Naaktgeboren's Class Blog

Greetings Families, I hope your weekend has been enjoyable. Here are some notes for you going into week four. NO TUTORING TUESDAY Both Arete Chargers varsity basketball teams made it to regionals this year so I will be leaving school early on Tuesday. There is no tutoring on Tuesday as a result. Volcano Projects I want to say thank you to the families who have graciously offered to send in the items we need for the volcano projects. I will try to have Ms. Lacsa take some pictures to put on the blog so you can see their good and fun work. Here is a screenshot of who is sending in what (please send it in tomorrow morning). My Mom On Friday morning, my mom fell in the bathroom. This led to Emily taking her to the doctor. The doctor was concerned that she had two possible issues: another broken bone and pneumonia. Emily took her to the hospital to have x-rays ran. She was admitted and found neither were the issues. Instead, we found out that her cancer has spread very ra...

Greetings Families, I had told you and the class that we would be making volcanoes this week but I have to push it back to Monday. My hope was to start today and then finish tomorrow. However, we won't be able to do it today and my wife had scheduled a doctor's appointment for me tomorrow for a hip injury I suffered back in September that refuses to heal. I guess it is part of growing old. We will do the project, from start to finish, Monday morning. If you are able and would like to contribute to the project, here is a Signup Genius .  Please send the items Monday morning with your child. The mason jars that are provided will be returned. Thank you for your understanding and support. Best, Michael Naaktgeboren

Greetings Families, I hope you have enjoyed the long weekend. I tried to keep the homework a little light over the weekend. Last week was a packed week. This was especially true with them taking the MAP assessments on Thursday. Hopefully, the long weekend with little homework will allow them to return revived. Here are the lessons for this week. Lessons Writing/Grammar: Students will start their second paper of the quarter this week. They will be writing an expository essay on animal extinction. The key questions i s: What role do humans play in preventing animals from becoming extinct?  History: Having learned about the Seven Years' War that took place in Europe and the French and Indian War that took place in the eastern part of North American, students will now look at how the English planned to pay off all of their war debts. Their plan did not go as they had hoped as the colonists did not like that they were being expected to finance the British government whil...

Greetings Families, I hope you have had a great weekend. Here are the plans for this week. Lessons Writing: Students will complete their writing assignment this week. They will work on their sentence outlines on Monday and Tuesday, and they will start typing it on Wednesday. History: This week, students will study the French and Indian War and the Seven Years' War. They will have an open-notes test on Thursday. There is a study guide that students will work on Wednesday to help prepare themselves. If you would like to go over it with them on Wednesday night, you may. However, given that the test is open-notes, I will not be telling them the answers for this test. Students should be able to use their notes to find the correct answers.  Literature: Students will be reading chapters 4-6 of Prince Caspian this week.  Math: Students will continue their study of geometry this week. There are a couple tests this week over material they are reviewing from last year. Poe...

Greetings Families, I hope you have enjoyed the break. I'm very thankful for the time I've had off but am thrilled to be returning. I've missed your child dearly and look forward to resuming the fun and learning we have began. As we move into the second semester, I wanted to tell you about a concerted effort I will be making. My New Year's resolution for this year is this: relentless effort, relentlessly positive . This is my resolution for myself and as a parent, teacher, and coach, and it is my desire to spread this focus to my children, students, and athletes. I'm excited to return to school with a strong focus on doing the best I can as a teacher to ensure that my students learn what they must, but I also want to make it a place that is fun--where the students will find the greatest opportunity for them to achieve their potential. I hope that as students walk away from fourth-grade later this year they will have learned the most they've ever learned and ...