What a Stellar Week!

Dear 2A,

Your kids are doing so well! This week was out of this world with MAP testing on Monday, as well as the eclipse. Thank you again for everyone who was able to come by Wednesday night! We hope you enjoyed learning a little more about second grade and Mrs. Gerhart and I truly appreciate all of your support! 

We definitely understand that it was a late night and that many families might not be able to drop in, so I thought I'd include the presentation from Curriculum Night for anyone who wasn't able to make it. 

Here is the presentation from Wednesday night:

file://ssbcusa.local/US1000/US1004-1/FR/US1004-1-PHigh/Documents/Curriculum%20Night!.pdf

Curriculum Next Week...

Language Arts...
Poetry: The students will recite Bed in Summer in front of the class this week! I can't wait to hear the recitations again this week! Please make sure to look at the recitation rubric on the back of their poem. On Monday, in your child's greenfolder, you will receive our next recitation: Something Told by the Wild Geese by Rachel Field. Please start to work on memorizing stanza 1 with your child this week!

Literature: We will continue to read Charlotte's Web chapters 10-12 this week. We will talk about what character traits make a good friend, and identify friendships in our lives that have virtuous character traits! We will create a "class web" by throwing a ball of yarn to a classmate while telling them why they are such a great friend!

Spalding: Please continue to practice phonograms and handwriting at home with your child (3-5 minutes of phonogram practice each evening is a great goal). Handwriting is looking great! Thank you for your diligent support with it!

Spelling words for next week...
Monday: better, water, round, cost, price, become, class, horse, care, try
Tuesday: move, delay, pound, behind, around, burn, camp, bear, bare, clear 
Wednesday: clean, spell, poor, finish, hurt, maybe, across, tonight, tenth, sir

Writing & Grammar: Next week we will work on central ideas of a narrative passage, commands, and questions. We will also review the rules of punctuation and capitalization. 
These are links to the Grammar Jingles we've been learning in class:

Sentence Jingle: https://youtu.be/RglRL1w_Umw
Noun Jingle: https://youtu.be/cSJizZdGG0k
Verb Jingle: https://youtu.be/bPGuiUmuY9g

Math: In math this week, we will start flexing our mental math muscles as well as digging deeper into addition and subtraction with renaming. (Example: 45 + 8 = 53, 42 – 4 = 38)

Science: Next week we will conclude our unit on the Seasons of the Year. Be sure to ask your child about "The Reasons for the Seasons" and see if they can tell you about the tilt of planet earth. We will explore more closely the affect each season has on the weather, humans, plants, and animals.

History: This week we will be traveling to the West Indies and South America! Students will be able to discuss how the West Indies was named, locate South America on a map, and talk about who Simon Bolivar was and why he was important to the people of South America. Scholars will also be able to describe the lifestyles of people of the central Andes.

Warmest,

Mr. High

We did it!

Dear 2A,

We made it through our second week of second grade and boy did it fly by! We learned about the tilt of the Earth and its revolutions which still might have a few of us spinning. Next week our planner finally starts with August 21st (hooray!) so your child should start bringing those home starting on Monday. We will practice this new responsibility and change from the paper copy to the actual agenda which should be filled out each day with the nightly homework. :) 

MAP Testing/Solar Eclipse/Monday Funday: Monday is going to be a little different. We have MAP Testing in the morning. Please remember to send your child in with earbuds if they don't have them already. This MAP test is intended to give the 2nd graders some good practice with test taking on a computer. The entire test is read aloud to them. Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest on Sunday evening and a good breakfast on Monday morning too so they can do their best on their test. We will have no morning or lunch recess outside due to the solar eclipse. We don't want any of our little ones looking directly at the sun for fear of eye damage. If you have a child in 3rd-5th grade please see a permission slip that will be sent home. If you would like to sign your 2nd grader out from class to go with you to observe the eclipse, please let me know. Hopefully it won't conflict with their testing time too much. Feel free to check out the school newsletter that was sent out on Thursday regarding the Solar Eclipse if you'd like to read more.

