10 / 2 / 2026

💡ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Please bring "Frog and Toad" by Thursday, October 15th, if you haven't yet. Thank you!
• We are doing an Animal Report during the second quarter to be due in January. More information about this will be given during the Parent-Teacher Conferences. 
• Sign-up link for the Parent-Teacher Conferences on October 12-13 through this link:  https://archwaychandler.configio.com/

💡DATES TO REMEMBER

• Friday, October 2nd - Early dismissal at 12:30
• October 5th - 9th - No school (FALL BREAK)
• Monday-Tuesday, October 12th-13th - Parent Teacher Conferences
• October 19th - 23rd - Hearing and Vision Screening
• October 24th: Trunk or Treat (4:30–6:30 pm)
• October 27th: Picture Retakes
• October 28th: Classical Character Day
• November 8th: Mother Son Kickball (12 pm)
• November 11th: No school (VETERAN'S DAY)
• November 24th - Field Trip at the Phoenix Zoo (We need 10 parent chaperones for each class. Sign up coming to Configio on October 19th.)

💡REMINDERS:

1. The scholars should bring the following daily:

• Water bottle with name
• Healthy and dry snacks in front pocket
• Take Home folder (please make sure scholars empty it at home)

2. Please review the Driveline procedure here: directionsforparentsdrivelin.docx We have also attached the file in the resources on the right side of this webpage.

💡WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK 

📕 LITERATURE / GRAMMAR: We finished our Owl at Home series, and started Aesop's Fables! We retold the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" through a reader's theater. We will read about "The Dog in the Manger and The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing" next week.  Additionally, we will kick off our Frog and Toad Series by the end of the week.  

In Grammar, we continued to talk about nouns - common and proper, and practiced story narration.

📕 SAYINGS: 

• Wolf in sheep's clothing  

• Practice makes perfect.

• If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
• Fish out of water 

📕 POETRY: We were proud to see our scholars recite their poems!

 

📕 READING: Thank you to our first quarter parent reading volunteers! We still have slots for the month. We need volunteers every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:15 - 11:45. Check your teacher's page on top for the reading volunteer signup. 

Sight Word Bookmarks will be on a ring in your child's reading bag or in a binder sleeve. We will be testing for sight word knowledge once a week. During this time, we will be moving students to the next sight word list if they have mastered the previous one. (Please do not mark off sight words at home- we will do this in class). 

📕 SPALDING: Continue practicing at home the phonograms they haven't mastered yet. Check out the Spalding resources on this website to review letter formations, spelling/Spalding rules and phonogram list.

 We practiced jobs of silent final e:

                rule 7:  Job 1: e jumps over the consonant to make the vowel say its name

                             Job 2: English words don't end in u or v

                             Job 3: e makes the g say /j/ and c say /s/

                             Job 4: Every syllable needs a vowel

                             Job 5: e has no job

                 rule 4: Vowels say their name at the end of a syllable

                 rule 5:  i and y may say /i/ (long sound)  

                 rule 6:  y, not i, is used at the end of an English word

rule 8:    /er/ can be found in "Her first nurse works early."

                 rule 17: Double f, l, s after a single vowel that says its short sound 

rule 18: Use 'ay' to say 'a' at the end of a base word, never alone 

                 rule 19: i and o will say their name if followed by two consonants

 Key:

                                                       new rules covered 

                                                   rules covered this week

         rules covered in the past

📕 MATHEMATICS:  Students were able to identify addition equations and subtraction equations for a given number number bond (Fact Families). They also learned how to compare numbers through subtraction. 

 

📕 HISTORY: We learned about Pharaohs and the everyday people and made puppets for them. We found out that camels are what they used to travel in the desert as well. Next week, we will study about how pharaohs were wrapped in strips of cloth and buried in pyramids. 

📕 SCIENCE: We finished our unit on Sun, Moon, and Stars with a test. We will begin our new unit on Plant and Animal Survival after fall break.

Happy Fall Break! Stay safe and have fun.

1st Grade Team 

9 / 25 / 2026

💡ANNOUNCEMENTS

We are into the final stretch for our first quarter. We are only 1 week from marking the year as a quarter done. This means students need to ensure that they are finishing out the quarter strong, which means keep studying phonograms, continue to turn in neat homework, and work hard to obey classroom rules. If each scholar shows such dedication, they are guaranteed to succeed in first grade. 

