October 28, 2016

Dear 2B Families,

I can't believe that October is almost over! We had a great short week. I hope that everyone had a nice, long weekend! We celebrated my nephew's Baptism and my niece's 2nd Birthday! Mr. Dombrowski celebrated the Cubs making it to the World Series! There might be a little family rivalry going on since my side of the family is rooting for Cleveland :-).

Don't forget that Monday, October 31st is Read-A-Thon Day! Your scholar can dress up as a character from classical literature, scientist, or a historical figure. Here is the sign up genius for volunteering to help out that day: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d44abab29a1fd0-readathon1

We will have 5 centers with reading and crafts going on. We could use help with running each center. At the assembly in the morning 2nd grade will be reciting Something Told the Wild Geese.

We missed a birthday shout-out last week! Happy Birthday to Yancy (10/22). He brought in Bosa Donuts for the class on Thursday!


Picture Retakes: November 8th at 8:00am - If your children need to retake their picture, please make sure they have either their original pictures to return to the photographer, or an envelope with payment to have their photo taken.

Winter Uniform Dress Code Update: Due to the warmer temperature, students may wear the summer dress code until Thursday, November 10th (there is no school on Friday). Beginning Monday, November 14th, students will be required to follow the winter dress code. Pants will be required or skirts must be worn with tights or long socks.

Reading Reflection Logs: These are due on Monday of the following week. Please return the R.R.L. (Reading Reflection Log) with the book that was sent home with your scholar. Please make sure to do 1 page a night (see detailed description below). Please let me know if we need to adjust the level of the text. Students should read the same book all week. See if your scholar can time themselves to read the book faster. Ask them to retell the story to you in a sequential order asking what happened first, next, then, and last. 

Due on Mondays of the following week

Monday Night HW

Tuesday Night HW

Wednesday Night HW

Thursday Night HW

Curriculum Next Week:

Language Arts: With Halloween on Monday, we will learn spelling words in class, but will not assign homework Monday night. We will instead do the homework together as a class on Tuesday. In literature this week we will start reading Boxcar Children! I am so excited to embark on another literature adventure with the students! In grammar we will learn about common and proper nouns, and work them into sentences to make our writing even more beautiful and interesting!

Spalding Words:
Monday: file, provide, sight, stood, fixed, fix, born, goes, does, Tuesday
Tuesday: go, hold, drill, army, pretty, stole, income, bought, paid, pay
Wednesday: enter, railroad, unable, ticket, account, driven, real

Grammar Fun This Week! Noun/Verb Match and building sentences in groups...

Math: We will continue our unit on measurement this week, really focusing on comparing all the units we have learned. Please keep an eye on your child while they are working at home. When worksheets show objects that do not start at the beginning of the ruler - the students are getting very confused (i.e. the pencil starts at 3in and goes to 10 in. the pencil is 7 in. long, but the majority of students will say the pencil is 10 in. long). We will wrap up this unit on measurement and test on Friday.

Science: Our water cycle unit will continue with the study of clouds, groundwater, and run off. We will do another fun experiment (ask me about the jar experiment and terrarium we made this week) and we will continue to record observations and new vocabulary words in our Science Notebooks!



History: This past week we studied the Festival of Lights and learned about how Prince Siddhartha became known as Buddha. Next week we will reread a Jataka Tale (a story Buddha told to teach a lesson) and work on retelling events of that story in order. We will also learn about King Asoka and how he spread Buddhism. We will review all that we have learned about Ancient India and test next week, too!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,
Mrs. Dombrowski

Conference Thank You!

Dear 2B Parents,

Thank you for your time during Parent/Teacher Conferences this week. Mrs. Smith and I truly enjoyed meeting with each of you to talk about your sweet scholar. We are so blessed to have so many nice families and great-hearted children! I am impressed with the connections you make to the virtues at home. Mrs. Smith and I are happy to help you in any way that we can so please let us know how we can support you in this effort. We are so excited to be partnering with you this year to ensure your child's success as they grow in intellectual and moral virtue.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Fall Break and now you have another long weekend ahead :-)! I loved hearing stories from the kids when they returned. We spent time during snack time on Monday sharing our adventures. I heard about everything from trips to California to finding SNAKES while hiking! Oh my :-). Mr. Dombrowski and I enjoyed a few days in San Francisco!


