The 2022-2023 academic year is upon us, Wood Acres’ 53rd year of continuous teaching, learning, and caring! Milestones are important and valued as they cause us to pause, look back, reminisce, and smile. Over 25,000 lucky children have experienced that TLC at the Woods either during the 53 school years or almost 50 years of summer camp experiences! This unique school nestled in its own little valley certainly has made a huge positive impact on children’s lives in Cobb County and neighboring counties as well.
The blessing of 50+ years has Wood Acres woven into the fiber of a geographic area that has changed and grown as decades of families who once attended Wood Acres now bring their own children here each day. Within these 50+ years we have shared so many joys and some painful sadness. We have laughed until our cheeks hurt and cried along with students and families struggling with life. We have built new structures and repaired the old. We have celebrated more birthdays and life celebrations than we can count. We have savored the joys of the toddler who can now skip, the Grammar School child who now reads confidently, and the middle schooler who can teach his/her own parents the intricacies of advanced math and scientific principles. We have weathered challenges in the field of education and in the health arena of the last few years. We have proudly watched as our graduates soar in high school and seek amazing careers in so many challenging and exciting fields.
But reminiscing is just not enough. “Don’t look back too much. You are not going that way!” is a wise and clever proverb. As long as families yearn for the best for their children and seek a special place for them to learn and thrive in a safe warm environment and will partner with their child through all the formative years, The Wood Acres School will be here! The road less traveled is and always has been and will be the education journey for us. Thank you for joining us as we travel together, as we learn together, and as we revel in the joys of childhood and the dreams of happiness that knows no bounds.
That IS the Wood Acres way!
Whether new or legacy families, we cannot wait to welcome you “home!
ELA: We will start writing rough drafts this week for our research paper. We will focus on the first two sections: the introduction paragraph and the geography paragraph. Each paragraph will be modeled for the whole group, and then students will individually create their rough draft paragraph. After each paragraph, I will conference with them to iron out any errors and make sure all research is included. In Daily Reading Comprehension this week, we will use the “make connections” strategy to help students put what they are reading into context by helping them see the connections between the text and themselves, the world around them, and other things they have read or seen.
Science: In lab, students are learning about food chains and food webs. They will learn that food webs consists of different levels of organisms that all contribute to the total biomass of an ecosystem. In our next Investigation, we will introduce the concept of adaptation.
History: Students will finish up any research they did not finish at the end of last week and start creating their posters to present to the class about our early presidents. In Daily Geography, we’ll look at a special political map of the Appalachian Trail. We’ll talk about the differences between footpaths, routes, and trails. We’ll use information from the inset map to help us figure out which states are included and what hikers might encounter on the trail. Please let me know if you know anyone who has hiked their trail and would like to share information or pictures regarding their experience!
Math: On Monday, students will have their customary units of measurement quiz. They have a green sheet in their binders to use as a study tool. Throughout the week, we will continue with metric units of capacity and metric units of mass. We will have a workbook quiz that will pull questions directly from workbook pages 71-79 on Thursday. We will end the week looking at temperature using thermometers, comparing Celsius to Fahrenheit, and practicing problem solving using measurements.
Quarter 3 is quickly coming to an end…can you believe it?! The last day of the 3rd quarter is March 13th and report cards will come home the following week.
ACADEMIC
• Next week is the 9’s/ 10’s math test. We plan to finish addition math timed tests the week of March 16th. We will begin subtraction facts before we go on Spring break and we start with the 12’s. I highly suggest practicing those soon!
• As discussed at conferences, quarter 4 Footprints will be completed independently at home. Your child can choose any picture book or chapter book. If they choose a chapter book, 3 or 4 Footprints can be written to summarize the book. Instead of 9 Footprints, they will need to complete 7 by Friday, May 15th. I would recommend continuing to hand in one a week instead of waiting until the end of the quarter to hand them all in. As a reminder, these are a grade on their report card. In order to receive an ‘E”, your child need to hand in a neatly written Footprint that has a detailed summary with multiple sentences (continuing to use transition words and no dialog.)
