Dear 5^th Grade Families:

We successfully completed our first State Testing task this year with the 5^th Grade AZSci last Thursday.  Our next testing event is the 5^th Grade AASA Writing Test, which is coming up next week.  The testing dates are shared below.

Testing begins first thing, so please be sure to have your students at school on time, and that they are well-rested and well fed 😊.  Here is the calendar for the rest of the 5^th grade state testing.  We kindly ask that you please make appointments around these dates:

5th Grade:

• • • Writing: Friday, April 5, 2024
    • Math/ELA-1: Thursday, April 18, 2024
    • Math/ELA-2: Friday, April 19, 2024

Student-led conferences are ongoing and a great success!  If you have yet to attend the conference, please remember that we are meeting families in or outside the Front Office (which may be closed during some of our conferences).  Please do not enter the school through the Archway Atrium (across from the field), since that entrance is reserved for Athenaeum pick-up.   We encourage ALL students and their families to take advantage of this opportunity to reflect on Elementary School triumphs and challenges, and discuss with their teachers and parents strategies for success in middle school and beyond.  If you have not signed up for this event, please contact your child’s teacher for a link to her sign-up.

A reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on Friday, March 29, AND Monday-April 1^st.  School is closed for our Spring Holiday.  This is an R&R weekend!

Curricular information for Q4, Week 2

Maths – We will finish our last lesson from Unit 11 on Monday.  We will be reviewing for our cumulative assessment on Unit 10 (Properties and Classification of 2-D Shapes) and Unit 11 (Line Plots and the Coordinate Plane) Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our cumulative assessment on these 2 units will be on Thursday.  Encourage your students to go back through their workbooks (especially for unit 10) in order to review and study for the assessment.

Science – This week we are finishing up Unit 5! We are taking our last set of notes on biosphere interactions today and tomorrow. On Thursday, students will receive their Unit 5 study guide. This study guide looks a little different than what they are used to. As we near the end of this year and continue to get them ready for middle school, this study guide embodies what they may see in preparation of a middle school exam. It has less guidance, but enough for them to still be successful. The format of this study guide highlights the importance of building strong study habits now, rather than later. Due to the upcoming 4-day weekend, the scholars will not take their test until Monday (4/8) and Tuesday (4/9), but have them start studying as soon as possible! The less procrastination, the better!

History – This week we are wrapping up “England in the Golden Age” with a review session and our test on Thu, March 28.   The review game we are using in class is linked on our blog in the history section, as is the reader.

English Language Arts –

• Literature – The Secret Garden is the last novel study of this 5th grade year.  We will be reading Chapter 4 this week, and we will also begin our Across Five Aprils read-aloud.  Please have your student bring these books to school if they haven’t already!
• GYV – This week’s GYV is Chapter 6.  There is homework every day this week, with the usual test on Friday.    Links to study aids are on the GYV tab on our blog.
• Idioms/Proverbs: We have covered all the 5th grade idioms and proverbs, and will be reviewing them throughout the rest of the year!
• Grammar/Writing – This week in Writing, we are finishing working on an Informational Essay in preparation for the upcoming AASA writing test next week.  We will work on it in class all week, ending with a completed rough draft before the R&R weekend.  We will also be reviewing 5th grade grammar standards, starting with comma rules this week.
• Poetry – “The Tyger”, by William Blake.  Students will be assigned 2 stanzas, which are due THIS Thursday, March 28th, 2024.

Save the date! Fine Arts Festival is Sat, April 13th!

Fine Arts Festival is coming soon!  Please join us on Saturday, April 13th from 9a-1pm.  Come enjoy student artwork, music performances, and Latin! There will food trucks, Book Fair, Face painting and much more! See the Headmaster Update for more information.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Last Chance to Order Yearbook!

Archway yearbooks are officially on sale! Yearbooks are $30 each. Go to https://buytheyearbook.pictavo.com/login to purchase your yearbook using school code 715651. Last day to order is March 29th.

Spring Book-Fair Featuring Paper Pie

We are excited to once again have Paper Pie (formerly known as Usborne) for our spring book fair. We will be running the fair on Friday, April 12th from 3:10-4pm (after dismissal at the playground gate) and during the Fine Arts Festival on Saturday 13th from 9am-1pm.

