What’s new at
Philomath Microschool?
A Year of Exploration and Achievement
Hello, Philomath community! It seems like the 2023–24 school year just started, but we’ve already reached the end of our final academic quarter! That means it’s time for two last essential parts of the learning process: 1. reflecting on what we’ve achieved in our studies over the last year, and 2. having a nice, long rest! 😄🏖🌴
Here are some of the achievements our students can be proud of from the last ten months:
In ELA our Lower School class developed and refined their essential reading and writing skills through authentic learning activities. They shared their prior knowledge through informational and opinion writing, crafted and revised complete narratives through genres including comics and kamishibai, and learned about their family history by conducting and sharing an interview about a family photo. Meanwhile, ELA Independent Study students attempted some in-depth literary analysis by reading and comparing two novels of their choice this spring, building on their previous puppet theater adaptations of grade-level works and their advanced application of persuasive and informative writing structures.
Our Social Studies units in the first and third quarters focused on a wide range of digital and interactive activities to learn and share about different world cultures. We also dug into U.S. history with a particular focus on the struggles and celebrations associated with important figures in African-American history.
In Math the Lower School students practiced and developed their skills in adding and subtracting with regrouping, measuring in different units (even metric!), partitioning shapes to form fractions, telling time precisely, drafting statistical questions and surveys to collect data for tables and graphs, solving real world problems, and classifying shapes. Our Math Independent Study students are working above grade level and have just been introduced to algebraic concepts and variable equations.
Our Science units in the second and final quarters focused first on space exploration and experimentation and then moved a little closer to home as the students studied biodiversity, genetic variation, and environmental conservation. As we wrap up the quarter, they have designed action plans in an effort to inform and enact big changes.
As a reminder, there will be no classes or tutoring on Monday, May 27th in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.
Our last day of the Lower School program for the year will be on Friday, May 31st. After that, it’s time for a couple of months of rest and relaxation! Some of the most valuable things a child can learn happen outside the classroom, experiencing new things and engaging in free exploration and play, and we hope you can make the most of the opportunity this summer presents for learning and fun. Limited tutoring options will be available this summer for review, extensions, or fun extracurricular subjects, so be sure to reach out if you’re looking to minimize learning loss over the next few months.
The 2024–25 Philomath Microschool virtual school year will begin in early August. The exact nature of our classes will depend on enrollment, but we’re hoping to return to our previous schedule of three 50-minute classes per day. Further details about the next school year will be coming out in late June. For now, though, the enrollment deadline for the 2024–25 school year is June 15th, so if you haven’t already reached out confirming your child’s participation in our program, make sure you do so before that deadline! We’ll be making our plans based on the number and level of students who have enrolled, and contacting us ASAP will help make sure we can accommodate your family’s schedule and preferences to the best of our ability.
We’ve said this all year long, but it absolutely bears repeating: this online learning community only happens because of the effort and dedication of all of its members, including students, parents, and teachers. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for everything you’ve done to help make this school year happen. See you in the fall!
Spring into Learning
Hello, Philomath community! With the changing of the seasons, we’re digging deep into some fascinating standard-driven activities. Here’s what we’ve been working on in our classroom:
In Math, the Lower School students are practicing telling and writing time on analog and digital clocks with attention paid to appropriate use of am and pm. Independent Study students are diving deeper into algebra. Variables, exponents, and coefficients, oh my!
Science is all about researching genetic variation, inherited traits, biodiversity, and the human impact in an effort to plan and enact environmental change. Students have been planting beans, experimenting with ideal growing conditions, proving plants’ needs, and researching the connections between organisms within ecosystems.
Our ELA virtual school students are completing a comic-writing activity, applying our study of punctuation and other writing skills to draft, revise, and publish an action-packed one-page comic starring characters of our own invention. Meanwhile, Independent Study students have just finished reading a novel they each selected, and will be beginning a second novel so we can do some comparative writing on both books.
As a reminder, we have school holidays on Tuesday, May 7th and Monday, May 27th. There will be no class or tutoring sessions held on either of these days. The final day of the school year will be on Friday, May 31st. Finally, we will be reserving times for Parent–Teacher Conferences from May 1st to May 3rd. If you’d like to schedule a 20-minute session with either Ms. Smith or Ms. Althoff (or both), please reach out now to arrange that time.
As always, thank you for all you do, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Happy spring!
A Well-Deserved Break
Hello again, Philomath community! I know it seems like 2024 just started, but we’re already coming up on the end of the third academic quarter! Changing seasons are an excellent opportunity for natural learning opportunities—what teachable moments have come up in your household with the warming weather?
The Philomath Lower School and Independent Study programs have been keeping very busy this quarter. Here’s where our studies have been taking us of late:
In Math, the Independent Study students are finishing up a unit on integers, opposites, the coordinate plane, and rational numbers. Lower School students have been reviewing our 1st and 2nd grade skills and concepts from earlier in the year to keep these skills sharp. We are about to start a measuring unit that will be VERY helpful for our upcoming science unit…
Speaking of Science, the students will be starting a biology unit on Wednesday, March 13th (This is the week BEFORE the Spring Break). Lower School students will start off by planting beans. They will use their newfound measuring skills to track and record daily growth and changes. Upper School students will be designing an experiment that will involve planting, observing, measuring, recording, and reporting. They will be focusing on controls and variables, interactions within ecosystems, and conservation attempts.
After a lengthy unit introducing different world cultures and how they inform the way we live, Social Studies has been focused on a study of U.S. History through the lens of Black History Month. Our Lower School and Independent Study students have had a chance to learn about African-American leaders and creators through history and have had a chance to draw connections between historical activist movements and modern opportunities for individual or collective action.
In ELA the Lower School program has learned about the difference between facts and opinions, and is practicing writing their opinions about stories we’re reading in class. Meanwhile, the Independent Study cohort is diving deeper into various nonfiction text structures, and are currently working on a Problem and Solution essay on a self-selected issue of national or global importance (due March 15th).
Our third academic quarter will be coming to an end on Friday, March 15th. That means a few things for the purposes of planning. First, it means we’ll be switching from Social Studies back to Science for our Wednesday group classes. This change will begin on Wednesday, March 13th. In the next few days, you will receive additional information about resources and materials necessary for our first session. Second, you’ll be getting your child’s Q3 progress report shortly after the end of the quarter. Most importantly, though, our Spring Break will take place from March 18th–22nd, and there will be no classes or tutoring during that week (unless you’ve made other plans with Professor Althoff or Smith). That also means that you’ll be getting a tuition invoice for the final academic quarter—this tuition payment is due before the first day of class on Monday, March 25th.
One last point, since we’re coming up on the end of the year: we’ve had a stellar virtual school year together, and we’re already looking forward to making plans for the fall! If you’re considering re-enrolling your child for the Philomath virtual school year for 2024–25, please let Professor Althoff or Smith know! Our programs are enrollment-dependent, meaning the next school year may look different from this one. Whatever our circumstances, however, we would be overjoyed to have your family continue with us on your child’s learning journey.
Have a happy and restful Spring Break, and as always, thank you for all you do!
A Strong Start to 2024
Greetings, Philomath community! Depending on where you’re located, you may have had to endure some rough weather over the first month of 2024. (We certainly have had our share of snow and ice in Kansas!) In the Philomath classroom, by contrast, things are really starting to heat up!
In ELA our Lower School students are learning about the features of poetic form, such as rhyme and alliteration. We’re also discussing the traditional Japanese art of kamishibai, and our students will be sharing their own illustrated stories to teach their classmates a moral about the importance of being nice. Independent Study scholars are focusing on some organizational forms for nonfiction texts, and are currently working on showing order and sequence using transition words and phrases.
Meanwhile, in Math lower school students are partitioning shapes and naming, comparing, and adding fractions. Independent Study is wrapping up their unit on decimals before continuing the fraction investigation, focusing on multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers.
Finally, our Social Studies class is digging in to how different world cultures express themselves and see the world. We’ve shared some facts about our own cultures and others we know about, and in the coming weeks we’ll be exploring early U.S. history through a variety of cultural lenses.
