February is in Full Swing!

Dear 2B Parents,

Happy long weekend! There is no school tomorrow, Friday 2/9. The teachers have an inservice day. We'll see you back on Monday!

Highlights for Next Week:

• Monday 2/12: Your children spelled the virtue HUMILITY! They voted on a celebration - popcorn and a movie with their favorite stuffed animal, they may also choose to bring a blanket or pillow. I told them it has to fit in their backpack. We also have a lock down drill schedule for 2pm.
• Tuesday 2/13: Science test over the human body. Here is the answer key for our study guide. The study guide was intended to contain most of the notes from our entire 6 week unit. I promise the test will be much more simple to answer! We were hoping for more retelling of what they learned about for the study guide. Answers may vary on the balanced diet plan.
• Wednesday 2/14: Great Hearts Day! We have reserved this special day to focus on the virtue of friendship and celebrate the traits that make a great-hearted student. We are planning interactive and fun activities centered around these topics, and time will be set aside for students to create hand-made Great Hearts Day cards for their classmates. Archway Arete strives to cultivate a rich, academic environment rooted in the classical tradition. This many times requires popular culture to be left at the door. On that note, students will not be permitted to bring store-bought valentines, candy, or gifts to school. Thank you for partnering with us. 

Wish List Highlights:

• Ticonderoga Pencils ~ preferably pre-sharpened :-)
• Thin expo markers for Rocket Math
• Volunteers for Reading and Math Groups
• Tax Credit Contest: Royalty for a Day

Next week in 2B...

Poetry: Your child will be graded on their recitation of Smart by Shel Silverstein. We will introduce our new recitation: The Preamble to the Constitution!

Literature: We will read Chapters 11-13 of The Cricket in Times Square.

Writing and Grammar: Direct quotations will continue to be our focus next week as we read a story called The Hare that Ran Away. We will be revisiting friendly letters next week when writing a card to a secret classmate for Great Hearts Day! Subject pronouns will also be reviewed in our question and answer flow.

Spalding Words Next Week:
Monday: direction, direct, appear, liberty, enough, fact, board, September, station, attend
Tuesday: public, music, picnic, picnicking, friends, friend, during, endure, police, until
Wednesday: truly, true, whole, hole, address, request, raise, August, struck, getting, get

Math:We are wrapping up our unit on money and will be introduced to our new unit on fractions beginning Thursday. Keep an eye out for a study guide (Units 1-9 Cumulative Test B) coming home on Tuesday to go over with your child to prepare for the upcoming test on Thursday.

Science: We will take our test over the Human Body on Tuesday. Please check your child's folder for a copy of the study guide! It's also linked above.

History: Your child will be bringing home a study guide on Monday for the Constitution test. Due to Great Hearts Day, the test will be on Friday! I'll be sure to send you a master copy too :-)!

Warmly,

Mrs. Dombrowski

Royalty for a Day Contest

Help our classroom win the “Royalty for a Day” contest!

I am sure you’ve heard from your child by now that there is a “Royalty for a Day” contest underway, and your help is needed! We still need $22,000 in tax credits to meet our $75,000 goal and here is how your child’s class wins, and what they will receive:

• The classroom that brings in the most Tax Credit dollars by Great Hearts Day (2/14/18) will be Royalty for a day!
• The teachers will be crowned royalty and receive gift cards.
• The class will wear spirit shirts and receive a treat on the royal day to celebrate.
• Mr. Gillingham has approved a spirit wear day for any class that brings in 5 tax credits!

The top classes will be posted on the white board each Friday at pick-up and the winning classroom will be announced at the end of the day on Feb. 14th . Leave no one out! Ask grandparents, aunts, neighbors, coaches, and friends to give their Tax Credit to Archway Arete! Here is the GIVING LINK: https://archwayarete.configio.com/moneyrequest?id=5

Let’s make this happen for our class!

Happy February!

