Friday, May 30, 2008

Week of June 2-6

Important Dates:
*Culture Day Tuesday 6/3
*Picnic Wednesday 6/4
*Last Day of School Thursday 6/5
*First Day of Summer Vacation 6/6

Classroom Chatter
YEARBOOKS: will be handed out to students on June 5th. Any students who did not purchase a yearbook may do so on a first-come-first-serve basis on June 5th; they will go on sale after morning announcements. The cost will be $10.00 and children wishing to purchase should have exact amount. Checks can be made out to Prairieview. There is a limited supply. Prairieview yearbook orders were not paid for at registration. A flyer was sent out in November and orders were due by Monday, December 3, 2007.


I'm sad that our year together is coming to an end. I have enjoyed working with all of the parents and the students. This year has been a wonderful year! I hope you all have a wonderful, fun-filled, safe summer! Don't forget to come back and visit next year!


This week we will have Culture Day on Tuesday. Students are to share something from their family's culture. Some examples were food, clothing, a story, or they can interview a relative. Students will share on Tuesday.


Wednesday is our school picnic. Each student will receive a hot dog, chips, water, and ice cream treat. Students who do not wish to eat a hot dog, should bring their own lunch. They still can have the chips, water, and ice cream treat.


Report cards will go home Thursday. Students will be dismissed at 9:30 a.m.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Week of May 26-30




Important Dates:
*No school Monday for Memorial Day 5/26
*Boat Trip Wednesday 5/28
*Social Studies Test Thursday 5/29
*End of the Year Reading Pizza Party 5/29
*Marble Party Friday 5/30


Classroom Chatter

Center Cass School District #66 is in the process of implementing an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) mandate, Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is an array of procedures that can be used to determine if and how students respond to specific changes in instruction. RTI provides an improved process and structure for school teams in designing, implementing, and evaluating educational interventions.
Please look for the additional information on RTI, which will be included with your child’s end of the year Report Card.


We are looking forward to our boat tour of Chicago on Wednesday. Please dress accordingly. Remember it is cooler by the lake! Dress in layers! Students are allowed to bring in $5 that day to buy ice cream on Navy Pier after the boat ride.



Thursday will be our end of the year celebration pizza party at lunch. Students who participated every month and read for 20 minutes will join me in the classroom for a pizza lunch. My treat!



The class has earned a Marble Party for good classroom behavior. Students have selected a summer vacation/favorite animal theme party and would like to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks. A permission slip will come home Monday. The movie is PG. The class decided to bring in a beach towel and pillow to lay on for the movie along with their favorite stuffed animal. Please send in a healthy snack for the class to share. Thank you!

Reading
We will finish the year by reading some Incredible Stories from our basal readers.

English
Students will be doing some creative writing.

Science
We will do some activities with States of Matter this week.


Social Studies
We will finish chapter 3 with a test on Thursday.



Math
We will finish the year with double digit multiplication and long division. Students will take their final mad minute this week on division mix.








Monday, May 19, 2008

Week of May 19-23

Important Dates

*2nd graders visit Wednesday 5/21

*Ecosystems Test Friday 5/23



Classroom Chatter

Thank you to the following students who've brought in items to celebrate the ABC countdown to summer: Payton for bringing in popcorn, Mackenzie for bringing in Lucky Charms, and Morgan M. for bringing in ice cream!



Spelling

We finished the book last week. We are done with spelling.



English

We will finish the year with writing. We will work on persuasive and creative writing.



Reading

We will share biographies on Monday and Tuesday. The following students are scheduled for Monday: Daniel, Machenzie, Lukas, Ashley, Matt Mc., Erick, Morgan M., Tyler, Matthew Mi., Ian, Payton, and Monika.

The following students are scheduled for Tuesday: Maria, Morgan L., Paul, Sarah, Tim, Vivian, Kamil, Kritika, Kevin, Amina, Jenna, Caroline, and Kris.

Please note that dressing up like the person is optional. I encourage all students to try and be creative with finding items from home to use.



Science

We will finish up with our ecosystems unit this week. The test is scheduled for Friday.



Social Studies

We will continue with chapter 3 in social studies. I plan on testing out of this chapter at the end of next week (tentatively 5/29).



Math

We will be taking the ch. 9 test on fractions on Tuesday. We then will move on to ch. 10 on decimals. Students will also be taking a mad minute on division 12's.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Week of May 12-16

Important Dates:
*Social Studies Quiz Tuesday 5/12
*English test Friday 5/16
*Spelling test Friday 5/16



Classroom Chatter
The permission slip for our final field trip went home on Friday. We will be visiting downtown Chicago again for a boat tour of the city on Lake Michigan. I currently have my 5 chaperones. However, if you like to meet us in the city at Navy Pier that would be perfectly fine as well. We are limited to 5 chaperones to ride the bus from school but not limited to how many can join us in the city! So, I invite all that are willing and able to meet us. Just fill out the bottom part of the permission slip and send an extra $7. Thank you!



If anyone can send in 25 ice cream cups for Tuesday's ice cream day, that would be great!


Spelling
L. 35 is a review unit for lessons 28-34. A practice test will go home Monday. The test is Friday. This is our last unit in our spelling workbooks!


English
We will finish up learning about pronouns with there, their, and they're. The test will be on Friday. Good pages to look at in the text book for extra practice are 232-236.


Reading
We will finish up biographies this week and share our scrapbooks. Students are encouraged to dress up like their person on the day they share their scrapbook.


Science
We will begin our next unit, Ecosystems. This week students will learn about habitats, communities, populations, environment, and ecosystems.


Social Studies
We will begin chapter 3 in social studies. Student will learn about why people in a community come from many different places.


Math
Students will be finishing up chapter 9 on Fractions. This week we will be adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators. Students will be taking a mad minute in 11's this week.





Monday, May 5, 2008

Week of May 5-9

Important Dates:
*Science Test Monday 5/5
*Crazy Hair Day for C day 5/5
*Dog Day for D day 5/6
*Earth Day for E day 5/7
*Funny Feet Day for F day 5/8
*Game Day for G day 5/9
*Egypt Unwrapped Wed. 5/7 (money due 5/6)
*Junior Achievement Monday 5/5 and Friday 5/9
*Spelling Test Friday 5/9


Spelling
L. 34 words are compound words. Test is Friday. List will come home on Monday.
English
We will finish up writing our pen pal letters to the 2nd graders. This week we will continue with our pronoun unit. The test will be at the end of next week (tentatively Friday 5/16).

Reading
We will be working on our biography scrapbooks this week.

Science
Animals test is on Monday.

Social Studies
We will be wrapping things up with Chicago this week. We also will be having Junior Achievement this week. We already know a city is a place where a lot of people live, work, play, and go to school. So JA classroom volunteers help students build a city! The students construct paper buildings, map out a city, write newspaper articles, plan their own restaurants, and examine why banks are important. The program is called, Our City. Our City considers economic development, local businesses, and career opportunities.

Math
Students will continue with fractions. This week we will learn about problem solving with fractions and reasonable answers. We will be comparing and ordering fractions by sizes. We will be working with fractions as mixed numbers as well. Students will be taking a division 10 in mad minutes this week. We're almost done (division 11,12, and then mix)!