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

9. Auction Information

“On time” Winners for the week ending October 19th are: Noah Schmittinger, Grace James, Khaylynn Chasse, Joe Stroup, Jonas Schumacher, Cassey Herr, Sid Watchus, Elizabeth Watchus, Aurora PhillipsAll winners get sub sandwiches on Wednesday.

$50 Gas Card winners are: the parents of Alex Coyne

October 19, 2012

I read the newsletter! Every week you will be able to look for the little smile face below, it will have a little quote with it. Simply copy the quote and reply to my email that you found it. Your child will be entered to win a cool prize from our prize box.

Dear Families,Update on the construction:! The most recent report from our contractor, Dowland, is that the paving will need to wait until next year.

They will top off the area near the entry with D1 material and pack it down so that we have a semi smooth area for the winter. The parking lot was enlarged. ! The inside of the building has really taken shape! All the plumbing, electrical wiring, and walls are in

place. The sheetrock has arrived and has been moved into the building through the windows. The windows are the next to go in. (The office staff is especially excited to have the windows installed since it has been quite chilly with the heat escaping out of those window holes.)! The sewer lines, including the grinder and pump station, are connected from the building to the city of

Palmer sewer. All of these were sized to include the next phase of construction.

6th, 7th and 8th grade Intensives! Kudos to our amazing teachers for the extra effort and time in designing and implementing fantastic learning intensives for our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. With small groups of 8 – 10 students, they were able to provide numerous hands on, challenging tasks and activities. The intensive learning opportunities met and surpassed our goals to:• Influence students to think and be responsible. • Support students to be "interesting, knowledgeable, well rounded" • Mix it up - change it up to develop neuro-pathways• Provide unique, hands on, intensive learning opportunities for Academy students.

Halloween ! Halloween at Academy is designed to be a fun activity for our students. NO gore, blood, or weapon-like toys are allowed. Costumes should be fun. Please no costumes that are scary or would scare a younger student.! ! Barbara Gerard, Principal

Hat and Scarves ! Samples are now in the office for the 4th grade fundraiser. Come on in and look!!! It's not too late to order your Academy winter hats and scarves.  Orders will be accepted through Monday, October 22.  All proceeds will go to MY House in support of homeless teens in our community.  Samples are now in the office.  These make great birthday and holiday gifts!

Job Corner Get your hours now!

1 There is a list of repairs that teachers need your help with (doors and a few outdoor lights) 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. Thank you.

2 HomeRoom Parents needed for grades: 1st, 2nd and 7th

3 Help with Pizza Day, call Kat 357-3046 Needed: at least one parent

4 Art needs donations of wire hangers, a calligraphy person.

5 A laminating project is in the office and is available for parent hours.

Date to Mark

Time Field Trips and More

Oct 27 6:30 School Auction held at Evangelo's.

Oct 31 Pumpkin Waffle Day for K, 1, & 2 grades

Oct 31 1:00 Halloween Parties begin all grades in the classrooms.

Nov 2 11:30 PIZZA DAY

Nov 2 1:00 EARLY RELEASE

Nov 14 8:00 Picture Retakes

Nov 21 Tommy Turkey Play

Nov 22 & 23

Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday

Early Release Days will be

Pizza day/Nov. 2 Order slips will be due the Wednesday of that week, October 31 for this months pizza!

Dress your student for the daily weather. Students have recess every day.

Chess Club?   Is anyone interested in joining a Chess Club? The focus would be on learning to play and friendly competition. We would meet on Wednesdays immediately after school (3-4pm). If you're interested please email Maria Shepherd at bjruckus2@yahoo.com.

GET a Surprise

Gift!For those of you unable to attend the auction you can buy a raffle ticket(s) for $20, $40, $75 Grab Bag Gifts! They are in front office.

