22 April 2013

REMEMBER, TOMORROW IS ANOTHER OPEN HOUSE.  ARCHES ACADEMY PASSPORT NOTICES HAVE GONE HOME WITH EACH FAMILY.

This morning I did show and tell about my son in New Zealand on X-Factor.  We worked on haiku poetry, Writing Rally stories, and read Danny.

MATH HOMEWORK IS CHAPTER 1.  STUDENTS CHOOSE 2 PROBLEMS ON EACH OF THE LAST TWO PAGES TO COMPLETE.

After lunch we worked more on stories.  A student from the Earthquake minicourse gave a presentation on Earthquake safety and drills.

In science we learned about genes, chromosomes, DNA, and what mutations are.  The 4th Grade went to Art.

After P.E. we worked on Middle Ages fonts and read more of Danny.

HOMEWORK IS TO PREPARE A BOOK REPORT OF YOUR OWN CHOICE.  ALSO, PLEASE TYPE YOUR STORIES AND EMAIL THEM TO ME AT: keriwahl@yahoo.com.  Or to your own google drive.

We must be illustrating by tomorrow to meet the Friday deadline.

18 April 2013

THANK YOU TO THOSE BRINGING IN WATER BOTTLES FOR THE SCHOOL!  WE ARE TRYING TO GET 2 WATER BOTTLES FOR EACH STUDENT SO THAT WE ARE PREPARED IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.

This morning we added to our list of executive departments (Cabinet) for which the president is responsible.  They are:
1. Department of Agriculture
2. Department of Commerce
3. Department of Defense
4. Department of Education
5. Department of Energy
6. Department of Health and Human Services
7. Department of Homeland Security
8. Department of Housing and Urban Development
9. Department of the Interior
10. Department of Justice
11. Department of Labor
12. Department of State
13. Department of Transportation
14. Department of the Treasury
15. Department of Veterans Affairs

We discussed very briefly what some of the responsibilities were of each department.  Students had heard many things from the news and home discussions.  They are interested in current events.  Please discuss them with your children.

THERE IS A VOCABULARY TEST TOMORROW FOR LANGUAGE ARTS.

After reviewing once more the words for the week, we jumped right in to our Invention stories. THE ROUGH DRAFTS ARE DUE MONDAY.  IF POSSIBLE, THEY SHOULD BE TYPED.  Next Friday we teachers will be scanning the stories and sending them to a publishing company to be made into real hard-bound books.  It is imperative that students produce quality work.  I am pleased with the initiative these students are taking in writing lots and following plots, character development, problems, etc. in the fictional styles, and information sorting in the non-fiction styles. 

In Danny, the doctor tells about giving Mr. Victor Hazell a shot.  It was very funny.  Let's just say we will always be kind to doctors' dogs after this!

MATH HOMEWORK IS TO FINISH REVIEW 11.  We worked like crazy people today to get it done.  We used a goal setting method which is quite simple.  Students think of where they want to be in 10 minutes.  They draw a circle there on the paper.  Then, when the timer goes off, if they are there  they get to fill in a smiley face.  What a motivator!  Like I said, it was simple, yet effective!  TOMORROW IS CUM. TEST 11.  SEND YOUR CHILD WITH A LITTLE EXTRA SNACK FOR MORNING RECESS.  It helps them get through till lunchtime.

After lunch and Foreign Language 5th Graders went to Art.  4th Graders wrote in their best cursive and illustrated haiku poems we wrote yesterday.  They are lovely.  We are collecting poems to fill a bulletin board early next week.

After recess we worked again on our Invention stories and Newspaper stories.  Most students are finished with their newspaper articles or fun pages.  We also practiced for the school play.

17 April 2013

This morning we learned about the 15 Departments that the President of the United States heads.  Students need to be taking notes.  They will have their first open-book test in May.  It will be about U.S. Government.

MATH HOMEWORK WAS WORKBOOK EXERCISE 6, THE LAST EXERCISE BEFORE THE REVIEW.  Today we learned that 1 cm "cubed" is 1 milliliter.  We converted cubic centimeters to milliliters.  Some students expressed a desire to start on the review early.  That is okay.

We attended the rehearsal for "Hope of America" this morning.  It was incredible!  You will absolutely enjoy it tonight.  Please see the batch email sent or check the post on this blog for more information and details.

This afternoon we learned that the definition of Haiku is changing.  We wrote class haikus and experimented with our own.  We will be refining these tomorrow and illustrating them.

After P.E. we completed more standardized testing.

See you tonight!

"Hope of America" Detailed Instructions for Tonight's Performance!

