God Bless Us....Everyone!

What a crazy final week to the year we had in our suite! We enjoyed immensely the play of A Christmas Carole on Wednesday evening and topped it off with our watching of the Disney movie and then our joyous party yesterday. We played dreidel, had our gift exchange, and I was thoroughly surprised with the new vacuum gifted by the class. Thank you all so much for making it a great day! There are only a couple of announcements before we can move on to enjoying the holidays!

First, scholars received their science packets on Wednesday and were told to take them home. The dates are in the packets of when each item is due, as well as various websites where they can go get ideas on what they would like to test for their experiment. Sciencebuddies allows you to take a questionnaire to see what type of experiment would be best suited to a particular interest. They can have fun with that over the holidays.

The January calendar will be up sometime next week. I am moving today and through the weekend and will be stopping by school to get things done. I will do my best to get it up early. We do have a field trip to Clark Planetarium in January, I need to solidify the date and time and we will get our drivers together.

See you all after your much earned rest!

Playhouse

movie time

dreidel

Merry Christmas and Happy 2013!

Admiring the Elderly at Mountain Ridge Assisted Living

Today the scholars had the joy of spending quality time with the residents at Mountain Ridge Assisted Living in Ogden. We sang songs, played piano, played Uno, played Go Fish, and memory games. The scholars really enjoyed the atmosphere and the friendliness of the residents. We were honored to be there, even though it was a short time.

Scholars have a history test tomorrow on the Enlightenment. Also, those who performed poorly, or simply want to improve their math grade will take the chapter 6B test tomorrow. Wednesday I will give the chapter 7B test to those who need to retake Algebra. Many are wanting to try to simply see if they  can beat their scores. I am fine with that since they are two totally different tests!

Wednesday evening is our play at Terrace Plaza. I am looking forward to spending an evening relaxing and enjoying the theater with our scholars.

Thursday is our party day :). Mrs. Tracy will be sending an email regarding pizza and drinks for the scholars. Thank you all for your support and help over these past months, and tolerating my move...hopefully we will be in our new home before we return to school in January!

getting ready to play!

focusing....

These here are some serious cards!

sweet melodies!

Think Jonah....think! :)

Lovely vocalists

memory games

The whole group together!

Pushing to the Finish Line.....

There are just about as many pans in the fire as this instructor can handle right now! Please forgive me for not updating daily. The following activities are consuming just about every conscious minute: We are trying to finish up paperwork for the new Capstone Classical Academy Charter, my family and I are trying to pack up our house (could not even find my shoes this morning!) so that we can move sometime within the next week, we are attempting to get our house complete to a standard that we can live with, we have paperwork due to the office this  week for science assessments on the staff, I am developing the science fair information for next year, and I have a pile of grading I am attempting to work through.....not that I am at all making excuses, I just ask for a bit of grace over the next few weeks as all of these time consuming labors work themselves out! I have commitments every evening this week and next, which is what has me updating a blog at wee hours of the morning! Thank you!

As far as school is concerned....we are collecting the ticket money for the play on the 19th. The Terrace Plaza does a phenomenal job with A Christmas Carol and this makes for a splendid family night out if you want to join us. Students are $6, adults are $9 and we need cash to bring down to the box office on Friday of this week. Send in your ticket money today, tomorrow, or Friday morning if you want to enjoy the show!

We are all set for drivers for Monday. We have Mrs. Tracy, Mrs. Kemp, Mrs. Maxwell, Mr. Pope, and Mrs. Sugihara driving.  Thank you to these parents for taking time out of their busy schedules to get us to and from Mountain Ridge. We will be needing you at school, up in my room to get scholars by 1:30. Thank you again!

Students will be taking the geography quiz this morning for the geography bee that will take place in January.

Students will also be receiving their science fair packet for 2013 before the break. This will give them time to work through it and come up with ideas that they can submit for approval. The packet will look much like the packet they received last year. They will have an opportunity to IMPROVE their experiment from last year, but they can not simply resubmit what they tested last year. It will have to have a significant different element to it.