Classroom News K-2

Kindergarten NotesThis week we read stories about

monsters. It is a good time with all the holiday hype to reassure them that monsters are from our imaginations. There are also many fun stories to be shared. We introduced two new phonograms- SH and EE. Next week we will assess our students on the sounds they know and give you the results at student led conferences. Our small reading groups have each brought home a book to share/practice with you.

In math we began skip counting. Each student brought home a paper to help them practice skip counting by 2s. One of their favorite activities was creating a book based on the cheer: 2, 4, 6, 8! Who do we appreciate? Now each of them can chant at least the first 4 numbers in skip counting by 2s.

Hope to see you all soon at conferences on the October 25 and 26.

Ronni Berg

First Grade Facts The class is on the brink of change . . . They have learned the first 45 phonograms successfully and have practiced handwriting enough to begin entering words into our Spalding books the week after conferences. We discuss nouns and verbs daily that are found in our mystery sentence and I purposefully make mistakes in the sentence for “Fool Ya Fridays.” We ended chapter four with a cumulative test that I will share at conference time. We have been playing domino games involving addition and missing parts in addition. Math is also on the brink of change . . . If the smileys win for the morning, the kids have been able to finish “Spelling Dictation Fun” or do a math game. After conferences, the class will now have Math Centers to go to daily. They need to accomplish the Folding Paper task each day (which is very reasonable) to do Centers though. After 43 days of school, your kids have already matured so much in both academics and behavior . . . You should be proud!! Keep in touch. Mrs. Mayer

Second Grade News! If you did not get your conference schedule, please call the office to check your time for next week.   For my class and Mrs. Liebing's class,  we will be needing some pumpkins(un-carved) for pumpkin math activities.   We will not be cutting them.   There will be a sign up at the conferences.   We will need them for Monday, October 29 through the 31st.! My math and reading kids need to bring their apple on Monday.(Oct. 22)   We will celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday with activities throughout the 3 days next week.   Make sure to write down what type of apple it is.   ! Thanks! Have a great weekend!   Mrs. Booth

News from Mrs. Liebing’s Room! We are back in the swing of things this week with homework and a poem and everything! We are through Chapter 3 in math and took our test on Friday. We spent much time reviewing number ideas this week with several different tools. This chapter really had many different skills in it and was a lot to learn and remember. Next we go on to Chapter Four and we will be working on mental addition and subtraction.! Next week we will not have a spelling test or homework packet, since it is a short week. We will have a few weeks off from memorizing poems. We will be listening to some other poems and core knowledge stories in class for a while.! I hope to see everyone at conferences next week.! ! Mrs. Liebing

2nd grade, Owl Pellet dissection, with Mrs. Tompkins

Classroom News 3 & 4

Benbow Buzz! Language Arts-We had a great week! Spelling packets and reading packets went out. We finished reading Treasure Island and began writing summaries about it. We worked on dictionary skills while reviewing the meanings of more homophones. ! Math-We began Chapter Two this week. We learned how to use different strategies to do Mental Math and used our rounding skills to estimate the answers for addition and subtraction problems. Timed multiplication tests are completed every day. Please ensure that your child is practicing every night. ! LAX-Both classes worked on Paragraph Edits. Fourth grade finished their essays about Academy Charter School and fifth grade practiced phonemes and homophones.

Third Grade News! This week we had our first spelling test of the year as well as our first math test. Our next spelling test will be the 2nd week in November. Next week for spelling we will work on Narrative and Informative types of writing. The math test went well. I was able to implement some fantastic new ideas I learned while we were in Dallas at the NCTM conference. Next week we will begin chapter 2 and continue to practice the skills that still need work. Some important dates coming up: • ! Wed. October 27 will be our Halloween party starting

at 1:00. We will need parents to bring in some healthy treats and Halloween treats. I am also looking for volunteers to plan and run an activity. The sign up sheet will be posted on the bulletin board outside of the office.

