Homework Survey and Free Fridays!

Please take moment and fill out the following homework survey to keep us informed on how things are going on the home front!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdlchh5mKPleiDzDKA28MLJWjnPRigNTXg6PRMhTWjGmX7C8Q/viewform?c=0&w=1

Beginning this week students in fifth grade are working on earning Free Fridays for displaying virtuous behavior in the classroom.  Each day they will either earn or lose a letter from our virtue of the month.  If they spell the entire word by Friday we will have Free Friday (or Thursday this week!) before school.  They may bring games such as cards, checkers, or other non pop-culture games to play before school starts in lieu of morning work. 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Headlines 9/26

I hope everyone had a restful weekend.  It was so nice to see those of you who attended our Spalding and Singapore night; I hope that the evening was helpful as you guide your students in their homework.

It is hard to believe we are approaching the end of the first quarter!  As a reminder there is no school for students this Friday, and fall break will be the week of October 10-14. 

As stated below, tutoring on Thursdays will now change to grammar and writing.  If your child is struggling with sentence diagramming or the writing process, please be sure to have them attend!

ELA:

Our students worked diligently on their descriptive writing paragraphs last week.  We have discussed how to use the writing process to make revisions and this week we will take our papers to publication by creating a class book.  We will also introduce compound elements and conjunctions in grammar.  We have had several requests for grammar tutoring, so beginning next week, there will be grammar tutoring on Thursdays (instead of Math) from 3:05-3:40 pm.  

We have also completed our 25 roots for the first quarter.  Students will receive a root review which they should begin working on.  We will take a test over roots 1-25 on Wednesday, Oct. 5th.  Please begin studying now!  

In Literature we are almost done reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We will finish the book this week and are looking forward to literature celebration on Friday, October, 7th.  More details are forthcoming!

All of our students did a lovely job on their recitations last week, and we also introduced our next poem, “Narcissa,” by Gwendolyn Brooks.  Students should be prepared to recite their poem by Wednesday, October 5th.

Math:

This week we will review all of the material in Unit 2, and will take the test on Thursday.  We will complete in class review of multiplication and division on Monday, and will then review order of operations as well as bar models on Tuesday.  During our Wednesday math groups we will complete the Unit Cumulative Review. If your student needs extra help, please be sure they attend tutoring on Monday and Wednesday!

History:

This week in history, we will continue learning about the Aztec culture and cover the Incas. Students will get their study guides on Thursday for their unit test. The unit test will be on Friday, October 7th. Note that this test is the day before students leave for Fall Break partaking in rest and relaxation! Students will continue journaling from the perspective of an Aztec or Inca at the end of each lesson.

Science:

We are continuing the chemistry unit this week. We will be reading The Mystery of the Periodic Table and taking notes throughout. We finally learn how the modern Periodic Table was organized.

The due date for the Science Fair Essay is quickly approaching! Please ensure that your child is working on the project such that they will be able to turn their essay in the last school day before Fall Break!

Headlines 9/19

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and enjoying these cooler mornings and evenings! 

Our students worked hard last week and accomplished quite a bit.  They enjoyed a chemistry lab, took a history test, and learned a new song with our French Prep mentors! 

If you  have  not yet RSVP'd for the Spalding and Singapore night this Wednesday, please let us know if you will be attending.  We plan on going through the basics of each subject as well as allowing plenty of time for Q & A. 

Here is the news for this week!

ELA

This week in writing we will begin our first formal piece of writing, a descriptive paragraph.  Students will choose a topic and will then go through the writing process to revise and edit for a final copy.  In literature we will continue to study characterization by finding textual evidence to support our inferences about the characters.  Students should be working to memorize their poems, and recitations will begin on Wednesday!

Math

All of our students did a wonderful job working through various types of word problems last week! This week we will begin reviewing and practicing long division and multiplication and will review bar models that use these operations.  

History:

This week in history, we will continue learning about the Maya culture. Students will get to participate in a friendly game of pok-ta-pok and engage in a socratic discussion involving the disappearance of the Maya. Students will continue journaling from the perspective of a Maya person at the end of each lesson.

Science:

We are continuing the chemistry unit this week. We will be reading The Mystery of the Periodic Table and taking notes throughout. We will learn about the pitfalls and successes of the early chemists. Our Friday activity will solidify our understanding of elements, compounds and mixtures.   Students should continue be working on their project at home!

Study Skill of the Week:

Starting this week we will begin to introduce new study skills to help the students as they prepare for Prep!  This week we will focus on using flashcards to aid in studying.  Students will practice pulling seven cards to study at one time, putting the cards to the side that they show mastery with, and focusing on the cards that need more review.  They can repeat that process with the remainder of the cards until they have gained mastery of all!

