Updates and announcements

We are entering our fourth week of school already! As we are getting settled in here at Arete, I am also settling into my college courses. This year, I get to pursue my Elementary Education certification through Rio Salado college while teaching. While I hold a Music Education certification, I am so excited to learn more and become certified in Elementary Education.  

I’d like to invite everyone to our Curriculum Night this Wednesday, August 29^th, 6:00-7:30. Please note this is a parent-only event. There is limited seating in the classroom.

Here is our schedule for Curriculum Night:

•       6:30-6:45: Classroom procedures, routines, homework expectations

•       6:45-6:50: Lead teachers rotate through each classroom

•       6:50-7:25: Curriculum and Demo Lessons (10 minute grammar lesson; 10 minute Spalding lesson; 15 minute Singapore lesson)

•       7:25-7:30: Q&A

Our MAP testing was postponed to this Friday due to computer updates. Students will take the test on the computers. Please make sure students go to bed early on Thursday and have a good breakfast Friday morning.

We had a strong start to announcements this week! We will rotate every week through the three classes.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Count your blessings”. Students will recite “The Eagle” on Wednesday, 8/29. As a routine, students will have two weeks to memorize their poems. This will be a regular rotation and the recite date will be on the “Due Dates” section of the board. We will learn about the poem “The Tyger”.

Students will continue learning Greek and Latin roots, learning grex,omnis, amphi, and ambi. Students will have a weekly quiz over these roots next week. Students should expect a similar roots quiz every Wednesday.

In spalding, we will continue to work through the rule pages. They will continue spalding homework using the words from these rule pages. Our spalding tests are usually scheduled for Thursdays.

In Literature, we will read through the fifth chapter in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. We will focus on summaries and identifying and defining vocabulary words from the chapter. Students will read through chapter 8 by the end of the week and learn about round, dynamic, and static characters. Please note that not all classes will be in the same part of the chapter every day, but should end the week on the same chapter.

In Writing and Grammar, students will review parts of speech, types of sentences, and sentence diagramming. We will have our first grammar test on Thursday, August 30th. The “Practice Quiz” homework should serve as a study guide for students.

Students will continue their study of the scientific method this week and begin learning different methods of presenting their data. They will practice making bar graphs to analyze the results from last week’s Sticky Tape Experiment, and begin learning how to make a materials list and procedure for an experiment they have already done. On Thursday, students will perform the Wet Penny experiment in small groups and practice graphing and analyzing data.

We will begin this week in history by playing the game pok-ta-pok, a game that was played in Mayan civilizations where students will have to work on small teams to get a ball in a basket without using their hands or feet. We will then shift our focus to the Aztec civilizations and end on Friday beginning to study the Inca civilizations. For U.S. Geography on Wednesday we will learn about the States in the South.

In math, we will continue our new unit on “More Calculations with Whole Numbers”. We will look at the distributive property, and mental math. Please note that we will have frequent quizzes in math. When a “b” quiz comes home for homework, that means there will likely be a quiz the next day. This means there will be frequent, low stakes math quizzes. We will continue math groups on Wednesday, 8:00-9:15.

Updates and announcements

What a great week we had! Students started a new “reward” type procedure where they get the opportunity to earn letters to spell out our virtue of the month. If students spell it out by Thursday, they get a “Free-Choice Friday” during bell-work. Students can bring in a quiet game to play between 7:20 and 7:50.

Students will start doing the announcements this week, starting on Tuesday with our French Phrase of the Week. Everyone in class will get the opportunity to do the announcements at least once this year.

Curriculum and Math/Phonics nights are combined this year. This parent-only event will be on Wednesday, August 29^th. More information to come next week.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Chip on your shoulder”. Students will recite “The Eagle” on Wednesday, 8/29. As a routine, students will have two weeks to memorize their poems. This will be a regular rotation and the recite date will be on the “Due Dates” section of the board.

Students will continue learning Greek and Latin roots, learning porcus, ornis, and avis. Students will have a weekly quiz over these roots next week. Students should expect a similar roots quiz every Wednesday.

In spalding, we will continue to work through the rule pages. They will continue spalding homework using the words from these rule pages. Our spalding tests are usually scheduled for Thursdays.

In Literature, we will read through the fifth chapter in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. We will focus on summaries and identifying and defining vocabulary words from the chapter. Students will work in groups to write a condensed summary of chapters 1-5 and compare/contrast Eustace with a character of their choosing. Please note that not all classes will be in the same part of the chapter every day, but should end the week on the same chapter.

