Updates and announcements

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! This quarter is flying by, and we don’t even have school on Friday!

As we gear up for the end of the quarter, we remind our students that, while there are multiple assessments coming up, they are spaced out. Study guides are due on different days and tests are not scheduled on the same day. It is important for us to explicitly teach prioritizing and time management in the classroom. We will also be reminding students of the online resource, Quizlet, to help them create study tools from their study guides.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Every Cloud has a Silver Lining”. 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. The last poem of the quarter, “Some Opposites”, will be recited on 9/26.

Students will review all 25 of their roots for the quarter. The study guides are going home today and will be due Thursday, 9/27. The test will be on Wednesday, 10/3.

In Literature, we will finish reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

In Writing and Grammar, we will continue descriptive writing with a descriptive paragraph describing an imaginary field trip. We will work through the writing process (brianstorm, pre-write, rough draft, editing/revising, and publishing), ending the week by typing the descriptive paragraphs.

This week in science, students will continue their study of chemistry by exploring patterns in the periodic table, as well as the differences between compounds and mixtures. There will be a lab on Friday to help deepen their understanding of elements, compounds and mixtures. Study guides for the unit test will be sent home on Tuesday and will be due Monday, Oct 1st. The unit test will be Thursday, October 4th.

This week in History we will finish the instruction for Unit 3: Renaissance. The unit test will be next Tuesday, October 2nd, after a review day on Monday. Next Wednesday we will have a Socratic discussion around two passages that were written during the Renaissance period. Study guides will be given out this Monday, September 24th, and are due Monday, October 1st. This week, students will learn about Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, a few theorists from other Renaissance men on how to live, and lastly what the Renaissance was like in Northern Europe. There is no U.S. Geography this week. 

In math, we will continue with our new unit on Fractions. We will spend quite a while on fractions this year, as it is along unit that will go well into the second quarter. This week, we will explore the relationship between fractions and division, as well as adding and subtracting fractions. 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.

Good afternoon,

Thank you all for filling out the homework survey! Your comments are very helpful and are taken into consideration. The results for fifth grade were largely positive and what we hope for. Out of those who completed the survey, 83% spend less than the maximum amount of time on homework (90 minutes). Per the handbook, the maximum amount of time a student should spend on homework at the Archway is 90 minutes. In fifth grade, we aim for about 60-75 minutes of dedicated, focused homework, with no more than 90 minutes.

16.7% spend 30-45 minutes on homework.

37.5% spend 45-60 minutes on homework.

16.7% spend 60-75 minutes on homework.

12.5% spend 75-90 minutes on homework.

16.7% spend more than 90 minutes on homework.

(*percentages were rounded, so they will not add up to 100%)

If you are in the cohort whose child spends 90 minutes or more per night, please let your teacher know. Students should strive to finish a little bit of each subject if they are not able to finish everything in that 90 minutes. If homework was a struggle the night before, please make a note on the student’s paper and send the teacher an email letting them know. We will work with you to find a solution.

Please note that larger assignments and projects should fit into the allotted homework time each night. Students should complete these in small chunks each night, not saving it all for the night before it is due.

If you have any questions or would like clarification on anything, feel free to reach out.

Updates and announcements

I hope everyone had a restful weekend. We had an exciting weekend full of scorpions! After six months being scorpion free, we found two this weekend.

We have a busy week ahead of us with Picture Day on Thursday and Grandparents’ Day on Friday.

Be sure to have your child check the due dates board in the classroom. Our regularly scheduled assessments are there, as well as big assignment due dates.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Eureka”. 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. “Some Opposites”, will be recited on 9/26.

Students will continue learning Greek and Latin roots, learning theos, deus, divinus, and homo. Students will have a weekly quiz over these roots next week. This is the last week of new roots. Students will start reviewing for their 25 root test at the end of the quarter.

In Literature, we will read through chapter 14 in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. 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, we get to start descriptive writing. For this, we will describe a sandwich using our five senses. Students will also get to draw an imaginary creature from Narnia, write a descriptive paragraph about their character, exchange descriptive paragraphs and have another student draw their creature based off their paragraph. We will explore how the paragraphs could have been improved to make the drawings more similar.