Curriculum Night: On Wednesday, August 23rd we will have Curriculum Night for K-2! Mrs. Gerhart and I are looking forward to seeing you all in the classroom! With that being said, there will be no homework assigned on Wednesday night and we hope you're able to attend. We will be sharing some information about our classroom procedures and curriculum topics for the year. Your child will be writing you a special note that and there will be an opportunity for you to write a note back to them. I'm sure they will be pumped to read it on Thursday morning. Here's is the evening's schedule:

Curriculum Night

6:00-6:15: Welcome and opening remarks by Mr. Gillingham, Ms. Pantalena, and Mrs. Mason

                     Last Names: A-L                          Last Names: M-Z
6:20-7:05:   Child's Classroom                         Specials in MPR 

7:10-7:55:   Specials in MPR                           Child's Classroom

Curriculum Next Week:

Literature: We will continue reading Charlotte's Web this week. In chapters 7-9 we will continue to watch Wilbur and Charlotte's friendship unfold. We will learn the phrase "back to the drawing board" as Wilbur tries and fails to spin a web.

Poetry: We will practice Bed in Summer stanzas 1-3 this week, and the students will be reciting the poem for the class the following week!

Spalding: We will continue with 10 words each day (except for Wednesday), and a 20 word spelling test on Friday. Please continue to closely monitor your child's handwriting and pencil grip!

Monday: first, sent, cent, mile, seem, even, without, afternoon, Friday, hour, our
Tuesday: wife, state, July, head, story, open, short, lady, reach
Wednesday: NONE ~ It's Curriculum Night! So no homework because we hope to see all of our parents/guardians there :)

Writing and Grammar: We will continue with our narration activities as well as sentence dictation for writing. In Grammar we will explore analogies, learn our verb jingle, and add some new vocabulary to our notebooks.

Science: Your young scientists will continue learning about the seasons of the year. Students will to be able identify characteristics of each season and explore how plants, animals, and humans are affected. We will review how the seasons change by the earth's tilt and its revolution around the sun (ask your child about the demonstration we did with a globe and a lamp). We will also take some time to learn about the solar eclipse happening on Monday.

History & Geography: We will take a trip around North and Central America this week! We will locate the United States and Canada and identify important places and landforms in those countries. We will then we journey south to Mexico and Central America. We will compare Mexico 500 years ago and today, as well as learn about countries in Central America. (Island Projects are due September 8th.)

Happy Friday!

Warmest, 

Mr. High

A Note from the Nurse and more!

Dearest 2A,

Hooray! We've made it through our first week of second grade and are off to a great start! Mrs. Gerhart and I are thrilled to have such a stellar group of kids in our class and are very excited to dive further into our curriculum this week. With that being said, here is a note from our wonderful school nurse and and some information about this week's curriculum: 

--

Our classroom is a nut free zone

Nuts are acceptable at lunch time (since we have the nut free tables), but not allowed during snack time in the classroom. Thank you for your help and understanding.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Note from the Nurse

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! Please know that the health and safety of your child is my utmost priority. I am still in the process of reviewing all of the Emergency Forms and becoming acquainted with the medical conditions that we have on our campus. Many of you have already been informed that your child’s classroom is “Nut Free”. Until I complete this process, I ask that all parents only send snacks that are “Nut Free” to protect those who may have severe allergies. Your student’s teacher will update you soon if nuts will be permitted in your child’s classroom.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thank you so much for your patience.

Kindest regards,

Kristine Hodgkins | School Nurse
Archway Classical Academy | Arete | 4525 E. Baseline Rd. | Gilbert, AZ 85234
P: (480) 222-4261 | F: (480) 222-4234 | E: khodgkins@archwayarete.org | W: www.archwayarete.org

--

_______________________________________________________________________________

Our Curriculum Next Week...

Spalding: We will dive into spelling words! Please continue to monitor handwriting and practice phonogram cards at home. We will also be continuing to practice at school.

Monday: became, brother, rain, keep, start, mail, male, female, eye, I
Tuesday: glass, party, upon, two, twin, twice, twelve, twenty between, they
Wednesday: would, could, should, any, many, city, only, where, week, weak

Literature: We will read chapters 4-6 in Charlotte's Web! The students (and teachers) are loving this book! We will have fun learning new vocab words and exploring how Wilbur is feeling lonely and what he can do about it. We will have a class discussion about friendship and compare and contrast qualities in both Charlotte and Wilbur. Students will distinguish main points and ideas in each chapter.

Grammar: Students will review the parts of a sentence and what nouns are.

Math: We’re continuing to learn about place value (hundreds, tens, and ones) through next week and we will have our first math test on Tuesday, August 15th. A practice test will be sent home Monday evening as the math homework for that day which will help your child prepare for the test. Towards the end of the week, we will be getting into money and number comparisons.