In Writing and Grammar, students learn about nouns, subject nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. We will have a grammar test next Thursday. Students will continue “Outlining Wednesdays”, focusing on using their outline to write a summary.

This week in science, students will finally get to test the paper gliders they made last week and see if their changes resulted in planes flying further. They will also practice analyzing results as they examine how far their airplanes flew. We’ll continue our study of the scientific method by exploring independent and dependent variables, with a short quiz on Friday. Students will continue practicing their practical, hands on skills as we test different kinds of tape in the Sticky Tape experiment later in the week.

This week in history we will continue studying Unit 2: Maya, Inca, and Aztec Civilizations, focusing on the Mayan civilization. Discussion will include the major theories of what caused the Mayan disappearance, culminating with a Socratic discussion on this topic on Friday. Students will also begin a journal, imagining themselves to be part of these ancient civilizations on a near-daily basis. Our Wednesday lessons on U.S. Geography will this week be focused on the Mid-Atlantic region.

In math, we will continue our unit on whole numbers. Students work on dividing a number by tens, hundreds, and thousands, and take their first unit test on Thursday. Our first math groups will take place on Wednesday, 8:00-9:15. Please note that we will have frequent quizzes in math. When a “b” quiz comes home for homework, that means there will likely be a quiz the next day. This means there will be frequent, low stakes math quizzes.

Updates and announcements

One week down, 37 left to go! Our scholars started the school year strong. We are still going to be reviewing and practicing our procedures, but now with more of our rich curriculum added in.

Last Friday, I led a short lesson with our class on how to use Quizlet. This year, I will not make a Quizlet for each unit, however, students are encouraged to make one using their study guide. It is free to sign up, however students should get your permission as it does require an email address. https://quizlet.com/

Please note the Birthday Treat policy below. We holding to this policy quite strictly this year. Here is the excerpt from the family handbook:

Birthday Treat Policy

Celebrating birthdays is a good way to show the students in our school that they are special and loved.  There are many different ways to mark the occasion, but we want to be careful about students eating too many sugary, processed snacks.  If each child were to bring in cake or donuts for his/her birthday, that would mean 30 unhealthy lunchtime desserts every year.  Some parents would rather their child not eat this type of food and the effects of these sugary snacks can disrupt the learning environment.  In fact, we strongly suggest a non-food item if parents wish to mark the occasion. Pencils, books, or other souvenirs can be just as special, don't require clean-up, and won't affect whatever diet parents wish for their children.  Some teachers may allow a healthy snack for their classes as an exception (to be eaten in the lunchroom), but please reach out to the lead teacher for details.  Make note that sugary treats will not be served to students, and will be sent home with the child that brought them in.

The academy suggests non-food items or healthy snacks for birthdays. Please see your child’s teacher for acceptable treat options, as well as alternatives to food items.

• Food must be in its original packaging with the ingredients listed.  Fresh fruit is the exception.
• No peanuts or other nuts
• No cupcakes, cakes, cookies or other treats with frosting

No pop-culture references

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Bite the hand that feeds you” and begin their first poem, “The Eagle”. Students will recite the poem on Wednesday, 8/29. As a routine, students will have two weeks to memorize their poems. This will be a regular rotation and the recite date will be on the “Due Dates” section of the board.

Students will continue learning Greek and Latin roots, learning equus, caballus, and hippos. Students will have a weekly quiz over these roots next week. Students should expect a similar roots quiz every Wednesday.

In spalding, we will work through the rule pages. They will start spalding homework using the words from these rule pages. We will have our first spelling test on Thursday using a selection of these words from the rule pages.

In Literature, we will read through the third chapter in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. We will focus on summaries and identifying and defining vocabulary words from the chapter. Students will also get to identify character traits in Eustace as a class, then a character of their choosing for homework. Please note that not all classes will be in the same part of the chapter every day, but should end the week on the same chapter.

In Writing and Grammar, students learn about analogies and the rules for punctuation. There will be a short quiz on capitalization, punctuation, and analogies on Friday. Students will continue “Outlining Wednesdays”, focusing on expanding their one level outline to a two level outline.

In week 2, students will continue learning about the scientific method and how to apply it to their own experiments. On Monday, students will be introduced to experimental and control variables and their importance to an experiment. We will go through several “dry runs” of different experiments as a class as we prepare for hands on experiments in the coming weeks. On Friday, students will take a short quiz over what constitutes a good hypothesis and the point of an experimental variable and a control variable. Students should use the vocabulary in their notebooks to help them study for this quiz. Students will also begin designing a paper glider, along with modifications, to practice designing independent variables.

