Updates and Announcements

I loved getting to meet with parents on Curriculum Night! If you would like the information from the PowerPoint, let me know and I can send it to you.

Please join us for Grandparent’s Day Friday, September 9^th from 8:00 am-10:00 am. RSVP using this link.

We are tutoring after school in math. Teachers will be available Mondays and Thursdays from 3:05-3:40 and Wednesdays from 2:05-2:40.

Spalding homework has changed. Students will write words once as dictated to them. They can then check to see which words they got right and which they missed. Students will write only the words they missed an additional 3 times. Markings are still required. The day before the test, students should have all words dictated once-no markings are necessary for this “pre-test”.

Students will be finishing their MAP tests on Monday, followed by DIBELS testing with me throughout the week.

Our week in learning

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 (this week, new words will be learned Tuesday and Wednesday with our test on Friday to accommodate the MAP test). Make sure tor keep reviewing our newest roots for the quiz on Wednesday and to work on memorizing our poem "Some Opposites". 

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.

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!

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.  

Updates and Announcements:

Curriculum Night

You are cordially invited to our Curriculum Night event, taking place on Wednesday, August 24^th (grades 3-5). The even starts at 6:00 p.m. in the Arete gymnasium, with opening remarks from Mr. Gillingham, Ms. Pantalena, and Mrs. Mason.

The purpose of this even is to acquaint you with the school’s curriculum and individual classroom procedures across all grade levels. Teachers will give parents an opportunity to ask questions. (Please note, this is a parent only event.) We look forward to seeing you there!

Math Centers will start this week. I have contacted some parents to help, but more would be ideal so we can work in smaller groups. This means students get more individual attention during Math Centers. Parents who volunteer must have their Fingerprint Clearance Card. Please contact me if you are interested in volunteering.

Please aim to drop students off by 7:40. We have an “A” schedule, which means that our Special class (Music, Art, PE, French) starts at 7:55. Our morning looks like this: the bell rings at 7:50 and I start calling attendance. If there is an absent student, I mark them absent. After announcements at about 7:53, I call the absent students again (just in case they came during announcements). Then I send in our attendance by the time we leave at 7:55. I try to give grace when I can, but I need to turn in attendance before we leave for Special. Students who are late will need to stop by the office for a late pass. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

We will have a Roots quiz every Wednesday. Students will be quizzed over the previous week’s roots plus one bonus root from a different week. Students can come to expect these just like weekly Spalding tests.

Our week in learning:

This week, students will be preparing for their first unit test on Spacial 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.

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

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.

This week in math, students will be multiplying and dividing by 10’s, 100’s, and 1000’s. Students will also be preparing for their first unit test on Friday.

Updates and Announcements:

What a fantastic first week back! Students are settling into our classroom nicely, learning classroom procedures, and successfully switching between classes for our block schedule. Students have a chance to work under 3 different teachers and lead teachers get the opportunity to truly specialize in a certain subject. So far, this has been a smooth and gainful transition.

Our week in learning:

This week in ELA we will be reviewing nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives in grammar, and will practice diagramming basic sentences.  In Spalding we will continue to set up our notebook and will have our first test on Thursday.  This year students will have 15 words to practice on Monday and Tuesday and we will test over the list on Thursdays.  We are already enjoying reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and will continue to read and annotate in class this week.  Wednesdays we will take a short quiz to review the last four roots we have studied in class.  Students will be responsible for knowing the meaning of the root as well as an example of a derivative.

In History, students will be continuing their study of World Geography. Students will:

-Plot coordinates using longitude and latitude lines

-Discuss the time zones in relation to the International Date Line

-Create globes out of balloons, labeling the important imaginary lines of the world

-Prepare for a vocabulary quiz

We will have many short, low-stakes quizzes in history (usually two per week, lasting no more than 5 minutes) to solidify learning. Students will take their first unit test on Monday, August 22^nd.

In science we are exploring the scientific method through experimental observations. You may have heard about our penny lab last week. This week we have another interactive project planned that will give the students insight into the importance of variables.

In Math, student will continue working in the billions place value and estimating large numbers. By the end of the week, we will be working with prime and composite numbers, factors, multiples, greatest common factor, least common multiples and prime factorization. In our Calendar Math, we have the opportunity to practice some many of these skills on a daily basis.

Welcome to 5A!

Dear 5^th grade families,

Welcome to another year at Archway Arete! We are so excited to have your children in our class. My name is Mrs. Lynch and I will be the Lead Teacher for 5A. I am so looking forward to the opportunity to teach your children and guide them through our virtues. I served as an Assistant Teacher last year with Mrs. Mason (2^nd grade), and during the 4^th quarter with Ms. Welch (3^rd grade) the year before. I also had the opportunity to teach in Athenaeum during the first year of our school’s existence. Last year, I taught orchestra and band on the Prep side after school.

Before coming to Arete, I obtained my Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Idaho. I had the pleasure of student teaching at a middle school. I got to teach choir, jazz band, concert band, orchestra, and music appreciation to all levels of middle school students. My husband (Paul) and I then moved to Arizona so he could pursue his Masters in Music for trombone performance. I have had an active private studio to teach music lessons for the last 8 years.

Here are five facts about myself to help you know me better: I grew up in Montana, I love to teach music and will get the opportunity to teach music after school again this year, my main instrument is the violin (but I have the capacity to play most instruments!), I have 2 cats (Cosmo and Gustav) and a loving husband, and my favorite thing about teaching at Great Hearts is the opportunity to cultivate great minds and great hearts not only though our curriculum, but also through our virtues.

Please fill out the parent survey and bring it to Meet the Teacher Night tonight!

I am looking forward to this year!

Mrs. Brianna Lynch

5A

 Welcome to your child's final year at Archway Arete!

I am Mrs. Lynch's Assistant Teacher, Mr. Korth. Having just graduated from Rhodes College in May, this is my first year of full-time teaching. I am so excited to get started and count myself lucky to have landed at such a great school. A little bit about me; I was born and raised in Philadelphia, which has made the adjustment to summer Arizona weather....difficult. As previously stated, I attended Rhodes College in Memphis for the past four years, and graduated in May with a degree in History and a minor in Education. At Rhodes I competed on both the cross country and track teams, and try my best to keep up my fitness (any trail or park recommendations welcome). I am beyond excited to be educating your children in such a great environment at such a great school. 5th grade is such a fantastic year and I am glad to be able to tag along for the ride!

Can't wait to get this year started!

Mr. Joseph (Joe) Korth