End of Year Info!

We have lot going on in the next week, so I wanted to send out a special blog post with all of the information.

Next Week's Schedule:

Monday: We will have our regular class schedule.  We will have lunch in the room and will celebrate summer birthdays.  If your child has a summer birthday and would like to bring a treat or snack to share they are welcome to do so!

Tuesday: Regular class schedule.  We will have specials, take the History test and the End of Year Math Assessment.  As I stated earlier, this test has no influence on their grades.  It simply will be an opportunity for us to gauge where students are for next year, help us know what areas we need to focus on, and make any summer school referrals.

Wednesday: Half Day, early dismissal, 11:45.   We will have specials on Wednesday and will take the Science test.  We will also be taking the last hour of the day to clean the room and desks.  Please send in a couple of grocery bags for your students to bring home their materials.  

Thursday: Half Day, early dismissal, 11:45.  We will take the roots test first thing and then will head to the gym for the graduation ceremony.  Please see below for detailed instructions on this.  This will be followed by a barbecue and is only $5 a person!  

Friday: Half Day, early dismissal, 11:45.  We will be having a fifth grade kickball game first thing in the morning, and will then head back to the classroom for our Secret Garden Japanese Tea Party.  We will need volunteers and lots of supplies for this, so please take a look at the sign-up genius:

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

We will finish the day at 11:45.....and SUMMER VACATION BEGINS!!

Fifth Grade Promotion Info:

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 lots 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.  Hosiery 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 occasion. 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.

Headlines, May 11

First and foremost thank you so much for spoiling us last week!  I was overwhelmed by your generosity with both Teacher Appreciation Week and my surprise "birthday."  I am so blessed to be surrounded by such thoughtful and loving families!  I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day and had the chance to rest and relax.  I gave the students homework to get along with their siblings, let mom sleep late, and help around the house!

Math:  Last week we finished learning new material over percentages.  We will review both today and tomorrow and will take the percentage test on Wednesday.  We will then do a very brief unit on angles.
 

Literature: We are over halfway through The Secret Garden and the class loves this book.  We will continue to read in class and at home and will most likely have another quiz this week.  I will be taking a grade on their spirals in which they should be writing down vocabulary and answering questions in their mini-books.
 

Writing:  This week we will be studying the lost art of writing both friendly and business  letters.  We also will be doing character analysis of our Secret Garden characters.

 History: Last week we spent time studying important people in the Civil War, including the role women played and how the draft impacted the war. This week we will be learning about the end of the war, including reconstruction, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the role of Jefferson Davis.  I will also be sending home a study guide for the class to begin reviewing.

Science: Last week we took a look at seeded vascular plants and non-vascular plants and the differences between them.  We will continue this week by learning about seeded plants and their functions.  From there we will finish our plant unit be learning about the reproductive cycle of plants.

  

Announcements

• Tutoring will be available both Tuesday to review for the percent test.
• I know we are very close to the end of the year, but we still have A LOT of content to get through!  It is crunch time, and I continue to remind the students that we need to stay focused on our studies.

 

 

 

Upcoming Tests

•  Root test - Thurs morning, May 21st, students received study guide today
• History Test (Civil War) - Tuesday, May 19th
• Science Test (Plants) - Wednesday, May 20th
•  Singapore Math Cumulative - Monday, May 18th (This will not impact their grade.)

 

 

Wish List:

• I know the end of the year is near, but please check with your students to be sure they have necessary supplies, especially glue sticks, pencils, and erasers.

 

Important Dates:

• Thursday, May 21^st, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony.  This will be followed by a barbecue lunch at 12:20, more details are forthcoming.
• Coffee Talk  with Mr. Wagner, Wednesday, May 13, 8-9 am
• We will be having an end of year celebration on the last  day of school, be on lookout for a sign-up for this.

Headlines, 5/5

As we head into our last couple of weeks we are staying busy and working hard! 

Math:  We began our new unit on percentages last week by learning how to convert fractions and decimals.  This week our focus will be using percentages in real world examples by doing word problems.  Yesterday we discussed common percentages and their decimal and fraction conversion.  We will have a short quiz over this on Wednesday.
 

Literature: We are enjoying reading The Secret Garden and learning quite a bit of new vocabulary.  This book will be our last literature unit of the year, so students will be reading both at school and at home.  We will be planning a celebration the last week of school, so be on the lookout for more info on that!

Writing:  The remainder of the year we will be focusing on a review of the grammar concepts we have studied thus far and will be completing a few short writing assignments. 
 

Science: Our plant unit is underway.  The class brought in leaves last week and we enjoyed learning how to classify different shapes and characteristics.  This week we will be looking at the internal structure of plants and different types of plants.

History:  We are right in the middle of the Civil War.  Last week we learned about a few of the battles and now we are focusing on notable individuals of the war.  The students should be reviewing their civil war vocabulary nightly.

 

Announcements

• Tutoring will be available both Tuesday and Thursday. We will be focusing on word problems using percentages.

·         

Wish List:

• I know the end of the year is near, but please check with your students to be sure they have necessary supplies, especially glue sticks, pencils, and erasers.

Important Dates:

•       CORRECTION!! Thursday, May 7, Spring Concert, arrival time, 6:40 pm
• ·         Friday, May 8, 11:45-1:30^: 5th grade tour of the PREP School and lunch/panel with prep mentors. BRING a lunch. Students will be able to buy treats at the snack shack, so they may bring money as well, however, hot lunch will NOT be available that day.
• ·         Thursday, May 21^st, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony.  This will be followed by a barbecue lunch at 12:20, more details are forthcoming.

Enjoy a few pictures from our math time with the Prep Students!

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.

·         

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
• 
  

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!

·         

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.
• 
  

·         

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!