Week 23

Good evening! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I look forward to seeing all the amazing book reports this week! :)

Some of us ran in the "Walk in the Wild" 5k at the Phoenix zoo this weekend! (Ms. Reger, Mrs. Mason, myself, Ms. Hofstaedter, and Ms. Smith) It was super early in the morning, but we had fun!

This week 2nd-5th grade has Galileo testing. Our assigned day is Thursday. We will take the Math portion in the morning and the English Language Arts portion in the afternoon. Please pack a hearty lunch, as it will be a taxing day. I will provide snacks. :)

Here's what else we are doing this week:

Literature: We will read chapter 9 of Cricket tomorrow. Tuesday and Wednesday we will discuss and practice vocabulary from chapters 6-9, compare and contrast characters from the book, and discuss what is to come in the next several chapters.

Spalding: There are 30 words this week. We will test as usual on Friday. However, due to Galileo testing, the spelling homework on Thursday (reviewing the words) will be optional. I still recommend practicing them, but if feeling fatigued, it is okay to forego this assignment this week.

Monday: rather, comfort, election, elect, aboard, jail, shed, refuse, district, restrain
Tuesday: royal, objection, object, please, pleasure, measure, treasure, navy
Wednesday: forty, fourteen, fourth, four, population, proper, judge, weather, whether, worth, contain, figure

Writing: narration, copy work, and dictation exercises from Nurse Matilda

Grammar: sentence edit, classification, scramble, and analogy

Math: We are reviewing our multiplication and division facts of 4's and practicing 5's and 10's. We will take our chapter 1 test (4's) on Tuesday and chapter 2 test (5's) on Friday.

History: We will review the Constitution tomorrow with a trivia game and then test on Tuesday! Then we will begin the War of 1812 unit.

Science: In Science, we are discussing the excretory system and creating a model. We will also learn about nutrients.

Idiom: "Two heads are better than one!"

Poem: Practice stanza 5 of Smart by Silverstein. For those who are ready, we will start recitations this week. Everyone else will recite next week!

Regarding our upcoming Great Hearts Day:

Great Hearts Day

Friday, February 11^th is Great Hearts Day! We have reserved this special day to focus on the virtue of friendship and having a heart of service. In the classroom, your children will participate in activities and lessons around these topics, and time will be set aside for making Great Hearts Day cards for classmates. These cards are part of the Great Hearts Day tradition of highlighting classmates’ virtuous qualities and invaluable friendship. Further, hand-making cards at school also alleviates the burden on parents to purchase cards. Parent volunteers with a valid fingerprint clearance card on file are welcome to assist in arranging a short afternoon celebration with snacks and activities. Stand by for more information about the afternoon celebration from our lead classroom parent volunteer, Sandra Cardenas.

Archway Classical Academy does its best to introduce students to an academic culture that leaves popular culture at the door.  The time we have with our students is so valuable, and there are many great ideas, people, music, and art from the ages that we want to introduce them to. Therefore, we will strive to keep the focus of Valentine’s Day on friendship and having a heart of service for others. Students will not be permitted to bring store-bought valentines, candy, or gifts to school on Great Hearts Day. We want students to remember that a good friend is not something one can purchase. We look forward to celebrating this special occasion!  

Have a great week!!

Six Traits of Writing

Week 22

Good evening! Hope everyone had a great weekend. This week we have a half day on Friday, and it's the 100th day of school! I would like to have a Flashlight Friday as well. :) I'll send a reminder closer to time! Here's what we have going on this week...

Literature: We will do a "Let's talk about it" for chapters 6-9, and then begin reading chapter 6 of Cricket on Tuesday. We will read chapters 6-8 this week. Vocabulary words we will encounter are: novelties, embroidered, kimonos (Our characters take a trip to China Town!), pagoda, souffle, compartments, accuse, gilded, and pathetic.

Spalding: We will have 31 words this week - 10 on Monday and Tuesday and 11 on Wednesday. Spelling Test on Friday over the following words:

Monday - baking, bake, bowl, cheap, cheerful, chicken, driving, drive, echoes, echo
Tuesday - fairy, knock, leather, linen, mixture, nation, pause, peace, permission, rough
Wednesday - social, steal, steel, strange, trophy, voices, voice, eight, ate, afraid, uncle

Writing: narration, copy work, and dictation exercises from Alexander the Great

Grammar: We are continuing our work in editing and classifying sentences. You should have seen our new format come home last Friday (they were on half sheets of paper). We begin with a sentence to edit, and students must correct capitalization and punctuation errors. Then I write a sentence on the board for them to copy and classify. We always find the "heart of the sentence," which is the subject noun and verb. From there, we identify article adjectives, adjectives, and adverbs. Then I write a scrambled sentence on the board for them to unscramble and record. This is the most difficult of the tasks because it involves identifying parts of speech in order to make the sentence make the most sense. The last thing we do is complete an analogy. There are four types of analogies that we have covered: synonym, antonym, rhyme, and part-whole. We will be using this grammar format for a while, so that we can really master the parts of speech that have been introduced thus far.

Typing: Hooray, it's finally a typing week! Second grade is always assigned Monday to use the computers, and we have had a lot of Mondays off! I am so excited to get back into our typing program! And of course, your child is more than welcome to be practicing typing at home. :)

Math: We will take our Unit 7 chapter 3 test on Monday after reviewing the homework from last Friday. The Unit 7 cumulative assessment will be on Tuesday! Our next unit is multiplying and dividing by 4. We will review our multiplication of 2's and 3's in math centers on Wednesday before introducing 4's on Thursday.