Pushing to get items done off the list....and trying to not strive over the next two weeks....enjoy your preparation for the holidays!

Thankful for Friday!

We have had a very busy week in the suite, and we are all deserving of a break over the weekend. There are some items of importance that all families need to be aware of:

1.  We will be traveling to Mountain Ridge Assisted Living on Monday the 17th. Mrs. Maxwell is driving, and Mrs. Tracy will need a couple other drivers for our class. Please communicate with Mrs. Tracy if you can join us. Also if you are willing to be our "photographer" with my camera that day, we would appreciate some photos for our blog and our character board on the landing. Permission slips went home today. Please sign and have your students return them. Thanks!

2. We have reserved 30 seats for A Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse in Ogden on the 19th of December. The show begins at 7:30 and we need to be in our seats by 7:15. Last year we were home by 10:00 as they take an intermission. I purposely plan this for the night before our party so students can be out later.  Students and siblings younger than 12 are $6, adults are $9. Monies need to be sent into school MONDAY through THURSDAY of next week so that we can drop off the funds and get our tickets on Friday the 14th. These tickets are first come first serve for both sixth grade classes. If we need more by Wednesday I can try and get more seats, but we are not guaranteed. This is not a mandatory play, but we had a splendid time last year :). Please send in your money and what tickets you need if your family wants to come. The playhouse will not accept checks, so please send cash in an envelope.

3. Mrs. Tracy will be sending out an email soon regarding our Christmas/Holiday party on the 20th. We would like parents to bring in crock pot dishes and lunch type foods. Please cancel your student's lunch that day as we will be staying in and watching a movie, playing games, exchanging gifts, and eating our lunch together.  
 

Next week has a science test, a math test, and regular Friday assignments, essay, spelling, and vocabulary.....

Congratulations to Jonah Tauraa who celebrated earning TWO Citizenship awards today. Both Mrs. Jensen and I selected him (without talking to each other! :)). Congratulations to McKenna for earning the right to eat lunch at a cafe table with her friends since her You Rock card was chosen.

Have a great weekend!

our excellent citizen!

McKenna, You Rock!

Deck the Halls!...and the walls....and the.... :)

Thanks to our fantastic room mom, our decorations are up and in full living color of purple and green! The entire class was so blessed today when we returned to our room after an hour and a half to find big beautiful purple and green bows on our tree, on our walls, and a gorgeous wreath on our door! Thank you Mrs. Tracy for all your hard work and efforts to deck us out for the holidays!

our calendar!

gorgeous bows!!!

I do believe we will leave this one up all year!

our humble, yet elegant tree.... :)

To Infinity and BEYOND!

We began our review of the planets today...all 8 or 9 of them, depending upon your age.... :)  We are reviewing information that all scholars should already know before heading into new material. We discussed the planets in order, compared and contrasted them, and classified them as inner and outer. We also discussed the sun as a star....all primary concepts for our astronomy unit.....the photo is of students representing planets, inners, outers, and dwarfs....

Sam Pope was chosen to lead as instructor for the second graders as they learned about pulleys in their simple machines unit. Sam demonstrated bring the state flag up and down, and then allowed the second graders to use the pulley themselves.

Today is the last day of Hanukkah. Scholars will celebrate as we finish up the season. One more day of dreidel and then we will we enjoy it at our holiday party on the 20th.

Number the Stars Final Projects and ALGEBRA! :)

We began our Algebra unit today in Math. We learned all about unknowns and using letters to describe our variables. Students know that we no longer use an "x" for a multiplication sign. We have moved onto bigger and better math and now we use a dot between our terms to show multiplication. If we have an integer and a variable being multiplied, we simply show it as, for example, 2x. This is going to be a fun unit for the scholars and I hope they come up with some creative real world problems of their own.

