Families of 4C,
Please welcome our class parent, Mrs. Restivo! She will be serving her third year as a class mom for Archway Arete. She will be communicating with you this year in respect to how you can help out with classroom celebrations and will keep you up to date on what is happening with the PSO. I have confidence that her giving heart will make an impactful difference for our students this year!
Grade Reports will be sent weekly to keep you up-to-date about your child’s current grade status. The grade report primarily serves as a snapshot for the child to see where they are and how they are doing, and does not require any additional action items for parents to complete. Grades will commonly fluctuate week-by-week, as they are a tool to track learning progress to see where the student can get stronger. Our goal is not to chase a certain number or letter, but rather to track their growth.
The goal for homework is an average of 60-75 minutes. As this is an average, some students may take longer or shorter depending on their skill level and the rigor demanded for each assignment. If homework ever exceeds 1 hour and 30 minutes, feel free to send an email to let me know that you eclipsed your 75 minutes and outline any specific problems you may have encountered on it so I can see where to offer help. In terms of subjects, students should be spending no more than about 30 minutes on any one subject, unless a project or larger assignment is required and these dates will be given ahead of time. If you find that your child has met the 30 minute mark with a subject, feel free to end homework for that subject and switch to another.
In an effort to provide a fruitful homework experience for our scholars, we rely on the feedback of our families. Parents, please share your feedback by completing this homework survey at your earliest convenience.
History: The Europe Map Test will be given on Monday to allow students more time to study. Students were given a detailed study guide of the map to complete for homework, and this should be the primary study source. You can visit the links for songs about Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Southern Europe for review. As an additional resource, I have also included a link to an online quiz that can be used to study. On Tuesday, students will take their unit test on the Byzantine Empire, and they can use the Study Guide on page 48 in their notebook for review. This week, we will learn about Charlemagne, feudalism, and castles as we continue our time travel through the Middle Ages.
Science: We will begin this week by continuing to learn about electromagnetism before taking our unit test on electricity Thursday. Students can use the Study Guide on pages 29-30 for review. At the end of the week, we will begin our new unit on life sciences.
Spalding: We will continue Spalding as regularly planned this week, with 3 sets of 10 words for homework this week. Our 30 words this week will run from “themselves-------state.” Your student is responsible for bringing their Spalding notebook home to dictate words. You may also reference the curriculum night packet for the full year’s list of Spalding words.
Math: We will be taking our Order of Operations test on Monday. On Tuesday, we will begin working with negative numbers. Your student is responsible for bringing their math workbook to and from school every day on the nights they have workbook homework. Students should have up to page 33 completed in their workbooks thus far. Check in with your child nightly to ensure they are getting all the practice they need.
Greek and Latin Roots: Greek and Latin roots are taught and reviewed from the set of cards students make in class every Wednesday, unless otherwise noted. This week students will be learning the next three roots and will be tested on 3 previous roots they have learned. Students are responsible for keeping track of their own cards.
Grammar: On Tuesday, students will be taking a Classifying and Diagramming test on pronouns and prepositions. Students should use the homework over the weekend to help them prepare for this test. This video might be helpful when helping your student with classifying and diagramming. There are other resources like this available online, just keep in mind that Great Hearts teaches “Shirley English” and these will be the most effective resources for practice.
As always, I look forward to another week of learning, and I hope you all enjoy your weekend.
--Mrs. Conforti