Headlines 9/12

The students worked very hard last week and we were able to accomplish so much in a short week. 

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who attended our assembly on Friday, and a very special congratulations to Noah Wesson for winning the virtue award for Responsibility.  We are very proud of him! 


ELA

It’s back to grammar this week as we introduce our next part of speech, pronouns.  We will also be reviewing collective nouns and the simple subject and simple predicate.  In literature we will learn how authors use different methods of characterization to help the reader understand characters in the story.  Our new poem, “A Bird Came Down the Walk,” by Emily Dickinson was introduced last week and students should begin memorizing it.  I was very impressed with all of our recitations last week!   

Science

We are starting the chemistry unit this week. We will be reading The Mystery of the Periodic Table and taking notes throughout. Furthermore, we will explore the relationship between acids and bases. In tandem with these studies, the 5th grade class will be working towards a science fair. Each should be conducting an experiment over the next four weeks at home and recording their progress in the project packet. Please contact Ms. Stapleton with any questions.

History

This week in history, we will be reviewing for and taking our unit test on World Lakes (Tuesday). We will set up our notebooks for our new unit on Ancient Meso-American Civilizations and begin studying the Maya. Students will have the opportunity to journal from the perspective of a Mayan person.

Math

Our focus this week will be understanding different types of bar models and how to use those models as a way to help us solve word problems.  We will also be reviewing how to use different mental math strategies.  

Headlines 9/4

I hope everyone enjoyed their R&R weekend and had to time to rest and rejuvenate.  We are looking to a very productive week

Because of a generous parent our tutoring times have improved! 
Monday: 3:05-3:40
Wednesday 2:05-2:40
Thursday 3:05-3:40.


Have a great week!

ELA

In writing and grammar this week we will be taking a break from grammar and will spend the week discussing how to write paragraphs that show instead of tell.  In Literature we will continue to read Voyage of the Dawn Treader and will discuss the difference between flat and round characters..  We will continue to complete our Spalding notebook set-up and will receive new words on Monday and Tuesday, and will take the test Thursday.  Make sure to keep reviewing our newest roots for the quiz on Wednesday.  Students should have the poem, “Some Opposites” memorized by Wednesday!

Science

We will be reviewing the Scientific Inquiry process. There will be a test on Friday. This will cover the vocabulary words we have learned so far and asks students to apply the to the experiments we have done together in class. Keep in mind that Science Notebooks will be collected and graded on test day. This is a big science grade! The 5th Grade Science Fair project will be assigned this week as well. Be on the lookout for it, as the packet requires a parent signature.

History

This week in history, we will be continuing our new unit on World Lakes. Students will learn about the lakes of North America and Eurasia. Students will also be taking several short quizzes and creating notecards to prepare for their upcoming test. Study guides will be sent home on Thursday and their test will be on the following Tuesday.

Math

This week we will continue Unit 2.  We will discuss bar models by creating a foldable with instructions to be pasted into their math journals, and will then move on to mental math.  We will have a short quiz on Friday over he distributive property and mental math.   

Headlines 8/29

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I apologize for getting the blog out a little late this week.  I came in late last night from California where I was able to enjoy a little sunshine and sand.  The students worked hard last week completing their MAP testing and taking several tests on Friday.  We will be working on test corrections tomorrow in Math, and those tests should be coming home on Friday. 

Thank you so much to those parents who attended curriculum night. I hope you were able to learn a lot about what you can expect this year.  I will be putting the powerpoint on the blog for those of you who were unable to attend, feel free to take a look when you have time.

Also, tutoring times have changed a bit, they are as follows:
Monday: 3:05-3:40
Wednesday 2:05-2:25
Thursday 3:05-3:40.

I am also available Friday mornings from 7:20-7:50 for any additional help your child may need. 

Have a great week!

ELA

In writing and grammar this week we will be learning to diagram, identify, and label prepositions and prepositional phrases.  We will also be having a test over all of the parts of speech we have studied this year on Friday.  In Literature we are enjoying reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader and discussing how characters can change over time.  We will be completing the majority of our Spalding notebook set-up and will continue to receive new words on Mondays and Tuesdays, and will take a test over those words on Thursday.  Make sure to keep reviewing our newest roots for the quiz on Wednesday and to work on memorizing our poem “Some Opposites.”

Science

Students will be learning about the engineering process. We will be discovering independent and dependent variables through the engineering of a “mint mobile”. There will be a short quiz on Tuesday covering the vocabulary words hypothesis, control variable, and experimental variable.