A few important calendar notes to keep in mind: on Friday, February 2nd, there will be no school—that includes Lower School classes and Independent Study meetings. Also, our school’s Spring Break will be in about a month and a half, from March 18th through 22nd.
As always, let either of us know if you have any questions or concerns about anything at all. Thanks for all you do, hope your 2024 is happy and safe!
An End to 2023 and a New Beginning
Season’s greetings, Philomath community! As we wrap up this quarter, we just wanted to express our sincere gratitude for all the hard work you put into your child’s education. As we said in last month’s blog post, it’s our privilege and our pleasure to be able to contribute to our students’ educational journeys.
The Philomath Winter Break will run from December 23rd to January 7th. There will be no classes or tutoring for those two weeks. Progress reports for the second quarter will be sent out sometime soon along with invoices for Q3 tuition. That tuition payment is due before the first day of class on Monday, January 8th. The next quarter will also feature Social Studies classes on Wednesdays, so be on the lookout for a materials list for the new quarter in the coming weeks.
As always, let Professor Smith or Professor Althoff know if you have any questions or concerns about anything at all. Thanks for making the fall 2023 semester so wonderful, and whatever holidays your family celebrates, we hope you have a safe and restful winter vacation!
Thankfulness in the Classroom
Hello, Philomath families! As we approach the holiday season, we would like to practice some thankfulness for our learning community. At Philomath Microschool, we are thankful for our kind and dedicated students, who bring the best of themselves to our virtual classroom every single day. We are thankful for the wonderful families who give our students what they need to excel in their studies. Most of all, we are thankful for the opportunity to help our community engage in creative, student-centered learning this year. From the bottom of our hearts: thank you for all you do.
Here’s what’s been going on in the Philomath virtual school classroom lately:
Our subtraction unit has come to an end and the students are gearing up for their next math challenge: Geometry! They’ll be learning about shapes, their defining and non-defining attributes, and how to find area and perimeter of rectangles. Our older Independent Study students are comparing and converting fractions, decimals, and percents as they work through their 6th grade math curriculum.
In ELA, our virtual school students have been exploring the text features used in informative writing, and are putting together their own informative texts on a topic of their choosing. We’re also enjoying our read-aloud of the chapter book Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. Finally, our older Independent Study ELA students are writing, producing, and performing short plays based on the novels and memoirs they read in the previous quarter.
It’s all about data collection as our budding scientists observe and report on the phases of the moon. In an effort to identify patterns in the movement of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, the students will be spending a lot of time over the next few weeks with their eyes on the sky.
Although we are currently between Social Studies units, as November is Native American Heritage Month, this is an excellent time to discuss the history of Indigenous people in the United States. This website contains a wealth of activities and resources to explore with your children, and the books on this list can provide a good jumping-off point for important discussions now and through the year.
As a reminder, our school will observe the Thanksgiving holiday from Wednesday, November 22nd through Friday, November 24th; there will be no classes, tutoring, or Independent Study sessions during this time. Our upcoming Winter Break will take place from December 23rd through January 7th.
Finally, Philomath will be holding Parent–Teacher Conferences from Monday, December 11th through Wednesday, December 13th. Please reach out to Professor Althoff and Professor Smith by email if you would like to schedule a 20-minute conference time on these days to discuss your child’s progress.
Once again, thank you for being a part of this wonderful learning community, and we hope you have a safe and restful holiday weekend!
A Season for Exploration
Greetings, Philomath families! Hope wherever you are, you and your kiddos have a chance to enjoy some fall weather. The changing season naturally invites curiosity in young learners, so make sure you take some time to take in the autumn colors and changing weather!
Hard as it is to believe, we’re just about at the end of the first quarter of the 2023–24 virtual school year. Here’s what we’ve been working on lately:
In ELA our class has been learning about endangered species while identifying the main idea and details in nonfiction texts. Next week we’ll be working on a short writing and design project (details to be shared on Tuesday, 10/10). We’ve also worked on decoding and writing with consonant digraphs like “th” and “sh.”
In Math, we’ve spent so much time working on place value, number comparisons, and precisely adding the big numbers, that it is time to transition to subtraction. The students will be identifying patterns in word problems, subtracting precisely, learning to double check and defend their thinking, and choosing favorite strategies for solving. Remember, if a strategy helps you find a precise answer AND makes sense to you, it is a great strategy to employ!
Our Social Studies unit on geography is quickly wrapping up! On Wednesday, October 11th each student will be presenting their work on the “Mapping My Home” assignment to their classmates, sharing details about their home state or city with the help of a Google Slide presentation they’ve designed themselves (with adult guidance as needed). Please encourage your child to finish designing their presentation and to practice delivering it before class begins on Wednesday, so they can show their work with confidence and enthusiasm. Quarter 2 will feature Science with Prof. Smith on Wednesdays instead of Social Studies, so let’s all try to do our absolute best work with this project!
And speaking of Science, it’s time to turn your attention to the sky and ask yourself: What is Earth’s place in the universe? Whether during the day or at night, when we look at the sky, we can see the sun, the moon, stars, or possibly even planets. We may be so used to seeing these that we may not ever stop to consider: Why are they there? How do they affect Earth? Does Earth affect them? Will humans someday have to live in space? Could the moon provide new energy sources? Could we one day inhabit Mars? Astronomy is all about asking questions. In this unit, we are future scientists, space explorers, and astronomers. It’s time for us to discover more about Earth and our solar system as we work to unlock the deeper mysteries of the universe.
Once again, our school’s Fall Break will take place from October 16th through 20th. That means no classes or tutoring sessions for that week (unless you’ve spoken with a Philomath teacher to make other arrangements). Progress reports for the first quarter will be sent out by email by the end of Fall Break, as will invoices for tuition for the second academic quarter.
As always, let either of us know if you have any questions or comments about anything happening at Philomath Microschool. Thanks for all you do, have a splendid fall!
–Professors Althoff and Smith
Welcome to the 2023–24 School Year
The Philomath 2023–24 Virtual School year has started with a bang!
Greetings, Philomath community! Our 2023–24 virtual school year kicked off on August 15th, and our young learners are already tackling some big issues. As we continue to adapt to the needs of our community, the first academic quarter has kicked off with a Lower School program for younger students to engage with grade-level content in daily 90-minute classes. Meanwhile, older students have dived deep into their own studies in semiweekly 1:1 lessons and independent work through our Independent Study program. Among our students’ other impressive academic achievements:
In our English and Language Arts classes, Lower School students applied their knowledge of the parts of a book to design their own mini-books, which they illustrated and shared with the class. Meanwhile, fifth graders in Independent Study have begun to interpret how similar tales are told and retold by cultures around the world.
In Lower School Math, it’s all about mental math, fluency, place value, comparing, and addition and subtraction with regrouping. Our fifth graders are currently working through an advanced math curriculum with plans to transition to 6th grade math by mid-year.
Our weekly combined-grade Social Studies class has dug into the ins and outs of geography, exploring the uses of maps for documenting and navigating our world.
As more families continue to reach out, we may end up adding additional programs as the year goes on (possibly including a three-class-per-day schedule similar to last year’s virtual school program), so don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re interested in having your family join our microschool!
Finally, just a brief reminder that there will be no school or tutoring held on Monday, September 4th in observation of Labor Day. This will be the only school holiday until Fall Break from October 16th–20th.
As always, please send us an email if you have any questions or comments about anything happening at Philomath. Thanks for all you do, looking forward to a fantastic school year together!
Goodbye to a Remarkable School Year!
Hello once again, Philomath community, and congratulations on the completion of our inaugural virtual school year!
This was our very first year operating as an independent learning community, and we couldn’t be prouder of our students’ achievements over the school year. It’s been incredibly gratifying to watch all of us come together from different parts of the country (and the world!) to create a truly one-of-a-kind learning environment for our class.
None of this would be possible without the commitment and hard work shown by our students, and none of their academic success would be possible without love and support by their families. From the bottom of our hearts: thank you. You make all this possible.
