ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL

Pulling Together801 E. Arctic Ave. Palmer, AK 99645Call us at 907-746-2358 or Fax us at 907-746-2368 or visit us at www.matsuk12.us/acc

1. Calendar

2. job Corner

3. Classroom News K-2

4. Classroom News 3 & 4

5. Classroom News 5

6. Notes from K-5 Labs

7. Classroom News 6 & 7

8. Classroom News 8

September 6, 2013

Date to Mark Time Field Trips and More

Sept 9-12 5th grade to Denali National Park/ Studies

Sept 12 6th grade Lewis & Clark Expeditions/ Studies

Sept 9-12 7th grade to Kennicott / Studies

Sept 9-12 8th grade to Challenger Camp/ Studies

Sept 11 3rd grade to the Landfill

September 27 8-12n Lifetouch Pictures for all grades

Dear Families,Emergency Preparedness! Today, Friday the 6th, our entire school practiced our Emergency Preparedness drills. We began with our earthquake drill and then implemented the Lockdown drill. The Lockdown drill was followed by a fire drill. We then implemented our site evacuation drill in which kindergarten through 8th grade pairs with a grade level to walk across the street to the Dept. of Forestry. (K-8th, 1-7th, 2-6th, 3-5th) The Dept. of Forestry is Academy’s alternate site we would go to in an emergency should Academy’s facility/campus is deemed unsafe. Just a reminder….in an emergency, we may only release your child to a person or persons that you have listed on the online registration form. You may go online at any time and review, change or correct the information you did at the start of the year.! Palmer Police stops the traffic to allow safe passage while we practice the site evacuation procedure. I am always so impressed with our students…they are absolutely silent as we implement this drill. They understand the importance of remaining silent and prepared to calmly follow directions. Compliments to the amazing Academy staff for explicitly teaching the process and procedure to ensure each class is prepared to act calmly and quickly in an emergency!Update on construction:! I am so please with F-E Construction! I am thrilled to report that the new wing under construction is slightly ahead of schedule. We will move in on or before November 22nd! ! F-E Construction has been contracted to install the playground and we expect that work to begin around the 16th of September. The playground is going to be amazing!

I do not take our good fortune for granted and it is important to thank those that have worked hard to provide Academy with a permanent and fantastic facility and playground! If you get a chance, please send Representative Stoltze an email thanking him for advocating for our school in Juneau! Representative.Bill.Stoltze@akleg.gov

Thank you!Thank you to Robert Collier and Deb Till for volunteering every morning to help with drop off!Anyone need a bridge?! Academy is selling our bridge. 20’7” long, 4’ wide. The price is $500. You haul it away

! ! ! "ank y# for y#r continued su$o% of Academy! Barbara

6th Grade needs items!! We need a few power/hand tools to fill out our wood shop.  If you have a table saw, miter saw, etc. that you would like to donate for the week of Oct. 14 (or permanently) you can let Mr. Titus know.  If you drop off any item, please make sure it is labeled with your name and number. Thank you.! Sixth grade could use some canoes, paddles, and life jackets.  If you have anything we could borrow for our trip on the Cottonwood Creek canoe trail next Thursday, please let Mr. Titus or Schumacher know.  Make sure all items are labeled with your name and number and we will make sure they get back to you.

Job Corner Get your hours now!

1 There is a list of repairs that teachers need your help with and all teachers put items on the Parent Help Shelf every day. These are things like copying, laminating, sharpening pencils etc. If you are able, just check the shelf to see if there is work. (There is stuff there now.) Thank you.

2 Play ground Maintenance, Lunch Room/Play ground monitor, Office Work, Building Maintenance, Photographers, Door Knob Man, Outdoor Lighting, PLEASE SIGN up on the sheet in the office if any of these jobs are what you would like to do.

3 Join the: Yearbook/ Pam Collier, 841-1247 orLibrary/Melissa Clark (No Library till November due to construction)

4 HomeRoom Parents need for grades: 5th

5 We need a snowplower for this season...please submit a cost/bid letter to the office.

6 The small office off the lounge needs to be cleaned and organized!!!

Lego Robotics – Due to field trips next week, we will not be meeting Monday or Wednesday. We will meet the following week on our normally scheduled days. Please remember to mark your calendars for the Emergency Preparedness Expo on Saturday, September 14th from 11 am to 3pm.

PE! Please make sure your student has proper PE shoes that fit correctly. They should be a tennis shoe not a slip on shoe. Thank you. Carrie TaylorPE k-5

Job for Geography! Mrs. Booths needs a parent to take home and go through National Geographic Magazines. So they are ready for classroom use.

