Naaktgeboren's Class Blog

Greetings Families, I wasn't able to send these home today, so I wanted to send them to you now via the blog. If you register by April 1st, there is a discount. I will be teachings weeks 3 and 4. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, I apologize for being a little behind the curve on this one. Here is some important information you will need to know about the field trip taking place next week. 1. If you have not submitted your child's permission slip, please do so as soon as possible. If your child is not going to attend the field trip, they may stay home (unexcused absence) or be placed in another classroom for the day. 2. The field trip chaperones are Ms. Forbes, Ms. Orona, Mr. Zavala, Ms. Ely (Caleb's Grandmother), Ms. Tipescu, Ms. VanCamp, and Ms. Aspiras. Each parent will be partnered with their child and a few other children. Ms. Maguire and I will not have groups because we will be supervising our two groups. There are two tours through the museum and 4B will be divided between those two tours.  3. Schedule 9:30 - Buses depart from Archway Arete 10:00 - Arrive Wesley Bolin Plaza 1015-11:45 - Scavenger Hunt and Lunch in the Plaza 12:00-1:45 - Tours 2:00 - Buses depart fr...

Greetings Families, I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Here are the lessons for this week. Lessons Math: This week in math, students will continue to review content they learned this year and will review content specific to AzMERIT. Homework this week will be review pages. Science: The students will focus on the scientific method this week, taking notes on Monday and Tuesday and with labs on Thursday and Friday. There will be a quiz Tuesday, April 4, on the scientific method. History: In history, students are spending some time preparing for Wednesday's assessment, which covers chapters 1-20 of the American Revolution packet they were given. Students should turn in their completed study guide Wednesday and there is a Quizlet available on the history page under resources. Language Arts: Spalding will continue as normal. In grammar/writing, students are working on their essay writing skills. The primary focus is on structure and organization and using resources to s...

Greetings Families, If your child doesn't have a smartwatch, you can ignore this message. In the upcoming weeks, students will be taking the AzMERIT and AIMS assessments. During this test, students are not permitted to wear smartwatches. This decision has not been made by the Archway Arete staff but is a state directive. Students may bring their watches to class on that day, but will have to leave them in their backpacks until all students have completed their tests. Once students are finished, we will be taking a recess break and they may retrieve their watches during that time. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, Next Wednesday, March 29, we will be taking the History Unit Exam. Here is the Quizlet for that test. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, Today, students took a practice AIMS science test. The class average was a C- and there is some work to do over the next few weeks before the actual test. Here is a graph to show how the students did. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, Yesterday, Anda handed out birthday invitations to the class. If your child is wishing to attend, please RSVP by calling her mom at 623.806.6029. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, If you've seen the post about the upcoming lessons for the week, you likely noticed that the majority of our efforts are on preparing for AzMERIT and AIMS Science. I wanted to take a bit of time to explain our reasoning behind this. As a classical liberal arts school, we establish well-rounded, Socratic learning as one of our goals. We also believe that learning is to be robust, deeper than wide, and something that inspires a love for that which is good, true, and beautiful. This year, I believe we have done that well. In science, students have had the opportunity to explore the wonders of chemistry, electricity, and geology. In history, they learned about epic wars and the struggles between civilizations. In grammar, they learned how words work together and in Spalding they have comes to understand why words are spelled the way they are. Furthermore, in literature, they have traveled to different worlds with the characters they read about and in math, they ...

Greetings Families, I hope your family was able to enjoy the break. It is refreshing to be back and I ready to hit this quarter running. Here are the lessons for the week. Lessons Science: This week students will be reviewing the content they learned this year and improving their test-taking skills. On Thursday, they will have a AIMS science practice test which will allow me to determine their current progress. Math: Math for the next few weeks will follow the trend of science. Throughout the year we have taught our curriculum without much concern for AzMERIT testing. The next few weeks will be spent reviewing what we learned over the year, teaching AzMERIT specific skills we have not taught yet, and preparing the students for questions that are oddly worded. Language Arts: Continuing the pattern, literature and grammar will focus on improving reading comprehension and writing skills for the state assessments that are coming up. The students will start The Wizard of Oz duri...