If you haven’t already reached out about continuing with our Virtual School program next year, the deadline for enrollment is Saturday, July 15th. If you have alternate school plans for this fall, please consider us for any tutoring needs, whether that’s dealing with difficult topics in core academic subjects or exploring new academic interests not covered in school. And once again, if you’re happy with the education your child has earned this year, please let friends and family know about us!
Sometime in the next week you should be receiving a packet in the mail with your child’s fourth-quarter progress report as well as a certificate of their completion for this school year. And once again, we’re thrilled to present the winner of our final monthly story contest at the end of this blog post. This month students were challenged to revise a story they submitted earlier in the year, and our community chose as its winners “Xavier Ontario Story” by 6th grader Andrew Butler and “Animal Buddies” by 4th grader Nico. Congratulations to the authors and to all the students who worked hard to make their writing as effective and impactful as possible!
We hope your family has a safe and restful summer break. Take some time to recharge, play with friends, and explore the world around you. And wherever your academic journey takes you, we hope you keep in your heart the passionate love of learning that will forever make you a philomath.
Your friends and teachers,
Sylvie Althoff and Erin Smith
Xavier Ontario Story
By Andrew Butler
After a long day of flying with Westjet, Xavier Ontario eagerly anticipated returning to his Vancouver apartment and settling into his own bed. The following day, Xavier headed to YVR airport, also known as Vancouver International, for his flight to Chicago and then onward to Tokyo Haneda airport.
While stepping onto the tarmac to inspect the aircraft before his flight to Chicago, Xavier caught sight of a ground crew member pilfering parts from the engine. The moment the ground crew person noticed Xavier, they hastily fled, prompting Xavier to chase after them. However, when Xavier turned the corner, the person mysteriously vanished. Concerned, Xavier immediately contacted Westjet to report the stolen parts.
Upon closer inspection, Xavier noticed a nametag that had been dropped by the fleeing individual. He picked it up and discovered it belonged to someone named Cora Ontario from Calgary, Alberta. Could this be his long-lost sister? Intrigued, Xavier wasted no time in calling Westjet to book the next available flight to Calgary. Making his way back into the terminal, he proceeded to the designated gate.
Upon arriving in Calgary, Xavier recalled that his family owned a vacation home in the area. Thinking it might be a good place to start, he decided to head there in the hope of finding his sister. As he reached the address, however, he was surprised to find an aircraft plant in its place. Xavier pressed the doorbell, and a woman dressed in a ground crew uniform answered. He asked if she was Cora Ontario, to which she replied with a curious tone, "Yes. Who's asking?"
Xavier introduced himself as Xavier Ontario, and Cora reacted with laughter, disbelieving his claim. Nevertheless, she ushered him inside the facility, saying, "Well, if you truly are my brother, you should know where I'm from." Xavier confidently responded, "Yes, I do. You're from Vancouver." Within the facility, two massive planes, a 747-8 and an A380, were being worked on.
Curiosity piqued, Xavier confronted Cora about the stolen parts. Cora adamantly denied any involvement, stating, "I didn't steal any parts." Xavier presented her with the dropped nametag as evidence, leaving Cora sighing in frustration. She confessed, "The parts were meant for the planes I'm working on. I can't afford to buy them from Boeing or Airbus, so I had no choice but to take them."
Perplexed, Xavier inquired about Cora's intentions with the planes. She admitted, "I honestly don't know," accompanied by a shrug of uncertainty. Frustrated and disheartened, Xavier turned to leave, making his way towards his car. However, Cora halted his departure, seizing him by the collar and restraining him by tying his hands. She forcibly dragged him back into the hangar and secured him to the landing gear of the 747. He tugs and tugs on the rope
To discover what happens next, stay tuned for the next installment of Xavier Ontario: The Pilot Spy!
Animal Buddies
By Nico
Deep underground in a land no human has ever seen, with strange weather, terrifying insects, and magical looking plants, there lived a group of friends. They were named The Animal Buddies. The oldest was Jake the Dog. Jake had scruffy brown and black fur. He was usually a pretty nice guy, but sometimes he could get jealous. That’s important to remember. Jake’s best friend was Eeyore, a sad stuffed donkey. Eeyore was not the happiest donkey and he certainly was not the life of the party- ANY party, but he WAS the perfect friend for Jake. Because Jake liked to cheer up Eeyore and Eeyore usually needed cheering up, they got along just swell.
One day, a meteor crashed into their backyard. Eeyore was pretty bummed, “hey Jake wouldn't it be cool if the meter was butter that means i could have a lifetime supply of butter,”said Eeyore. Jake, however, was totally excited- he had always wanted a pool he could turn the giant hole into a pool . But one thing was weird. Where did the meteor come from? Afterall, this was an underground forest. Did they even really have a sky?What Jake and Eeyore didn’t know was there were two people who DID know exactly where the meteor came from.
The first was a pretty mean dude. He was not the meanest dude, but not even friends would call him a nice guy. His name was Ratatouille. Ever since he was a little kid he made it his mission to destroy the underground kingdom because he was alway bullied by a girl named misty. Ratatouille was a snake. Kind of an extraordinary snake actually. He was a rattlesnake with a top hat. Sometimes he would eat his hat and his stomach would look exactly like he had eaten a hat. But then he would throw it up. And wear it again. I know, SO GROSS. But that’s a villain for you.
He had an assistant, too. His assistant was a skunk named Corduroy Jones. Ratatouille loved sneaking around and devising evil plans (or at least somewhat naughty), but his assistant was VERY DIFFERENT. Corduroy Jones LOVED sneaking around. He loved it SO MUCH that he would yell- which made him quite terrible at sneaking. Seriously, anytime he was trying to whisper, he just got too excited. And when he got scared, he used his defense method- which was actually quite useful. They had time to run away while the other person was covered in…
“STINK JUICE ATTACK!” was pretty much his favorite thing to scream at the top of his lungs. Ratatouille did not love that. But it was a pretty helpful defense method.
On that day- the day of the meteor- Ratatouille and Corduroy Jones had found a way to get to the surface. It was only possible, because it was Fall. Every Fall, the evil butterflies came out. SO. MANY. EVIL. BUTTERFLIES. Each butterfly was the size of a human hand. They were giant. Each butterfly was red mixed with a little bit of blue and green.
Now snakes and skunks can’t fly of course, that would be silly. But, evil butterflies can fly, AND they are stronger than regular butterflies. So they gathered up a whole bunch of the evil butterflies and tied them to strings.
whole bunch of the evil butterflies and tied them to strings. So they gathered up a whole bunch of the evil butterflies and tied them to strings. They held onto them and floated up to the sky. As they were floating up, the evil butterflies kept biting them because they tied strings to them. When they got up to the top Corduroy Jones said, “THAT WAS NOT WORTH IT.”
Ratatouille responded, “Oh yeah it was. Now let’s get to work.”
Chapter 2: The Creation Has Been Made
It was 1:00 when they started on the meteor maker. What is a meteor maker you may ask. There was lava on one side and water on the other side. There was a conveyor and it took the stone to a place so Corduroy Jones used his STINK JUICE ATTACK to melt the rock into a sphere. And then they catapulted it down below. How does a snake make a meteor maker? Good question. He just has his tail. He can grip onto the hammer and other tools with his extraordinary tail. It’s a little slower, but he had a lot of practice building machines. Corduroy Jones was playing around the machine. He was not at all any help- he was very loud though. As usual.
“WOOOOOOO!!!! I’M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!” screaming at the top of his lungs.
The whole thing was made of steel- so it was very strong. They actually had their own butterfly farm and had their butterflies bring it all up to them. The evil butterflies were helpful, but were STILL trying to eat them. That was less helpful. Once the machine was finished, it was time to test it out.
Chapter 3: Gimme the Butter
“Well that’s just great, why does a meter have to hit right here,” Eeyore groaned.
“Well don’t say it that way! Let’s go on an adventure!” Jake yelled.
“Okaaay….” Eeyore moaned.
And they set off on an adventure to find out where the meteor came from. First they went into a swamp. They were near a whole bunch of magical looking plants. They were metallic and THEY COULD SING. The swamp was pink and green.
Jake was so excited to be here, he loved going on adventures. “THIS IS THE COOLEST PLACE EVER!”