Curriculum for Next Week...

Language Arts: We will continue writing and labeling interesting sentences using a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb! Students will learn about singular and plural nouns, and will learn about mover and shaker sentences (moving words around in a sentence, so it makes it more interesting for the reader)! 

We will start reading Boxcar Children next week (10/31) if you have not already please purchase the book and send it in with your child!

Spalding Words for Next Week: We will have 20 spelling words next week due to the short week.
Tuesday: going, honey, letters, orange, pocket, shoes, shoe, stairs, stream, talks
Wednesday: tiny, words, trust, extra, dress, beside, teach, happen, begun, collect

Math: This past week we spent time reviewing concepts from Units 1 and 2. Some of us are mixing up renaming in addition vs. renaming in subtraction so we will keep working on it throughout the year! 

Next week in math we will start a new unit on measurement! Students will begin by measuring in nonstandard units (paperclips, pencils, cubes) and then learn the important of standard measuring units (if I wanted a couch 67 paperclips long, no one would know what I was talking about)! We will practice measuring length and height, and do a really fun airplane launch experiment with length on Wednesday!

History: We are learning all about Ancient India! Last week we reviewed the caste system and next week we will look at the Festival of Lights and also learn about Buddha.

Science Fun: We "wrapped up" our experiment with Lima Beans are are onto our next unit: The Water Cycle! It all began with an ice cube inside of a cup. Stay tuned for more! We will continue learning about the Water Cycle next week. We talked about solids, liquids, gases, and evaporation this past week. Ask me about the experiment we conducted! Next week we will be making a terrarium and learning about condensation and precipitation. 

Some of our seeds started to sprout!

Another great example of what a seed needs to sprout

Scientists making observations

Recording observations and making predictions

The Water Cycle Experiment

Spelling Bee: Please see these links for spelling bee information ~ Letter to Parents & Spelling List for 2nd Grade

A Special Note From PSO...

Hello Again!

If you shop at Fry's you can help raise money for our school. Sign up today for Fry's Community Rewards program. With a few clicks, you can earn the school money for shopping at Fry's. If you have done this in previous years, please make sure you are still log in, as it resets every year.
Go to www.frysfood.com, then click on your account and login. Once you are in your account click on Community Rewards. Then search for Archway Classical Academy - Arete or by organization number 92026. Its that simple!!!
Who shops on Amazon?? I am sure for some they visit  your home daily. Archway Arete can receive money by shopping at Amazon. Anytime you want something at Amazon, you just need to remember to go to the Archway Arete PSO Blog, (which a link is on the schools website) or by going to http://archwayaretepso.blogspot.com/ and clicking on Amazon Smile located on the right side of the page.
Did you know that collecting Box Tops brought in over $2000 for our school last year? That's a lot of money for just clipping Box Tops! If every student brought in just 10 a month, we could earn $5,400 this year.So start clipping!
POGO Passes - A affordable way to get out and have some fun! See flyer for further details.
Stay tuned for details on how you can purchase your 2017 Harkins Movie cup, T-shirt and Gift cards. The Holidays are right around the corner!
Stay in the know with what is going on with PSO
To find our Facebook page click https://www.facebook.com/ArchwayAretePSO/.
PSO Blog check us out at - http://archwayaretepso.blogspot.com/
Visit the Blog and sign up to receive emails and text messages!
PSO Email: psoarchwayarete@gmail.com

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Love,
Mrs. Dombrowski

Fall Break is Here! Give a Big Cheer!

Dear 2B Families,

Fall Break is here! I hope that you have a wonderful break with your families. Get some rest and relaxation (no homework)! I can't wait to hear about all of the 2B Fall Break adventures upon our return. I am also looking forward to Parent/Teacher Conferences! Don't forget to sign up:

• Link to sign up for 2B Conferences with Mrs. D and Mrs. Smith
• Link to sign up for Specials Conferences (optional)

A Note About Planned Absences: Please let me know in advance if you plan to be gone from school. I will do my best to make sure your child has what they need, however, it is easier on Mrs. Smith and I (for copying/lesson planning purposes) if they receive the missed work upon their return. We gather the missed papers when they are gone and can put it inside their homework folder when they come back to school. Weekly homework is also posted on the side bar ---> of the blog along with Spalding words embedded into our blog post.

