Quarter 4 March 23-27

Hello 4C Families!

I hope you are all well and enjoying your time together.  Our daughter is home from college in Minnesota and will be completing the rest of the term from home on-line  and our son will be starting his 7th grade packet that the Prep has prepared their students. We are happy to all be home together. We have been taking walks, watching movies, playing cards and board games and doing a lot of baking (and eating!). Our bunnies, Eddie and Ollie are happily flopped in the back yard as I write this and I am including their picture below.

You will have received the e-mail from Mr. Gillingham with the distance learning packet info.  If you need a paper copy of the packet that can be picked up at Archway Arete tomorrow.  Information about pickup was also sent out in a previous email that contains instructions and times.  If you do not have that information please reach out to me and I will make sure you get the information.  Mrs. Chilson and I will be there at 8:00 am to help with packet distribution and look forward to saying hello.

The rest of this blog will be about the lessons in the packet.  The days listed and the pace is a suggestion.  You may have your child work through the packet as you wish.  If you have any questions please let me know.

Typically literature is a lesson that is read to the students. They do not read the book independently.  I would love to continue reading this book to the class. If you would be interested in having your child log log on to a zoom meeting where I would read the chapter I would love to do so.  Please let me know if this would be of interest.  Zoom can be downloaded on a phone, tablet or a computer.

The electronic packet and the paper packet are identical.  If you are using the electronic packet you do not need to print the reading materials unless you would like to.

Lessons for March 23 - 27

Math: This week, students will spend time reviewing concepts they have already learned this year. The first worksheet for each day is a math facts review worksheet. The next page is four word problems. We recommend that students use bar models to help them solve these. The third page is the more difficult of the three pages. This is a collection of different kinds of problems the students have worked on this year. Students will have math work every day of the week

History: In history, students will be covering the first two chapters of the unit on the United States Constitution. The first chapter, “The Idea of Self Rule,” is followed by a page of fill in the blank and short answer questions. The second chapter, “New Constitutions for the States,” follows the same pattern. This week, students will only have history on Monday and Thursday. 

Writing: For writing, students will take the information that they learned in history by reading the pages and answering the questions to formulate a response to two writing prompts. Monday’s writing prompt is “Jefferson’s third important idea about government was ‘If the people do not give their consent that the government can have this or that power, then the government does not have it.’ What does this mean? Do you agree or disagree? What powers should the government have, and how does this relate to the idea of ‘Limited Government’? Please answer in at least 5-7 sentences.” Thursday’s writing prompt is “What does the word ‘democracy’ mean? Did the individual states create a true democracy as a model for their state constitutions? Why or why not? Please answer in at least 5-7 sentences with examples from the text.” Students should take the information from the readings and develop their own answers to these questions. This week, students will only have writing on Monday and Thursday.

Spalding: In Spalding this week, students will learn two new words a day Monday through Thursday. They will write the word three times with syllable breaks. For example, for the word chorus, they will write “cho rus” three times. They will then write a sentence using that word. The sentence should demonstrate an understanding of the word’s meaning. A poor sentence would be, “The word chorus starts with a c.” A good sentence would be, “The school chorus sang during our spring concert.” After learning the two new words, there are phonograms for that day. It is recommended that a parent help with these. On Friday, the assignment is to write a new sentence that demonstrates an understanding of the words’ meanings for all of the words.

Literature: Students will read the first two chapters of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this week. Both chapters are in the packet, but students may use their own copies of the book if you have it. On Monday, students will read and annotate the first chapter, “The Cyclone.” We recommend that the child annotate the chapters as they read because they will be expected to write a summary on the following day. Thus, on Tuesday, the students will write a summary of chapter one. On Wednesday, students will read and annotate chapter two, “The Council with the Munchkins.” On Thursday, students will write a summary of chapter two. On Friday, the students will read a story called, “The Blind Men and the Elephant.” Following their reading of the story, they will answer three review questions in complete sentences.

Reading Comprehension: Each day, the lessons end with a reading comprehension worksheet. These are worksheets that your child has been doing throughout the year. We had been doing this reading sprint in 4 minutes when in class but there is no need to time these sprints at home.

Science: The science lesson for the week will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The students will be reading articles on content that we have already covered, so these lessons will be both review and extensions of the content they have already been assessed on. Following each article are some multiple-choice questions. The Tuesday lesson also includes some short answer questions, which should be answered in complete sentences and vocabulary review. At the end of each science lesson is a matching exercise on past content to help students retain the lessons they studied earlier this year.

Grammar: The grammar lessons will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The grammar lessons for this week are paragraph edits that require students to read an error-filled paragraph to find and correct the mistakes.

Additional Resources:

1. Great Hearts Coronavirus Page: https://www.greatheartsamerica.org/coronavirus/
2. Khan Academy: khanacademy.org 
3. Xtra Math: https://xtramath.org/#/home/index
4. Typing Quest: https://online3.typingmaster.com/login?id=pp8gsu2q7 
5. LibriVox: https://librivox.org
6. Madame Gebarra's blog:   http://gebaraaretefrench.blogspot.com/

If any student passes all four operations in Xtra Math please let me know! I can create a "2.0" account that has more multiples in a shorter time frame for them.

I am missing all of you and am thinking about you all.

Mrs. Chilson look forward to speaking with you this week! I will be calling half of the class and Mrs. Chilson will be calling the other half of the class.  Then, if closings run longer, we will alternate back and forth our half of the class so both of us will connect with all families.  Our goal is just to touch base, let you know we are here to help, and possibly to have a conversation with your child if they are interested. We are also always here to help and you may call any time during regular school hours 8-3.  If we are not available, please leave a message and we will call back as soon as possible.  In addition, you can text both of our phone numbers.

--Mrs. LaVell RLavell@ArchwayArete.org --Mrs. Chilson VChilson@archwayarete.org