Updates and announcements

Another week down! Students are really locking down our classroom procedures.

Thank you for all of the classroom donations! The generous offerings of tissues, Clorox wipes, and paper towels will keep our class clean for a while.

You are cordially invited to our 3rd-5th grade Curriculum Night, taking place on Wednesday, August 30th (parents of students in grades 3-5 only). The event starts at 6:00 pm in the Arete gymnasium, with opening remarks from Mr. Gillingham, Ms. Pantalena, Mrs. Mason, and Mrs. Wilson. 

The purpose of this event 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.  We look forward to seeing you there!

• 6:00-6:15 pm Gym
• 6:20-7:05 pm Individual classrooms to hear from your child's teachers (last name A-L) or MPR to hear from specialists (last name M-Z)
• 7:10-7:55 pm MPR to hear from specialists (last name A-L) or Individual classrooms to hear from your child's homeroom teachers (last name M-Z)

Our week in learning

This week, students will review nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. They will add definitions and diagramming guides to their notebooks--for diagramming help, be sure to have them check out their grammar notes!

In literature, students will complete chapters 3-4 and practice honing their summarization skills with a focus on crafting good sentences with appropriate vocabulary words.

Our weekly roots quiz will take place on Wednesday. Students will also be reciting the poem they received two weeks ago, “The Eagle” on Wednesday for the class.

In science this week, students will make foldables on the Scientific Method that serve as study guides for their unit test on Friday, September 8. Students will review vocabulary such as hypothesis, control variable, independent variable, and dependent variable, and will take a short vocabulary quiz on Tuesday, August 29.

This week in History, students will continue to learn about ancient Meso-American cultures, this week focusing on the Aztecs and Incas. Please note that sections of this chapter discuss the human sacrifices made by the people of ancient Meso-America. Please discuss this at home as you see fit. We will also be discussing the decline of the Aztec and Inca empires and the Spanish conquistadors. Students will learn about the deceit of Pizzaro and Cortez.

This week in Math, students will start the next unit, titled “More Calculations with Whole Numbers”. We will be working on order of operations, the distributive property, and mental math strategies. Weekly Math Groups will begin later in the quarter. Open math tutoring will continue Monday, and by invitation only math tutoring will continue on Wednesday.

Updates and announcements

Today is the day of the solar eclipse! Students are already excited for the learning and experiences they get to encounter today.

Tutoring starts this week. Here is the email that was sent out on Friday:

This upcoming week, we will begin after-school tutoring in math and grammar. This will be grade-level wide, so students will have an opportunity to attend tutoring sessions led by Mrs. Lynch, Ms. Canfield, and Ms. Speagle.

Tutoring will happen after dismissal from 3:05-3:40 pm on Mondays (extra practice in math with Ms. Canfield) and Tuesdays (grammar with Ms. Speagle), and on Wednesdays (math by invitation only with Mrs. Lynch) from 2:05-2:40 pm. Students may be picked up promptly at 2:40 pm on the west side of the building where they typically are picked up/dropped off. A teacher will walk students down and wait with them. Please note that students who are not picked up by 2:45/3:45 will go to the office and need to be picked up there.

I will send out invitations as needed throughout the year for tutoring sessions, but for most sessions, any students who are struggling with the material and would like extra teaching should feel welcome to attend. It will be the student’s responsibility to report to the tutoring session after school.

We will have MAP testing this Friday. Please be sure students are well rested and have a good breakfast that morning.

Grades 3-5 Curriculum Night will be on Wednesday, August 30^th. More information to come.

Our week in learning

This week, students will review nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. They will add definitions and diagramming guides to their notebooks--for diagramming help, be sure to have them check out their grammar notes!

In literature, students will complete chapters 3-4 and practice honing their summarization skills with a focus on crafting good sentences with appropriate vocabulary words.

In science this week, students will test a hypothesis concerning gum losing its sweetness the longer it is chewed. They will weigh a piece of gum using a triple beam balance, then chew the gum for varying amounts of time, leave it out to dry, and weigh it again to compare how much mass the gum has lost. Students will create their first lab report based on their findings from the data.

This week in History, students will learn about ancient Maya language, religion, culture, and accomplishments. Please note that sections of this chapter discuss the human sacrifices made by the people of ancient Meso-America. Please discuss this at home as you see fit. Students will also discuss the Mayan disappearance through a Socratic discussion, and end the week with a friendly game of “Pok-ta-pok” outside.

This week in Math, students will divide numbers by multiples of ten, hundred, and one thousand. The Unit 1 test will take place on Thursday, August 24th. Weekly Math Groups will begin later in the quarter. Open math tutoring will start Monday, August 21st, and by invitation only math tutoring will begin on Wednesday, August 23rd.