From the desk of Nurse Spanbauer:

The week of October 19 through October 23rd is hearing and vision screening.

If your student needs vision aids such as glasses, PLEASE ensure your child comes to school with these aids every day, and particularly during hearing and vison screening dates. We want to eliminate any false fails. 

We are looking for Volunteers to help with our hearing and vision screening. Please sign up in the signup sheet in the school's newsletter if you are able to help. Thank you so much for those who have already signed up!

Flu/Cold season is here. Please continue to teach your children proper hygiene habits such as washing their hands right after using the bathroom, after they cough or sneeze and before they eat or touch their eyes or mouth. Help them practice sneezing or coughing on their sleeve, to help prevent any possible spread of microorganisms.

The health office would like also to remind you that scholars are not allowed to have medications (pre-scribed or over the counter) in their backpacks. This can cause a serious safety concern for all the scholars.  Please reach out to me if your scholar needs to take any prescribed or over the counter medications.

The health office kindly request that, if you receive a call from our health office regarding your scholar needing to go home due to a possible illness, to please make the arrangements necessary so that your scholar may be picked up at a reasonable time. We want to maintain the health and wellbeing of your student as well as all our scholars and staff. Please review the Illness Policy for Students and Staff found in the school website under "Parent Resources" and "Health Office" that we use to determine if we need to send a student home.

Thank you for your cooperation in our goal of keeping our school healthy!

💡DATES TO REMEMBER

• Friday, October 2nd - Early dismissal at 12:30
• October 5th - October 9th - No school (FALL BREAK)
• Monday-Tuesday, October 12th-13th - Parent Teacher Conferences
• October 19th - 23rd - Hearing and Vision Screening
• October 24th: Trunk or Treat (4:30–6:30 pm)
• October 27th: Picture Retakes
• October 28th: Classical Character Day
• November 8th: Mother Son Kickball (12 pm)
• November 11th: No school (VETERAN'S DAY)
• November 24th - Field Trip at the Phoenix Zoo (We need 10 parent chaperones for each class. Sign up coming to Configio on October 19th.)

💡REMINDERS:

1. The scholars should bring the following daily:

• Water bottle with name
• Healthy and dry snacks in front pocket
• Take Home folder (please make sure scholars empty it at home)

2. Please review the Driveline procedure here: directionsforparentsdrivelin.docx We have also attached the file in the resources on the right side of this webpage.

💡WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK 

📕 LITERATURE / GRAMMAR: We've just finished The House at Pooh Corner. We learned a lot about friendship and little lessons about life from those friends! After Pooh and his friends, we met Owl at Home. We will find out more about him next week!

 

In grammar, we have been studying how to write proper nouns of places specifically our cities, the different states of America, and our street names. 

📕 SAYINGS: 

• Wolf in sheep's clothing 

• Practice makes perfect.

• If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
• Fish out of water

  

📕 POETRY: Next week, students will recite one of these poems in front of the class with a group. We will check for posture, accuracy, audience perception and voice.

 

What are Heavy?
by Christina Rossetti

What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow;

What are brief? Today and tomorrow;

What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth;

What are deep? The ocean and truth.

 

Flint 

by Christina Rossetti 

An emerald is as green as grass,

A ruby red as blood;

A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;

A flint lies in the mud.

A diamond is a brilliant stone,

To catch the world's desire;

An opal holds a fiery spark;

But a flint holds fire.

Work (Work While You Work) 

by Anonymous   

Work while you work,

Play while you play,

This is the way 

To be happy each day.

All that you do,

Do with your might,

Things done by half 

Are never done right.

Hearts Are Like Doors 

by Anonymous 

Hearts, like doors, will open with ease,

To very, very little keys,

And don't forget that two of these

Are "Thank you, sir" and "If you please!"

Hope 

by Langston Hughes

Sometimes when I’m lonely,

Don’t know why,

Keep thinkin’ I won’t be lonely

By and by.

Don’t Worry if Your Job is Small (Mighty Oak)

by Anonymous

Don't worry if your job is small, 

And your rewards are few. 

Remember that the mighty oak, 

Was once a nut like you.