• ! On Friday, November 2 we will have our tryouts for the Tommy Turkey play. I will send scripts home earlier that week. The kids will need to pick three parts they might be interested in and then they will tryout for the part. All practices will be held during class. Costumes are provided by the school but I will need volunteers with some things as well. I’ll send more information on that later. In case you need to ask for the time off, we will be doing two performances in the morning of Wed. November 21. Turkey noodle soup lunch will immediately follow.

Fourth Grade Factoids ! I was working with Middle School students this week, running an intensive, so Mr. Pasley was with the 4 graders all week.

In reading class, students learned about facts versus opinions and points of view. They also did a reading packet on the Oregon Trail and practiced with words using /ey/ and /ie/.

In math class, students practiced subtraction with regrouping. They learned about expressions versus equations and what a variable is. They also practiced using complimentary numbers to add to 100 and 1000.! Mrs. Ambrosius

Miracles come in moments be ready and willing.-Everyday Wisdom, Dr. Dyer

Classroom News from 5th

The Real ReportUPCOMING: * Police Detective visit October 24*Parent teacher conferences: Oct 25-26*Halloween Party: Oct 31 @ 1pm (Need help organizing “Minute to Win it” games.)*Three Little Pigs (AJT) Nov 1-(need parent Drivers)! LA: This week students finished up a fun and interactive book/unit, The Mixed-up Files.... They studied vocabulary words, wrote complex sentences, and toured several virtual museums and art galleries. Additionally, students responded to each chapter in various ways. They wrote a letter, a short expository essay, and even began writing a creative story (DUE MONDAY). Most students completed the work in class and those who did not finish had homework. We finished up learning Spalding spelling rules, all about homophones, and even took several quizzes to test retention and understanding. Next week is short, but will be very exciting! Have a great weekend! *PS: be sure to always check my website!

Math: The math conference was wonderful! I came home with several great ideas, which I began implementing this week. First, I created a “Math Workshop” which is designed to give students hands on practical application of the ideas that we are learning. The kids really loved it and seemed to pick up the new structure quickly. Next, I began focusing on math vocabulary by creating several ways for the students to learn and interact with math terms. We made an alphabetical list, and then used a folding paper technique to create a study guide. We continued our “Magic number warm up and to practice ALEKS ! ! !Have a great weekend! *PS: be sure to always check my website! ! ! Mrs. Real

Mr. Olson’s Pack! Language Arts-This week in language arts the kids began a new book, Sherlock Holmes. They have been working on some vocabulary to start with so expect to see some homework next week that includes these vocabulary words.! Math-The class began chapter three today. We will continue working on place value. The class is also using ALEKS about three times per week in class and don’t forget that they can access it at home as well.

Reports from our LabsWorld of WritingBy Mrs. Weetman! This marks the last week of this rotation for the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. All three classes were working on writing a wanted poster. They were a lot of fun and look great.

From Around the WorldBy Mrs. Booth!The third graders dove into landforms this week.   We searched and found them on maps, we defined them, and started drawing them.   We will finish next rotation.   The fourth graders have been working on global lines.   The fifth graders finished global lines with a Candy bar activity.   They had to use coordinates to locate the position on earth where all of their ingredients came from. !

ExperimentsBy Mrs. TompkinsK-2 has been studying nocturnal animals.

Kindergarten and first grade learned about bats. Second grade had a wonderful time dissecting owl pellets. Most of the kids took home al of the bones and skulls that they found. The company sterilizes the materials before distribution, so there should be no worries about handling the bones.!

Espanol.

Spanish NewsBy Miss Agoff

Kindergartners last class until November ended with project work. They illustrated the Halloween song “Calabaza” which they have been gleefully singing all rotation.! First and second graders have had a fun time learning their body parts and testing this week. We also started making our Spanish Books so that we have a year long record of the learning that has taken place. We had fun this week eating prickly pear cactus and writing about how we liked it on our Me Gusta/No Me Gusta Page.

!

ComputerBy Mr. OlsonThe primary grades have been busy at work on many different websites this rotation. They have been navigating through many different early literacy websites and new this rotation is discoverykids.com. Second grade has also been working on garageband and creating their own music.

