"With the wreck of her frail body, Beth's soul grew strong, and though she said little, those about her felt that she was ready, saw that the first pilgrim called was likewise the fittest, and waited with her on the shore, trying to see the Shining Ones coming to receive her when she crossed the river." - Little Women, Chapter 40, "The Valley of the Shadow"
Hello, Parents. We enjoyed a beautiful moment together in class on Friday as we read Chapter 40 of Little Women together, when Jo's sweet sister, Beth, passes away. The room was filled with sighs and tears, since we have come to love these characters in the novel, of which Beth was the favorite of so many. I encouraged the scholars to share this beautiful chapter with you this weekend, and hope that you were able to enjoy that time together. We are nearing the end of our novel, but I am thrilled that so many scholars have expressed the desire to read Alcott's, Little Men, this summer. Students were assigned Chapters 41-42 for weekend reading, Monday will be Chapter 43, Tuesday will be Chapter 45, Wednesday will be Chapter 46, and we will finish the novel on Thursday with Chapter 47. It is so important that students have read the chapters to be able to participate in meaningful discussion. Socratic style teaching relies on all the scholars to add to the conversation. Students are expected to participate every day, since their thoughts and the thoughts of their peers can be valuable and genuinely insightful. In Spalding, we will continue to focus on Rule 12, "Use the phonogram 'ie' unless it comes after a 'c', says /a/ or is in the list of exceptions." A sentence with the first group of exceptions is, "Neither foreign sovereign seized the counterfeit and forfeited leisure." Students will be learning more 'ie' and 'ei' spelling words, and a second group of exceptions this week. It is more beneficial to learning when Spalding homework is done with a parent, and not simply copied from the homework sheet. Thank you for your time commitment in this subject and all others. Your partnership is much appreciated. In Writing and Grammar, we ran short on time and were unable to hear all students recite, "Solitude," so we will complete recitations on Monday. Scholars will receive the next poem assignment on Friday, which will be recited at the end of March. Writing focus continues to be correct sentence structure, use of proper conventions in writing, and summarizing short articles into student's own words. We will use key word outlines as a tool to extract important details from paragraphs before restating the ideas into new sentences. Students will use thesauri to substitute or replace words as copia exercises. Congratulations to our courageous 5th grade representatives in the Bard Competition. What amazing recitations by all contestants! We look forward to Faith Copeland representing Archway Trivium East at the Great Hearts Network Bard Competition in April. Congratulations, Faith! Warm regards, Mrs. Baird 03/10 ACTE In-Service, No School 03/13-03/17 Spring Break!
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Hello, I hope you are refreshed from both the long weekend and the beautiful weather! Here is a brief overview of what to expect this week... Reading assignments for Little Women will not include any vocabulary and summary this week, as I want scholars to simply enjoy reading the specific chapter assignments, which will include some themes that would be good to discuss with your child. The chapters that will be read this week for homework will be chapters 34, 35 and 36. We will be reading chapter 40 together in class on Friday. An excellent exercise for students at home is to orally summarize what they have read to a parent or sibling. Chapters 41-42 will be assigned for reading over next weekend. We are nearing the end of our 47 Chapter novel! Spalding words will be taught on Tuesday and Wednesday, to be tested on Friday. Please ensure that words are written neatly for nightly homework practice. In Grammar and Writing we have been discussing figurative language, such as metaphors and similes, and we will continue to identify these literary devices in Little Women. We will also be identifying examples of imagery in "Solitude", which will be recited in class on Friday. Subject verb agreement will be practiced to improve scholars' written work. Time will be spent in class writing paragraphs with the support of key word outlines. Good luck to our Bard Competition competitors as they recite their poems tonight in the MPR at 6PM! Have a great week. Warmly, Mrs. Baird Hello, In Little Women students will be reading chapters 27, 29, 30 and 32 this week, skipping chapters in between. This will allow us to keep a good pace to finish the novel by the end of the quarter. Nightly reading and completion of vocabulary and summary assignments will continue as it has been. In class we are able to refer to the summaries as a tool to recall chapters that students may have read over the weekend and need refreshing about. We will continue to work on vocabulary development by defining and using new words from the text. In Grammar, we will focus on understanding how parts of speech interact in sentences, and apply this knowledge to understanding words in context. Comma rules will be reviewed in order for students to reduce comma split errors in writing assignments. Literary devices will be discussed and identified in literature, and students will review subject verb agreement in practice exercises. Please continue to encourage your scholars to complete all assignments in their best handwriting. I have noticed a marked improvement in Spalding homework and appreciate the work you do at home with your child to encourage them to be excellent in their assignments. Have a wonderful week! Warmly, Mrs. Baird “Love is a great beautifier.” - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women Hello,
This week we will complete the first half of Little Women, which is an accomplishment that your fifth grader should be commended for. I have personally witnessed the joy and wonder sparked inside our scholars from reading this beautiful piece of literature. We will celebrate the end of Book One with a seminar discussion on Thursday. Keep up the good work of encouraging consistent nightly reading as we forge ahead into Book Two of Little Women. Time was spent in class modeling how a good summary can be In Writing and Grammar, we will continue to focus on elements of a five paragraph essay. Students will practice typing these collaborative paragraphs in Keyboarding class on Wednesday in preparation for the AZ Merit testing that will take place in the months ahead. We are concentrating our focus on writing more complex sentences by using clauses and phrases within sentences. For recitation at the end of February, scholars were given a copy of "Solitude," by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and should work toward memorizing the first stanza this week. Friday is a half day due to teacher in-service, so please remember that students can be picked up at noon. No lunch will be served, but students can bring a snack to enjoy during our recess break at 10:15. Have a great week! Warm regards, Mrs. Baird |
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Mrs. Baird Archives
February 2017
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