Dear 2B Families,

Welcome February! It's hard to believe it's already here! Don't forget that Book Reports are due today. We will assign new chapter books and reports this week too.

Field Day FUN! Thank you to our 2B parents who shared these fun photos with me :-)!

Sign-Ups:

• Friday Folders: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ea8af2e5-friday
• Reading and Math Groups: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d44a9af2ca1fc1-reading

Next Week in 2B...

Literature: The Cricket in Times Square will continue through reading Chapters 9 & 10. Ask your child about Mario's trip to Chinatown and the fire at the newsstand.

Writing and Grammar: We will write final copies for our paragraph about our two favorite colors! We will also introduce subject pronouns to our question and answer flow when classifying sentences.

Spalding Words Next Week: 20 words due to no school on 2/9
Monday: throw, threw, personal, everything, rate, chief, perfect, second, slide, farther
Tuesday: duty, intend, company, quite, quit, quiet, none, knew, know, remain

Math: We are going to continue our study in money and will begin to practice adding and subtracting and doing our best to make sense of it all!

History: We are continuing our discussion of the Constitution. This week your children will be talking about why many people wanted a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution. They will also learn who James Madison was and why he is called "The Father of the Constitution." Ask your child to tell you the first three words of the Constitution. We will be reviewing at the end of the week. Look for a study guide next week!

Science: We will review the functions of our body systems and learn ways we can help make sure that our body systems continue to run smoothly so we can stay healthy. We will also learn a new word: calories! We will spend time reviewing ALL of the concepts we have learned in our Human Body Unit through playing a fun review game. A study guide will be sent home with your child on Thursday night. We encourage you to read through it and ask your child to retell some of the things they learned. We will have a test over the Human Body the following week (Week of February 12th)!

Kindly,

Mrs. Dombrowski

P.S. Mr. Dombrowski, my mom, and I enjoyed a few days in Washington DC for a wedding! We were fortunate to spend time with cousins and friends! We were also a little touristy too :-)! Thank you to Miss Smith and the parents in our class who did a GREAT job taking over and helping while I was away. Thank you!

Great Hearts Day Information!

Dear 2B Families,

Happy Friday! Thank you for reading our new blog! We are still in need of volunteers to help wth Field Day next Friday. Please use this sign up to help donate items to our class or stay with the kiddos as they rotate through stations. Please read through our last blog post with important announcements about Field Day.

A Day for Friendship - Wednesday, February 14th is Great Hearts Day! We have reserved this special day to focus on the virtue of friendship and celebrate the traits that make a great-hearted student. Teachers are planning interactive and fun activities centered around these topics, and time will be set aside for students to create hand-made Great Hearts Day cards for their classmates. Archway Arete strives to cultivate a rich, academic environment rooted in the classical tradition. This many times requires popular culture to be left at the door. On that note, students will not be permitted to bring store-bought valentines, candy, or gifts to school. Thank you for partnering with us.

Scholar Shout-Outs:

Happy Birthday to Henry & Ethan! They both turned 8 this week! EIGHT is GREAT :-)!

We celebrated the end of our Ancient Greece unit today! Thank you to Landon's mom for picking up some special Greek treats for us to enjoy :-)!

Uniform Tip of the Week (from Handbook page 51):
Girls: Neat small bows, barrettes, headbands, and "scrunchies" are permissible so long as they coordinate with the uniform. Female students are permitted to wear nail polish of natural color including light pink and clear.
Boys: Hair must be well‐off the top of the shirt collar. Hair should not fall below the eyebrows or past the mid‐point of the ear.

Next Week in 2B...

Literature: We are continuing to follow the adventures of Mario, Chester Cricket, Tucker Mouse, and their friends through reading chapters 6-8 of The Cricket in Times Square. We are going to read about an adult who does something special for Mario! We will discuss adults in our own life who have done

Writing and Grammar: We will be revising and editing paragraphs about our two favorite colors. We will also continue working on writing direct quotations.