SEEKING A SNOW PLOWER...winter is coming!Please submit bid/cost to the office for the Academy Parking lot. Thank you.

Academy Recycles!We need your help;contact Cory Alverts if interested in helping with the recycling program.alvertsc@yahoo.com or 541-349-9523

DRESS for RECESS

Raffle Tickets for $10,000 CASH

Please be sure to:• check out one book per student• sell your tickets• then bring all money and ticket

stubs (please keep stubs stapled in order) into the office as soon as you have sold them

• return all sold stubs and unsold tickets by November 25

“On time” Winners for the week ending September 6th are:Kora Dorman, Jacob Davis, Jacob Venema, Jonathan Aliberti, Anna Ohman, Charles Duncan, Tracy Irsik, Shayna Madruga, Connor Monroe,

Classroom winners will receive a subway meal on the following FRIDAY, this week due to field trips.Winner of $50 Gas Card: Family of Cade Imperato

! This year’s Battle of the Books program for 3rd through 8th graders will begin soon! Please watch the newsletter next week for more information. Also, please check out the Alaska Battle of the Books website for more information. I will also be posting more information on my website. ! Alaska Battle of the Books website http://www.akla.org/akasl/bb/bbhome.html! Mrs. Molina’s website http://www.matsuk12.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1441 ! Happy reading,! Mrs. Molina

Pizza orders will be every Early Release Day

Pizza day/October 4thOrder slips will be due the Wednesday of that week, Sept. 4(Cut out and/or send in following info with money attached)

Pizza Friday $2.00 per slice: GRADE________

Full Name___________________________________

_____Pepperoni _____Cheese ______Sausage (put a #)

Circle Date: 9/6, 10/4, 11/1, 12/6, 1/10, 2/7, 3/6, 4/4, 5/2

Thank you to all the parents that shop at Target and seclect our school for donation money. Please keep doing this; the money adds up.

ClassRoom News K-2

Kindergarten Notes Our theme for the week was Sleeping

Outdoors. The students illustrated a book with a poem based on the theme. It was fun to hear some of their stories about camping and sleeping outside. We continue to learn sounds of letters from our names. So far we have learned the sounds for 9 letters—this week we focused on N and E. We will be working on correctly writing names next week.

In math we continue to work on correct number formation. We have been adding numbers and shapes to individual number books. We also tried a new game that works on counting, writing, recognizing and comparing numbers as well as taking turns.

Our class has earned their first class party for outstanding behavior. We will be voting on what the party will be on Friday.

Next week we will begin having a Kindergarten Star Student. A note was sent home on Thursday telling when your child’s turn is to be our star. The note also gave more details on how you can support us for your child’s turn. Let me know if you did not get the note.

Have a wonderful weekend. Ronni Berg

Second Grade News! A huge thank you goes out to the parents who helped me on our first field trip.  Pyrah's U-pick farm gave us a wonderful presentation and  hayride.   Parents and kids had a fun time picking veggies.  It was a great afternoon. ! Next week my reading class we will be having our first spelling list and poem.  I will be sending a letter home about the poetry and how we use it in class.  The spelling test will be on Fridays, as well as the poem.  They just have to read the poem to the class.  They do not have to recite.! Thank you for sending in rain gear.   It is getting cold at morning recess.  Just to let you know quite a few kids were cold yesterday.! Have a great weekend!   Mrs. Booth

Mayer Minutes I am slowly introducing more of our daily-five activities . . . This week it has been our Star Paper along with Thinkers . . . Ask your kids what these are! Spalding continues to grow as we practice more sounds each day along with correctly writing letters. When we reach accuracy in both arenas with 45 sounds, we can begin our Spalding books! Putting numbers in order through thinking about least, between & greatest and using number lines is what was on deck this week. Next up will be breaking down whole numbers in various part combinations. Contact me anytime! . . . Mrs. Mayer

New from Mrs. Liebing’s Class! It has been a very busy week. We are almost finished up with Chapter 1 in math. We will be taking the test early next week. The most difficult part of this chapter was learning to see the relationships between equations in fact families.! In reading students worked really hard to get their Spalding books going and get the first spelling words in so we can start spelling next week. We have gone back over how to write all of the lower case letters and will start on capitals next week. Each reading group read another story this week and we worked on some comprehension items with those stories. Having two groups will be challenging with some high expectations for independent work, but I think they can do it. ! Next week students will have their first poem to learn for presenting to the class on Friday and their first spelling test will also be next Friday. It is a lot of firsts next week, but then we have everything up and running and it will soon be a routine that all of the students know and expect.! Enjoy your weekend,! Mrs. Liebing