Greetings Families, As I noted in an email before the break, I am transitioning to allowing students to use mechanical pencils. This is not a requirement for the students, but some might like to use them. As I noted previously, these can often lead to a greater pain than help and it could be a short-lived opportunity for the students. Thus, don't spend a ton of money on the best mechanical pencil technology . But, they are fourth-grade students now, and I want to give them the opportunity to show me their maturity. If you would like, you may send your child to school with some mechanical pencils on Tuesday. Students who do not have mechanical pencils will be provided with wood pencils as normal. Thank you to those who provided some before the break. Below is a video of what I'm hoping to be the result of mechanical pencils. I have no idea what they are saying (hopefully there is not foreign foul language in this video), but you will get the picture. Best, Micha...

Greetings Families, I first want to thank you for the kind gifts I received for my birthday. Your kindness is truly wonderful. My family and I enjoyed my birthday lunch at Cheddar's. I love that place! I was required to submit your child's grades yesterday and I suspect that they will be sent out either today or tomorrow. If for some reason, you do not receive your child's grades by Monday, please email me and I can send them to you (I can only send my grades for your child. I do not have access to their grades in the specials). For some reason, it always seems like a few people don't get the email. You probably should also check your spam folder if you don't receive them, as the email might get directed there by your email provider. There is no expectation of meeting to discuss your child's performance after the third quarter, but if you would like to meet, please reach out to me. I am happy to discuss your child's performance and progress. Th...

Greetings Families, I'm returning three things to you today. See the list below. Subject: Assignments (Class Average) Math: Unit 7, Chapter 3 Test - Division of Decimals (90%) LA: Spalding Test (87%) Participation Report (92.6%) I want to thank all of you for a great quarter. I hope you enjoy your break. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, Today, the students took the geology unit exam. Overall, I feel like the students did well. The test was broken into two components. The first component was multiple choice/true & false. The students took this part of the test online. The class average was an 88.3%. Sixteen students received an A or A-. On the written part of the test, which was comprised of essay questions and a model drawing of the rock cycle, students did not fair as well. The class average for this part was a 78.9%.  This indicates something that is to be expected. The students are much more skilled at memorizing facts and definitions than they are at understanding how those facts and definitions work themselves out in systems; how it is that those things relate to one another.  Tonight, your child should be bringing home a copy of the paper test and a grade report that has their scores for this test in its two parts.  I will not be printing out a copy ...

Greetings Families, I'm writing to inform you that our class is in desperate need of pencils. I tried to ration them out but must have over allocated their monthly allowance. If you would like, please send some pencils to school with your child when you are able. The brand isn't that important. They wear the erasers down so quickly and they sharpen them so much, even the best brands don't last very long. Thank you for your support. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren P.S. Also, after spring break, I am going to do a test run with mechanical pencils. This usually doesn't go well and doesn't last long because they become toys to play with instead of tools to use, but I want to give them the opportunity to succeed or fail. Either way, something beneficial will happen. They will either have pencils they can use without having to sharpen them all of the time, or they will learn the important of maturity after mechanical pencils are taken away. If you would like to buy...

Greetings Families, Today, the students took the Greek and Latin Roots quiz online. Their performance was not as good as I had hoped. The class average was a 61.4%. The image below shows how the students performed. I believe the reason the class did not do well, tough some did, is two-fold. First, the quiz was hard. It is hard to memorize 75 Greek and Latin roots. Second, the students lack the discipline necessary, as a whole, that is needed to perform excellently. The students have had all of the roots available for them to study for over four weeks. Studying roots has been a homework item for over four weeks. However, I suspect, if I asked the students if they studying their roots cards or the Quizlet 3-5 times a night, most would say no. This is a good indicator for you to use to gauge your student's discipline and study skills. In the grand scheme of things, this one test means very little. It only impacts the students' grade by 3.9%. Don't be alarmed if your chi...

Greetings Families, I'm writing to inform you that last week's Spalding test was sent home today and tomorrow I will send home the last history quiz and the past two math tests. Subject: Assessment (Class Average) LA: Spalding (86.6%) History: Chapter 1-14 Quiz (82.8%) Math: Unit 7 Chapter 1 Test (79%) Math: Unit 7 Chapter 2 Test (91%) Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, It is hard to believe that the end of the third quarter is upon us. This will be an important week for students and it is important that they receive encouragement to put in the work necessary to perform well. There will be two math tests this week: multiplying decimals and dividing decimals. There will be a geology test and a Greek and Latin's Roots quiz. Please ensure that students are studying as is appropriate for your family. Here are the lessons for week nine. Lessons Science : During the final week of the quarter, students will discuss the different layers of soil. They will spend the latter part of the week writing an essay comparing and contrasting the processes that change the earth’s surface. They will be given two phenomena that bring change to the earth’s surface with one being quick, such as an earthquake, and the other slow, such as a drought. There will also be an exam on Thursday. Students should be reviewing their notes nightly in prep...