History

This week in history, we will be continuing our new unit on World Lakes. Students will learn about the lakes of Africa and South America. Students will also be taking several short quizzes and creating postcards about a lake of their choosing. We will end the week with lakes of North America and no homework during our R&R Weekend!

Math

Thank you so much to the parents who volunteered their time to get our math groups up and running.  They were a success thanks to you!  We will begin our next unit covering order of operations, mental math and the distributive property on Monday.  

Headlines 8/19

I hope everyone had a wonderful week; I think I felt a cool breeze this morning, which gave me hope that fall will someday show it's face!  5C worked so hard and I have been extremely impressed with the responsibility and good behavior I have seen thus far.  I am already confident that we are going to have a wonderful year together!

Today your children will come home with their Friday folders.  All of the graded work for the week is in this folder, as well as a short survey for them to fill out regarding their participation and behavior.  Please take a few moments to look through this with them and discuss their progress.  My hope that by taking the time to see all of their work, you will have a better idea of where they are in class throughout the year.

We also had a special treat today with some of the seniors from Prep, be sure to ask your child about that!

Remember that Curriculum Night is this coming Wednesday from 6-8 pm.  I look forward to seeing each of you there and sharing more about what you can expect from fifth grade.

ELA In writing and grammar this week we will be taking a break from grammar and focusing on writing summaries.  We will be reading both narrative and expository texts and will develop a well written summary of six to seven sentences. Spalding will officially begin next week and students will have words assigned Monday and Tuesday , with a test on Thursday.  Hopefully everyone is continuing to study their Greek and Latin roots.  We will have a test every Wednesday of the last four we have studied, as well as one review.  In Literature we will continue journaling about and reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  This week we will also begin our first poem.  We will be discussing and memorizing “Some Opposites” by Richard Wilbur.  The poem will be introduced on Wednesday and students will have two weeks to have it memorized.

Science Students will be applying their knowledge of scientific investigation, once again, in an interactive science experiment. Through this week’s lab they will learn how to share their scientific findings with others. The following week, we will be doing an engineering lab to explore dependent and independent variables. I am requesting donations of a few materials. Please follow the sign-up genius link if you are willing to donate. I need the materials by August 26th. Thanks! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4da4ae2fa0fe3-science

History This week, students will be preparing for their first unit test on Spatial Sense. The unit test is on Wednesday in their homerooms. We will be studying U.S. geography throughout the year. Originally, this is all supposed to be one unit in May, but we have split it up into different regions. Students will start with an introduction lesson this week, with more lessons between units. We will have periodic quizzes and a final exam toward the end of the year. We will also start their new unit, World Lakes, on Friday. We will be looking into the major lakes of Africa.

Math This week in math we will be finishing up our first unit over whole numbers.  We will be having our first math groups on Wednesday from 8:00-9:00 and welcome parent help!  If you would like to help this week, please send me an email and I will send a key home with your child.  Our Unit 1 test will be Friday.

Finally, please see below for a letter regarding clubs.  Have a great weekend!

Greetings Families,

Last week we were happy to introduce the fall 2016 schedule for clubs via the school newsletter. This week we would like to introduce the new portal for club registration and payment. This is a significant change from last year, as we are transitioning away from Wufoo to a Great Hearts wide platform, Configio.

To view available clubs, go to ArchwayArete.Configio.com. This will also be linked on the ArchwayArete.org site under “Announcements” in the left-hand column.  When you arrive at Archway Arete’s Configio page, you will find the eleven clubs being offered by Archway Arete staff. At the present, Friday, August 19, the clubs are available to be seen, but you cannot currently register or make payment. Clubs will open for registration and payment on Saturday, August 20, at 8:00 a.m. We have provided this delay to give everyone an equal opportunity to register. Every club has a maximum number of spots and spots are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

To register and make payment for clubs, you will have to create a Configio account. If you select the “Notify Me” on a club of interest, you will be directed to a screen asking you to set up an account. Click on “Register for an Account” and provide the necessary information. This will be the only way to register a student and make payment for clubs and future field trips, as cash and check will no longer be accepted at the front desk.

If you haven’t registered for our third party vendor clubs and would like to please visit Chess Emporium at https://www.chessemporium.com/?page=singleProgram&catalogId=67777 and Play-Well TEKnologies (Lego Clubs) at http://register.play-well.org/registration/new/53484.

If you have any questions regarding club registration, please email Michael Naaktgeboren, Extracurricular Coordinator, at mnaaktgeboren@archwayarete.org.

Best,

Michael Naaktgeboren

Extracurricular Coordinator