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

Math: We're wrapping up our current unit on multiplication and division! We will have a cumulative test over multiplication and division on Thursday then we will begin our new unit over money!

Science: What kind of nutrients help keep our bodies healthy and strong? We will explore those next week. We will also create a well-balanced meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! We have LOVED learning about the Human Body. Please ask your child what they remember about the digestive and excretory systems, using their new scientific vocabulary :-).

History: We are digging into American history starting with the Constitution! Our scholars will learn about how the Constitution relates to the Revolutionary War and why it was written. Ask your child about the "Father of the Constitution," James Madison.

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski

“Royalty for a Day” Contest!

Help our classroom win the “Royalty for a Day” contest!

I am sure you’ve heard from your child by now that there is a “Royalty for a Day” contest underway, and your help is needed! We still need $22,000 in tax credits to meet our $75,000 goal and here is how your child’s class wins, and what they will receive:

· The classroom that brings in the most Tax Credit dollars by Great Hearts Day (2/14/18) will be Royalty for a day!
· The teachers will be crowned royalty and receive gift cards.
· The class will wear spirit shirts and receive a treat on the royal day to celebrate.

The top classes will be posted on the white board each Friday at pick-up and the winning classroom will be announced at the end of the day on Feb. 14th . Leave no one out! Ask grandparents, aunts, neighbors, coaches, and friends to give their Tax Credit to Archway Arete! Here is the GIVING LINK: https://archwayarete.configio.com/moneyrequest?id=5

Let’s make this happen for our class!

Great Short Week! Field Day Info...

Dear 2B Families,

We had an awesome short week in 2nd grade! Miss Smith and I have noticed how much your children have grown and matured since they returned from Winter Break. It's impressive to see their growth! Keep up the great work at home :-).

Tax Credit Drive Contest:

We have not yet reached our Tax Credit goal so we will be holding a "Royalty for a Day" classroom contest! The classroom that brings in the most TC dollars by GREAT HEARTS DAY will have their teachers crowned "Royalty for a Day". Miss Smith and I would LOVE to be crowned for a WHOLE DAY! Teachers will receive a special gift card prize, and the entire class will be able to wear spirit shirts on the royal day to celebrate. We'll also give your children something extra special too! More details to come home with your child. If you have not donated your Tax Credit, yet, please give today!

Field Day Information:
Athletic Field Day will be held Friday, February 2nd from 8:30-11:00AM! This fun event will be held on campus on the field and in the gym. It is going to be a long busy day, so no school lunch will be provided on Athletic Field day. Please send your child to school with a lunch. 

Attire: Each student will need to be dressed in the color shirt assigned to their class to match their classmates, which can be decorated with the Greek City State their class is representing. Our section is B so our color is Yellow. Our Greek City State is Thebes!

 

Students should wear athletic clothing free of pop culture references. Sports team and brand logos are acceptable on clothing. Athletic shoes are mandatory (any color). Hats and sunglasses may be worn. Please send your child to school with sunscreen. Please see pg. 52 in the family handbook for detailed information for further questions regarding the dress code. 

Volunteers: In order to assure that Athletic Field Day is fun and runs smoothly, Coach Gethings and Coach Warren need your help! Volunteers are needed for setting up and running the event. If you are able to come in on Friday, February 2nd and help, please use the following link to sign up.

We need a few volunteers for class to help with donating a cooler and snacks. Please sign up here to volunteer for our class.

Other Sign Ups:

Friday Folders: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ea8af2e5-friday
Reading and Math Groups: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d44a9af2ca1fc1-reading

Next week in 2B...

Literature: We will read chapters 4-5 of The Cricket in Times Square, answering comprehension questions after each chapter. We will also use context clues to figure out meanings of unknown vocabulary words!

Writing and Grammar: We are starting paragraph writing next week! Our first type we will learn about is called explanatory.