Greetings Families, For those who were able to make it today, thank you for coming out to the park for a fun time. I also want to thank Ms. Tipescu and Ms. Moreno for organizing the event. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, I'm returning some work today. Here is what I'm returning. Subject: Assignment (Class Average) LA: Info. Text "Public Education" (88.1%) LA: MCC 25 (65.6%) Science: Geology Quiz (79.9%) Math: Units 1-6 Test (82.9%) History: American Revolution Test, Chapters 1-10 (86.2%) All: Weekly Participation Report, Week 7 (91.5%) All: Weekly Participation Report, Week 8 (91.9%) If time permits, please go over MCC 25 with your child this weekend. We will try to spend some time with it today, but this was a very difficult assignment for many of the students. The students seem to do much more poorly with non-fictional text. One-on-one time reviewing this might be beneficial for some of those who performed poorly. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, Hopefully, you have already seen Ms. Tipescu's email about the opportunity to hang out at the party this Saturday from 3:30-5:30. We will be meeting at Freestone, near the playground area. Don't feel like you need to be there the whole time. There is a SignUpGenius you can see here if you would like to bring something. We will be playing some games and, more than anything, it is just a fun time for the children to spend together and for us adults to hang out as well. We hope to see you there! Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, I appreciate the interest I have already received regarding field trip chaperones. If you would like to attend, please feel free to email me. I have already started a list for those who are interested. A blog post will come out later explaining how field trip chaperones will be selected and the expectations of those who join the trip. There will also be some additional items we will ask families who are able to provide. Please be advised, field trip chaperones must be fingerprinted and must provide their own means of transportation. No chaperones will be permitted to ride on the buses to and from the Capital Museum. Individuals who are not selected as the chaperones may join us at the Capital grounds for the scavenger hunt and lunch, so long as they are fingerprinted, but they will not be permitted to join the tour of the Capital Museum. Individuals without fingerprint clearance will not be permitted to participate in this field trip in any way to ensure the saf...

Greetings Tutoring Families, I apologize for not being consistent regarding letting you know when tutoring will end each week. To combat my lack of responsibility in this regard, I have created the schedule for the rest of the year. Also, I have to cancel tutoring for tomorrow, March 2. My wife and I are meeting with a physical therapist for my daughter. I will be leaving at lunch time and will not be returning. I hope this doesn't cause you any inconvenience. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren Tutoring Schedule Day, Date – End Time Thursday, March 2 – Canceled Wednesday, March 8 – 2:45 Thursday, March 9 – 3:45 Wednesday, March 15 – Spring Break Thursday, March 16 – Spring Break Wednesday, March 22 – 2:45 Thursday, March 23 – 3:45 Wednesday, March 29 – 2:25 Thursday, March 30 – 3:25 Wednesday, April 5 – 2:45 Thursday, April 6, 3:45 Wednesday, April 12 – 2:25 Thursday, April 13 – 3:25 Wednesday, April 19 – 2:45 Thursday, April 20 – 3:45 Wednesday, April 26 – 2:25 Thursday, April 2...

Greetings Families, Here is a letter Mr. Posner sent to his families today. All of the information is the same, so I am just copying his letter for you. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren Good morning,  This year, fourth grade will visit our State Capitol! The field trip will occur on Monday, April 3, 2017. Students will be bused to Phoenix and will tour the Capitol grounds, the museum, and the senate or house floor. Students will eat lunch across the street in Wesley Bolin Plaza. There will also be a scavenger hunt.  We will need five chaperones for this trip. To make things fair, what I have done in the past is as follows: Any parent interested in chaperoning must submit their intent to me by March 10th. Once I have all the interested parents, I will simply choose, via a lottery system. If you are not chosen to be a chaperone, you are still welcome to join us for the lunch/scavenger hunt portion of the trip! All chaperones and lunch/scavenger hunt guests must have th...