“Ok.” Eeyore didn’t have much to say. He didn’t love colors. He didn’t love music. He didn’t love adventures. He only loved butter. But he didn’t mind hanging out with Jake as well.
“Eeyore you gotta add more excitement to your ‘ok’,” Jake replied.
“O.K.” Eeyore tried really hard. “Are you happy now?”
Next they went into a butterfly kingdom. Butterflies were flying over their heads. Then Jake yelled at the top of his lungs “This is AWESOME! Don’t you love butterflies, Eeyore?”
“Butter? This is butter?? Yepi!!” as Eeyore was holding a butterfly. But what Eeyore and Jake did not know is there was a king butterfly watching and listening and the king butterfly swept down to grab Eeyore.
Chapter 4: That Is NOT Butter, Eeyore
“We’re NOT butter!” commanded an angry voice. It was the Butterfly King! “You're not hurting my butterflies like those guys,”said the butterfly king. “What guys,”said Jake, “this guy's came here with rope and they snatched my kids and took them to the mountain,”said the butterfly king Eeyore was not listening because he just really loved butter, so he bit down on the king’s wing. It was not butter. Then the king fell and Jake went and grabbed Eeyore as he was falling. They ran out of the town with butterflies chasing them. They got to the edge of the town and there was nowhere else to go.
But then they found something that the butterflies were afraid of. It was the second meteor! It came down and crashed into the Butterfly Kingdom and all the butterflies flew away to escape. So Jake and Eeyore had a chance to escape too.
“Wooo that was a close one,” Jake said.
Then Eeyore said, “awwww but I want the butter.”
Then Eeyore and Jake walked into the desert. It was miles and miles they couldn't see a thing but the sand was so soft and smooth they were walking for what felt like days but they only were walking for 5 min. “Hey jake when were older do you want to have kids”,said eeyore “yea i would a little pup and i would name him max same question eeyore do want to get married and would you like to have a kid”said jake “i would want to marry butter
and have little butter children,”said eeyore
“good luck with that,”said jake
“Wow look at that Jake, what is that,”said eeyore. In front of them was a huge pear cactus.
“It looks like a flower of some sort.” They admired the cactus, which were all types of different colors. Suddenly, the cactus reached out its spikes and hit Jake on the thigh!
“Aaaaa that flower just tried to eat me what are we going to do eeyore we won't be able to go on a adventure,”said jake
“no jake i will figure this out don't worry I will call bill n the doctor guy,”said eeyore
Out of the speaker of Eeyore’s phone came a little song: ‘bill n the doctor guy will rescue and won't let you die hey bill n the doctor guy that did not fall off a cliff and die🎶’
“Such a fun holdmusic right jake,” said eeyore
“Eeyore!!,”yelled jake
“Im calling,” said eeyore
“Eeyore hello,”said bill n the doctor guy
“hi bill my friend got hurt and we need you bill n the doctor guy,”said eeyore
“where are you in a desert,”said bill n the doctor guy
“How do you know we are in the desert,”said eeyore
“Just a guess,”said bill n the doctor guy
“well we don't know where we are exactly,” said eeyore
“WHAT!”yelled bill n the doctor guy “I will have to get my helicopter to find you and your friend so I can help. John get the helicopter bye eeyore,”said bill
50 min later
A loud noise was coming from the sky. It was a helicopter. They found Eeyore and Jake the helicopter began to land then bill n the doctor guy came out of the helicopter. “Hey guys I new I would find you now let me take a look hmmm ok aaa I see I just need to banged it up and you good to go,”said bill
“You mean he could of still walk,”said eeyore
“Yes”said bill
“We have been in the heat for a hour and you are telling me we could have just left,”said eeyore and jake
“Yes,”said bill
“Come on jake let's go to the mountain,”eeyore said agrly
They walk and walk for hours
And then they ran into something.
Well. What? You may ask, well it is a dinosaur named Bobby Coolneck. He is a brontosaurus, he is super nice, blue with a little green, and he wears a tuxedo and top hat. But he does want something if he helps you:
BUTTER.
Eeyore then said, “my man, here is some butter.”
Jake said, “Can you get me up to the top of the mountain?”
“These are butterflies but good enough. hop on my neck and climb up to the top of my head and jump.”
“Ok thank you Bobby Cool Neck.”
Then Jake and Eeyore climbed and climbed, they got on his head and jumped.
And they landed on a point of a mountain. They then fell, Jake screamed “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Eeyore a a a a a a a a a a” but they were on something and they just thought that they were falling and then they saw the meteor maker.
Chapter 5: The Big Battle
“UHHH… WHO ARE YOU?” yelled Corduroy Jones.
“Uhhhhh… why are you yelling?” asked Jake, still confused.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’M YELLING? I’M NOT YELLING,” yelled Corduroy Jones. “RATATOUILLE! RATATOUILLE! WE HAVE INTRUDERS!” he actually meant to yell that part.
“Wait, what? What’s going on?” Jake was still confused. Eeyore was just crying in the corner, because he gave all of his butter away to the dinosaur. Poor Eeyore, he loves his butter.
Ratatouille came running.”Why are you calling me, Corduroy Jones?” Ratatouille yelled. “How did these guys get up here?!” Ratatouille yelled really loud. “Well don’t just stand there, ATTACK!” Ratatouille screamed. ”Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” he yelled, but he didn't move. Jake attacked, he defeated the skunk.
“Eeyore the snake has butter,” Jake said.
“Butter BUtter BUTTER, he has butter! YYYYYYY!” Eeyore took down the snake. “Hey there is no butter,” Eeyore went back into the corner and sobbed.
“Hey buddy, I know how to fix your problem,” Jake said sweetly. “Hey you snake and skunk, we promise we will not call the cops on you if you make my little friend butter for the rest of your lives,” Jake said.
“Fine, we will make some butter for him if you don't call the cops on us. Deal,” agreed Ratatouille.
Chapter 6: The Happy Ending
Eeyore loved his butter, but Jake didn’t. He was still happy for Eeyore, though- as Eeyore was swimming in a pool of melted butter. He was a little bit jealous that Eeyore got to have everything he wanted for the rest of his life. Butter.
Jake and Eeyore and Ratatouille and Corduroy Jones did not ever become friends. They are sworn enemies, but there is a secret that Corduroy Jones is keeping.
He LOVES making butter.
Finishing the School Year on a Good Note
Hello, Philomath community! We’re coming up fast on the end of the 2022–23 school year, and our virtual class is hard at work on a strong finish to the semester.
In ELA our class has begun reading Part Two of Echo, and we’re having some excellent discussions about 20th century history, figurative language, and how an author uses setup and payoff to engage the reader and tell an exciting story. Our final Social Studies unit will begin next week and stretch to the end of the school year.
Science is wrapping up on Friday and the students are presenting their final projects. 4th Grade will be sharing their engineering designs, data, and modifications. 6th Grade will be teaching lessons on reproduction, mutation, and genetic variation. They plan to teach the 4th grade what they have learned through Role Playing Games designed by them!
In Math, 4th Grade took their final 4th grade assessments this week and next week will be joining 6th Grade in their final unit of the year: Statistics and Probability. They’ll start off with finding means, medians, and modes.
Most importantly, we’re pleased to announce that Professors Smith and Althoff will be holding our spring 2023 Parent–Teacher conferences on Monday, May 15th and Tuesday, May 16th. If you would like to schedule a 20-minute block to meet with each of us, we’re available on those two days outside of normal class hours. Please reach out by email as soon as possible so we can try to accommodate your schedule. If you would like to speak with either of us outside those times, let us know right away. Otherwise, you can expect to receive feedback on your child’s full progress over the school year in their final progress report, which you should receive shortly after our last day of school on Friday, May 26th.
And last, we’re proud to present the winner of our ELA class’s latest monthly story contest! Our class voted on which student’s original story made the best use of figurative language, and I hope you’ll agree that fourth grader Jake did an amazing job with their story “Robbin the sentient rock: Road to Sentackia.” Happy reading!