THE HOPE OF AMERICA PERFORMANCE IS TONIGHT

WHERE: BYU Marriott Center

500 E University Parkway, Provo, UT 84606

Phone:(801) 422-1211

QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS CALL:

Michelle Templeman 801-358-4523, Lara Allen 801-362-6265,  

Heather Shallenberger 801-687-7849, and Keri Wahl 801-691-9227 

Traffic will be terrible, so please consider that as you plan when to leave for the performance tonight.

EVENING SCHEDULE:

6:15: Students must be in their assigned seats – please take them to the bathroom before they sit in their seats in the flag.

6:45 – 7:15: Pre-show begins

7:00: After 7:00, No students will be permitted to sit with their class in the flag.

7:30: The Show begins

DROP OFF LOCATION and TIME

• Please bring your child to the NORTH WEST entrance of the Marriott Center at 6:15. STUDENTS THAT ARE NOT IN THEIR SEATS BY 7:00, WILL NOT BE IN THE FLAG.
• As you bring them in to their seats, ask them to show you our designated pick-up spot on the NW patio. We have marked our meeting place with a blue ribbon, and all of the students were there and saw it today during rehearsal. It is behind the ticket office, next to the bike racks. As you enter the Marriott center, you should enter the doors across from Portal S and T. PLEASE Have your student show you where our class will meet following the performance on your way into your seats so you can find it faster after the show.
• BRING YOUR STUDENT TO THEIR SEATS TO BE SURE THEY FIND US. ENTER THROUGH PORTAL V, AND WALK DOWN SECTION 20
• We will have a Yellow Sign that says, “Meridian School” to help you find us faster

STUDENT SEATING ASSIGNMENTS

• The following list identifies each students assigned seat:

Portal V, Section 20, Row 5

Seat 16- Joe, S-17 Allie, S-18 Max, S-19 Katherine, S-20 Sam, S-21 Bekah, S-22-Gavin

Portal V, Section 20, Row 8

Seat 18- Olivia, S-19 Iver, S-20 Arden, S-21 Harrison, S-22 Capri, S-23 Eric, S-24 Sophie, S-25 Lara

Portal V, Section 20, Row 9 

Seat 18- Kobe, S-19 Myka, S-20 William, S-21 Heather, S-22 Kian, S-23 Jaydenn, S-24 Petya, S-25 Michelle, S-26 Riley

CLOTHING REQUIREMENTS

• Please bring your student in a white T-shirt, and DARK jeans or uniform pants. Not light jeans, tan, or any other color….ONLY wear Dark Jeans, or Navy Uniform pants. We have their red shirts and will hand them out when they get to their seats.
• Please have them bring dark sunglasses for the performance

WHERE WE WILL BE SITTING, SO YOU CAN FIND US FOR PICTURES IN THE FLAG:

When you are in the audience looking at the flag, the easiest way to find us is to follow these simple directions:

• Look at the bottom right corner of the blue square in the flag
• Directly under that blue corner, there are two rows of white stripes
• We will are the next two rows below them, (rows 8 and 9), of red stripes white stripes. We have 9 total seats on each row of the red stripe, and they go from the aisle in 9 seats.
• The other row of our remaining 7 seats (row 5) is the next red strip down closer to the floor, in the same seats as rows 8 and 9.

BEST SEATS TO SIT IN FOR A STRAIGHT SHOT FOR PICTURES AND VIDEO:

If you would like to sit in the audience directly across from our school so you can photograph or video you student at the best angle, Be sure to sit somewhere between Portals J and K. You can enter through either of those Portals as you make your way to your seats.

PICK UP LOCATION:

• Right after the performance, we will exit the Marriott Center as a class, through the doors directly across from Portal T.
• As a class, we have chosen our designated pick-up spot on the NW patio just outside of those doors. We have marked our meeting place with a blue ribbon, and all of the students were there and saw it today during rehearsal.
• You will find us directly behind the ticket office, next to the bike racks and railings. We will have a yellow sign that says “Meridian School” to help you find us faster.
• Please do your best to come directly to our pick-up location to find your student. They will be anxious to see you. Please do not make other pick-up arrangements with your student aside from these. We have to be sure each student is accounted for and is picked up.

One further request:  Could you take lots of pictures?  We will be participating with the kids and won't be able to "see" the flag.  If you could email any pictures you take to me, that would be great.  

Thanks again for your continued support. The kids have worked very hard to prepare for tonight, and it is a wonderful performance. You’re going to love it!

-Keri Wahl 

April 15, 2013

Happy Tax Day!

ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT IS THE "HOPE OF AMERICA" PERFORMANCE.  Students should bring a pair of sunglasses tomorrow for the show.  We do have flashlights for the class.

Our new vocabulary words are:

spurious:  plausible but false OR could be, but not true

submissive:  inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others or showing such inclination OR tends to surrender to orders or wishes of others or showing such tendencies

substantiate:  establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts OR to back up something

subtle: difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze OR difficult to see or understand or take apart and put together (as in learning)

superficial:  of, affecting, or being on or near the surface OR fake, not deep feelings

We are not doing grammar or idioms this week.  Instead, we are concentrating on finishing our Meridian newspaper featured articles and working on our invention stories.  NEWSPAPER STORIES OR ARTICLES OR FEATURED WORKS ARE DUE THURSDAY.  INVENTION STORY ROUGH DRAFTS ARE DUE NEXT MONDAY, A WEEK FROM TODAY.

Danny found his dad in a pit in Hazell's Wood today.

MATH HOMEWORK IS 11:4:A.  We began volume today by learning what 3-dimensional really means, how to depict 3-D pictorally, and how to write "cubed" correctly.  We created 3-dimensional objects out of cubes, guessed and checked the volume, and also built cubed objects.  Students learned that a cube 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot actually needed 1,748 cubic inches to fill the space!  Groups of students predicted, then built cubes 6 cubes long by 6 cubes wide by 6 cubes high.  They figured out how many cubes were needed to complete the cube.  This is a great brain exercise!

After lunch we had Meridian Math Club, S.I.R., and some students elected to work on their Invention stories.  We then moved to poetry, dong a hands-on rotational pre-write assignment with verbs, nouns, and adjectives having to do with the seasons.  This will expand to a haiku syllabic lesson tomorrow.

4th Graders went to Art and 5th Graders learned more about genetics, specifically dominant and recessive genes and crossovers.  They learned how to chart BB, Bb, and bb off-spring.  We used hair color, size, and earlobes to determine physical traits.  We discussed physical and character (personality) traits that can be passed on to children.

After P.E. students reviewed the "Hope of America" schedule for Wednesday.  We will be leaving the school at 9:15 a.m. to go to the Marriott Center for a rehearsal.  PLEASE BRING A SACK LUNCH ON WEDNESDAY, AS WE WILL RETURN TO SCHOOL JUST AFTER LUNCH.

We also read a few invention books to get more ideas for our stories.  HOMEWORK IS 30-40 MINUTES OF READING AND WORK ON YOUR INVENTION STORY.

April 12, 2013

This morning we got to hold a real crocodile claw and puffer fish from Florida!  Gross!  Cool!

After the Language Arts test we worked on spelling tests, finishing poems, invention stories, and read from Danny.  His father hasn't come back from poaching, and Danny uses a Baby Austin to go find him.  We also evaluated Victor Hazell's description.

MATH HOMEWORK IS PRACTICE 1, PROBLEMS 7-10.  We already did 1-6 in school.  Those who were up-to-date were rewarded with computer time, and those who weren't up-to-date were rewarded with catch-up time!

After lunch and a nice, long recess we learned about Marie Curie and win-win situations.  Students then worked more on the Meridian newspaper.  We completed a service by cleaning the school in ten minutes flat.  Then on to mini-courses.

It was a good day!

READING HOMEWORK FOR 30-40 MINUTES EACH DAY.  BOOK REPORT OF YOUR CHOICE DUE THE LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH.

April 11, 2013

This morning we introduced the Judicial Branch.  The Supreme Court interprets the constitution, decides states' rights, and reviews laws.  Again...fierce debate.

A vocabulary race found the girls' knowledge ahead of the boys' knowledge for tomorrow's test. PLEASE STUDY THE SAT WORDS FOR THE TEST TOMORROW.  THEY ARE ON THE BLOG POST.

The idiom for the day was: "Kill Two Birds with One Stone".

Most students completed their spelling activities today.  Any unfinished tests will be completed tomorrow.

Danny found out his father is a pheasant poacher, descended from the best!

MATH HOMEWORK IS 11:3:A.  Many problems will have to be converted to smaller measures before the operation can be performed.

Foreign Language and 5th Grade Art.  4th Graders completed their "Color Poems".  They have done an awesome job, with lots of attention to detail.

Recess and Invention Story brainstorming, along with poetry completion, and then music.

PLEASE HAVE YOUR CHILD REVIEW THE "HOPE OF AMERICA" SONGS.

READING HOMEWORK IS 30-40 MINUTES EACH NIGHT.  BOOK REPORT DUE AT THE MONTH'S END.