Updates and announcements

The kids are so excited to be done with school, but we still have the equivalent of 2 school days of learning left. They are getting antsy, and definitely ready to spend some much-needed time with family.

Our classroom celebration is coming up on Wednesday. Thank you so much for your willingness to donate food and supplies. The students have definitely earned their celebration and this means a lot to them. We still have a couple spots open for food and volunteers. Here is the link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0b4aadae2baafb6-winter

We will be cleaning out desks on Wednesday, December 21^st. Please send your child to school with a bag to put their supplies in. Reusable grocery bags work better than plastic bags because they are less likely to rip. Students will keep their supplies in the bags and hang them on the hooks for the duration of Winter break so the custodial staff can clean the desks.

Thank you for the Kleenex and hand sanitizer donations! We have had sick kids and teachers the last few weeks.

Here is a message from Mr. Naaktgeboren:

We are holding a grade-level team competition called “Royalty for a Day” to see who can bring in the most tax credits to support Archway Arete’s extracurricular clubs and sports.  If 4^th and 5^th grades bring in the most tax credits, I will be crowned “King of Clubs” for a day when we return from our holiday break.  As the King, I plan on holding a dodge ball tournament for all my royal subjects!  I will also hand out a special treat at the end of the tournament.  I appreciate all your help in asking friends, neighbors, and family to help support Archway Arete and help us win this competition! 

Most Gratefully, Mr. Naaktgeboren, King of Clubs

Winter break starts on Thursday, December 22^nd through Sunday, January 8^th.  School will resume on Monday, January 9^th.

Quarter 2 Evaluations will be sent to parents on Friday, January 6^th at noon.

Our week in learning

We are finishing up our Poetry Unit this week by using all of the poetic devices we have learned to analyze poetry.  Students should also be prepared to recite their poems, Monday December, 19th.

In Grammar we will be reviewing parts of speech through games and activities.

Students should be prepared to take the roots test over 26-50 will on Tuesday, December 20th.

After break we will begin reading The Secret Garden, so please bring that to school on Monday, January 9th!

We will be analyzing the data from our bacteria cultures. It is fascinating to see binary fission at work.

This week, students will learn about the rest of Henry VIII’s wives. Students will start learning about Elizabeth I and the Golden Age of England in January.

Our Unit 4 math test will be on Monday covering multiplication and division of fractions.  On Tuesday we will be playing math games to review all the work we have done this year!

Updates and announcements

The “Important Dates” and “Wish List” sections of the blog have been updated. Be sure to check it out! We also have many end of the year tests. Dates for these tests are listed below. Please keep in mind that we have a lot of assessments wrapping up next week. If you plan to be gone, please have your child arrange to take these assessments before you leave.

Congratulations to our Spelling Bee competitor, Joseph Restivo! He stepped in last minute and won 3^rd place in our school-wide Spelling Bee.

Keep an eye out for a sign up for our classroom party. Students will enjoy decorating mugs, making hot cocoa, completing puzzles, and eating snacks while we watch “The Nutcracker”.

We are also asking for volunteers to help with our writing project. More information is below.

Our week in learning

This week we will continue our final writing assignment for the semester, a five paragraph persuasive essay. On Monday students will be writing their rough drafts and we are very excited to have parent help on Tuesday to help with our editing.  On Thursday we will be typing our essays in class.  We can still use more help on Tuesday, so if you can make it in, please sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4eaaaf29a75-fifth

In Literature we are continuing our poetry unit and will be using the skills we have learned to analyze poetry.  Students should be prepared to recite their poems on December 19th.

This is our last week of roots for the quarter!  Students will receive their root review on Monday and should work on it for the remainder of the week.  The test over roots 26-50 will be on Monday, December 19th.

This week we will be studying cell division in preparation for Wednesday’s quiz and analyzing the data from our bacteria experiment.

This week, students will learn about other prominent reformers in the field of Science: Galileo and Copernicus. We will finish work on their foldables. Study guides will be due on Thursday, December 15th. The unit test on the Reformation will be on Friday, December 16th.

This week we will continue learning about division of fractions and will review for the Unit 4 test.  The Unit 4 Test will be on Monday, December 19th.

Updates and announcements

Our semester is still in full swing! I am proud of our scholar’s continuing perseverance as outside distractions become more apparent. Many students have a countdown to Winter Break.