Road to Sentackia
By Jake
Chapter 1:
Robbin and Ben, the two friends from Sentackia looked around the destroyed house that they crashed into and then they get an idea.
They will go back to Sentackia to get supplies to fix the house but wait.
How will they fix their ship?
First they realize they need the rock wand a magical tool that can fix anything with at least one pebble inside of it
Then they need a pebble,
Finally they need to fix their ship to get to Sentackia
In a different order though.
“Robbin, how will we get the rock wand?” said Ben.
“I know, we need to fix the ship,” said Robbin.
“Not helpful,” said Ben.
“Oops sorry Ben.”
“It’s okay Robbin.”
“Aww thanks Ben, but wait we need to get to work Ben you find some Mallelator comprehators to montunicate the ship.”
“Right away!” said Ben.
“I’ll help too,” said Dobbin.
“Alright, Dobbin you find some omtonipy cryonis and some magnesiton maleculators,” said Robbin.
“Okay!” said Dobbin.
Chapter 2:
Ben was looking around the city for a shop to find some parts and eventually found one. It looked like the sketchiest store in a sablemall, though Ben went in.
“What is this place?” Ben thought.
Then Ben saw a sign pointed at a chair that read: ‘This is the lotus looking lottery loser 3000.’
Ben thought that was weird and he kept on looking.
Then he saw another sign pointed at a metal bar that read: ‘This bar is as strong as a bear, you won't see any better than this reality breaking mind bender.’
Then he saw it, a sign that said “The path to finding Mallelator Comprehators so you can montunicate anything.” The sign was pointed at a book in an aisle called: “Science Fiction.”
“OH MY WHIZZORATED WINDERPATUMILATER WONTUKAMENTA THIS SAYS SCIENCE FICTION!?” exclaimed Ben.
“Hey, how did you know that the Sentient rocks in Sentackia say that from the book?” asked the shopkeeper.
Chapter 3:
“I-uh I’ve read it before sir,” Ben chuckled awkwardly.
“O-okay…” the shopkeeper responded.
Ben was going insane thinking that that book was about his kind, luckily they all look like humans once entering the atmosphere, he had to tell Robbin.
As Ben turned around and started walking, the door got blocked by bars, and the windows with metal plates with alternating from indented to not, and alarms ringing he took the bar as strong as a bear and lunged at the metal plates on the windows and to a bystander you would think he was like a prisoner escaping based off of his dedicated face.
Ben leaped out the window and went running towards Robbin
Chapter 4:
When Ben reached Robbin he told him all about how the humans wrote fantasy books about sentient rocks like them and that we had to find the parts soon to go back to Sentackia.
“Wait, really? You're right, we need to find parts. Speaking of parts have you found any? I haven't,” said Robbin.
“I haven't either,” said Ben.
“Okay, Oh wait! Look at that behind you. It's a store that says they sell Montunicating parts for Aerospace vehicles, just what we need!” said Robbin.
“Let’s head over there now,” said Ben.
And so they did, while they were there they found all the parts they needed and fixed their ship but what adventures await them now?
The End.
The final installment in this journey of earth subseries will be next story contest, I hope you enjoy.
Welcome to the Last Quarter of the School Year!
Greetings, Philomath community! We hope everyone had a fun and restful Spring Break. We’re now in the second week of the final quarter of the school year. As a reminder, there will be only one holiday before the end of the semester on Friday, May 26th, at a date to be announced as soon as possible. Here are a few highlights to look out for in your child’s classes in the coming days:
In Math fourth grade is mid-unit and practicing conversions with imperial and metric units. In about two weeks, fourth grade is on track to wrap up their grade-level content, at which point they will begin previewing fifth and sixth grade math for the rest of the school year. Sixth grade is focused on fractions, equalities, variables, and coefficients.
In Social Studies your child will be working on a short research project related to the early history and colonization of their state. Students will be given time to work on this assignment in class on Friday the 31st, but some work may need to be completed over the weekend to turn in their notes on Monday and rehearse their full presentation for the following week.
ELA class is in the middle of a short poetry unit at the moment. This week your child will need to memorize and recite a poem from 100 Best-Loved Poems or another source for our class on Thursday. (See example recitation and bloopers here.) They will also have a vocabulary quiz on Friday and a poetry-writing exercise due next week. Finally, if you have not yet acquired a copy of Echo by Pam Ryan Muñoz, please do so as soon as possible. Our class will be reading the book beginning on Monday, April 10th—please make sure your child doesn’t begin reading until we start it together in class.
Once again, we’d like to give a friendly reminder to please pass our name along to any families you know who are looking for tutoring services or a virtual school program for the 2023–24 school year. The most our school grows, the better we can help our students learn and thrive in an authentic, enriching way!
Last but certainly not least, this month our ELA story contest focused on the theme of travel and journeys, and for the first time our community voted for two winning stories! We are over the moon to present those winning stories here: “The Path to the Poles” by sixth grader Emil and “Let’s Travel the Time Universe” by 4th grader Nico Hennon. Nico’s story is formatted in a very creative way, so rather than copy it here we’re sharing a link to a copy of this prize-winning story. Emil’s story is shared below in this blog post. Congratulations, Emil and Nico!
The Path to the Poles
By Emil
A couple of astronauts landed on the rocky planet of Mars. They looked up into the stars, they looked down at their count of oxygen about to go into their snout…
“How much oxygen is there remaining?” asked the first astronaut… “Only 7,700 liters, we have left to breathe in”. Said the second astronaut. “That’s only 1 week worth of O2! I can’t believe it! Is that true that you can’t too?” “Yes it’s very very true, but our mission we have to pursue, there is no going back to Earth, It’s all under the climate wave, it we won’t be able to save, and the people will need to come to Mars! Oxygen is very low, we have find it (go back home, bring the people to their new home), we can’t go!” The second astronaut poemed out…
End of exposition, Chapter 1:
A cold wind gust flew over the astronauts. “Brrr…. It’s cold!!!” yelled the first astronaut… “I have an idea!” yelled the second astronaut. “On the poles of Mars, there is frozen CO2, a snow-like substance, we could get rid of Carbon, and take the oxygen to ourselves! Said the astronaut. “That’s a good plan! Where are we?” asked Astronaut 1… “Yes, we are in the Gusev area, a flat area near the martian equator… Currently, it is winter here, and right now we are seeing temperatures about 29 F or so…” “Let’s get our MArs truck and go!!!” said the first astronaut… The astronauts grabbed their truck and started their journey. Mars was a humongous science laboratory on wheels… It was large and as it rode, it spun red, martian dust into the atmosphere… The land was getting rigid… “Oh no!!! A crater!!!!” said Astronaut I. Astronaut II stopped the truck, and turned around the craters… They were now nearing mount olympus… Bamm!!!! BAmm!!!! “What’s going on?” asked Astronaut I… In a couple of seconds. A huge boulder fell on his head! “Ouch!” he cried back… “MEteorites!!!” he said… “Dang, Dang!!! “Who are these guys banging and danging???” “WE are the giant protists, we are the giants of mars. We aren’t simple protists! Carbon dioxide helps us!!! We take in the O2, in frozen co2, and add some hydrogen, so we can drink! So we can drink! And you wanna take it away from us, and you wanna secret it out… No way Jose you doing that No way No way Jose!”
The unusual humongous martian protists sang. “Well, we also need to make something out of CO2—--> Oxygen and water… Don’t worry—-> we will take just a little…” reassured astronaut I… “How much?” asked one protist. “6700 liters per week……………………………. That is okay with us. How much carbon snow does the area receive???” “It’s a desert so it receives 300 liters of that precip a year, that isn’t much a week… But we are big, 30 feet wide, and so how much you take is okay with us short term, is this short term?” asked the protist… “Yes we will come up with something long term, this is short term, and plus at the end we will bring some CO2 with us, this will make the climate more bearable and more resources for us both…” “Oh yes, so nice TX!!!!!” said the protists all at once… The journey continued… They where nearing MT O LYMPUS, the largest mount in our solar sys!!! This mountain is 21KM, 13MI tall!!!