Updates and announcements

Our school year is off to a great start! Students are settling in to our classroom procedures nicely.

Students earned their first “Free Choice Friday” last week by earning all of the letters of “Responsibility” for good behavior, compliments from other teachers, etc. Students are allowed to bring in board games, drawing paper and materials, and other items that will not cause a problem. Please remember that toys are not allowed at school.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about punctuation rules and analogies in grammar. On Friday, they will take their first grammar quiz over capitalization and punctuation rules and analogies. Expect to see grammar notebooks coming home regularly to study this week!

In literature, students will read chapters 2 and 3 of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and practice their summarization skills. They will also begin to build a character profile of a main character in their literature notebooks.

In science this week, students will learn about experimental variables and control variables. They will study the parts of airplanes and discuss how airplane engineers change one variable at a time to determine which variables affect a plane’s efficiency. On Thursday and Friday, students will complete a lab in which they design their own paper gliders and alter variables to see which experimental variables make their planes fly farther. They will calculate the average distance for each variable out of three trials, then calculate the percent change in distance each variable made.

This week in History, students will learn finish the World Lakes unit with the Lakes of Eurasia. Study Guides went home last Friday for the World Lakes Test. The World Lakes Test will be on Thursday, August 17th. On Wednesday in geography, students will learn about time zones and climate zones in relation to latitude and longitude. Students will start learning about Ancient Meso-American cultures on Friday by labeling a map of Central and South America.

This week in Math, students will practice approximation and estimation of very large numbers, greatest common factor, lowest common multiple, prime factors, exponents, and multiplying by multiples of ten. Weekly Math Groups will begin later in the quarter.

Updates and Announcements

The first week of school is finally here! We are so excited to embark on a new year with new scholars and our rich curriculum.

Our week in learning

This week in language arts, students will take a diagnostic grammar assessment to determine areas of strength or areas in need of review from fourth grade grammar. Over the next few weeks, they will review basic grammar material starting with the five parts of a sentence and punctuation and capitalization rules. Next week, students will have their first quiz over capitalization and punctuation rules.

In literature, students will spend a short time recalling and summarizing Prince Caspian in anticipation of our first literary adventure, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Students should bring this in by Wednesday of this week. As we read throughout the first quarter, we will focus on building our vocabulary and strengthening our summarizing skills.

In science this week, students will be learning about Scientific Inquiry through hands-on learning and analyzing informational texts. Students will learn about making hypotheses and will complete their first lab - Wet Pennies - a fun and engaging activity that will integrate math skills such as calculating averages and making bar graphs.

This week in History, students will learn about the continents, oceans, longitude, and latitude during their weekly World Geography unit. Students will have a quiz on Thursday, August 10th on the location of the continents and oceans. Throughout quarters 1 and 2, students will learn about geography on Wednesdays. Students will also start their first unit in the history books: World Lakes, beginning with the lakes of South America, Africa, and Eurasia. Students should expect short quizzes on the locations of the lakes in each of these continents.

This week in Math, students will start by taking an assessment to determine concepts that may have slipped over the summer that need extra attention. Their first unit will officially start on Wednesday with large numbers, up to 100 billion. This will include writing these numbers in words and saying these numbers correctly. We will also go over estimation and rounding. Weekly Math Groups will begin later in the quarter.

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 was a 5^th grade lead teacher last year, and before that, I served as an assistant in both 2^nd and 3^rd grades. I also had the opportunity to teach in Athenaeum during the first year of our school’s existence. For the last two years, I taught orchestra on the Prep side after school. I also run the Beginning Instruments Club on the Archway side.

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. He is now working on his Doctorate of Musical Arts at ASU. I have had an active private studio to teach music lessons for the last 9 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.

I am looking forward to this year!

Mrs. Brianna Lynch

5A

Dear 5A Family,

Welcome to 5th Grade! My name is Ms. White, and I am so excited to be your children’s Assistant Teacher this year. 5th Grade is an exciting year, filled with so many wonderful books and exciting opportunities to be leaders to all of our scholars here at Archway Arete, and I am thrilled to experience this journey alongside them.

A few facts to introduce myself before the school year begins: I graduated from St. John’s College with a degree in Liberal Arts, and feel very lucky to have found a school that values the classical tradition that I love so much. I have worked as a 3rd Grade Assistant here at Arete, and have been fortunate enough to teach everything from sailing to middle school math tutoring over the past few years! Literature is a favorite subject of mine-some of my favorite books include The Grapes Of Wrath and A Wrinkle In Time. When I’m not reading, I love to hike and ski with my family, or take road trips to explore the beautiful Southwest.

Thank you so much for sharing your children with us this year. I can’t wait to get to know each and every one of them, and I look forward to an excellent year!

Ms. Catherine White