The final four weeks of school have arrived. We have a few important dates to note. The last Galileo testing will be the 14th through the 17th. We will have a basketball awards assembly at 3 pm on the 16th. Our Splash Day is scheduled for the 23rd so please make sure your student brings a towel and change of clothes with them this day. There will be no school on Monday the 27th for Memorial Day. We have half days the 28th-31st. The End of the Year Awards Assembly is the 28th at 10 am for 5th-7th grade. We will have a family barbeque on the last day of school. Our time slot for 5th-7th grade is at 11:45. Please come enjoy some great food with us and your student(s). 

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AZ Merit is done and we only have one month left of school. We are focusing on the American Revolution in Social Studies as we finish and begin our last review before Galileo. The final test will be May 14th-17th. We are canceling formal parent/teacher conferences the last week of school but as always, I am willing to meet with you at anytime to discuss your child's progress throughout the year. Please let me know if you'd like a meeting before school is out.

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AZ Merit starts this week with the writing portion. Please help us out by encouraging your student to study, get a good night sleep, and not stay up late Wednesday night "playing video games".  

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AZ Merit testing has been pushed back one week. That gives us a little more time to prepare. This week, 5th grade is focused on flight and volcanoes, 6th grade is learning about trade and its importance on history and current affairs, and 7th grade is researching historical figures and writing an informative essay about them.

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Welcome back from Spring Break. We are on a big push this week to review materials in order to better prepare ourselves for the AZ Merit test. We also have Junior Achievement coming in for a full day lesson this Thursday. 5th Grade has their Ego Pollo Mission this week. If any parents have questions please reach out to me any time. 

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Spring Break is one week away! With AZ Merit only two weeks after the break, we are focused hard on getting ready for the Reading, Writing, and Math sections that students will see for that test. Students have been taking notes in all classes and we are using those to better ourselves in Science and History. Many students have asked for work to do over the break to continue to prepare for their tests. This is not assigned homework, as we are a no homework school, but something they can do if they want to. 

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We have only two weeks of school before Spring Break. We are working on practice questions for AZMerit so that the students are more familiar with what that will look like before the test in April. 5th grade is learning about gravity with a fun project that Mr. Schuerman will be assisting us with. 6th grade is working on researching any historical figure of their choice and writing an informative paper about that person. 7th grade is studying how matter transfers and WWI. 

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This week we do not have school on Monday the 18th because of President's Day. The rest of the week we have half days and Parent-Teacher conferences every afternoon. If you did not receive a sign-up sheet for conferences from your child, please call the school to reach me, or email me at jnabors@victorycollegiateacademy.com to set up a time to meet. I cannot wait to meet with each of you to discuss the amazing progress that your students have made over the last quarter we have worked together. 

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Whew! Galileo is over and the scores are amazing! I could not be more proud of my students! We have some amazing growth from our first test in November until now! They have really shown that they are paying attention in class and learning the material. Now, we focus on the remainder of the year before AZ Merit in May. 

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We are actually gearing up for a Science Fair for 6th-Grade! They are currently selecting their projects and beginning the research phase of the process. 7th-grade is building greenhouses to learn more about the lifecycle of plants and how the suns radiation plays a part. 5th-grade is studying the composition of the Earth.

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This week will be a quick week. We have Galileo Science testing on Monday for 5th grade. 6th grade takes their Galileo Science test with me Tuesday and 7th grade is on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, Mrs. Nabors, Mr. Abeyta, and I are taking 6th and 7th grade to Talkingstick Resort Arena for their Future Planning Field Trip. This should be an awesome event for them with the Phoenix Suns and several other great participants. Then we have a normal half day on Friday!

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One more week until testing and the field trip! This week we have a lot of exciting assignments. 5th Grade is working on an animal research paper to help them learn how to properly conduct research, paraphrase the information, and cite their sources. They are looking up facts and information about the animal they chose to present it in an informative essay. 6th Grade is going to watch "The First Man" movie, about Neil Armstrong's moon landing and answer questions about it as they watch. They will have to pay close attention to the historical facts in this movie to answer the questions. 7th Grade is doing a plant project. They are looking at the influence of the sun's energy and how it impacts plant growth.

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This week we are preparing for our upcoming Galileo test. With only two weeks until that test, we are excited to see how our scores have improved from our first test we took in November. This will be a good barrometer of our science material and how far we have come in the two months of class since we made the transition to this rotation. In Social Studies/History, we are focusing on the Mexican Revoultion. The students expressed interest in learning more about this historical event so we are discussing the important figures and events that led this revolution and changed the course of history. 

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What a week. We discussed how our break's went, reviewed our materials from last semester to determine what areas we need further development in, and also discussed future project options. We are looking forward to our upcoming field trip and Galileo testing. 

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Welcome back to the second half of the school year! I hope everyone had a great holiday break! We are launching straight into our lessons this semester with learning more about Space and the Solar system as well as the Revolutionary War and the US Constitution. We will wrap these Units up in the next few days and move on to our next Units of study!

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This week we are going to explore the history of Christmas and wrap up the semester's lessons with a week long review before Winter Break. Please make sure students return from break prepared for class with the proper school supplies, such as pencils and paper, and are ready for a new semester of amazing projects and learning. 

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Only two weeks of class left before Winter Break. It is hard to believe the time has gone by so quickly. The students are loving my class and the experiments we are doing. I have seen some of them really light up when we talk about history or science and I am thrilled that they are enjoying the new focus we have on these subjects. We took our first tests this past Friday in all three classes and I was pleased with the results of the students' focus on their Science material.

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The first few weeks have been going really well. We even have our first classroom pet, a panther chameleon that the students named Galaxy because of his blue and white coloring that resembles the galaxies that we have been studying in class lately. I think the name is fitting and the kids really love learning about him and helping to take care of him. 

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I am excited to start with the students. We have a new rotation and a new routine to establish. I cannot wait to get to know them and for them to get to know me. I think they will really enjoy Science and Social Studies and the fact that I teach with a very hands-on mindset in regards to these subjects.