📕 READING: Thank you to our parent reading volunteers! We appreciate you giving up your time to help out. We still have open slots for the month. We need volunteers every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:10 - 11:45. Check your teacher's page on top for the reading volunteer signup. 

Sight Word Bookmarks will be on a ring in your child's reading bag or in a binder sleeve. We will be testing for sight word knowledge once a week. During this time, we will be moving students to the next sight word list if they have mastered the previous one. (Please do not mark off sight words at home- we will do this in class). 

📕 SPALDING: Continue practicing at home the phonograms your child hasn't mastered yet. Check out the Spalding resources on this website to review letter formations, spelling/Spalding rules and phonogram list.

 We practiced jobs of silent final e:

                rule 7:  Job 1: e jumps over the consonant to make the vowel say its name

                             Job 2: English words don't end in u or v

                             Job 3: e makes the g say /j/ and c say /s/

                             Job 4: Every syllable needs a vowel

                             Job 5: e has no job

                 rule 4: Vowels say their name at the end of a syllable

                 rule 5:  i and y may say /i/ (long sound)  

                 rule 6:  y, not i, is used at the end of an English word

                  rule 17: Double f, l, s after a single vowel that says its short sound 

rule 18: Use 'ay' to say 'a' at the end of a base word, never alone 

                 rule 19: i and o will say their name if followed by two consonants

 Key:

                                                       new rules covered 

                                                   rules covered this week

         rules covered in the past

📕 MATHEMATICS:  We started our unit on subtraction and discussed when to use them to take away and take a part. You may continue the discussion at home. They will have a check up quiz next week.

 

📕 HISTORY: We opened our unit on Ancient Egypt, studied its geography--and the fact that it's home of the longest river in the world! We created a foldable of the Nile. Have your child use the crocodile cut-out to tour you along the Nile! We also learned about Ancient Egyptian Farming. 

📕 SCIENCE: Scholars observed pictures of the starry night sky to realize the similarity among stars. The Big Dipper constellation was identified through drawing and connecting the seven stars that make it. Scholars also studied the apparent movement of stars and acknowledged the Earth's movement as the reason for the stars' apparent movement in the sky. Scholars stood around the sun and copied the Earth and its movement by moving around the sun while it stays in the same place, along with the stars. Scholars also heard the book, Stargazers by Gail gibbons to reinforce what they have learned about stars.

Have a good weekend!

1st Grade Team 

9 / 18 / 2025

💡ANNOUNCEMENTS

Just a reminder that there are no clubs on Wednesday due to Archway Chandler Faculty's In-Service that afternoon.

Attendance and Absences at ACA

Regular attendance and arriving on time are essential for every ACA student’s success. Consistent routines build confidence and help students stay on track with their learning.

Excused Absences

According to Arizona law, excused absences include:

• Illness or medical appointments
• Mental or behavioral health
• Bereavement or family emergencies
• Homelessness
• Military processing
• Out-of-school suspensions

-Parents/guardians must call or email the school before 8:00 a.m. to report an absence. Without a message, the absence is recorded as unexcused. Students with chronic illness should contact the office for a chronic illness form.

-After an excused absence, it is the student’s responsibility to make up missed work. Each teacher will share their own policy and deadlines for completing assignments.

Unexcused Absences & Vacations

All other absences are considered unexcused under state law, including vacations. Please schedule family trips during school breaks.

⚠️ Important: Teachers will not provide homework or classwork in advance for unexcused absences such as vacations. Students are also not guaranteed make-up work for these absences.

State Requirements

• Five or more unexcused absences = “habitually truant”
• Missing more than 10% of school days (excused + unexcused) may result in a citation
• Ten consecutive unexcused absences will result in withdrawal from ACA

Key Takeaways for Families

• Always call/email before 8:00 a.m. to report absences
• Excused absences = work can be made up
• Vacations/unexcused absences = no work provided ahead of time
• Consistent attendance is critical to your child’s academic success

💡DATES TO REMEMBER

• Wednesday, September 23rd - 
  Early dismissal at 12:30 (Teacher In-Service)
• Friday, October 2nd - Early dismissal at 12:30
• October 5th - October 9th - No school (FALL BREAK)
• Monday-Tuesday, October 12th-13th - Parent Teacher Conferences
• October 19th - 23rd - Hearing and Vision Screening
• October 24th: Trunk or Treat (4:30–6:30 pm)
• October 28th: Classical Character Day
• November 8th: Mother Son Kickball (12 pm)

💡REMINDERS:

1. The scholars should bring the following daily:

• Water bottle with name
• Healthy and dry snacks in front pocket
• Take Home folder (please make sure scholars empty it at home)

2. Please review the Driveline procedure here: directionsforparentsdrivelin.docx We have also attached the file in the resources on the right side of this webpage.

💡WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK 

 📕 LITERATURE / GRAMMAR: We continue our series on The House at Pooh's Corner. We read the chapter about Tigger not climbing trees, another about Pooh's invented game,  and another about Christopher Robin's notice.

 

We are starting our Owl at Home reading next week. Please bring the book to the class if you haven't done it yet!

 

📕 SAYINGS: 

• Practice makes perfect  
• If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
• Fish out of water 

📕 POETRY: The students practice reciting and memorizing these every week. They will do a poetry recitation in front of the class on the last week of the quarter.

What are Heavy

by Christina Rossetti

What are heavy? Sea - sand and sorrow;

What are brief? Today and tomorrow;

What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth;

What are deep? The ocean and truth.

Flint 

by Christina Rossetti 

An emerald is as green as grass,

A ruby red as blood;

A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;

A flint lies in the mud.

A diamond is a brilliant stone,

To catch the world's desire;

An opal holds a fiery spark;

But a flint holds fire.

Work (Work While You Work) 

by Anonymous   

Work while you work,

Play while you play,

This is the way 

To be happy each day.

All that you do,

Do with your might,

Things done by half 

Are never done right.

Hearts Are Like Doors 

by Anonymous 

Hearts, like doors, will open with ease,

To very, very little keys,

And don't forget that two of these

Are "Thank you, sir" and "If you please!"

Hope 

by Langston Hughes

Sometimes when I’m lonely,

Don’t know why,

Keep thinkin’ I won’t be lonely

By and by.

Don’t Worry if Your Job is Small (The Mighty Oak)

by Anonymous

Don't worry if your job is small, 

And your rewards are few. 

Remember that the mighty oak, 

Was once a nut like you.

📕READING: Thank you to our first parent reading volunteers! We still have slots for the month. We need volunteers every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and most Friday's from 11:10 - 11:45. Check your teacher's page on top for the reading volunteer signup. 

Sight Word Bookmarks will be on a ring in your child's reading bag or in a binder sleeve. We will be testing for sight word knowledge once a week. During this time, we will be moving students to the next sight word list if they have mastered the previous one. (Please do not mark off sight words at home- we will do this in class). 

📕 SPALDING: We introduced the rest of the first 70 phonograms this week. Continue practicing at home the phonograms they haven't mastered yet. Check out the Spalding resources on this website to review letter formations, spelling/Spalding rules and phonogram list. 

 

We practiced jobs of silent final e:

                rule 7:  Job 1: e jumps over the consonant to make the vowel say its name

                             Job 2: English words don't end in u or v

                             Job 3: e makes the g say /j/ and c say /s/

                             Job 4: Every syllable needs a vowel

                             Job 5: e has no job

                 rule 4: Vowels say their name at the end of a syllable

                 rule 5:  i and y may say /i/ (long sound)  

                 rule 6:  y, not i, is used at the end of an English word

                  rule 17: Double f, l, s after a single vowel that says its short sound 

rule 18: Use 'ay' to say 'a' at the end of a base word, never alone 

                 rule 19: i and o will say their name if followed by two consonants

 Key:

                                                       new rules covered 

rules covered this week

rules covered in the past

📕 MATHEMATICS:  Students practiced addition facts. We learned about "true statements". Scholars reviewed addition concepts and they will take a test on Monday. Our next unit is on subtraction within 10. 

 

📕 HISTORY: We wrapped up our journey into the ancient world of Mesopotamia and put a stamp in our passport. We made our pop up ziggurats and listened to the story about King Gilgamesh.  

 

📕 SCIENCE:  This week we learned about two astronauts who were integral to the NASA program. They were Mae Jemison and Katherine Johnson. The scholars also learned what stars are and different facts about the stars in the sky. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

1st Grade Team