This week in science, students will begin the Chemistry that will last until the end of the quarter. Students will discuss the concept of matter using a hands on demonstration, and then begin studying the Periodic Table. Students will then learn about atoms and how they form into molecules and compounds in preparation for an exciting lab this week. There will be a short vocabulary quiz on Friday covering the vocab learned throughout the week.

This week in History we will continue with our unit on the Renaissance. Students will learn about the cities of Florence, Rome, and Venice and their role in the Renaissance. Students will also discuss the Popes and their role during this cultural shift in the West. We will finish on Friday by studying the artist, Leonardo da Vinci. In U.S. Geography on Wednesday, students will be quizzed on the States in the regions of the Midwest and Great Plains. We will also discuss the Rocky Mountain region, covering the States of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado.

In math, we will finish our new unit on “More Calculations with Whole Numbers”. We will practice dividing by 2 digit numbers, complete word problems with division and multiplication, and review for their unit test, which will be on Thursday, September 20th. We will be using graph paper, so feel free to use graph paper at home to help keep students organized. 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

We are already over half way through the first quarter. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

This Saturday is the Mother and Son event.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Eleventh Hour”. Students will recite “The Tyger” on Wednesday, 9/12. 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. They will learn about the poem “Some Opposites”, to be recited on 9/26.

Students will continue learning Greek and Latin roots, learning arcus, circum, kyklos, and peri. Students will have a weekly quiz over these roots next week. Students should expect a similar roots quiz every Wednesday.

In Literature, we will read through chapter 12 in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. 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 have a short test on classifying and diagramming sentences on Wednesday. This will include subject nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and objects of the preposition. We will spend all Monday and Tuesday reviewing. At the end of the week, we will work on unscrambling sentences.

This week in science, students will review for their scientific inquiry test, which will be Friday, September 14th. The test will cover the definitions in their notebook, as well as applying their skills to analyze hypothetical experiments. In class, we will make a foldable that contains all the steps of the scientific method as well as examples from all of our in class experiments. The foldable will be finished Tuesday and be turned in for a grade when they take the test, and can be used to study. The following week, we will jump into our chemistry unit. 

This week in History students will take their test for Unit 2: The Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations, on Tuesday, after a review day on Monday. On Thursday we will carry on with Unit 3: Renaissance, discussing the change from the Medieval Period during the Renaissance, including the invention of the printing press. On Wednesday for U.S. Geography we will be discussing the States in the Great Plains: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

In math, we will continue our new unit on “More Calculations with Whole Numbers”. We will look at multiplying and dividing by 2-digit numbers and greater. We will be using graph paper, so feel free to use graph paper at home to help keep students organized. 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

I hope everyone had a wonderful three day weekend. We got to relax at home and I started a new crochet project.

Be sure to check the “Important Dates” section for new information.

Our week in learning

This week, students will learn about the idiom “Eat Crow”. Students will recite “The Tyger” on Wednesday, 9/12. 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 eu, malus, ex, and archos. Students will have a weekly quiz over these roots next week. Students should expect a similar roots quiz every Wednesday.

In spalding, we will finally start our normal words! Our spalding tests are usually scheduled for Thursdays, but due to the 4 day week, we will have our test on Friday instead.

In Literature, we will read through chapter 10 in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. 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 review prepositions and objects of the preposition. There will be a short quiz over these on Friday.

For science, students will continue practicing their knowledge of the scientific method through the Bubble Gum Experiment. As a class, we will test what happens when bubble gum is chewed for different lengths of time-we suspect it will lose more of its mass the longer it is chewed! We will practice finding averages and analyzing data class as we finish the experiment later this week, and students will be able to practice making a display board and best practices for communicating their data.

This week in history we will finish the instruction for Unit 2, though the Unit 2 test will not be until next Tuesday, September 11th, following a review day on Monday, September 10th. This is to prevent the test from being on a Monday, but means we will begin Unit 3: Renaissance on Friday, discussing Renaissance Italy. For U.S. Geography on Wednesday, we will learn about the States in the Midwest.

In math, we will continue our new unit on “More Calculations with Whole Numbers”. We will look at the word problems and bar models. 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.