Naaktgeboren's Class Blog

Greetings Families, On behalf of Mrs. Geyer and myself, I would like to say thank you for your great generosity. Our hearts were filled with joy by the many expressions of kindness we received in the weeks leading up to the winter break. Such acts of benevolence are rare in the hastened lives of today, and yours and your child’s thoughtfulness overwhelms us.  We hope that your winter break has been filled with joyful moments and abiding memories, and we hope that the new year brings you the sort of delight you have blessed us with. Best Wishes, Mrs. Geyer & Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, The winter break is quickly  approaching. I hope everyone is enjoying their family traditions. I want to say thank you to the many families who have given me gifts this weeks. From candy, to gift cards, to Mountain Dew, my heart has been blessed by yours and your child's kindness. I hope your heart is filled with joy during this season. Lessons Language Arts: Spalding will consist of the next 20 words in our list as we do not return until Tuesday. In Literature we will start reading The Trumpet of the Swan right away so please be sure your student has his or her copy as soon as we return; we are all greatly looking forward to diving into this E. B. White classic! Grammar and Writing will be combined for the week as we practice writing a descriptive paragraphs. Our next poetry recitation will be January 29th, the poem is: Portrait by a Neighbor by Edna St. Vincent Millay Before she has her floor swept Or her dishes done, Any day you’ll find her A-sun...

Last Charger Night of Semester + Classroom Challenge: Dairy Queen: Tuesday, December 15th 2-6p.m. at Higley and Baseline  Stop in for a cool treat or dinner on our last full day before winter break. You can order in the drive-through or inside and you don't need a flyer as DQ donates a portion of ALL sales during our event! Classroom Challenge:  Turn in your DQ receipt (with child’s name/grade/section on back) before winter break to the PSO drop box in the front office (dated December 15th) or to your classroom teacher, and the PSO will reward the  class  with the most receipts with an Ice Cream Party! The winning class will be announced after break in the family newsletter. If your family has multiple children, please should list all names and grades/sections on the back of the receipt and we will give credit to all of the classes listed!

Greetings Families, First, let me apologize that this is going out so late. Next, I want to highlight two notes: 1. There will be no tutoring this week and tutoring will resume the second week of Quarter 3. 2. There are no math or reading groups this week. 3. Our Rome Day celebration is Friday from 10:10-11:45 (click here for the SignUpGenuis).  Assessments at a Glance Tuesday - Science Wednesday - Math Lessons Language Arts: We will be having a Spalding review week, as we are looking back on words that need a bit of review from earlier in the year. There will be no spelling test this week. We will have our summary and narrative exercises in writing lessons and continue diagramming sentences in grammar. With   Pinocchio   completed, we will wrap up the quarter by exploring one of my favorite chapters from   The Jungle Book, " Rikki-Tikki-Tavi". Please send your child to school with his or her copy of   The Trumpet of the Swan  th...

Wonderful 3A Families, Thank you so much for your sweet generosity! I enjoyed a wonderful birthday celebration and was so touched by all the hugs, notes, cards, gift cards, teas and chocolates. This Thanksgiving I was extra thankful for each of my amazing students and their thoughtful families. Warmest Regards, Mrs. Geyer

Greetings Families, When we originally sent out the Pinocchio project packet, the virtues were not included. We sent them home individually a little later, but many students seem to have misplaced them. Click here to see a copy of our school virtues. It comes from a different school, Jackson Hole Classical Academy, but they are our virtues. The school has a close relationship to Great Hearts and has used our virtues as their core virtues. I couldn't find a similar production of them on the Great Hearts site. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, I understand the value of family traditions, especially during the winter season. My family has begun our way of celebrating the season. However, I want us to be careful that our traditions do not distract the classroom from our focus on the great curriculum of Arete. Please do all that you can to enjoy your family's traditions at home without having them enter the classroom. Items related to family traditions that are non-religious (examples: Santa or Elf on the Shelf) serve only as a distraction from our studies and should not be brought to school. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, I am sure many of you have heard that I made some changed to the lunchroom policies. The reason for this change was because of horseplay and because a couple of students were forcing themselves into tables that were already full. The expectation of lunch time is that students can sit comfortably, eat their lunch, and socialize with friends. To remedy this problem I instituted a boy table, girl table, and coed table. Students are free to pick between their gender specific table and the coed table. I felt like this was less restrictive than assigned seating. At this point, it appears to have created a better lunch atmosphere and it appears to have resolved the aforementioned issues. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, As we approach the end of the quarter, most of our efforts are on finishing up many of our units of study. With that being the case, we will be canceling a few of our usual opportunities for parent volunteers. This Monday (12/7) and next Monday (12/14), we will not be doing reading groups. I want to thank the volunteers who have committed a great deal of time to these opportunities. It is a great blessing to the students to have the chance to read in a small group setting. We will have math centers this Wednesday (12/9), but need to cancel the one for the last Wednesday of the quarter (12/16). I also want to say thank those who have volunteered for this position. This is probably one of the most challenging things we ask volunteers to do. Your support has been very helpful and it has been a huge part of the students' achievement. If you have any questions, please do hesitate to email me at mnaaktgeboren@archwayarete.org. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, We are entering week nine of the second quarter, and winter break is almost upon us. I encourage you to keep your students focused during this time as we have some important assessments coming up. Here are the lessons for the week. Assessments at a Glance Monday: None Tuesday: Caesar's Test Wednesday: None Thursday: Pinocchio Project Due Friday: Pinocchio Test, Spelling Test, & Poem Recitation  Lessons Language Arts: Our  journey  with Pinocchio is coming to an end with a discussion of the virtues we've seen in the book, and we will have an end of the unit test on Friday. We will share our marionettes in class on Thursday! Grammar will consist of noun, and verb review with practice in sentence diagramming. In writing we will continue our summaries of stories about Ancient Africa. Our individual poem recitations will take place in class on Friday. Math: We will begin a new unit on interpreting data; con...