• The student’s last project of the year will be presented on Monday, May 11th. There will be more information to share mid-March. This is an at home project and can be any story of their choosing. Often, kids pick their favorite story to share and create a project to go along with it. Please no posters or drawing on a piece of paper, we are looking for creativity. The project can be constructed from materials found around the house or old boxes to make dioramas (just to name a few). Students are encouraged to be imaginative.
EVENTS/PARTIES
• March plans to be a busy month! Shortly we will begin our Leprechaun traps with hopes to catch those pesky Leprechauns. To prepare you (please DO NOT tell your child) I make our room an absolute disaster and they LOVE it!!
I like to leave treats and treasures around the room…left by the “Leprechauns.” If you would like to donate items, please feel free. I can always use themed pencils, stickers, or other goodies. Snack is a drop off event. Please send in something that is easy to pass out and drink (ex. green rice crispy treats and green juice or Gatorade.)
• We will have our Spring celebration Friday, April 3rd from 11:00-12:00, lunch from 12:00-12:30, and dismissal at 1:00. There will be more info to follow. Every child who would like to participate will need to send in 12 plastic (already filled and sealed) eggs for the egg hunt (which will take place on the playground). Many parents like to volunteer for this party; please be prepared to help and do lots of work! Terry will get more details from me soon and will send out a volunteer list, outdoor games list, and a snack and drink sign-up.
A few housekeeping reminders:
• Please return Friday Folders each Monday.
• Homework folders should be returned each day with homework completed.
• Mrs. Peltier’s folder should be brought back in order to change out the books.
• Please continue to read these books with your child nightly.
• Please sign reading slips (for Superkids hardcover book at home) and send it back by the due date.
•Please return library books each Tuesday.
Hello Everyone! My last blog of the year is finally here and now we turn the page to 2020. It just sounds weird to me to say 2020! This week found us busy with the following:
* Science on Monday – ask the kiddos if they can tell you what object we used (it has to do with Christmas candy)
* Book Buddies – we were invited to their classroom to chat and do a gingerbread sticker house
* Wednesday was of course our holiday party/pajama day! Thanks to all the parent helpers who were here to help out!
* Thursday we got a little Math in, talking about symmetry and learning to put pieces together to complete a whole picture.
* Friday will fly by since we all leave campus at 1:00! No Treehouse care available.
If the kiddos get bored over the break, have them practice writing their name AND practice putting on their coat by themselves. Pictures are attached.
Have a joyous and restful holiday season, not to mention a very happy New Year!
We’ve had a busy week in second grade and have been working very hard on our next bulletin board writing, how to create the perfect gingerbread house and telling a humorous fictional story about how they became stuck in a snow globe. I was blown away with the creativity of the class, and was so proud of their written work. I’m sure you will be too!
Important Notes:
– Our Chrome Concert is is Thursday, December 12th at 6:30. We have many performers in our class!
– Book Reports are Due Monday, December 16th – Reminder that students need to write 10 true or false facts, five of which are true, and five that are false. With their visual aid they need to be able to speak knowledgably about their topic. Visual aids should provide information about their topic. Please do not print out pictures of their topic and put it on a poster board. They should be drawing, or sketching pictures, OR if they are using photos from the internet, there also needs to be facts about their topic as well.
– Our Winter Party is Thursday, December 19th from 2:15-3:00. All are welcome to attend!
This Week:
Language Arts: Reading We will begin this week with an informational text called “Schools Around the World.” Our essential question this week is ‘How are some schools different from each other?’
Grammar: We will begin working quotation marks.
Vocabulary Strategies: We will be working on using a dictionary.
Comprehension Skills and Strategies: Main Idea and Details, as well as text and graphic features. We will also work on analyzing and evaluating.
