Weekly Updates


Sunday, November 30, 2014


A Note from Mrs. Kaye:

Greetings Archway Arete Parents and Guardians,
The first annual Archway Arete Winter Concerts will be here soon. Concerts for grades 2-5 will be held in the Arete gymnatorium on Thursday, December 4th. The second and third grade concert will be held at 5:30 pm. Second and third grade students should meet in their classrooms at 5:00 pm, and parents should proceed to the gym. The fourth and fifth grade concert will begin at 7:00 pm. Students should meet in their classrooms at 6:40 pm, and parents should proceed to the gym.
Please be aware of the limited parking at Arete. Following the first concert, all second and third grade families must depart in a timely manner so fourth and fifth grade families can park for their concert.
The attire for concerts will be as follows:
Boys: Black pants, white dress shirt, black dress shoes, and black socks. Hair should be combed neatly.
Girls: Black skirt, white top, black tights, and black dress shoes. Hair should be pulled away from the face with no distracting adornment. Please follow the Archway Arete dress code for guidelines on jewelry.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Stephanie Kaye at skaye@archwayarete.org. We look forward to enjoying this beautiful event with you!

Thank You,


Stephanie Kaye
2nd-5th Grade Music Teacher
Archway Classical Academy │Arete
skaye@archwayarete.org

Dear Parents,

How are you all doing? I hope you all had a restful weekend. Here is a quick look at our 16th week.



LANGUAGE ARTS  

SPALDING – We will continue with our spelling list this week. Please, review homework as they come home.

List 1: maybe, across, tonight, tenth, sir, these, those, club, seen, see

List 2: felt, full, fail, setting, set, stamp, light, coming, come, night


List 3: pass, shut, easy, ease, bone, cloud, draw, drink, garden, goose


READINGREADING STRATEGY: We will continue to explore how to organize non-fiction text in comprehension.

POETRY: Title: Our poem this month is “The Night before Christmas” by Clement C. Moore. Encourage your scholars to start memorizing this poem. We will complete all poetry recitals for “Merry autumn” on Monday.

SAYING: “Great oaks from little acorns grow." We will appreciate it if you use it at home because children retain sayings when they engage in it through meaningful use.
           
GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY – Students will learn how to use quotation marks this week.
WRITING – As we work with Writing With Ease, students will continue to develop narration, dictation and copy work skills. They will be introduced to letter writing. All students are expected to bring their postal address to school latest Tuesday.

LEVELED READERS
Please, encourage your scholars to take their readings seriously. There are three pages of reflection and three books. They are expected to log in one book per page. Please, remind them to write the title of the text on the page they work on. We have seen some excellent writing skills thus far. By the beginning of second semester, we will start sending home chapter books.
MATH
Last week, we introduced students to the concept of multiplication. This wek, we will focus on the concept of division.
SCIENCE
We will finish the life cycle of plants and frogs this week. Children will observe the lima beans planted for the last time and discuss observations since the last time it was planted.

HISTORY
  We will finish learning the names of the most common gods and goddesses of Greece. We will also learn about the Trojan war and what let to the beginning of the war. Review guides will come home on Wednesday. They will complete the test for the first part of the Ancient Greece unit.

VIRTUE
Courage
Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence. – Pope John Paul II




Announcements
·      Our winter concert is on Dec 4th. It will begin at 5:30pm.  Please, read a letter from Mrs. Kaye on my blog. Make sure your scholars are dressed in the proper attire. I will repost the letter from Mrs. Kaye.
·      We will have guided reading on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
·      I will share survey results with parents in the coming week.


Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Toyin and Ms. Peterson

Sunday, November 23, 2014


Dear Parents,



How are you all doing? I hope you all had a restful weekend. Here is a quick look at our 15th week.





LANGUAGE ARTS  



SPALDING – We will continue with our spelling list this week. Please, review homework as they come home.



List 1: move, delay, pound, behind, around, burn, camp, bear, bare, clear, clean, spell, poor, finish, hurt





READINGREADING STRATEGY: For comprehension, we will focus on how to organize non-fiction text. We will continue with chapters 11 in The Boxcar Children this week. We will have a Boxcar feast on Wednesday to celebrate the courage of the boxcar children. Also, to give the children the opportunity to say the things they are thankful for. We will use our left-over snacks from the Read-a-thon alongside anything else children bring in on Wednesday.



We started reading the favorite Greek myths too. We are doing this to coincide with our History unit on Greece. The kids are enjoying the stories.



POETRY: Title: Our poem this month is “Merry Autumn” by Charles Dickens. Encourage your scholars to keep practicing. We will be gin recitals of this poem on Wednesday.



SAYING: “Great oaks from little acorns grow." We will appreciate it if you use it at home because children retain sayings when they engage in it through meaningful use.