CHAPTER 2, CROSSING MT OLYMPUS:
The MT OLYMPUS was huge… Just as they started their crossing journey, a sand-storm started… Red martian dust filled the space between them and the mountain, making it harder to see… Winds howled and kept pushing them back and forth… They rose to an elevation of 2,000 feet, and then 3,000 feet in these conditions… 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 20,000, 30,000. The temps dropped from 29 F at the beginning, to -56 F where they already were… Winds stopped, sand stopped… Now, they realized that their truck's wheels didn’t turn… “We will fall off mount Olympus and collapse if we don’t figure something out!!!” yelped Astronaut I… “I have an idea!!! Astronaut I, crank up the leverage!!!” yelped back Astronaut II… That is what happened… Suddenly, they started to fly! They didn’t need to cross the MOUNT OLYMPUS by wheel anymore!!! Now they easily crossed it by wing!!! Once they got to the end, the land became easier to cross…
Chapter 3: The borealis
👍The borealis was colder than expected…The temperature dropped to -179 F during the night… In the distance, Martian snow was seen… They kept on driving… The land was growing frosty and slippery… They decided to fly… Once they landed on the polar terrain, they ran out of oxygen… 😡Astronaut I took of his mask… They could breathe! Astronaut II followed… “How is it possible! We could breathe!!! They were next to diffusing CO2 in an extremely hot geothermal vent system with Oxygen coming out, designed by protists!!!
The End…
Student Guest Blog, Week 5 (and Hello, Spring Break!)
Hello, Philomath families! Hope you are looking forward to having a break from our busy school year. Next week is our school’s Spring Break, so there will be no classes or tutoring until Monday, March 20th. Progress reports will be coming out by next Friday, March 17th, and tuition payments will be due by Sunday the 19th (check your email for an invoice for that). Also, our ELA class will need a couple of materials for the next quarter—more information is coming by email.
Now, as promised, the final student blog post of the quarter, written by Nico in 4th grade. Take it away, Nico!
Nico’s Blog Post
Hi my name is Nico and I’m a 4th grader at Philomath. It’s my turn to write a blog post about what we’re doing in our classes.
This week in math we have been working on time word problems and also working on time differences. I told my mom and dad “this is not my favorite” but Ms. Smith makes it as fun as possible.
In Science we are working on an engineering notebook. This week we built, tested, and modified a rubber band car which was really fun.
For ELA this week we did our Daily Oral Language at the start of class and have been working on persuasive writing letters to our representatives. I’ve written a letter to President Biden about saving trees. We are also working on our March story contest entries which I hope to win!
It’s been a good week and I’m excited for Spring Break next week and to come back to the 4th quarter of school.
Student Guest Blog, Week 4
Hello, Philomath community! Hope your family is enjoying the coming of a new season.
As a reminder, we are fast approaching the end of the third academic quarter. Spring Break will take place from March 13th–17th, and no classes or tutoring will occur during that week. Tuition for the final quarter of the virtual school academic year is due by Sunday, March 19th—please reach out if you’d like an invoice. And of course, please let us know if you know any families who are looking to enroll in a virtual school program for next year!
And now, we are pleased to present our fourth student guest blog, this time written by 6th grader Emil. Take it away, Emil!
Philomath Microschool, Week 9 of 2023
Hello everybody! This is Emil, a 6th grader in Philomath Microschool, and today I will tell you what happened in Philomath Microschool this week!
English: In English this week we did Greek and Latin roots week 7, hydro, and cosmo. Hydro means water, and cosmo means orderly. The reason why the cosmos comes from the root “cosmo” is because of the fact that the cosmos (space) is orderly. Ms. Althoff said that “Cosmopolitan is a little tricky”. Similar to cosmopolitan, which means diverse, like the whole cosmos, diverse and includes everything which is orderly. On Thursday we started the persuasive writing project which we are planning to send to our state/city/country!!!
Science: We are doing a research project: Biological Evolution- Unity and Diversity. In this project, we researched what genetic variation is and how it works. On Thursday we researched how humans impacted natural selection. For instance, pepper moth. These moths used to be wight before the industrial revolution, but soon evolution happened and the black ones survived better in the black and polluted environment. Also, amphibians in Ecuador change shape due to pollution. We should stop polluting!
Independent Math: In math this week, I started the “Sales Tax, Tips, and Markup lesson”. In this lesson, I am learning different formulas for different payments (Sales Tax, Tips, and Markup).
In conclusion, everything is fun!
Student Guest Blog, Week 3
Hello, Philomath community! It’s hard to believe there are only two more weeks of school until the end of the quarter. That means virtual school families will be getting progress reports in the near future, likely during our Spring Break (March 13–17). Tuition payments for the third quarter will be due by Sunday, March 19th.
Here is our third guest blog, written by sixth grader Jeremiah Dessources. We’re also thrilled to share the winning story from our February Story Contest (written by fourth grader Jake), which is located right below Jeremiah’s blog post. Happy reading and happy spring!
School is Fun!
In ELA we did an interview where we interviewed a family member and I chose my dad.
Hello everyone This is Jeremiah I am a six grader
Over the weeks I and my classmates have been working so hard and In math the six graders had a test and I feel like I did well in science. We learned that babies have tails.In science class on Wednesday we did our (Chapter 6 Assessment: Expressions) and in ELA we in this interview thing where we have to interview one of our family members and I chose my dad we had a great interview And me and my classmates we did a fun worksheet on Thursday Evidence Mix-Up and that was a fun activity and For the interviews, me and my classmates read each other's interviews and all of them were amazing in math we worked on our books and that was sixth graders and the fourth grader I wish I had their work because it was so Easy. Thursday in math the sixth graders finished their assessment for 15 min and we had a great thursday.okay have a great weekend see on monday. JEREMIAH OUT PEACE
Robbin the Sentient Rock: Earthtime Pt.1
Robbin said goodbye to Katy Crossbones as he boarded the rocket ship to Earth. The doors closed, everyone standing by was safe from the blast. There were glass shields that were made to withstand even the impact of a rocket ship going 200,000 miles per hour. Robbin was headed to Earth.
As every minute passed Robbin missed his mom more and more but he had to get to his brother. Then Robbin remembered that his friend Ben Quantum was on the ship with him. A few minutes later an alert popped up that said; “Alert, alert please get ready for landing. You have approximately 2 minutes. 1:59, 1:58-” and after a little bit they were in a sandy desert on Earth.
Chapter 2:
Robbin and Ben walked together for a few minutes in different directions to try and find life, but they were unsuccessful.
Then they got the emergency jetpacks out of the spaceship and flew up with binoculars to try and find any signs of life nearby, that was also unsuccessful. They only had one more option: to fly back up into space and try to land again. When they were getting out of Earth's atmosphere it started to get very hot and then the spaceship started rumbling and shaking.
Ben said; “Robbin, I don't think this thing was designed to go out of Earth's atmosphere, only in.”
“Well, there's only one way to find out,” said Robbin.
And so they did.
Much more rumbling happened and a few seconds later they made it out of Earth's atmosphere, now the hard part was getting back down in a different spot.
“Ben, I think we’re in a good spot to turn the engine off.”
The spaceship started falling and as it got closer and closer to the ground, Ben and Robbin realized that they were going to fall on a house!
Chapter: 3
“Ugh, Robbin are you okay?” said Ben.
“Y-yeah I think I am,” said Robbin
“Where are we Robbin?”
Suddenly there was a knock on the spaceship, Ben and Robbin opened the door. It was Robbins' brother!
Robbin said; “Uh.. this is awkward, is this your house?”
“Yes, my name is Dobbin.”
“I know that, I'm your brother. Why did you want to explore Earth and why did you leave when our parents fell into the volcano?” said Robbin.
“More importantly, why are you in a spaceship on my roof?” asked Dobbin.
“I’m here to find you. Did I do something wrong?” said Robbin.
“Yes and no. The yes is you crashed into my house, the no is you not doing anything wrong other than that,” said Dobbin
“Well, we’ll be here for a while,” Robbin and Ben said in unison.
“Yeah, our spaceship crashed as you can see,” said Ben.