Phonics: Vowel Digraphs ee, and ea
Math: We are finishing up Chapter 4. We will have a check progress on Tuesday December 10th, and a Chapter 4 Test on Wednesday, December 18th.
History: This week we will be finishing our Japan unit. The class worked very hard on their haikus and will be coming home with a study guide for a test on Wednesday, December 11th.
This week, I feel like Fall is finally upon us with cool mornings and if you look closely, you can see the leaves on top of our campus trees turning colors. Because we have cool mornings, the children are wearing their jackets to school. PLEASE LABEL ALL OUTERWEAR with your child’s name. I cannot tell you how many jackets are lost because children leave jackets on the playground, in Specials or in Tree House! Thanks so much!
We had fun this week with Number 3! First, the class heard the flannel board story of “The Three Little Pigs,” and then we created that adorable craft of the three houses with puppets so your child can reenact the story with a puppet show. We acted out the story by singing the song from Jack Hartman. The kids loved it so much, we played it twice. Ask your child to tell the story to you. They also heard the flannel board story of “The 3 Silly Wishes,” about a woodcutter who is granted 3 wishes and inadvertently wishes for the wrong things. It is a hilarious tale! Another story told on the flannel board was, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” From this story, we learned to place things in small, medium and large sizes.
To reinforce Number 4, the children were introduced to the four seasons. Your child’s project showed a tree covered with a different color depending on the season.
In Investigator Club, the boys and girls again interacted with the number board. They take turns placing 4 stars on the board, putting 4 sticks in a pocket, drawing 4 circles, drawing a line from dot 1 to dot 4 and holding up 4 fingers. They also find and count 4 objects in a set on a flap board and find the numeral 4 among other numerals. We do these activities for each number up to 10.
On Friday, the class finally got to meet our Book Buddies, the 7th graders! We had lunch together at the picnic tables (see photo) and then the big kids read books to them in our classroom. I taught two of the 7th graders when they were three and it just seemed like yesterday…Claire Dunn
Photo Highlight of the Week: We had fun reviewing our knowledge of decimal place value with fun partner games including Place Value Yahtzee, Decimal Tic-Tac-Toe, and Estimating Extravaganza dice game!
Math: Our first unit test is on Monday! Remember, the best way to prepare for a math test is with practice, practice, practice! To help students practice in a fun way, I emailed parents a Jeopardy review game they can play at home this weekend, as well as a study guide detailing all of the topics covered on the test. On Tuesday, we will kick off our multiplication unit! Our focus within this unit will be improving mental math skills by focusing on multiplication patterns with zeros and practicing finding larger products with 3 digit multiplicands and multipliers!
Science: In lab this week, we enjoyed examining our own cheek cells under the microscope! What a fun learning experience! In Investigation Three and Four, students learn about the similarities and differences of plant and animal cells. On Monday, I will introduce our cell model project! This is a fun enrichment project that former students love! Students will create an edible or non-edible 3-D model of a plant or animal cell to share with others on Monday, October 14th. This project really helps students understand the similarities and differences of the organelles present in the plant and animal cells and their functions! Please look for resources that will come home in Friday Folders that will help students with their projects. I will attach a note to them, so you know which references to keep!
In Friday Folders, you also should have found an optional enrichment activity that supports what we learned in lab within Investigation Two Students enjoyed examining their fingerprints in lab, so I thought it would be fun to let them explore the world of dactyloscopy at home! The packet includes interesting background information about the field of dactyloscopy and fun experiments they can try at home to lift and examine fingerprints at home! If students decide to complete one of the experiments, they can bring it in class to share and earn 5 bonus test points on a future test or project! If they decide to participate, they must bring it in to share by September 20th.