We have a busy week with a couple of hiccups. I have been assigned Jury Duty, which will result in my absence for at least Monday. Hopefully I will be back at school on Tuesday. I will also be working off campus on Friday this week. As always, our scholars are in wonderful hands with Mr. Korth.

We will be doing DIBELS testing this week.

Our Spelling Bee is tonight at 6:30! Show your support to our Arete competitors!

Keep an eye out for our Winter Celebration sign up genius. Students will be enjoying a hot cocoa bar, crafts, treats, and a viewing of a classically and seasonally appropriate video.

Our week in learning

This week we will begin our final writing assignment for the semester, a five paragraph persuasive essay. We will begin by looking at the organization of the essay and then will do research and begin our pre-writing.

In literature this week we are beginning a short unit over Poetry. We will be studying various poetic devices and students will choose a poem to recite the week of December 19th.

100 Point projects are due on Friday!  If your child has recorded a skit please make sure to either email or send in a thumb drive.  We will begin presentations this week!

Students will be tested over the helping verbs on Tuesday, you can check out the link here to help study!

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=helping+verb+blues+youtube&view=detail&mid=0C0AB49C35090405B2B70C0AB49C35090405B2B7&FORM=VIRE

We will also have our roots quiz on Wednesday.

In science, we will be learning about cell division and doing a lab about bacteria!

This week, students will learn about other prominent reformers: Zwingli, Calvin, and Henry VII. Students will also learn about actions the Catholic church took during the Counter-Reformation. We will continue working on their foldables. Study guides will go home this week. The unit test on the Reformation will be on Friday, December 16th.  

We will be studying how to divide a fraction by a fraction this week and today students will take a short quiz over multiplication of fractions.

Updates and announcements

I hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving! We got to make a small turkey and enjoyed our holiday with friends, as our families are up in Montana.

Our week in learning

In writing this week we will be learning about helping and linking verbs.  We will also practice diagramming interrogative sentences.  There will be a quiz over linking verbs on Thursday and there will be a quiz covering helping verbs next Tuesday.  Each child has a list of the verbs in their notebooks and have learned a couple of songs to help them remember.  The Linking Verbs Blues can be found right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77WEV55NNbU

We will finish our Where the Red Fern Grows this week and will end our unit with a celebration on Friday.  The next unit will begin next week covering Poetry.  The 100 Point Project is due on December 9th!

We will have our roots quiz on Wednesday covering, cornu, derma, cutis.

We will be studying plant cell organelles. There is a quiz on Thursday. 

We are going to discuss the Reformation during this upcoming unit. We will talk about the disagreements happening in the Catholic church at the time. We are studying this as a historical event, not teaching students about “good” or “bad” guys, or what students should believe. We will delve into some of the grievances against the Catholic church sparked changes within the Catholic church, and the formation of different Christian religions. This week, we will look into the importance of the printing press and Martin Luther during the Reformation.

This week in math we will be discussing words problems using multiplication of fractions and will introduce dividing fractions.  Math groups are back to the regular time of 8:00-9:00 beginning next Wednesday.  Thank you to all of our wonderful parents for your incredible help!

Updates and announcements

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Our week in learning

This week in Writing we are practicing our persuasive writing skills by writing an essay from the point of view of the poor Thanksgiving Day Turkey!  We will also take the time to share these essays with the class on Tuesday, hopefully your students won’t request pizza for their Thanksgiving dinner!

We have almost completed Where the Red Fern Grows.  Students should have be working on their projects for the 100 Point Project.  These are due December 9th.

Students will recite, “I Hear America Singing” on Tuesday.  The next roots quiz will be on Wednesday, November 30th.

To deepen our understanding of cells, we will be learning the difference between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. Then, we will begin learning about the various organelles found in eukaryotic cells. There will be a ton of brand new vocabulary so I suggest that students make flash cards of the new terms and study them daily.

This week, students will review for the history test. Students will be assessed on their knowledge of the Renaissance on Tuesday, November 22nd.

This week we will introduce Unit 4 which covers multiplication and division of fractions.  We will begin with concrete examples and will then learn the algorithm.  Math groups will be CANCELLED Wednesday, November 30^th. We will be back to the regular time of 8:00-9:00 beginning Wednesday, December 7th.

Updates and announcements

We are academically racing towards our Thanksgiving Break! We have so much learning to do and I am proud of our students’ perseverance.