Science: Our scientists will review what they learned in 1st grade about the four seasons of the year. They will understand that the seasons are caused by the earth's tilt and its revolution around the sun. We will be using the globe and a lamp to model and investigate how this works. Students will understand that each season has special characteristics. We will also explore how each season affects plants, animals, and humans.

History: We will continue exploring maps and globes this week, comparing them as well as zooming in on land features that create Earth's beautiful landscape. Students will learn about volcanoes, mountains, valleys, prairies, coasts, deserts and oases. Please review these terms at home and see if you can spot any interesting landforms in the neighborhood! Students should be able to tell you the names of their continent, country, state, and city. They should also be able to tell you directions on a map and identify the continents, major oceans, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, as well as the poles. Students will also be assigned their island poster project (due September 9). These project guidelines and rubric will be coming home on Wednesday. Some examples photos are below.

As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Have a great evening!

Warmest, 

Mr. High

Here we go! :D

Dear 2A Families,

It was a joy meeting you all on Friday evening! Thank you so much for your grace and patience when trying to organize supplies and complete a long "to-do" list in a crowded classroom. We really appreciate your help with organizing your child's desk and completing some paperwork too. Mrs. Gerhart and I are ecstatic to spend this year with your amazing children! We will post on the blog every Friday afternoon to keep you up to date on your child's learning for the upcoming week. 

With that being said, here is our first one!

First Homework Assignment: Brown Bag Autobiographies are due on Monday :-). We look forward to learning more about your child through this fun activity.

First Day of School: Mrs. Gerhart and I will take pictures of the students on the first day of school. I will be sure to send those your way! Don't forget to take lots of your own pictures and give a couple extra hugs and kisses to your 2nd grader! I'm sure there will be definitely some feelings of nerves and excitement. Fear not - we will help your child feel safe, comfortable, and loved all day long! Monday morning there will be teachers at drop off to assist your children out of their cars, help unload school supplies, and remind them where to go. You don't need to worry about getting out of your vehicle. 

Archway strives to create a sacred space for great works of the past. Our time with your children is so precious and important. That being said, our campus is pop-culture free. Please make sure backpacks, lunch boxes, pencil pouches, etc. don't contain any "characters" or "slogans". If you have any questions in regards to this please let me know! 

Communication: The best way to communicate with me is via email. If you need to speak with me regarding as sensitive issue the best way is to email me and I will give you a call. We can also set up a time to meet in person too!

Blog Pro-Tip: If you are looking at the blog from your smartphone and for some reason cannot see the sidebars, I'd recommend scrolling all the way down and clicking on "web version". It should then show the sidebars which have our current poem, literature, homework, and daily schedule. Let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see on the weekly blog! 

Next Week's Curriculum ...

Most of our focus next week will be on building our classroom and getting to know each other. There will also be many procedures to learn and practice. We're also going to dive right into our beautiful curriculum...

Poetry: Students will begin memorizing their first poem this week! A copy of the poem Bed in Summer by Robert Louis Stevenson will be sent home. Students will memorize one stanza each week, and present their recitation to the class the week of August 28. I will attach a copy of the recitation rubric I will be using the back of the poem.

Literature: Please send in a copy of Charlotte's Web with your child this week. We will be reading this book for the next 8 weeks. Please let me know if you need assistance in getting a copy. I have a few extras your student can borrow. We will begin reading Charlotte's Web on Monday. Students will learn key vocabulary words from chapters 1-3, be introduced to some leading characters, identify important character traits for Fern, and write a letter to Wilbur from Fern's perspective. If you have a chance to speak with you child this week about perspective that would be so helpful. Understanding how others feel and think is a skill that we will work on a lot this year!

Spalding: Students will not be assigned spelling words this week, instead we will focus on handwriting and phonogram review. Handwriting homework will be sent home in your students red folder this week, and I encourage you to review phonograms at home for five minutes each evening.

Math: We are going to start the year of with a review of how to group numbers into tens and ones, read and write number words, and skip-count by 2's and 10's. This week we will also complete a (non-graded) assessment to check understanding. Though the assessment will not receive a grade, we would encourage you to have a talk with your child to let her/him know that it's definitely okay to make mistakes and to just do her/his best!

Science: Our young scientists will learn about the steps of the Scientific Method (Observations, Problem, Hypothesis, Experiment, Results, Conclusion) through exploration of "Mystery Bags" and reading a book called 11 Experiments that Failed.

