So this is the last week of school. Sitting at home and writing the blog, seeing my students on a ZOOM screen, saying good-bye through a video - not what I expected for the end of the school year. There were good thing that came from it too. :-)
ACADEMICS: Formal Instruction / academics is assigned for Monday only. Literature- My Father's Dragon Math - Methods of Subtraction * Note: Today is our last day of formal instruction and all assignments in Google Classroom will be due on Wednesday May 20th. Tuesday/Wednesday - Tuesday and Wednesday academic activities are optional. Mrs. Moreno has included poems and songs. Mrs. Schulder has included a very fun science experiment. I have attached a video with instructions for a math game. Please look in the parent resources for three other games I attached earlier in the quarter. RAZ-KIDS: Though teachers will no longer be monitoring it, the RAZ-kids is available through June 30th. I have gone in and loaded each scholar's account with A LOT of books and expanded the reading rooms. Perfect opportunity to have leveled books. Keep them reading this summer! ZOOM MEETINGS: Ms. Ramirez will be offering one final tutoring session on Tuesday the 19th from 2:00 - 2:30. The link is in the e-mail. Our last Class 1B meeting is also on Tuesday the 19th at 3:00. I will be using a power point presentation to announce this year's virtue awards. Tomorrow will be the first time I have ever done a Power Point presentation AND it's the first time I have ever done a screen share. I am sure it will turn out fine, but I am a little bit nervous about it. Please tell your scholars to be patient with me. Thanks! (The Zoom link will be sent tomorrow afternoon.) VIRTUE AWARDS: I will be announcing the virtue awards through the Power Point presentation. I will be e-mailing a certificate to each child before Friday of this week. PICK-UP/DROP-OFF OF STUDENT/SCHOOL BELONGINGS: Pick-up and drop-off of student/school belongings will take place in the East drive-through lanes on May 20-22 at the times listed below. · Wednesday, May 20 - 8 AM-12 PM or 5-7 PM · Thursday, May 21 - 12-4 PM · Friday, May 22 - 8 AM-12 PM Items exchanged at these times will include:
FINAL SCHOOL ASSEMBLY: As a reminder, our final school wide assembly will be held live on Facebook at 8:30am, Thursday, May 21. During this time, the students will be addressed with our Athenian Awards ceremony and a final address from the headmaster. We will also finish the year with a final reading of D'Aulaires Book of Norse Myths and the exciting conclusion to this saga. THIS SUMMER: Some parents have asked me about ways they can help their child this summer. These are my suggestions: 1. The RAZ-kids accounts are loaded with books. Take advantage of it and use it until the subscription expires June 30th. 2. Play the math games that were attached to Google Classroom. 3. Read! Read! Read! 4. We didn't get to every page in the math workbooks. Feel free to complete the pages. 5. Libraries offer on-line reservations and curb-side pick-up. There are some great children's books AND audio books! 6. Practice phonograms (saying them and writing them) NAME THE GOOD: We learned! We did it! Yay us! Have an amazing week and a relaxing summer! Love, Mrs. Spencer
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Hi. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I put Google classroom aside for a couple of days and did a whole bunch of baking! Perfect Mother's Day weekend.!!
THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF SCHOOL: As with this entire quarter, these last two weeks of school definitely look a lot different than normal. This week will look a lot different than next week. I will focus on this week first. THIS WEEK'S ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 5 new words on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday then practice the 15 words on Thursday and Friday. Math - Methods of Subtraction Literature - My Father's Dragon (Grammar and handwriting lessons are integrated within the weekly literature lessons.) History - The story of Sacagawea Science - The history of the earth THIS WEEK'S ZOOM MEETINGS: 1. Ms. Ramirez will continue to offer tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday this week at her normal time of 2:00 - 2:30. Her Zoom link is in the e-mail. 2. We will have our class 1B meeting on Friday at our usual time of 3:00. Be ready to tell about 1 - 2 things you are thankful for. We will also be singing happy birthday to those in our class who had a birthday during 4th quarter and during the summer. NEXT WEEK'S ACADEMICS: 1. Our last "formal" instruction day is Monday, May 19th. The main focus on that day will be literature and math. Assignments listed in Google classroom that day will be due on Wednesday, May 20th. 2. Google Classroom will have a date listed as Tuesday/Wednesday May 19th - 20th. Activities listed under that topic will be optional and will not have to be turned in. NEXT WEEK'S ZOOM MEETINGS: 1. Ms. Ramirez will be offering tutoring on Tuesday, May 19th at her regularly scheduled time of 2:00 - 2:30. 2. Our last class 1B Zoom meeting will be on Tuesday morning, May 19th. I will send out an e-mail later this week with the exact time and include it in my blog next Monday. ARCHWAY TRIVIUM EAST ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT WEEK: The school sent out e-mails last week and will continue to do so about any other activities that are taking place next week. Please be on the lookout for those school e-mails and communication. NAME THE GOOD: 1. I am so proud of myself! Just a few weeks ago I had very few tech skills. Just enough to navigate things in the classroom. At the beginning of the quarter there was a lot of tears and a lot of frustration and a temptation to just give up, but I didn't. I learned how to create videos to stay in touch with my students, create math instructional videos, become more comfortable with google documents, and navigate Zoom meetings just to name a few. 2. Many of you learned new things too. Each time I have received an e-mail from a parent, telling me that they learned how to navigate Google classroom, log onto RAZ-Kids, attach assignments, learned something new from one of the videos I made, or figured out how to balance their own work with helping their children, I celebrated! 3. I received some really nice e-mails over the weekend and am so thankful! 4. I have really yummy cookies to eat! Have a beautifully, wonderful day! SOMETHING FUN:
Hi. I generally stay away from Facebook and I rarely share quotes or things I come across. Today I am going to make an exception because it sums up a lot of how I feel. It was an advertisement for a t-shirt. The printing on the t-shirt said: I will teach you in a room I will teach you now on ZOOM I will teach you in a house I will teach you with a mouse I will teach you here or there I will teach because I care I am definitely going to buy that t-shirt!! GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will be introduced to five new words on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Practice and review of the fifteen words is on Thursday and Friday. Math - Methods of addition Literature - My Father's Dragon Note - Handwriting and grammar lessons are integrated within the weekly literature lessons. History - Lewis and Clark Expedition Science - Geology: Minerals GRADING SYSTEM REMINDER: As I know many e-mails have gone out in the past month and some can be missed I have been trying to include information and reminders from them in my blog. As we are approaching the end off the quarter I wanted to be sure to include a reminder about the grading system information that was sent out Wednesday, April 8th from Mr. Twist, Great Hearts Arizona president: "Archway Schools: Students’ Quarter 4 coursework will be graded on a simple “Pass/Fail” basis. As a reminder, Archway students do not receive semester grades. Should you have questions about this grading policy, please contact your school administration for support." Basically what that means is that we are not grading using the typical points system and calculation that gives percentages during the 4th quarter. We are looking at all of the work that your scholar does and giving an overall grade at the end of the quarter. This means, that if your scholar does the work, showing effort, they will be fine for the quarter. If your scholar does none of the work, or shows very little effort, they will not be fine for the quarter. Ms. Ramirez will continue to send out e-mails of missing assignments. If your scholar has several missing assignments there is still time to get them turned in. WEEKLY TUTORING: Ms. Ramirez continues to offer weekly tutoring sessions every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00 - 2:30 pm. The link is in the e-mail. CLASS 1B MEETINGS: I have really enjoyed our 1B Friday meetings. It is so wonderful to see my students faces and hear their voices. Last week it was a lot of fun seeing everyone's favorite stuffed animal! This week's share time will be focused on an craft or drawing they want to share. Class 1B meetings are every Friday at 3:00. I will send out the Zoom link on Friday afternoon before the meeting. RAZ-KIDS FLIGHT CHECK: I have had some parents e-mail me because they are having troubles getting the recording aspect of the flight checks to work. Others have said that the flight checks freeze when they get to the comprehension part of the quiz. There are a couple of parents who have encountered similar problems and e-mailed me with pointers that I could share with the class: - Be sure to have the recording aspects set and ready before he/she reads - If there is freezing, try a different browser bar become sometimes the freezing is caused by so many people logged in at once. As I receive more pointers I will relay them to you. NAME THE GOOD: - I think I have a general weekly routine down that allows me to focus on the remote learning and all the aspects that come with it while also allowing me to be available to my family and my son. - The Tuesday picnics with my son are wonderful. Last week we had the chance to run through giant sprinklers before sitting down to eat. Focus on the good. Have a great week! |
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May 2022
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