History: In History, we are continuing to study the Constitution. We began talking about it last week, and the students really enjoyed beginning the Constitution foldable. This week we will take a closer look at the Constitution and talk about the branches of government.

Science: In Science, we will be describing and identifying important components of the digestive and excretory systems. Some vocabulary words we will learn: esophagus, villi, excrete

Idiom: "Get up on the wrong side of the bed"

Poem: Smart by Shel Silverstein - practice stanza 4. We will recite next week!

I hope the chapter books and book reports are going well! They are due in one week! :)

Let's have a fabulous week!

Week 21

Good evening! I hope everyone enjoyed their day off! Here's what's on the agenda for the week:

Literature: We are continuing Cricket in Times Square - we'll be reading chapters 4 and 5 this week and then reviewing vocabulary found within the first five chapters. Vocab words this week: looming, leery, instinct

Spalding: Only 19 words this week - Test on Friday! Words: act, been, be, yesterday, among, question, quest, doctor, size, December, dozen, there, their, they're, tax, number, October, reason, fifth

Writing: narration, copy work, and dictation exercises from Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit

Grammar: We are editing, classifying, and unscrambling sentences - labeling the following parts of speech: subject noun and verb (heart of the sentence), adjectives, and adverbs.

Math: We are working on subtracting large numbers mentally!

History: We are leaving the ancient cultures behind and jumping into the history behind the Constitution. We will begin by reviewing the causes of the Revolutionary War and then start to discuss the writing.

Science: We are continuing our study of the human body and learning about organs and the four types of tissue.

Poem: Continue practicing Smart by Shel Silverstein! We will recite it in two weeks.

Idiom: "Get up on the wrong side of the bed" <-- This one may sound familiar to some! ;)

Have a great week!

Clubs

Here's a link to our list of clubs being offered this semester!

Week 20

Good morning,

I hope everyone had a good first week back, despite the rainy weather! I sent out an email with lots of important information yesterday, including typing information, book report directions, our new math group sign-up genius and a sign-up genius for our science activity this week! If you have any questions about any of it, please don't hesitate to email and ask! This week we will also have our first healthy snack day! This will take place on Thursday during snack time, and the goal is for everyone in the school to bring in a healthy fruit.

Here's what we have coming up this week!

Literature: We will begin reading Cricket in Times Square during class. We will read it as a class and then discuss the chapter. There will be reading comprehension questions for homework on Tuesday-Thursday. Please have your child answer the questions in complete sentences.

Spalding: new words: dollar, evening, plan, broke, feel, sure, sugar, least, sorry, press, God, god, teacher, November, subject, April, history, study, himself, matter, use, thought, person, nor, or, January, mean, vote, court, copy. Spelling Test over all 30 words on Friday!

Writing: narration, copy work, and dictation exercises from The Midnight Ride by James Baldwin

Grammar: We will be editing and classifying sentences, practicing analogies, and reviewing linking verbs!

Touch Pebbles: We are reading and discussing an excerpt from Plato's Republic. Questions to ponder: If you were invisible, what would you do that you wouldn't do if others could see you? Why is our behavior in private situations different from how it is in public?

Math: We will be adding two-digit numbers to 99 or 98 and discussing how we can use mental math strategies to solve these in our heads. We will also subtract ones and tens from 2-digit and 3-digit numbers. Unit 7 Chapter 2 Test on Thursday! (adding mentally)

History: We are discussing the Great Thinkers this week. We will cover Plato and Socrates and discuss similarities and differences in their teaching. We will also cover Aristotle and Alexander the Great!

Science: This week, we are going to learn about cells! On Tuesday we will discuss the relationship between cells, tissues, organs, and systems. On Thursday we will talk about parts of a cell, by creating a cell cookie!

Idiom: To turn over a new leaf - to make a fresh start, to change your behavior or attitude

Poem: Smart by Shel Silverstein (week 2 of 5)

Have a wonderful week!

Week 19

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a spectacular break! We are jumping right back into our studies and have a lot planned for this week! A few quick notes: We will be starting Cricket in Times Square next week, so please start bringing these books in if you have not done so yet. Housekeeping - we have had a lot of pencil and crayon shavings on the floor, so we are sending home personal sharpeners that were previously in pencil boxes. I have collected them all and put them in individual baggies, which will go home and need to remain there. We have a class sharpener that can be used as needed. Last, please make note that not only is it a shorter week, but there is a half day on Friday as well!

Literature: We are introducing our new book by taking a look at the history of Connecticut and New York and reviewing our map skills. There will be no assigned books going home for homework this week. Please read for fun for 20 minutes each night!

Spalding: Spelling Test on Friday over 20 words: wonder, pair, pear, pare, check, prove, heard, hear, inspect, itself, always, something, expect, need, thus, woman, women, young, fair, fare

Writing: narration, copy work, and dictation exercises from Pied Pier of Hamelin

Grammar: We are reviewing quotations and exclamations, as well as practicing our linking verbs.

Math: We will begin book B, which starts off with mental math strategies. We will learn some methods to use and practice with addition first. These strategies include number bonds, partial sums, open number lines, expanded form, and traditional algorithms. There will be a chapter test on Friday!

History: We are finally finishing up Ancient Greece and discussing the Great Thinkers! We will "tour" Athens, have a symposium, and learn about Alexander the Great.

Science: In Science, we are learning about the human body! We will be learning about cells, tissues, organs, and systems.

Idiom: To turn over a new leaf

Poem: Smart by Shel Silverstein

Have a great week!