ELA: Students are loving our Tuck Everlasting novel! On Friday, we discovered that the Tuck’s horse has been stolen, and we have our suspicions of who it may be! This week, we will find out for sure! Last week, students were introduced to new vocabulary words for chapters 9-14. The test will be on Wednesday, September 11th. This list of vocabulary terms does not have words with similar meanings like our last list; therefore, the format will be different. The test will still consist of a matching section where students are expected to match terms with definitions and a complete the sentence section. However, the choices will not be limited like the last test. They will be given a word bank that includes all the terms to select from. In grammar, we will learn how to identify direct and indirect objects and learn how to diagram them!
History: Our first group of current event presentations took place this week. I was very impressed with the preparedness of the presenters and thoughtful questions from the audience! I always look forward to hearing which topics interest our fifth graders and usually learn something new myself! In Daily Geography this week, we will focus on the hemispheres of Earth. We’ll compare the views of Earth, look at the lines of latitude and longitude, equator, and prime meridian. We will finish up our last region, Alaska and Hawaii on Monday. Last Friday, students researched Alaska and Hawaii and picked out the 10 most important facts about each unique states, we’ll share those facts on Monday. Students will also receive a study guide to narrow down the topics found within this unit in preparation for our test on Friday. We’ll play a review game to help prepare as well!
Other: Don’t forget to join us for our big 50th celebration here on campus on Sunday, September 15th from 2:00-4:00 p.m.! We would also love the extra love and support at the East Cobber Parade on Saturday, September 14th from 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.!
Week at a Glance:
Monday: Ch 1 Math Test
Wednesday: Tuck Ch 9-14 Vocab Test
Friday: History Test
Saturday: (Sept 14th)- East Cobber Parade 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Sunday: (Sept 15th)- Constitution Day/WA 50th Anniversary Celebration 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Today we welcomed our Kindergarten through 8th grade students as we began our exciting 50th year of serving the educational needs of students and their families. No small feat for an independent school!
Today we returned to a campus that is lovingly cared for and tended by an amazing team of faculty and staff.
Today we embraced our strong traditions of teaching, learning, and caring that permeate all we know, see, say, and do.
Today we honor our past, begin this new school year NOW, and anticipate the WOW that the future holds for The Wood Acres School.
Graduation of The Wood Acres School’s current eighth graders followed the next day by an on campus Honors Assembly for all students annually wrap up each academic year @ the Woods. Each event is steeped in tradition and celebration as we bid our graduates a fond farewell and honor achievement in grades fourth through eighth.
While caps and gowns are left to high school and university graduations, Wood Acres mixes a bit of British history with our own twist. Graduates don a “sub fusc” which is a black open short robe with arm length epaulets. This garb originated in the United Kingdom for university undergraduates and that is where we purchase them. Graduates also wear two cords around their necks, symbolic of green for the Woods and gold and green to represent their stellar accomplishment in graduating from our outstanding school. Graduates get to keep one cord as a memento and the other is then passed to the rising eighth graders to wear at their ceremony the following year. A prelude of light classical music welcomes the procession of our graduates to the ceremony led by the Head of School and followed by the Upper School faculty led by the Principal. Faculty wear academic hoods over their shoulders in the colors of their last attended university.
Graduates at the Wood Acres ceremony are seen and heard as they have an opportunity to speak to the gathered family and friends as to their time @ the Woods, their next educational steps, and what the school has meant to them. This year’s class 2019, the largest ever, will speak in groups based on the length of time they have matriculated at Wood Acres. Many have been here for over 5 years- some since they were two years old! The Head of School and Principal share their thoughts as well to send them on their way with pride and accomplishment for a job well done.
Students are awarded their diplomas as well as the US Presidential Academic Excellence Award, International Spanish Academy diplomas given through the Embassy of Spain, and a Certificado de Asistencia from the Universidad de Pontificia if they participated in the study abroad trip to Spain.
The ceremony ends with a much more 21st century vibe as students and faculty recess to pop music the students selected to the cheers and tears of proud family and friends. After group photos, this special day culminates with a catered lunch for all, gifts for the grads, and some fond hugs and farewells.
Three Cheers for the Wood Acres Graduating Class of 2019!