We are into the Enlightenment in History and today learned the famous Cogito Ergo Sum statement that Rene Descartes coined. Ask your scholar what it means! If they can remember it, then they "are". :)

Brochures, scrapbooks, and newspaper articles were presented today for Number the Stars. The scholars will take a quick final quiz tomorrow and we have already begun The Christmas Carol. We are learning new depths about the story as we read the unabridged version and study it in context to the author and his life. We are seeing the sarcasm and even some of the hidden puns in the text. Dickens is a fascinating author with deep insight into the human condition.

We are continuing on with the Prince and the Pauper and will be finishing it up soon. The scholars will enjoy the original movie of the book which aired in 1962. It is amazing how much we can learn about ourselves and our own selfish nature through reading a piece like this one.

Bella lighting the Hanukkah Candles

Scrapbooks from Ellen

Sweden Travel Brochures

Badges, Bubbles and Birthdays

The week rounded out last week with celebrations all around. The Headmaster Honor Roll Students and Dean's List Students received ribbons commemorating their hard work and efforts.

Scholars enjoyed their daily Hanukkah gift as they blew bubbles around the room, and McKenna was celebrated for her birthday!

The December Schedule is up in the classroom and here for your information and preview. We will need drivers for our Mountain Ridge visit. Please contact Mrs. Tracy if you are able to drive let her know how many seats you have available in your vehicle. If you want to drive and have not yet been cleared at the front office, you need to bring in your license, and proof of insurance so we can get you all set up! Thank you for helping us on our service day!

Dec 4 - Latin Test
Dec 7 - Spell/Vocab/Essay
Dec 11 - Science Test
Dec 12 - Math Test Algebra
Dec 14 - Spell/Vocab/Essay
Dec 17 - Latin Test - Service Project Mountain Ridge Assisted Living 2:00 - 3:00
Dec 18 - History Test The Enlightenment
Dec 19 - Voluntary Event - Terrace Plaza Playhouse - A Christmas Carol (more info to follow)
Dec 20 - Early Release/ Party all day! :)

Not too busy so that we can all focus on family during this month. There will not be a book report due until January.

Headmaster's Honor Roll First Quarter

Dean's List First Quarter

The whole gang!

bubble mania

Happy Birthday McKenna!

...Just the Way We Work.....

Back to the workplace today found the teacher up at 3:00 in the morning and attempting to reschedule herself to function in the classroom! We have so many activities to pack into the next three weeks, with so much to learn and assimilate that it makes one's head spin! At the same time, this is what we love about our educational system at GFA...there is a prodigious amount of knowledge to learn and pack into our lives and memory banks, and therefore we never find ourselves bored!

Today we presented book report projects. There were a number that were done quite well and there are a few pictures as I was trying to grade and shoot at the same time! We also got our Forensics shirts and were able to wear them to show them off. Scholars may add these to their normal uniforms to wear anytime to school. Ballots were handed back at club yesterday and discussed. The rest will be handed out in Speech Class this morning.

Thursday was the second day of Hanukkah since it began at sundown on Wednesday.  Bella is the youngest in the class so she is lighting the candles each day. We will be playing dreidel with their new driedels and enjoying our little Hanukkah presents each day. The scholars learned the Hebrew phrase Baruch Atah Adonai which begins each evening of Hanukkah in a Jewish home. Blessed be the Lord our God.

The December schedule will go up sometime over the weekend. Be on the lookout. We will have a field trip the second week of December to Mountain Ridge Retirement Home for our service project. we will go spend a couple hours in a checker tournament with the residents and enjoy some Christmas music. We will be working on making small gifts for them this coming week. As soon as we know the date we will be looking for drivers both there and back.

Have an excellent FRIDAY!

Under the Same Stars

The Hobbit

Looking professional!

This is what we do!

Hanukkah day two.....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have so much to be thankful for this season. I have a wonderful group of young scholars to hang out with in my suite....I have tremendous parents that go out of their way to make my day easier, and make learning experiences sensational for their children, and I have a precious new grandson who makes every minute with him a joy.

Be grateful for all we have scholars, thank your parents for loving you so well, and be appreciative that you are a GFA GUARDIAN! :)

How I am spending my time! :)

How Mason spends his! :)