“Oh brother.” said Dobbin
The End
Earthtime Pt: 2 coming in April because I'm doing a little special thing for March ;)
Student Guest Blog, Week 2
Hello, Philomath community! Here is our second guest blog, this time by student blogger Andrew J. Butler.
BIG Feelings In February
It’s the second full week in February. It started with Superbowl LVII (57) and ended with president's day weekend. There were reasons to be excited, there were also reasons to think deeply and reflect on important moments in American history. My classmates and I shared thoughts and feelings about the unjust treatment of the enslaved african, we learned how hard it was for the enslaved africans that were sold, captured, and forced into slavery. Each one of us led a discussion about related artifacts. My classmates were thoughtful, and courageous as they worked hard together to talk about how and why artifacts from American slavery were used. We learned about the butter churner, and iron shackles. Nikos learned in her research that shackles were from Georgia, and I shared a personal story about my family with a connection to one of the artifacts on our list. It was a really big week for really big emotions, but we got through them together.
We also got to sleep in a little later, since we started class one hour later on Thursday, which was really cool, until we had to stay an hour later.
Fourth grade math seemed like a lot more fun than 6th grade math. At first angles and rays seemed to be more interesting than the distributive property, until we 6th graders got the hang of it.
ELA was also pretty cool, learned about transcribing interviews, worked on our stories, and the best part was our fun day on Thursday. All in all it was very eventful week.
Student Guest Blog, Week 1
Hello, Philomath community! Today we have something a little different in store for you: as part of our ELA class’ examination of nonfiction and journalistic writing, students have been writing and editing blog posts about what’s going on in our virtual classroom. Each week until the end of the third quarter, a different student author will be reporting on what’s new for Philomath students.
Without any further ado, here’s our first guest blog!
Philomath Sum
Hello Philomath family, this is Jake, one of our students that is separated in 4th grade and 6th grade. I am a 4th grader and I am here to tell you what we are doing here in Philomath Microschool.
First off the schedule we have Math taught by Teacher Erin Smith or Ms. Smith. For 4th grade we are working on area and perimeter though it is a review because I learned it in 3rd grade where Ms. Smith was also my teacher, however not in Philomath Microschool.
Now let's move into Social Studies: I will not be going over Science in this post. Maybe in the future I will because we are not doing science at the time I’m writing this and the time that it should be posted. The reason we are not doing science is because we are on a 3 week rotation for Social studies and Science, Science is also taught by Ms. Smith. First off Social Studies is taught by Sylvie Althoff or Ms. Althoff. We all work together (4th Grade and 6th). We are working on a sad topic but I think it's important to learn it. We are learning about Us history, slavery(Mostly US slavery) and west africa. The way we are now starting Social Studies classes as of 2/4/2023 is where Ms. Althoff reads a short picture book about west african history.
“I think what we're studying in Social Studies is pretty heavy stuff, but it's very important history to learn, and all of our students are showing a lot of compassion and critical thinking during our discussions.” Said by Ms. Althoff
Now in ELA (English Language Arts) also taught by Ms. Althoff. We start off the day by doing Daily Oral language where we have a sentence or two and we have errors to correct some days it’s graded and at max you can get a whole 5 extra points towards your grade! And then we’ve been working on a february story contest, every month we have a different story contest where everyone writes an entry and the winner after the vote gets a prize.
“I am really interested in the family interview project we are doing. I want to get to the interview part now but I understand we need preparation.” a quote said by Jake.
And that's what we are doing in all our classes and I hope to write for you again philomath family see ya!
Authentic Tasks
Greetings, Philomath students and families! We’re now one month into the third quarter of the school year, and it’s time to check in on what we’ve been learning in our virtual school and tutoring programs!
The next three weeks our main virtual school program will be switching from Science to Social Studies. The fossilization and energy Science unit will be completed during our next Science rotation, at the end of February. Social Studies learning activities will center on African American history as part of Black History Month—your child may have questions or feelings that they need to process as a result of the content covered in class. These conversations may be uncomfortable or deal with difficult emotions, but discussing them can be immensely helpful for helping our students become compassionate, critically-thinking students of history.
During the week of February 6th our ELA class will be beginning a project that will require some parental assistance in conducting, recording, and transcribing a brief interview. As always, let Ms. Althoff know if you have any questions or concerns about our learning activity. More details are on our ELA Google Classroom.
As discussed in a previous email, our Q3 floating holiday will be observed on Thursday, February 2nd, meaning there will be no classes, tutoring sessions, or independent study check-ins held on that day. Classes will continue as scheduled the following day, though Prof. Althoff will be filling in for some of Prof. Smith’s classes for a brief time. Please direct any questions or concerns about schoolwork to Prof. Althoff at her email address.
Last but not least, we are thrilled to present the winner of our January Story Contest, “Xavier Ontario: The Fuel Crisis,” by 6th grader Andrew Butler. For this contest students were challenged to incorporate plenty of sensory details into their prose, and Andrew’s story was chosen from all our class’s submissions. Please join us in celebrating his latest literary accomplishment!
Xavier Ontario: The Fuel Crisis
By Andrew Butler
The morning in the hangar was cold and damp. Xavier was still tied up to the plane, he started to think where would he go if he was his sister, the first thing that came into his mind was mexico.
He started to rub the rope against the landing gear. He managed to get free and got a stair truck so he could get into the 747. He was in such a hurry to find his sister that he forgot to refuel.
After taking off from Calgary he was able to enjoy the dazzling sunrize while flying over the rockies. While flying over California a fuel alert pops up on the heads up display saying that he had 20% fuel left. He called on the radio to alert the nearest airport which was Las angeles. “Las angeles tower this is N55XH radar contact.” “We hear you loud and clear N55XH” “N55XH requesting to land.” “Denied landing clearance” Said the ATC tower. In search of an airport that's large enough to land, he sees universal studios (The actual one, not the theme park) and he spots a runway where they are filming an aviation movie. Since there was nowhere else to land but houses and buildings he had to start banking towards the set area. From the ground the actors and crew didn’t notice the giant 747 flying at about 230 Knots until the plane flew over the runway to lower its speed. Back in the cockpit Xavier puts down the landing gear so he can start his short final into the so-called “Airfield.” From the ground the actors and other people were running to the airport building to seek shelter from the giant plane. Xavier has barely enough fuel for a thrust reverser. “100 50 40 30 20 10” the GPWS callouts say. When he touches down he uses his auto brakes, foot brakes, and reverse thrust.
When the 747 comes to a complete stop Xavier runs downstairs to exit the plane and wave to the people to get a fuel truck, but all the fuel trucks and carts were fake.
He goes over to the airport building to see if someone could help him with his plane. There was one actor in there who had past experience with aviation who volunteered. Little did Xavier know that there was a real fuel truck in the hanger. The guy that was helping him out started up the truck and drove over to the plane. Connect the hose to the nozzle. A few hours later the plane was fueled up to go to mexico. He took a picture with the cast and the plane in the background. He turned the plane around and took off.
Stay tuned for the next Xavier Ontario Issue.
Welcome to 2023!
A text about the history of the Middle Ages written in the style of an authentic Medieval manuscript, by Jake (grade 4).
Happy new year, Philomath community! Our third academic quarter kicked off on Thursday, January 5th, and we’re excited as heck to dive into some fascinating new material. In Science we’ve started a new unit on fossils and energy, and in ELA our class is returning to the nonfiction world to examine how authors share information and opinions effectively.
Here are a couple of important facts and dates to keep in mind for the near future:
Monday, January 16th is a holiday as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There will be no regularly scheduled classes, IS, or 1:1 tutoring on this day.
There will be a floating holiday sometime in the first half of the quarter when Professor Smith welcomes a new baby to her family! There will be no classes occurring on that floating holiday, when it happens. We won’t be able to give much warning for this holiday, so keep an eye on your email inbox!
Finally, we’re proud to share the story chosen as the winner of last month’s story contest, by Jeremiah Dessources (6th grade). Keep an eye out for our January story contest, due on Friday the 20th.
As always, thanks for all you do, Philomath families!
The Angry Doctor
By Jeremiah Ansy Dessources Jr.