                                                          Important Dates

March 29: Last Day to Order Yearbook

March 29-April 1: No School – R&R Weekend

April 3: 2nd Grade Headmaster Coffee Talk

April 5: 5^th Grade AASA Writing Testing

April 10: 1st Grade Headmaster Coffee Talk

April 12 & 13: Spring Book Fair

April 13: Fine Arts Festival

Have a great week!

The 5^th Grade Team

Good afternoon 5^th Grade Families:

We hope you have had a restful and relaxing Spring Break.  As we begin the final part of 5^th grade, we are preparing for an eventful quarter.  Thank you to the families that have already participated in our Student Led Conferences, we are looking forward to meeting more of you this week.  If you have not signed up, please reach out to your child’s teacher to take advantage of this opportunity.  It has been a true pleasure to discuss school topics with the most important component of the mission – your scholar!!

We have lots of learning to engage us in the weeks ahead, and reviewing skills for the upcoming Arizona State Testing is also on our horizon.  The Big Event, of course, is 5^th Grade Graduation – this year is really flying by…. here is information on what we are learning this week:

Curricular information for this week (Q 4, Week 1):

Maths – We started our unit on-line Plots and the Coordinate Plane! With line plots, students will be reintroduced to adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions.  If your scholar has forgotten how to do any of that, make sure they ask for help sooner rather than later! Scholars will also be learning about the coordinate plane. Students will be able to plot points on a coordinate plane and use them to make line graphs! We will not have maths on Thursday due to AZSCI, so we will resume the chapter on Friday.

Science – This week we are pausing our 5th unit because of our AZSCI test! Today and tomorrow, we will be working through a sample test as a class, showing students the types of questions and tools that are available to them during the test. This is a good opportunity for scholars to see the formatting of questions and answers, in order to get a sense for what they will see on their test. The AZSCI test is this Thursday! On Friday, we will be doing a small lesson on more interactions between the spheres, focusing on how the atmosphere interacts with the other three.  We are getting closer to the end of Unit 5, so there will be a test in the next few weeks!

History – This week and next we will be wrapping up “England in the Golden Age unit.  The focus of these final chapters is the English Bill of Rights and the shift to  the modern Parliamentary System that grew from the English Civil War.  We will wrap up and review the unit, and plan on a Unit Test on Thu, March 28.   The reader is linked on this blog.

English Language Arts

• Literature – This week we are wrapping up Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and beginning our new novel of study, The Secret Garden.  We will also begin our Read-Aloud text this coming Thursday, Across Five Aprils.   Please have your student bring these books to school if they haven’t already!
• GYV – This week’s GYV is Chapter 5.  There is homework every day this week, with the usual test on Friday.    Links to study aids are on the GYV tab on our blog.
• Idioms/Proverbs: We have covered all the 5th grade idioms and proverbs, and will be reviewing them throughout the rest of the year!
• Grammar/Writing – This week in Writing, we are finishing up our current Opinion Essay. The Essay will be due on Wednesday, March 20th, and we are taking time during Computer Labs this week to type the Final Draft.
• Poetry – “The Tyger”, by William Blake.  Students will be assigned 2 stanzas, which are due Thursday, March 28th, 2024.

AZ State Testing

Parents – Spring state testing is just around the corner. Below are the testing days for 5th grade. Please make appointments around these dates:

5th Grade:

• AzSci –Thursday, March 21^st
• AASA – Writing – Friday, April 5^th
• AASA – 1st Math/ELA –Thursday, April 18^th
• AASA – 2nd Math/ELA – Friday, April 19^th

Yearbook Ordering Ends Soon!

Archway yearbooks are officially on sale! Yearbooks are $30 each. Go to https://buytheyearbook.pictavo.com/login to purchase your yearbook using school code 715651. Last day to order is March 29th.

Important Dates

• March 20th – Third Grade Coffee Talk
• March 21st – Spring Used Uniform Sale
• March 22nd – Spirit Day/Treat Friday/Birthday Book Club
• March 29-April 1st – No school – R&R Weekend

Have a great week!

The 5^th Grade Team