Our Winter Concert is this Wednesday. Take note as this is mandatory for all students. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Several students forgot their signed folders this weekend. We will need these at school to fill up with this week's work, so folders will be sent home Friday. 

This week our 6 finalists will compete in the oral spelling bee. This will take place on Wednesday, November 16^th. Finalists found out last Wednesday and already received their lists to study. It will be an exciting and suspenseful time in our class as they compete!

Winter dress code starts today.

Picture retakes are actually on November 18^th (this Friday). They did not take place last week as originally planned.

If you would like to volunteer to help with traffic duty, please reach out to me individually.

Our week in learning

This week in grammar we will continue to review complex sentences and dependent clauses.  We will be taking a grammar test on Thursday covering conjunctions, independent, and dependent clauses.  We will finish the week by learning about persuasive writing with a fin Thanksgiving activity.

We are delving deeper into Where the Red Fern Grows. This week we will continue to focus on comparing and contrasting characters.  Students should have chosen their projects for the 100 Point Project and hopefully have begun working on getting some of the work completed.  This project has a TENTATIVE due date of December 9th.

Students will recite, “I Hear America Singing” next Tuesday and we have our next roots quiz on Wednesday!

To deepen our understanding of cells, we will be learning the difference between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. Then, we will begin learning about the various organelles found in eukaryotic cells. There will be a ton of brand new vocabulary so I suggest that students make flash cards of the new terms and study them daily.

This week, students will learn about Michelangelo and his great works. Students will also take a look into proper etiquette as described by Machiavelli and Castiglione. Students will be taking home passages from The Courtier and The Prince to read and annotate on Tuesday for our socratic discussion on Thursday. These passages are very difficult and should be read with a parent or older sibling to ensure understanding. W e will also discuss the Renaissance in other parts of Europe and study guides will be sent home. The Renaissance test will be Tuesday, November 22nd. If you plan to be gone, please plan to have your child take the test early.

This week in math we will be learning to use our knowledge of fractions in word problems.  Out Unit 3 Test will be on Thursday and we will begin our new unit on Friday.  We will be having math groups from 8:45-9:45 on Wednesday.  Please let us know if you are able to help. 

Updates and Announcements

We are gearing up for another week of school. It is hard to believe that this is our 14^th week of the school year!

PICTURE RETAKES are tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8th.

We will not have school this Friday in observance of Veteran’s Day.

Our in-class Spelling Bee is coming up! Our written bee will be this week on Wednesday, November 9^th and the scholars who passed will proceed on to our oral bee the following Wednesday, November 16^th.

Our week in learning

Our class did a wonderful job on their personal narratives, learning to move through the writing process and take a paper to publication.  This week we will take a break from writing to focus on Grammar.  Our focus will be identifying, labeling, and diagramming complex sentences.

We are delving deeper into Where the Red Fern Grows. This week we will focus on comparing and contrasting characters, specifically looking at Old Dan and Little Anne from our story.  By Monday, November 7th students should choose their projects for the 100 Point Project and have a parent sign off on this.  This project has a TENTATIVE due date of December 10th.

Students will recite, “Casey at the Bat” last week on Wednesday, November 9th, so please be sure your students are preparing for that.  We will also be having our next roots quiz on Wednesday!

Also, we have noticed that many students are turning their Spalding homework in without checking for mistakes, and writing missed words three times.  As a reminder, students should have words dictated to them, correct them, and write each missed word three times. Please encourage your students to follow this process so that they get the best benefit from their homework!

This week we will be testing on Classification. The students have had the study guide for two weeks prior to the test and should have been studying a little bit every night. The test is on Monday, the 7th.

Then, we will move into the wonderful microscopic world of cells. That unit will continue for the duration of quarter 2.

This week, students will continue their study of Venice during the Renaissance. We will also delve into the works of Leonardo da Vinci, studying his inventions, artwork, and many skills that made him the perfect example of a Renaissance Man.

On Wednesday, students will learn about the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in their homeroom classes.

Our next focus in math is using our knowledge of fractions to convert measurements from both large to small, and small to large. Please note for the next two weeks our math group times have changed, due to music rehearsals.  We will be having math groups from 8:45-9:45. Please let us know if you are able to help. We so appreciate you!