A young boy named Bryson was born in California January 20,1999. He wanted to become a doctor. But he had a terrible family because they never sent him to school and he lived a miserable life.
One day while He was at the supermarket with his dad he got a horrible news that his mom was Killed in car crash by a drunk driver Bryson and his dad cried bitterly.
His father didn’t take the news well because of that he started drinking alcohol. Bryson’s uncle told him the news that his dad was drinking alcoholic bryson got devastated he started to think more of his mom.
He started to sleep on the street, stealing food, eating food from the trash. One day a police man found him and said “where’s your family Buddy” He responded “I don’t have a family” then the police took him to foster care. His foster family were christian, they treated him with love and kindness, they put him to School after several years he graduate from university and become a heart doctor.
He found a Job in the hospital and went to work as a heart doctor but he would take out people’s hearts so that they can died because he was angry about his parents.
And one bright Sunday morning his friend Janae invited him to church so he said “Okay I will go”. And they went to Church then. The pastor mark was Preaching a sermon how Jesus Died on the cross and the sermon Touched his heart and he gave his Life to christ then he meet his lovely wife and had three children and God was with him so he became a great heart doctor and lived for God.
Winter Break, Here We Come!
Hello, Philomath community! We hope everyone is staying warm and safe this winter. We’re quickly coming up on the end of the second academic quarter, so we wanted to check in with a few important pieces of information. First, some immediate deadlines:
In ELA students will be working on an essay about Hoot that’s due by the end of the day on Tuesday, December 20th. We also have our monthly story on Friday the 16th (this is ungraded, but our class has been working hard on genre fiction to share their creativity with our community).
In Social Studies our class is working on an illustrated manuscript project due by class time on Wednesday, December 21st. Your child will need access to coloring supplies and a blank sheet of paper, and may need your help uploading a photo or scan of their final product to Google Classroom. Please check in with them and make a plan to upload their hard work on or around Tuesday evening so they can share it with the class.
In Math, the 4th and 6th grade had a chance to work together on multiplying fractions. 4th Grade helped 6th grade review converting improper fractions and mixed numbers, while 6th grade practiced simplifying before and after multiplication. Both groups supported each other, helped each other focus, and shared tips and strategies. 4th Grade is now moving on to decimals and 6th grade will be ready for their next assessment before the winter break (multiplying and dividing fractions).
Parent–Teacher Conferences have been scheduled for Monday the 19th and Tuesday the 20th. If you’ve already scheduled a conference with Professors Althoff and Smith (one conference per teacher), you’ll get a Zoom link this weekend. If you have not yet scheduled a conference but would like to speak with us about your child’s progress, reach out no later than this Friday so we can arrange a time to meet.
Once again, Winter Break will go from Thursday, December 22nd until Wednesday, January 4th. There will be no class, independent study, or tutoring happening between those dates. Progress reports for the second quarter will be coming out around the 23rd. Now is a good time to check with your child or their teachers if they’re missing any work that might affect their grade.
Finally, please remember that tuition for the third quarter is due before January 5th. Per Philomath policies, your child will not be permitted to attend classes or tutoring sessions until tuition is paid in full. Please reach out to us if you’re unsure how or how much to pay.
As always, thank you for all you do to help your child succeed and thrive. We hope you have a happy and restful Winter Break. See you in 2023!
Thankfulness in the Classroom
Hello, Philomath community! We hope everyone had a happy and restful Thanksgiving break. For our part, we’re thankful to be a part of such a lively, engaged community of learners. What we’ve built here at Philomath Microschool is something to be proud of, and it’s something we’ve built together with all our students and families. If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment with your child to celebrate all their hard work and dedication—it’s definitely something to be thankful for!
From here on out it’s going to be a sprint to the end of the quarter. Here are a few items to keep on your radar in the meantime:
The ELA virtual school class is still working on reading Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot. It would be good to check in with your child to make sure they’re caught up on their progress in the book and their reader’s journal (as of Monday the 28th, they should be finished with Chapter 14).
In Math, 4th Grade are focusing on adding and subtracting fractions (both with and without common denominators!) while 6th Grade is focusing on multiplying decimals.
Our Science units are wrapping up this week and the students are working on their final projects. For 4th Grade, expect some new bread recipes coming to the Student Work Samples! For 6th Grade, they will be developing plans for biodiversity conservation efforts to wrap up their field guides. 6th Graders only have one more day of data collection!
The last day of the second quarter will be on Wednesday, December 21st, after which we’ll have winter break until the first day of Q3 on Thursday, January 5th. Progress reports will be coming out shortly after the end of the quarter, so now’s the time to reach out if you have any relevant questions or concerns about your child’s schoolwork for this leg of the school year.
Parent–Teacher Conferences will be happening from December 19th–21st. More details to come about this in the coming days, but if you have any special concerns or a request for a specific time, don’t hesitate to reach out to Professors Althoff and Smith.
And last but certainly not least, we’re thrilled to share the winner of our November Story Contest, “Robbin the Sentient Rock” by 4th grader Jake! This month’s contest focused on characterization, with students voting on which of their peers’ stories did the best job of showing dynamic characters who do things for a reason, who struggle with internal and external conflict, and who grow and change as a result of their experiences. Jake completed a thorough character sketch as preparation for writing this story, and our community saw and celebrated the fascinating character he featured in this work. Congratulations, Jake, and we’re looking forward to reading the next part of this story!
Robbin the sentient rock
By Jake
It was a normal day on Sentockia. Robbin the was eating breakfast with his mom Crossbones Katy and they were talking about what they wanted to do for the day.But then their cat nipped at robbins hard bones and then suddenly Robbin got a signal wave from Robbins friend Ben Quantum and it told Robbin to go right away so he did. When he got there he couldn't believe his eyes. He saw his moms drill drilling at the control of Ben and he told Robbin he was mining for a precious mineral called the crystalia o’ sentock and when he heard that name he had flashbacks of when his old parents tried mining for it and got trapped in a cave with magma that collapsed and they burnt to death. Then he realized it was worth 100s of 1,000s of rockens which are sentockias currency and 1 rocken is 100 dollars in US earth currency. He had to tell his mom he ran back to the house but he couldn't find her. He went to the android's revenge but she wasn't there either. He went back to the drill to see that my mom Katy was already there. He thought in His head that she must have some sort of tracker on it. After that life went back to normal.
Almost..
Chapter 2:
Robbin woke up and went to rimddle school for the first time. He was hoping he could make some new friends. When he got there he was shocked to see only humans and no aliens or sentient rocks like himself, the only human he had ever met was Katy, his mom.
He thought that it should be fine and fun. Robbin walked to his first class, Space Ship Safety. When Robbin walked in the room and everyone started questioning why he didn't have any skin and how he was living if he was a rock and if he had hair or not. He answered the hair question and said no he didn't have har. The teacher had to use a mute button on them all. Robbin silently went to his seat and in his head he thought maybe he was wrong about this.
Before Robbin knew it class was over and he went back home. When Robbin was home he told Katy about how bad his school day was and that he hated it. When Katy heard that she knew that she sent him to the wrong school and that she was very sorry. Robbin’s mom meant to send Robbin to the rock school about a mile away from the human school. Robbin had exactly 3 days until the weekend was over and had to go to the rock school. He thought it would be better now that he would go to the correct school.
*3 days later*
Robbin woke up and went to the new school. When he got there he was shocked by what he saw. He saw his brother. He knew it was brother because he had the same burn marks that he did from the magma spinning out from the cave. The same cave that his parents died in.
Robbin came up to his brother and went to hug him but Robbins brother just pushed him away and said “Don't talk to me or bother me I don't want you in my life.” Robbin was shocked to see his brother say something like that so he went home to tell his mom Katy.
When Katy heard all about it she didn’t have a clue why Robbins brother would say something like that. Robbin had done something, Katy didn't see him come home that night Robbin ran away or did he. Katy thought he had run away but that was far from the truth. Robbin sent a signal wave to his mom saying “I’m coming home don't worry I just need to do something.”
Robbin said that for a reason.
The End.
(Continuation coming next story contest or whenever I get a chance in my free time)