ClassRoom News 3 & 4

Third Grade News! This week we started practicing sounding out spelling words.  On Tuesday we were only able to get through 5 words, but by Wednesday we wrote down 13 words.  What fantastic improvement.  No homework was sent home for reading this week; however, I am still missing some parts of speech worksheets from last week.  Please check Iparent for those missing assignments and see if they can be located.! During math we worked on numbers into the hundred thousands.  We wrote the 6 digit numbers in standard, word and expanded form.  This would be a great game to play at home, give your kiddo a six digit number and have them practice writing out the number in different forms.  ! Next week we will have a field trip on Sept. 11th.  I still need a few more permission slips as well as drivers for 6 more kids.  Please get those in on Monday so I can arrange rides. ! Thank you.! Mrs. Weetman

Fourth Grade Factoids! This week we started working on suffixes, especially the ones that start with vowels. We then wrote the rule page that pertained to that rule in our Spalding book. We also reviewed common and proper nouns. Students will have spelling words next week.

At math time, we continued working on place value and rounding of numbers.! Mrs. Ambrosius

BenBow Buzz! Language Arts – As we gain familiarity with daily routines, the focus has changed to learning cursive writing and laying a foundation for understanding parts of speech, sentence writing and increasing reading comprehension. Next week will be our first Spelling packets and Spelling test. ! Math- This week we continued our study of numbers by learning different ways to name numbers, comparing numbers and ordering numbers. Next week we will work with money. Please help your child find time every day to practice multiplication facts, as we will continue to do timed tests every day.

! LAX- We continued our study of quality sentence writing by learning about subject-verb agreement and sentence fragments.

! Have a great weekend and, as always, feel free to contact me with any comments or concerns! cherie.benbow@matsuk12.us

Mr. Reilly Rally’s Math I am teaching a third grade math class this year and it's fun for me to be around the high energy that comes from that grade level.  I am very pleased with the progress that students are demonstrating as we work our way through foundational math skills, like with place value charts.  As we become stronger we will expand into more challenging territory.  It will be great and productive school year!! Enjoy your time with your families this weekend!! Mr. Reilly

investigating art from a historical perspective

ClassRoom News from 5th

The Real ReportDear fabulous 5th grade parents, ! As you know our Denali field trip is fast approaching and we currently have an unprecedented 15 adult chaperones- which is more than we have ever had before.We are excited to have so many enthusiastic parents, but are concerned about space, so if any one wanted to opt out... now would be the time- I think we can consolidate kids in cars. ! We will need chaperone help with transportation, food preparation and clean up , and quick morning pack up, since school starts pretty early, and we need to be out before students come. Unfortunately, we have only 40 spaces for Usibelli (so an adult will have to miss out) and only have room for 2 adults on the raft trip (we will draw straws) so chaperones can enjoy the local coffee house.! This is a field trip designed to help the class gel-and learn about the history and science of the park, coal mine, and town of Talkeetna- so the kids will be staying in a group and will have rangers, guides, and teachers leading them. We will need you to encourage your student to participate with the group.! Again, we are excited that so many parents want to participate and you are welcome, but if you decide not to come- please let me know. Thank you again for all of your support, Mrs. Real Julie.real@matsuk12.us ! LA: Students finished writing the rule pages in their Spalding notebooks (THANK YOU MR. OLSON) and became Junior Ranger’s- in preparation for our Denali trip. On Wednesday, my group performed “The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost as reader’s theater. WOW! We have some future actors/poets in our midst- it was terrific! ! MATH: This week we again focused on place value. But the big news is we all signed into ALEKS- This incredible program individualizes instruction, and it enables students to take charge of their learning (which they love). For the next 8 months students in Mrs. Real math classes will practice online in class regularly. ! However, the real advantage of ALEKS is that it is available anytime, anywhere. Thus, students are able to build math competency at home and we are able to monitor their progress at school.Like reading math is best mastered after practice, practice, and more practice.! Given the direct correlation between practice time and mastery, we would like to request that your student be allowed/encouraged to log onto ALEKS AT HOME at least 20 min each day (If internet access is available). We will be able to monitor and reward time goals, as well as specific individual achievements (mastery of a topic). *PS: be sure to always check my website! ! ! ! ! ! ! Mrs. Real

Mr. OLSON’s PACKLanguage Arts- This week we have begun with finishing our Spalding rule pages for spelling and getting into our first book. The class will be prepping tomorrow for our field trip next week to Denali and Talkeetna.

Math- For math we are practicing place value and the relationship between whole numbers and decimals. The class had their first homework this week and I got everyones back so we are on the right track.