This week in history students will finish their first unit, on world lakes. They will have a quiz on Tuesday on the location of the lakes of Eurasia. The Unit 1: World Lakes test will occur on Thursday (students were given a study guide the previous Thursday). On Wednesdays going forward we will be studying U.S. Geography, this week covering New England. On Friday we will begin Unit 2: The Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations.

In math, we will continue our unit on whole numbers. Students will continue work on estimation, and review factors, multiples, prime factorization, exponents, and multiplying by powers of 10. Please note that we will have frequent quizzes in math. When a “b” quiz comes home for homework, that means there will likely be a quiz the next day. This means there will be frequent, low stakes math quizzes.

Updates and announcements

IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! We could not be more excited to continue cultivating a love of moral and intellectual virtue.

A large focus of this week is practicing procedures. We will be working through our expectations and procedures document with the class. Students will bring this home to go over with you as the parents and sign the back page, returning it by next Monday.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Birthday Suit” and begin their Touchstones socratic discussions.

Students will also start learning Greek and Latin roots, starting with canis, feles, and leon. Students will have a weekly quiz over these roots next week. Students should expect a similar roots quiz every Thursday.

In spalding, we will start with handwriting practice and end the week by starting our first rule page on the silent final e’s.

In Literature, we will review what happened in Prince Caspian last year. Students should bring “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by Friday. We will focus on summaries and identifying and defining vocabulary words from the chapter. Please note that not all classes will be in the same part of the chapter every day, but should end the week on the same chapter.

In Writing and Grammar, students will take a 4th grade grammar test to see where they are and start their notebooks with a table of contents. We will review parts of a sentence and capitalization rules. Students will also start “Outlining Wednesdays”, focusing on different passages and skills with note taking every week.  

In our first week in science, students will begin their study of scientific inquiry and the scientific method. We will start the week off by discussing why inquiry is important by reading about the life of Galileo Galilei, and discussing the basics of experimental science. Students will also learn how to craft a strong hypothesis, and on Friday will get to test their skills as they observe the “floating egg” experiment in class.

This week in history and geography students will be reintroduced to basic world geography (7 continents and 5 oceans) and will begin studying the major lakes of the world. The students will have 3 brief quizzes on world lakes. These will only assess their ability to identify the location and names of the lakes on a given map. On Wednesday students will be quizzed on the location and names of major lakes of Africa, on Thursday the major lakes of South America, on Friday the major lakes of North America.

On Thursday students will be given a study guide for their Unit 1: World Lakes test, which will be administered on Thursday, August 16^th.

In math, we will start by taking a 4th grade test to see where students are at and identify any large apparent gaps from the summer. From there, we will start with our first unit, Whole Numbers. We will work on expanded form, billions, rounding and estimating. Please note that we will have frequent quizzes in math. When a “b” quiz comes home for homework, that means there will likely be a quiz the next day. This means there will be a very short quiz during the first week of school.

Good Afternoon!

My name is Brianna Lynch and I am so excited to share that your child will be in my class this year.  I am looking forward to meeting each of you this evening at Meet the Teacher Night.  As a reminder, students with the last name A-M are invited to come from 5:30-6:30 pm, and students with the last name N-Z from 6:30-7:30 pm. There will be fingerprinting happening in the MPR starting at 4:30 if you are interested in volunteering.

I have included an introduction letter for myself and our Assistant Teacher, Claudia Vaughn. Please also take a moment to look at the attached survey regarding your child. If possible, we would love to have these brought with you to Meet the Teacher this evening.  I am including the link to my blog as well, which you can subscribe to now, or this evening.

I look forward to meeting you this evening and getting started on our school year!

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 the last two years, 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 three 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 finishing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at ASU. I have had an active private studio to teach music lessons for the last 10 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 Families,

Welcome! My name is Ms. Vaughn and I am delighted to be your children’s Assistant Teacher this year. This will be my first year at Archway Arete.

Before I found my way to Great Hearts, I attended St. John’s College, where I studied the Great Books that make up the core of the classical tradition. I graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts. During my senior year, I also had the privilege of working with underclassmen as they explored music theory and composition. Helping my students learn and grow was easily the best part of that year for me, and so I’m very excited to do the same here in 5A!

By way of introduction, here are a few facts about me: I was born and raised in Maryland, and only recently moved out to Arizona. It’s been quite the adventure so far! My favorite subject has always been Literature, and the fifth-grade curriculum includes one of my all-time favorite books, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. When I’m not at school (or reading), I enjoy cooking, yoga, caring for my numerous houseplants, playing the piano, and exploring my new home here in Arizona.

I look forward to a wonderful year!

Ms. Claudia Vaughn