Spalding Words Next Week:
Monday: cheerful (keep), chicken, driving, drive, echoes, echo, fairy, knock, leather, linen
Tuesday: mixture, nation, pause, peace, permission, rough, social, society, steal (weak), steel
Wednesday: strange, trophy, voices, voice, eight, ate, afraid, uncle, rather, comfort

Math: We are going to continue practicing multiplying and dividing our 4's, 5's, and 10's fact families this week! Quick mental math tip/idea: Ask your mathematician how many 4's, 5's, and 10's there are in a given number. Example: How many 5's are in 20? How many 4's are in 20? How many 10's are in 20?

History: We are wrapping up our Ancient Greece unit! Look for a study guide to be sent home on Monday. This was a long unit with a lot of information. Please help your child study for their test on Wednesday. We will be celebrating on Friday with a small classroom party!

Science: We will continue learning about the human body by studying the digestive system and excretory system (insert giggles and laughter from our 2nd graders)! We will also be conducting a fun (and maybe a little gross?) demonstration of the DIGESTIVE system PLUS we will be making a MODEL of the excretory system using some common items! Please ask your child what they remember about cells, tissues, and organs!

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski

Happy 2018 2B!

Dear 2B Families,

Happy New Year and Welcome Back! It was so good to see your children this week and hear about their break. Miss Smith and I missed them! We had a great first week back any many of us are "Turning Over a New Leaf" like we learned from our newest phrase of the week! It's going to be a spectacular year!

Scholar Shout-Outs:

We had a great December birthday lunch on Monday! Happy belated Birthday to Aiden R., Leighton (1/2), and Matthew (1/2)! It was fun having lunch with them.

Happy Birthday Recently to Jayda 1/3, Lyza 1/6, and Elle (half bday) 1/7!

Lyza brought us donuts on Monday! Thanks Lyza!

We're working hard on skip counting by 4s. Ask me to do this at home :-)!

Next Week in 2B...

Language Arts: We're moving from Reading Logs to Book Reports! We will be sending chapter books home next week with your child. They will have 3 weeks to finish, reading 20 minutes each night. Thank you for your help with this and please reach out if you have questions.

Grammar: We're reviewing parts of speech and jumping back in with marking and editing sentences to help us prepare us for writing paragraphs!

Literature: We will be reading from our new book, The Cricket in Times Square. If you have not already please send the book in with your child. We will discuss what it is like to move from one place to another. We will also have a group discussion about a time we wanted something really badly and our parents wouldn’t let us have it. We will ask the kids if they were able to talk their parents into it, or if they realized why their parents told them no. We will read chapters 1-3 in the book and discuss characters.

Spalding Words: There will only be 20 words next week since there is no school on Monday.
Tuesday: yesterday, among, question, quest, doctor, size, December, dozen, there (not here), their (they), they're (they are)
Wednesday: tax, number, October, reason, fifth, baking, bake, bowl, cheap (eat)

Math: We are continuing to develop our understanding of multiplication and division and will have a test on Thursday. Keep an eye out for a study guide coming home on Wednesday evening to review with your mathematician!

Science: All living things are made up of microscopic cells. We will describe the relationship among cells, tissues, organs, and systems. Ask me about the body systems at home! What are they and what functions do they perform?

History: We will finish up our lessons on Ancient Greece. We will be learning about three great thinkers: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. We will also talk about Alexander the Great, a brave man who conquered many lands and spread Greek ideas to many new places.

Wishing you a happy and restful 3 day weekend!

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski

P.S. Here's a little preview of my Winter Break :-)...My mom and I saw Cinderella at Gammage! We spent quality time with family! My sister and brother-in-law had a gender reveal - another BOY and another nephew for Mr. Dombrowski and I! Mr. D and I enjoyed New Years Eve in Pinetop celebrating our friend's upcoming wedding! It was COLD but no snow!