Checklists for Quarter 1: Please keep in mind when you receive your child's checklist for Quarter 1 that the numbers indicate your child's proficiency in each skill as well as my proximity to your child. They should help answer the question: How close does this student need me to be in order to complete that skill successfully? (Because our hope is that all students are experiencing success in our classrooms!)

"4" would look like: Your child displays confident success in that skill without any further support. I can be working with another student and your child is able to independently show accurate proficiency without further instruction.

"3" would look like: Your child is showing proficiency in this skill, and benefits from occasional support. I am walking throughout the classroom, occasionally stopping by his desk to monitor progress, and when I do so, he or she is successful.

"2" would look something like: Your child is able to complete that task, but is in need of additional support. I am sitting right behind him or her, looking over their shoulder, whispering reminders, and with that support they are able to be successful.

"1" would look like: Your child needs my full attention and continual support in order for him or her to be successful in that skill. I am sitting right beside them, holding their hand, pointing with my finger to help track those words as they read, etc.

NA: Means that the skill has not been covered or assessed yet.

Please reach out to me with any questions you may have about the checklists! We can also talk about them at conferences too.

Birthdays: We have a few birthday shout-outs that I didn't want to miss over the break! Happy Birthday to Lily (5th), Lilah (10th), Livia (14th), Elise and Anthony (15th). WOW! Have a great birthday everyone!

Virtue Note: We had an amazing chat about HONESTY this week. I shared something with the kids that I learned growing up ~ A lie you have to remember and sometimes the story changes (and when you tell a lie, you might feel guilty about it)...the truth is ALWAYS the truth, no matter what (and you feel better when you tell the truth ~ guilt free)! And the TRUTH always has a way of coming out! I said, "Do your parents ever tell you that you'll get into more trouble if you lie and less trouble if you're honest?" They all responded with, "YEAH!" The students were pretty honest and bravely shared stories of times they told lies and how their parents found out about it! I'm glad they feel safe and comfortable in our classroom to share this :-). I love these Great Hearted scholars!

Typing Master: Students have been working hard at Typing Master! Please reinforce keeping all fingers on the "home row" when your children are working on their computer or laptop at home. The "home row" is asdfjkl;

Poetry: Here is a copy of our new poem, Merry Autumn Days. This was also sent home in your child's folder on Tuesday. Their poem recitation grades for Something Told the Wild Geese were sent home in Friday Folders today.

A few pictures to share:

Renaming in Subtraction...

Pictures of our FUN Life Cycle Scoot Game...We have fun "scooting" as we reviewed the life cycle of a chicken, frog, butterfly, and plant. We "scooted" as different animals and people, too!

Our Lima Bean Experiment...

Charlotte's Web Movie Party Today:

Fun with Friends...

Personal Note: Last week, the Arete teachers an opportunity to pack food at Feed My Starving Children. If you've never been there before, I highly recommend it! Your children can participate as well. Here is a picture of Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Lacsa, and I with our awesome hair nets :-).

Curriculum: When we return from Fall Break we have half days and parent/teacher conferences. This is going to impact our classroom schedule slightly. I will be sure to update you on our learning curriculum in the next Blog Post!

Spalding Words for 10/17-10/20:

Monday: such, morning, however, mind, shall, alone, order, third, push, point

Tuesday: within, body, field, belongs, cheese, earn, edge, feather, fence, funny

Winter Dress Code: Our winter dress code will begin on Tuesday, November 1st. Boys need to wear pants and girls can wear either pants or skirts with leggings/knee high socks. Only official uniform sweaters are allowed to be worn inside the classroom, other sweaters and/or jackets can be worn outside but must be free of pop-culture.

Please check out this Book Fair/Read a Thon Letter.

Have a FABULOUS Fall Break!

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski