War unit.  On Wednesday the journals are due and we will be having a class seminar on the book.  If you have not yet, please bring A Secret Garden to school by Thursday.  Also, please let me know as soon as possible if you will need a copy of the book to borrow. This will go hand in hand with our study of plants in Science.

Writing:  The students have worked so hard on their western expansion essays.  Today we will begin the presentations in class and I am looking forward to seeing all of their efforts.  For the remainder of the week we will be reviewing some of the grammar concepts we have already covered.

Science:   We are finishing up our study of the endocrine system.  Last week we spent quite a bit of time learning about the causes and treatments of diabetes and how the fight or flight system works. We will be having our Human Growth and Development lessons both today and tomorrow and will review for the test on Wednesday.  Our test will be on Thursday.

History:  Last week we spent a great deal of time discussing the causes of the Civil War and how the Union began to divide.  This week we will be looking at the life of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.

Announcements

• Tutoring is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, we will be reviewing for our Unit 8 Test!

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Wish List:

• Glue Sticks
• Pencil Top Erasers
• Kleenex!!!!

Important Dates:

•         Endocrine System Test: Thursday, April 23
• ·         Friday, May 8, 11:45-1:30^: 5th grade tour of the PREP School and lunch/panel with           prep mentors. BRING a lunch.
• ·         Thursday, May 21^st, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony

Headlines, 4/13

Happy Monday to you all!  We are working hard in fifth grade, as the end of the year draws near.  

Math: Last week we took a bit of a break from our current math unit to prepare for the AZMerit test.  We discussed percentages and how to covert both decimals and fractions, reviewed volume, and looked at using positive and negative integers.  Today we will spend time learning how to graph on an axis.  Our math testing will be Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday will be a review day.

Literature: We have almost completed Across Five Aprils.  This is a great book that beautifully coincides with our study of the Civil War.  We will finish this week, so please bring A Secret Garden to school by Monday.  This will go hand in hand with our study of plants in Science.

Writing:  The students have completed the final rough drafts of their essay and have done peer editing in class.  The final draft should be typed at home and is due Friday.  Students may either email me the final draft in a Word document or print at home.  We will also begin the presentation phase of this project on Monday.  We will be discussing how these presentations should look a bit more today and they will receive written instructions.  On Friday we will practice the presentations.

Science:   We are right in the middle of our study of the Endocrine System.  We will continue this unit by looking at adrenaline and diabetes this week.  Our Human Growth and Development unit will be next Monday and Tuesday, and our test over this unit will be next Wednesday.  

History:  We have had some great class discussions about freedom and slavery during our study of the Civil War.  This week week we will be studying the Anti-Slavery movement and the Underground Railroad.

Announcements

• AZMerit testing will begin tomorrow.  We will be doing the Writing portion tomorrow, ELA and Math on Wednesday and Thursday.  Please be sure that your child eats a healthy breakfast (no donuts or pop-tarts!), and that they bring in a healthy snack.  
• Because of testing there will be no homework Monday-Thursday, and there will NOT be tutoring.
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Wish List:

• Index Cards
• Pencil Top Erasers
• Pencils

Important Dates:

• ·         April 13-15: AZMerit Testing
• ·         Friday, May 8, 11:45-1:30^: 5th grade tour of the PREP School and lunch/panel with           prep mentors. BRING a lunch.
• ·         Thursday, May 21^st, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony

The class enjoyed learning new French vocabulary!

AZ Merit

Dear Parents and Guardians,

 

Your child will be taking the AzMERIT English language arts and mathematics tests on April 14^th, 15^th, and 16^th. 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 clickhere 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

Headlines, April 6

I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing three day weekend and enjoyed the holiday!

Math:  We began our new unit on measurement this week focusing on converting units of measure and looking at how to find volume of three dimensional objects.  Next week we will look at the volume of liquids and will practice using these skills in word problems.

Literature: In Across Five Aprils we have been having some excellent discussions on the Civil War and how life changed for our characters.  We are working through our literature guide and will continue to read both at home and at school next week.

Writing:  The majority of our time in writing last week was spent researching our topics.  On Friday we began the rough drafts and some students have theirs completed.  We will spend one more day working on the body of the essay and then will begin writing the introduction and conclusion. 

Science:   Most of the class did very well on the Nervous System test, showing excellent study skills!  We will begin our study of the Endocrine system this week and will find out how our glands effect our hormones and various diseases, such as diabetes.

History:  We were also very pleased with the grades on the Westward Expansion test!  Our next unit of study will be The Civil War.  We will begin the week by looking at the geography of the US at the time of the war, and the causes of the conflict.

Announcements:

• The class behavior was so much better this week!  We were able to accomplish a lot and a positive attitude was shown by all.  Thank you for encouraging this in your children :)

• As always there will be tutoring after school for on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:45-3:15.  Since we will not be doing grammar for the next couple of weeks, both days will be focused on Math.

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Wish List:

• Index Cards
• Pencil Top Erasers
• Pencils

Important Dates:

• ·         Wednesday, April 8, 6:00 pm-8:30 pm: Fine Arts Night
• ·         April 13-15: AZMerit Testing
• ·         Friday, May 8, 11:45-1:30^: 5th grade tour of the PREP School/lunch/panel with prep            mentors, BRING a lunch.
• ·         Thursday, May 21^st, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony

We enjoyed reading with our first grade buddies this week!