 Study skill of the week

Our upcoming Science test has lots of information on it, one way to help students understand abstract concepts is to create a concept map.  Have your student take a piece of paper and write each of the major kingdoms on it, and then add detail about that kingdom around the word.  For a more detailed description, as well as other great study ideas, see this website: http://teachmama.com/show-your-kids-how-to-study-5-easy-ways/

Updates and Announcements

Our Read-a-thon is upon us! We will celebrate the day with marathon reading activities! Students will need to bring a blanket/towel to sit on during Buddy Reading on the field. We will be reading to a second grade class. Students should also be prepared to bring umbrellas and bug spray as we will be out in the sun for about a half hour.

Students are welcome and encouraged to bring a blanket and/or pillow to read with. Students will need to bring a chapter book to read.

Thank you all for volunteering to donate food and your time! This means so much to our students. They love seeing you in the classroom and will have so much fun reading while eating delicious snacks throughout the day.

We will have PE on Monday. I believe Coach Rubino will go easy on them with costumes, but costumes should not interfere with movement needed for basic classroom activity.

Monday Math Tutoring is CANCELLED this week due to Read-a-thon activities.

Our week in learning

Students have completed pre-writing for their personal narratives, and this week we will begin writing our papers.  We will be moving through the writing process and will type our final drafts in class on Friday.

We are enjoying our first few chapters of Where the Red Fern Grows. We will continue to read and annotate the book in class, and we will also concentrate on finding theme within the story, asking students to find textual evidence to support the theme of the book.

Students were put in groups to memorize, “Casey at the Bat” last week.  We will be performing our recitations on Wednesday, November 9th.  We will also be having our next roots quiz on Wednesday!

We have begun learning about the living organisms and how they are organized. Last week we discussed the animal kingdom. This week we will learn about the fungi, plant, protist, and monera kingdoms. There will be a science lab on Wednesday and a take home quiz on Monday. Their classification cumulative test will be on Nov. 7th and they should be working on their study guide a little every night to prepare.

This week, students will study some important Renaissance Popes and Venice. The Catholic Church was an important part of the Renaissance, many took on the role of patrons for the arts, commissioning famous works that shape Western Civilization today.

This week we will be reviewing mixed numbers and using fractions in word problems and will also begin multiplication of fractions.  Math groups continue to be a tremendous success thanks to our wonderful parent volunteers who are able to help support us!  We will have a short quiz on Thursday covering addition and subtraction of mixed numbers.

Study skill of the week

Vocabulary is an important element of understanding expository text.  This week students should take home their history journals and create vocabulary flash cards with the word on the front and the meaning on the back.  Studying these flash cards for five minutes every night will help them prepare for tests and quizzes!

Updates and announcements

I am so excited to have a “normal” week! The students definitely earned their breaks this month, and I am ready to dive into the second quarter.

We are beginning Where the Red Fern Grows this week. Please be sure to send the book with your child.

The Book Fair will take place beginning Wednesday, October 26^th. The newsletter contains information on the when and where. There will be a wish list basket for our classroom. The Book Fair will run up until our Read-a-thon on October 31^st. Please have students submit their costume proposals (sent home last week) by this Friday, October 28^th.

Our winter dress code will begin on November 1^st.

In an effort to best serve your children, we find that time is the greatest asset. With that, it would be a tremendous help for parents to help relieve the burden of our traffic duties, both before and after school. Mr. Korth dutifully serves our school by directing traffic and checking out students form the MPR every day. If you are able and willing, please sign up to cover a traffic duty shift to allow us more time to grade student work, plan lessons, tutor students, and much more. We respectfully ask that if you choose to sign up, please sign up for multiple days as we will need to train all new volunteers. Volunteers will need to have fingerprint clearance in order to help. Study hall will be available for children of traffic volunteers. We appreciate your support!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0b4aadae2baafb6-traffic

Here is a message from our Spelling Bee Leads:

Dear Parents,

We are very excited to inform you of Archway Arete’s third annual spelling bee! It will be open to all first through fifth graders. There will be a classroom bee to determine who is eligible to compete in the school bee. From there, the winner of the school bee will continue on to the Great Hearts District Spelling Bee. The dates for each are as follows:

November 7-10: written portion in individual classrooms

November 14-18: oral class bee in individual classrooms

December 5 (6 pm): Archway Arete School Bee in the gym

January 24 (5 pm): Great Hearts District School Bee at Archway Veritas auditorium

For the school bee, we will be following the same guidelines as will be used for the District bee and on. This means that students need to say “capital…” if there is a capital letter, “hyphen” if one is present, and address any spaces or accent marks. A student may start over in spelling a word but is not allowed to change the spelling that they previously used.

The speller’s role according to the Scripps National Spelling Bee: The speller makes an effort to face the judges and pronounce the word for the judges before spelling it and after spelling it. The speller while facing the judges makes an effort to utter each letter distinctly and with sufficient volume to be understood by the judge. The speller may ask the pronouncer to say the word again, define it, use it in a sentence, provide the part of speech, provide the language(s) of origin and/or provide an alternate pronunciation or pronunciations.

Attached you will find the word list for the written portion of the test. Teachers will administer these in their classrooms the week of November 7^th and will notify parents of students who will compete in the oral portion. For more information on the Scripps National Spelling Bee, please visit http://spellingbee.com/parents-and-students.

Happy spelling!

Warm Regards,

Victoria Chilson and Leslie Ellingson

VChilson@ArchwayArete.org; LEllingson@ArchwayArete.org

Our week in learning

This week in writing we will begin our second formal writing assessment, a personal narrative.  We will start the week by discussing point of view and how to write an introductory sentence to gain the reader’s attention.  By the end of the week students will have completed their pre-writing.

In Literature we will begin Where the Red Fern Grows and will focus on point of view and using the text to describe the setting of a story.

We will also get back to Spalding, as well as Greek and Latin Roots.  In Poetry we will start our new poem, “Casey at Bat” in honor of the upcoming World Series!  Students will be working in groups and each student will memorize three stanzas of the poem.  We are encouraging use of props as well as lots of enthusiasm!

This week in science, the students will be acquiring knowledge about the classification of living things. This unit on classification will last approximately two weeks. There will be 2 take-home quizzes and one final assessment. They will receive the final assessment study guide on Tuesday and should work one it and review the material a little but every night to ensure readiness for that final assessment.

This week, students will take an in-depth look into the powerful Medici family. They will work on a foldable to document their findings.

Students will also continue their geography unit by learning about the states in the New England region of the United States. They will have a short geography lesson every other Wednesday.

This week our focus will be reviewing addition and subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators and mixed numbers. We will also practice using these skills to solve word problems with bar models. We will review during math groups on Wednesday and will take a short quiz on Thursday.

Updates and Announcements

I hope everyone had a restful Fall Break! I was able to take a short trip to Seattle with my husband to see our new niece and I got to work on my newest quilting project.

We will have parent-teacher conferences all this week. Keep in mind that Monday-Thursday are half days and students will not be eating lunch during the school day. There will be no tutoring or clubs this week due to the half days. If you have not signed up for a conference, here is the link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0b4aadae2baafb6-quarter

Our Read-a-thon is coming up on October 31^st. Keep an eye out for more information regarding celebration events and costume proposal forms.

Here is information about the Bard poetry competition:

Archway Arete Students and Families,

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 again be joining our fellow Great Hearts schools in 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 will be named School Bard for the year and will represent Archway Arete at the Great Hearts Archway Bard Competition in the spring.  If your student is interested in competing, you can download the competition guidelines and registration form attached. Whether your student participates or not, we invite all of our Archway families to join us for these public recitations, which promise to be engaging reminders of this oral tradition.

              If you have any questions about the Bard Competition, please contact Miss Desirae Smith (Dsmith@archwayarete.org) or Miss Hannah Maguire (HMaguire@archwayarete.org).

                                                                                                     Kind Regards, Desirae Smith & Hannah Maguire

Use this link to fill out the form for students to enter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxSuyHM9YtLNeW9BaU92TGtzZk0/view?usp=sharing

Our week in learning

In grammar we will be competing a final review of compound elements in sentences.  We will take a diagramming quiz over these concepts on Thursday.  

Because of our shortened schedule we will take a break from literature and will continue our read aloud if time permits.  Our next literature study will be Where the Red Fern Grows.  Please begin bringing these to school this week, as we will begin reading on Tuesday.

We will also take a break from Greek and Latin roots as well as Spalding this week.

In science, students will be presenting projects all week.

This week, students will begin learning about the Renaissance. Students will focus on artisans becoming artists and the powerful Medici family.

Updates and Announcements

Monday, October 3^rd is the final day of our Box Tops drive! Please send in all Box Tops with your child.

Students loved our first “Free Choice” day! I saw several fun games being played-Trouble, Cups, and lots of card games.

We have our first classroom celebration on Friday! Here is a sign up for volunteers, food, and supplies for our kids: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4eaaaf29a75-voyage

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fall Break! The students have worked so hard this quarter and have definitely earned some rest and relaxation.

Our week in learning

This week in grammar and writing we will be reviewing conjunctions, compound parts, and compound elements.  We will have a short quiz on Thursday combining all of the parts of speech we have learned so far this quarter.  As a reminder, there will be grammar tutoring on Thursdays (instead of Math) from 3:05-3:40 pm.  

Students received a roots study guide last week, we will review in class on Monday and will be taking a test over roots 1-25 on Wednesday, Oct. 5th.  

This week in literature we will be completing reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and are looking forward to our literature celebration on Friday.  Thank you so much to all the parents who have signed up to help and bring in supplies! To culminate our reading, we will be writing descriptive paragraphs about a character from the book using textual evidence to support their writing.  

We are currently working on our last poem of the quarter, “Narcissa,” by Gwendolyn Brooks.  Students should be prepared to recite their poem by Wednesday, October 5th.

We are continuing the chemistry unit this week. We will be finishing The Mystery of the Periodic Table and taking an open note quiz on Thursday.

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! Students will also be signing up for a project presentation date. They should bring in their poster board on the day they sign up to present.

This week, students will learn about the decline of the Aztec and Inca Civilizations. 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 turn in their journals on Friday as well, along with their completed study guides.

We have completed Unit 2, and this week will move on to fractions.  We will spend a great deal of time focusing on factors and multiples this week and will use concrete materials to introduce fractions.  This unit relies heavily on a knowledge of both multiplication and division facts.  Please continue to review these nightly if your child is at all struggling.  Using flashcards or a math facts app in the car is a great way to practice.  The more comfortable they are with their math facts, the easier fractions will be!

Study Skill of the Week

Students can create their own quizzes or tests to help them study for a test. This can be done by taking questions from a study guide, or flashcards, and writing their own test. Students can then take their test for practice. This gets them thinking of possible questions and allows them to test their knowledge themselves.

Updates and Announcements

What a wonderful week! We are loving the cooler weather and using the outdoor spaces on our campus more and more every week.

The tutoring sessions on Thursdays are going to no longer include math. Instead, Mrs. Anderson will be tutoring on Grammar. I know our students will benefit from this extra instruction.

Please send water bottles to school with students. Most of our students have them, but we are encouraging students to use their water bottles instead of taking class time to go to the water fountain.

We are going to start having “Free Choice Friday” during our bell-work time on Fridays. Students will be able to bring in their favorite non-pop culture games, read, or talk with friends before the bell rings instead of doing bell work. This is an activity that can be earned throughout the week. Students will know at the end of the day Thursday if they earned this privilege.

Our week in learning

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.

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!

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 so students can partake in rest and relaxation! Students will continue journalling from the perspective of an Aztec or Inca at the end of each lesson.

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!

Study Skill of the Week

Flashcards can contain many different types of information. Many students think we just use them for math facts, phonograms, and vocabulary words. We can also write the questions for study guides on one side and the answer on the other. For example, one side says “Which civilization developed an accurate calendar based on the sun?” and the other side says the answer, which is “Maya”. Encourage your children to make flashcards based on study guides or worksheets that are send home. They will get to review the information while creating the flashcards, then a valuable resource to quiz themselves when they are done.

Updates and Announcements

I look forward to teaching parents about our Singapore and Spalding curricula this Wednesday for Math and Phonics night. Parents will get the opportunity to work through word problems and mark words-just to name a few things. I hope to see many 5A parents there!

Our week in learning

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!

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.

Students should continue be working on their project at home!

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.

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.

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!

Updates and Announcements

I am so happy that our class is thriving this year! We have such a dynamic group of students who all contribute to our calm and safe classroom atmosphere.

We all loved seeing grandparents on campus for Grandparents Day on Friday. We are so grateful for their wisdom and expertise. We even had the opportunity of having a grandparent volunteer to help us prepare for our next history unit.

Thank you to the Kleenex and hand sanitizer classroom donation!

We began our typing unit last week. We get to use the computers every Friday to complete a typing lesson as a class. We are focusing on keeping fingers on the right spots on the keyboard. If your child would like to work ahead, email me and I can send you the link and their login information.

As this is the first “normal” week for a while, we will have our spelling test on Thursday instead of Friday.

Our week in learning

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!

  

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 look out for it, as the packet requires a parent signature.

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.

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.