           

GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY – We will review conjunctions and interjections this week.

WRITING – As we work with Writing With Ease, students will continue to develop narration, dictation and copy work skills.



LEVELED READERS

Please, encourage your scholars to take their readings seriously. There are three pages of reflection and three books. They are expected to log in one book per page. Please, remind them to write the title of the text on the page they work on. We have seen some excellent writing skills thus far. By the beginning of second semester, we will start sending home chapter books.

MATH

This week, we will complete learning the concept of multiplication. Last week, scholars learned the meaning of multiplication through grouping and repeated addition. This week, we will focus on using arrays.

SCIENCE

Last week, we focused on the life cycle of a plant. We planted lima beans, and students have been observing the growth and writing in their journals. This week, we will focus on the life cycle of a frog.

HISTORY

  Last week, we introduced the Geography of Greece. This week, we will label the map of Greece and discuss the gods and goddesses.



VIRTUE

Courage

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. -   Steve Jobs






Overcome Struggle with HEART



The quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face difficulty and danger with firmness and nobility.







Announcements

·     This Wednesday is half day. 

Our winter concert is on Dec 4th. It will begin at 5:30pm.  Please, read a letter from Mrs. Kaye on my blog.

·      There will be no guided reading this week. Special thanks to our parent volunteers that come in once every week to help. Mrs. Everhart, Mrs. Lavell, Mrs. Zinke, Mrs. Antoniello, Mrs. Sinykin, and Mrs. Gerson. I thank Mrs. Lockery too for filling in with very short notice. We appreciate you all and are thankful for the help.

·      Progress reports went home last week. Please, if you received one for your scholar sign and return on Monday.

·      Please, join the Archway Arete Hope and Relief Effort for Ayuda, Arizona. I have posted more information on my blog.

·      Thank you for responding to the homework survey monkey. I am encouraging those who still haven’t participated to complete it this week, so that I can share the result with you all.







Have a great week.



Sincerely,



Mrs. Toyin and Ms. Peterson

Sunday, November 16, 2014


Dear Parents,

How are you all doing? I hope you all had a restful weekend. Here is a quick look at our 14th week.


LANGUAGE ARTS  

SPALDING – We will continue with our spelling list this week. Please, review homework as they come home.

List 1: first, sent, cent, mile, seem, even, without, afternoon, Friday, hour, our

List 2: wife, state, July, head, story, open, short, lady, reach

List 3: better, water, round, cost, price, become, class, horse, care, try

READINGREADING STRATEGY: We will continue to explore the strategy of visualizing in comprehension. We will continue with chapters 9 & 10 in The Boxcar Children this week.

POETRY: Title: Our poem this month is “Merry Autumn” by Charles Dickens. Encourage your scholars to keep practicing.

SAYING: “Great oaks from little acorns grow." We will appreciate it if you use it at home because children retain sayings when they engage in it through meaningful use.
           
GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY – Students will learn about conjunctions and interjections this week. We will also review kinds of sentences. Students are beginning to understand the importance of editing and proof reading in writing. Please, continue to encourage them to look back and correct their writing when doing their reflection logs.  
WRITING – As we work with Writing With Ease, students will continue to develop narration, dictation and copy work skills.

LEVELED READERS
Please, encourage your scholars to take their readings seriously. There are three pages of reflection and three books. They are expected to log in one book per page. Please, remind them to write the title of the text on the page they work on. We have seen some excellent writing skills thus far. By the beginning of second semester, we will start sending home chapter books.
MATH
This is our last week of measurement, and I can tell you that we have had so much fun measuring length, height, width, and weight. We will do a review of the unit, and begin multiplication on Thursday.
SCIENCE
We will begin our new unit on animal life cycle. We will discuss the meaning of life cycle again, and then focus on the life cycle of a plant.

HISTORY
  We will finish modern Japan this week, and we will begin ancient Greece. I am so excited about this unit because it will shed light on some of our philosophies as a school.
We will begin by studying the Geography of Ancient Greece, then we will proceed to gods and goddesses.

VIRTUE
Courage
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.     - Aristotle


Overcome Struggle with HEART

The quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face difficulty and danger with firmness and nobility.



Announcements
·      Our winter concert is on Dec 4th. It will begin at 5:30pm.  Please, read a letter from Mrs. Kaye on my blog.
·      We will have guided reading on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
·      Progress reports will be sent home this week; you will receive a progress report if your child is struggling in a particular subject or subjects. I will definitely reach out to you on phone for further discussion or call a meeting immediately.
·      Please, join the Archway Arete Hope and Relief Effort for Ayuda, Arizona. I have posted more information on my blog.
·      Thank you for responding to the homework survey monkey. I am encouraging those who still haven’t participated to complete it this week, so that I can share the result with you all.




Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Toyin and Ms. Peterson
 ARCHWAY ARETE HOPE AND RELIEF EFFORT 2014
 
I am proud to announce that Archway Arete is working with the Veselovsky family to help the town of Hyder, Arizona.  The information below is to inform you about our relief effort.  We will begin the donation process this Monday.   Please contact me if you have any specific questions!
 
Our goal this year collectively as an Archway Arete community is to provide relief to the town of Hyder, Arizona.  The town of Hyder, located in Yuma County, was once a World War II desert training ground for General Patton’s troops, but is now known as a ghost town.  It is populated today by hardworking shrimp, tilapia, and date farmers.  Income is very low and with only one general store the people of the town face many challenges to meet daily nutrition, housing, and hygiene needs.
The drive is being run by the Veselovsky family, one of our own Archway families and we are asking the rest of Archway Arete community if they can generously donate the following items to the people of the town of Hyder, Arizona during this holiday season:
 

Kindergarten:  Dental hygiene items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash

First Grade:  Toilet paper & paper towels

Second Grade:  Canned food

Third Grade:  Dry rice, dry beans, dry pasta

Fourth Grade:  Flour, sugar, oats

Fifth Grade:  Hygiene items such as deodorant, shampoo, conditioner & body wash

 
You may begin dropping off collections to the classroom starting on Monday, November 17, 2014.  The collection will end on, Friday December 5, 2014.  Thank you in advance for your generous support and greathearted effort. 


Sunday, November 9, 2014


Dear Parents,

How are you all doing? I hope you all had a restful weekend. Here is a quick look at our 13th week.



Read-a-thon

It’s with heartfelt joy that I thank you all for supporting our class during the read-a-thon. We were all so proud when the headmaster asked our entire class to stand during our assembly on Monday, as he announced class 2A as the winner of the book drive. We ended up with over 70 books in total. I know the read-a-thon is over, but if you still want to donate books to our class, please, feel free to visit the sign-up genius for book donations.


LANGUAGE ARTS  

SPALDING – We will continue with our spelling list this week. We have slowed down the spelling pace again because we have now started our second grade-spelling list. Please, review homework as they come home.

List 1: : glass, party, upon, two, twin, twice, twelve, twenty, between, they

List 2: would, could, should, any, many, city, only, where, week, weak




READINGREADING STRATEGY: Our reading strategy this week will be visualizing. We will do a comprehension quiz on drawing conclusion and making inferences this week. We will continue with chapters 7 & 8 in The Boxcar Children this week.

POETRY: Title: Our poem this month is “Merry Autumn” by Charles Dickens. Encourage your scholars to keep practicing.

SAYING: “Be true to what you stand for. If you're going to teach others, you should first live out those truths yourself” .We will appreciate it if you use it at home because children retain sayings when they engage in it through meaningful use.
           
GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY – Students will review adjectives and verbs. As I prepare our scholars for diagraming, I have actually started having them identify parts of speech in sentences. I am amazed at how well they are doing with this.
WRITING – As we work with Writing With Ease, students will continue to develop narration, dictation and copy work skills. As the narration and dictation homework goes home every week, we are asking that you help us pay attention to proof reading their work. I really want to suggest that you encourage your scholars to write a sentence every day, and have them look back and correct their mistakes. I really want to create awareness to writing this quarter.

LEVELED READERS
Please, encourage your scholars to take their readings seriously. There are three pages of reflection and three books. They are expected to log in one book per page. Please, remind them to write the title of the text on the page they work on. We have seen some excellent writing skills thus far. By the beginning of second semester, we will start sending home chapter books.
MATH
We will begin measuring weight using grams, pounds, and ounces this week. We will continue to weigh objects and food items using a scale as well. Please, encourage scholars to help you weigh food items at the grocery store.
SCIENCE
We will begin our new unit on animal life cycle. We will discuss the meaning of Life cycle – The sequence of development stages
Birth –Began as an immature member of a species
Growth – potential to become mature member of a species
Reproduction – an organism reaches full maturity and can now have offspring
Death- final stage

HISTORY
  We will began a new unit on Modern Japan on Friday. We discussed the Geography of Japan. This week, we will focus on what makes Japan a modern country, and the traditions that are still practiced now in Japan

VIRTUE
Courage
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen..” – Winston Churchill


Overcome Struggle with HEART

The quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face difficulty and danger with firmness and nobility.



Announcements
·      Our winter concert is on Dec 4th. It will begin at 5:30pm.  Please, read a letter from Mrs. Kaye on my blog.
·      We will have guided reading only on Wednesday this week.




Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Toyin and Ms. Peterson