Reports from our LabsWorld of WritingBy Mrs. Weetman! It was wonderful to have the K, 1st and 2nd graders this week.  All three grades read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and then did our own writing about it.  The idea was to "make a mark and see where it takes you."!

From Around the WorldBy Mrs. Booth!! Just a reminder….if you are in 3rd-5th grade….make sure you are turning in your homework.  Everything is in I-parent.  Thanks! Welcome Kindergarteners, first, and second graders to geography /History lab!  It was a short week for labs.  I just did some overview of class rules and procedures.  I also reviewed some material from last year in 1st grade.  I was looking to see what they remembered.  Second graders had a field trip to the farm.  The K-class learned about the oceans and landmasses.

ExperimentsBy Mrs. Tompkins Third grade is learning about how to stay healthy. Fourth and fifth grades have started on their biology unit with the basis of all life forms, the cell. Fifth graders should also start thinking about their science fair projects. Although the fair is not held until the end of the year, advanced research is highly recommended and each experimental project will need prior approval from Mrs. T.!

Español.

Spanish Newsby Miss Agoff Third, Fourth and Fifth graders started their first Spanish rotation of the year. Our vocabulary is centered this rotation around places in the town. Our country of focus this rotation is the longest, skinniest country in the world - Chile! If your family has journeyed to Chile and you have stories, currency or souvenirs to share with Spanish class please contact me. One of our class goals is to become global citizens and world travelers and it is always inspiring to hear about others’ adventures!!

!ComputerBy Mr. Olson !Lab started this week with 3,4,5 and we got right into it. We are all set up for our typing program and started our first project. Students are making their own expressions poster using photo booth and pages. They are manipulating text and pictures.d

ArtBy Mrs. Holler! Hello Families,It was exciting to have the K,1, and 2 students in art this week! The K students experimented with color, the 1st graders created cave paintings, and the 2nd grade learned about lines in art. Each grade level investigated art from a historical perspective and practiced some of those skills learned from observation in their own artwork. It is wonderful to see the students translate study into practice!

I hope you have a terrific weekend!

News from the Top, 6th and 7th grades

6th Grade News! Kids have been busy this week choosing their electives for this semester.  These will be held in 4 week blocks on Friday afternoons starting on Sept. 13.  Look for intensive information to be coming home soon, as well.  This will take place the week of Oct. 14. We are planning a day trip to the Cottonwood Creek canoe trail from Finger Lake to Wasilla Lake next Thursday (9/12).  There is a short portage involved which we will tie into our Lewis and Clark unit.  We would love to have parents drive or paddle, but we need canoes, paddles, and life jackets for sure.  ! Math groups have been working with data from different sources to create graphs and find mean, median, and mode.  Students will be building bridges for a competition at the end of the month.! Reading groups are both still working through The Land I Lost, and enjoying the many adventures of the author.! Mr. Titus and Mr. Schumacher

BenBow Buzz! 6th Language Arts – We added four new roots to our Greek and Latin list this week, discussed some of the Core Knowledge sayings, and began writing Thank You letters. Have a great weekend and, as always, feel free to contact me with any comments or concerns! cherie.benbow@matsuk12.us

News from Wright 7th LA class: This week, we worked on our news site critique papers, complete with MLA formatting for Works Cited and in-text citations. The students really brought their best and I'm SO impressed with the calibre of work they produced. They learned how to recognize a reputable news source, a skill that they'll use the rest of their life, and how to back-up their arguments by citing sources. We also dove into our Kennecott class news paper project. Students discussed various news story possibilities and then wrote persuasive graphs about which job/topic they wanted to do for the project, and posted them on Moodle. They then gave constructive criticism to each other to improve their writing. This was a nice introduction to the competitive nature of the job market. A BIG thanks to Stephen Nowers, former ADN and Alaska Dispatch photographer who was our special speaker this week. He gave a crash course on "making" a photo in preparation for our Kennecott trip. Ask your student about the defining moment! Have a great weekend- Mrs. Wright

News from Wright 7th grade math: We are going full-speed ahead on working with algebraic expressions. Students  worked puzzles, played the Integer Jeopardy game, and used algebra tiles to understand variables and balancing equations. When we return from Kennecott, we'll begin our Stock Market Game each Friday, which is a national online competition geared toward helping students understand how math impacts the financial markets. Students will be in teams as they try to increase their money faster than anyone else. I'm excited for this weekly opportunity! Have a great weekend! Mrs. Wright

Español.