History: Over the next couple of weeks, we will be exploring maps and globes. We will begin with a review of the basic geography concepts of place, region, human and physical characteristics, and relative location. Children review that maps have symbols, keys to decipher those symbols, and that maps also show cardinal directions. Students will review the continents and identify all four oceans along with Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central America on the North American Continent. Our exploration of the globe will continue through identification and location of the Equator and the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as a review of the location of the North and South Poles. New concepts and vocabulary dealing with physical features will also be introduced. Upon completing the unit, students should be able to locate their state and approximate location of their community within the state, as well as keys, poles, continents, oceans, neighboring countries, and Equator.

As always, feel free to reach out to me with questions or concerns. Have a wonderful Sunday night! Please be sure your 2nd grader gets plenty of rest and eats a nice, healthy breakfast on Monday morning! Don't forget to bring your school supplies (if you haven't already), a water bottle, morning snack, and lunch. I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Warmest, 

Mr. High

Welcome!

My name is Sammy High and I couldn’t be more excited to return to Archway Arete this year as your child’s second grade teacher! 

Teaching has always been my passion and this will be my first year in second grade. The joy I find in working with children, as well the mission of Great Hearts is what has ultimately brought me back to Arete. I’m very excited to partner alongside you to serve in cultivating the minds and hearts of your children in pursuing truth, goodness, and beauty. My goal to ensure your child feels welcome, safe, and comfortable in our classroom so that his/her mind is able to flourish! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me throughout the school year. I look forward to building our classroom community of learners and can’t wait to meet all of you!

A little about me . .  .

I was born and raised here in sunny Arizona and could never imagine living elsewhere! I attended Northern Arizona University where I received my bachelors degree in elementary education. I have never met a cup of coffee I didn’t love. This November, I will be getting married and am very, very excited to begin this new chapter in my life! Outside of school I enjoy spending time with my family, woodworking, skateboarding, hiking, and finding new coffee shops with my fiancé.

We are very fortunate to have Mrs. Julie Gerhart as our Assistant Teacher this year and here is a little bit about her!

Hello!  My name is Julie Gerhart and I have the privilege of being your child’s teaching assistant this school year.  It will be a joy to work alongside Mr. High and all of your wonderful children!

I began my education career ~ as a student :) ~  in Wheaton, Illinois where my parents met and married some fifty years ago.  After finishing fifth grade, I moved with my family to Mesa, Arizona where I attended Mesa Public Schools which gave me a high school diploma and the opportunity to meet my husband, Mark.  Returning to Illinois after graduating high school, I received my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Wheaton College and later earned a master’s degree ~ also in Elementary Education ~ from Northern Arizona University.   

Beginning in Gilbert Public Schools teaching in the library and then first grade, I found my passion for teaching.  The classroom varied over the years, from a traditional public school, to a small private one, and also to our own kitchen table where I homeschooled our children for many years.  These experiences lead our family to Great Hearts and Arete where I feel most at home professionally.  

My husband, Mark, and I consider raising our children to be our greatest adventure.  Our oldest daughter, Anna, graduated from the same high school as Mark and I did and will attend Grand Canyon University in just a few weeks, majoring in Forensic Science.  The next three kids came all at once ~ yes, we have thirteen year old triplets ~ Thomas, Elizabeth, and William.  Libby and Will are excited to begin eighth grade at Arete Prep and Thomas will be studying at Stapley Junior High.  The triplets were in all three of the founding fifth grade sections of Archway Arete!

It will be such an amazing opportunity to get to know you and your children this year!

-Julie Gerhart

Important Information for Meet the Teacher Night: We are looking forward to meeting you all Friday evening. Families with last names beginning A-M are invited to join us from 5:30-6:30. Families with last names beginning with N-Z are invited to join us from 6:30-7:30. Students should bring all school supplies. Please keep in mind that Meet the Teacher is more of a meet and greet opportunity. If you have specific concerns regarding your child, feel free to email me so we can schedule a time to meet or talk on the phone outside of Meet the Teacher. I make myself available for these types of meetings the first couple weeks of school.

Classroom Blog: This welcome letter can also be found on our classroom blog! Please take the time to subscribe by email so you can stay informed on important events and curriculum updates. I will be updating the blog every Friday.

See you soon!

Warmest,

Sammy High