News from the Top, 6th and 7th grades

6th Grade News It's been a great intensive week.   Our students could not be more excited about learning.   Special thanks to all the staff who've worked so hard to include our sixth graders.  We have had more parent involvement than ever this year.   Mr. Titus says thank you to Shelly for helping out in his life sciences class.  Mr. Schumacher thanks Jim Gonski from Alaska Kayak Academy for the gear, support, instruction, and advice.  Trent Farris and Dave Musgrave were a great help paddling, teaching, driving, and showing kids how to be safe on the land and water.    We plan to see most parents next week for conferences, we feel our students are performing amazingly well.

News@7! Intensive week has been intense!   The class that I taught was gold mining in Alaska.   We had many representatives from the mining community who came in to talk with our students about gold and the process of mining.   On our first day miners, who are parents of one our students and our own Senorita Catarina came in to demonstrate for the class how to pan gold in preparation for our field trip to do our own gold panning.! We went down to Anchorage to Oxford Assay to see what their business was all about. All the students got a great explanation on what happens to gold after miners bring it into their office.   While we were at the assay office the manager brought out a 278 troy ounces gold bar valued at $450,000, which all of the students got to hold and have a photo taken holding it.   That bar of gold was so dense that I could hardly believe the weight of it in my hands.  ! The students were given medallion tokens from both Oxford Assay and the Alaska Mint.   All the students are much richer for their experience in the gold mining intensive.   Students worked cooperatively in their gold panning for placer gold.   They found some color in their gold pans!! Thank you so much to those parents who drove, especially Britt Cooper and Burns Fouch!  ! Enjoy your weekends with your families!   Check your time for parent/teacher meetings for next week.! Mr. Reilly & Mr. Bergey

Espanol Siempre!Senorita Caterina! Middle Schoolers who participated in the Second Saturday Art Walk in Palmer were able to earn extra credit in Spanish Class if they went to various Hispanic art displays and activities. The Palmer Visitor’s center had a lovely display of ofrendas in honor of El Dia De Los Muertos while the Eagle Hotel hosted a mariachi band (Agave Azul) and two dancing groups (Anchorage’s excellent Xochiquetzal- Tiquin and Fronteras student dance group. We were very lucky to have the opportunity to see such great groups without leaving town!! No Spanish for 6th, 7th and 8th graders due to intensives.

Adventures in History with Mrs. A! No class this week due to intensives.

Movie making intensive-For this fall intensive we had a goal of incorporating as many special effects as possible into a short skit that we created ourselves. The effects that we mastered were making someone disappear, adding muzzle flashes, and cloning ourselves. The kids were extremely creative and did an amazing job working together to create their cinematic masterpieces. Mr. Olson

The last year,

Making news with Mrs. Molina! Fall Intensives have ended but it was a fabulous week! The Essentials of Cooking was a very successful. I truly enjoyed working with our group & time just flew by. We cooked, cooked and cooked some more. On Wednesday, we were fortunate enough to visit the home of Mrs. Denise Statz to learn about using sourdough starter and were fortunate to leave with a starter for their own use at home. Our week culminated in the preparation and serving lunch to the Academy staff. ! Next week we are back to business as usual. Furthermore conferences are next Thursday & Friday. If you are unsure of your conference time, please email me at stacy.molina@matsuk12.us ! Have a fabulous weekend! ! Mrs. Molina

8Science with Tompkins! No labs were held due to intensives. The extra credit packet is due on the 23rd.

REAL English 1 ENGLISH 1 with Mrs. Real:0)! This week students were in intensives so no LA-We did, however, have a writing assignment due on Monday. Have a great weekend! *PS: be sure to always check my website! ! ! Mrs. Real

Algebra! Class was not held due to intensives. The homework packet is due now! I’m looking forward to sharing some of the great Algebra teaching strategies and materials that I learned about at our math conference in Dallas!!

Hunter Education gets some practice and students pass tests.