! Sixth graders had no Spanish class this week due to our Labor Day inservice.! Seventh graders are becoming quicker at producing oral replies to questions as well as written. Our classroom is a comfortable place where it is ok to speak our second language and ok to make mistakes. Eighth grade met only once this week due to MAP testing. We are continuing to review -specifically the very irregular verb Ir and other verbs with the same Yo form. Eighth graders who have not signed in this year to my Study Spanish.com class need to make a point to do so.

Adventures in History with Mrs. ASeventh Grade ! We continued learning about some of the big names in business, tied this information to why people were searching for copper, gold and other minerals. Students also saw a documentary on the Gold Rush of the Klondike. Eighth Grade: ! Students learned about different kinds of government throughout time. We discussed why there even is government and learned about some of the laws from the past that were included into our government, such as the Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact. Students also learned about our first constitution, the Articles of Confederation.! Mrs. Ambrosius

Mr. Reilly Speaks Spanish In Spanish class students are reviewing their basic language skills (hellos, good byes, and basic dialogue).  As soon as I see that we have a solid foundation to work off of, then we will start to introduce new dialogue and new vocabulary for varied situations.! Mr. Reilly

News@7 Seventh grade has been preparing for its launch to Kennecott, for its' field trip.  In our history class we have becoming well versed in the resource based economy of Alaska.  We have also been becoming familiar with how the whole Kennecott Mine came into being.  Students will be able to make lots of connections about our discussions, once we are there and they experience it up close and personal.! L.A. finds students refining their I Have A Dream essays.  We are getting close to our final drafts and soon will be sharing some of those essays with each other.  In Spalding, students are refining their memories of the different phonogram sounds. They are also slowing down to perfect their cursive penmanship.  Overall students' penmanship is improving in leaps and bounds.! Enjoy your time with your families this weekend!! Mr. Reilly

The Mad Scientist News! Hello From the Mad Scientists classroom.  This week our early morning scientists finished their rockets and shot them off.  All were successful.  We are now going to move into our physics unit and work on projectiles.  That should be great as long as no windows are broken.  In 7th grade we are heading to Kennicott on Monday at 9:00am until Thursday.  This is my favorite field trip because we are submerged into the outdoor classroom for science and history.  We will be doing science experiments at the Kennicott Site such as extracting copper from ore with acids and coating nails with copper as well as pulling ions out of the solution with electricity.  Thanks to our new family the Sullivans for doing the leg work on the van. Please make sure all the kids have rain gear and warm gear.  In 8th grade science we have been working on finishing up the cell with an eggsperiment that is still in the process.  Finally my math class is awesome.  They are very attentive and we are working on measurement.  The rest of this week we will be changing gears and working on positive and negative numbers.  That should be fun.  ! Have a great weekend.  Ron

Making news with Mrs. Molina! Welcome to September! This week has seemed super short & therefore has flown by!! The 8th graders spent a good deal of time getting reading for our upcoming Challenge trip next week. Thank you to everyone who got their paperwork and trip fees in so quickly! Also, thank you to the families who have volunteered to drive & chaperone. I greatly appreciate your help and am excited to have such a great group of adults join us!

**Just a few quick reminder for next week’s trip:1. Students DO need a cold, sack lunch for

Monday2. Students will need rain gear, rain/muck

boots & ample changes of clothes (students do no not need to be in uniform during the trip but clothing does need to be appropriate)

3. Please see the packing list that was sent home with your child. If they have misplaced this list, a copy can be found on website under the “Important Information & Forms” tab. If you have any further questions about this trip, do not hesitate to contact me via email or cell.

! This week we also completed our fall session of MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing. I was impressed by how the students worked and I will be happy to share their scores with you at Fall conferences. ! Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you all bright & early Monday morning!! Mrs. Molina

The last year

Real’s English 1 Welcome to English 1! ! This week students presented their “I Am” poems to the class. I was impressed by their depth and personal awareness. Students also presented their Poetic Device Projects. Again, they were very creative and many of their explanations will be helpful on our upcoming test. On Thursday, we explored poetry in music and narrative and ballad poems. When we return from our field trips we will begin reading the epic poem, The Odyssey and students will research a Greek god or goddess and present their characters to the class- it is a fantastic way for students to immerse themselves in the genre.! ! *PS: be sure to always check my website! Have a great weekend!! ! ! Mrs. Real

8th Science with Mrs. T.! MAP testing was held this week resulting in a short week for science. We continued with the nature of science and looked at why we study science.

8th Math with Mrs. T.! MAP testing required a flexible math schedule this week. Time was spent on making corrections, ALEKS, and moving ahead where appropriate.

Algebra 1 with Mrs. T.! MAP testing allowed the class to clarify some previous work and make corrections. Some students are working ahead while we solidify the foundational concepts with other students. We will finish Chapter 1 after they return from their exciting trip next week.