Week of November 3-7

Important Dates:
*Teachers' Institute No school Tuesday 11/4
*Veterans' Day No school Tuesday 11/11

Classroom Chatter:
Thank you to Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Smiles, Mrs. Olsen, and Mrs. Maas for throwing us a spook-tacular Halloween party! A special thanks to Mr. Olsen for taking such boo-tiful pictures of us at the parade and the party. If you'd like to check them out click below!
http://olsens.homeip.net/20081031%20Prairie%20View%20Halloween/album/

There will be no school on Tuesday due to Teachers' Institute. Enjoy the day off!

We will continue to collect new or gently used books for our school's Book Angels drive. If you have books at your home that your children doesn't want or read anymore,we would greatly appreciate any donations.

Science:
We did not start our new unit in science last week. We will begin it this week. Students will be receiving a new science textbook for this unit. We will use these books for science for the remainder of the year. We will begin with the introductory unit on science. Students will be learning about inquiry tools and the scientific method. We also are fortunate enough to view our textbook online! Students will be receiving a user name and password. An email regarding this and directions to view this book online, was sent to parents via email on Friday, 10/31.
Please let me know if you have questions. Explore this site. It is fantastic. There are printable study sheets, a vocabulary list, and much more.

Social Studies
We are reading chapter 12 in our textbooks this week to help us better understand government and the government of Downers Grove.


Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling
L. 8 is a review unit. Please review the rules for lessons 1-7 for Friday's test. I sent home a practice test to help study for Friday's test. It is just for practice. It does not need to come back to school.The test this week is a different format from our weekly tests. It will be just like the practice test sent home but with the words from lessons 1-7. The test is Friday.
Homework for spelling this week will be workbook pages 44-47. I will go over the directions on Monday. These 4 pages are due on Thursday.



English
We will move into the next unit in our english textbook on Verbs. I plan on covering lessons 1-6 before we break for Thanksgiving. I will be doing some Thanksgiving story writing with the students as well. We will then finish the remainder of the unit on verbs which will bring us to our winter break. I tentatively plan on the Verb test to be the Monday before we break for the holidays. This week we will learn about what a verb is and verbs in the present tense.

Reading
We will read our last story to practice the monitor/clarify strategy this week. We will read Cliffhanger. While reading this story we will also work on the skill cause and effect. Students will be taking a quiz on the vocabulary for this story next Monday, 11/10. Look for the vocab words to come home in their reading folders on Wednesday.


Please visit the blog of your child's Math teacher to find out information for that Math class.


Math
We spent last week talking about rules and hints of multiplication. These hints/rules can be found in their spiral notebooks. Students have learned a few multiplication games to practice their facts. Students also received a multiplication box to help them with their facts. This week we will learn about how multiplication and division are related and talk more about each multiplication fact. We will also resume taking mad minutes. This week we will take x5's.

Week of October 27-31

Important Dates:
*Robert Crown field trip-Friday 10/31
*Halloween parade and parties Friday 10/31

Classroom Chatter
HALLOWEEN is on Friday. We will be going to Robert Crown in the morning. We will miss our lunch period, so we'll be eating lunch in our classrooms. Please send your child a lunch that day. Students should bring their costumes to school in a bag with their name labeled on it. Try to have them dress so that their costume can go over their clothes and little makeup. We will be changing in our classrooms. Boys and girls will be in different classrooms. They will not be allowed to go to the bathroom to change. Please save guns, swords, knives, and other weapons for trick-or-treating at home. They are not appropriate for school. Parents who are running the party can come by 1:15. Our school parade begins at 1:15. The party will begin at 1:30 and end at 2:15. Students will be sent home in their costumes.

Parents & Students... check out this fun Halloween website. You can carve your own pumpkin and watch it light up. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

To carve your pumpkin,
click the link below.

Carve your pumpkin then press done. Watch it light up!

http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

Science
We will move into new science textbooks for our next unit. We will be working out of this textbook for the remainder of the year. Our first unit is an introductory unit to science. We will be doing different experiments with bubbles. Students will learn about inquiry tools and the scientific method.


Social Studies
We will continue with our Downers Grove unit.

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling
This week we will have a list of Halloween words for our spelling list. We will be taking the test on THURSDAY this week. We will not be switching on Friday due to the Robert Crown field trip. The list will go home Monday with the homework assignments for this week. They are due on Thursday.


English
The test is scheduled for Tuesday on Nouns. A study guide went home last week. It is in the english folder.


Reading
We will continue with the monitor/clarify strategy. We will read a story called, Cliffhanger. Students will be working on the skill cause and effect. Don't forget the book report is due Thursday, 10/30. Your child may turn it in early if they would like.



Please visit the blog of your child's Math teacher to find out information for that Math class.


Math
This week we will begin chapter 2. In chapter 2, we will learn about multiplication. Students will have one more week off of mad minutes. Start studying x5's. We will take them next week. I want to get into this chapter more in depth and then continue with mad minutes. To help practice mad minutes, here are some helpful sites. We played these games last Friday at the computer lab.

www.multiplication.com

http://www.gamequarium.com/

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Mathmagician/cathymath.html

Week of October 20-24

Important Dates:
*Early Dismissal-Wednesday 10/22
*Health Fest-Thursday 10/23
*Science test-Friday 10/24
*Robert Crown-Friday 10/31

Classroom Chatter
A BIG thank you to our Downers Grove field trip chaperones: Mrs. Raso, Mrs. Reynolds, Mr. Olsen, Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Arquilla, Mrs. Walsh, and Mrs. Smiles. Thank you to Mrs. Poynton for meeting us for lunch! We had a wonderful time seeing our history lessons come to life as we traveled to many historic landmarks around Downers Grove. Here is a class picture at Pierce and Lucy Ann's final resting places at the Linscott Cemetary. Robert Crown Field Trip: We will be going to Robert Crown Center on the morning of Friday, 10/31. This will be an extension of our health unit in science. Due to the nature of the trip, no chaperones are needed.

*Halloween Party: We will be having a classroom party during the afternoon on Friday, 10/31. If your child wants to dress up for our school parade, they may bring a costume to school. We will change into it after lunch. It is best to send a costume that your child can get into by themselves. Students will be sent home wearing their costumes.

Thank you to Cate, Tyler Sm., Taylor, Sophia, and Clayton. These students bought our class a book from the Scholastic Book Fair.

Science
Information about the 2008 Health Fest will come home on Monday. Our health fest will be on Thursday. Such activities include eating healthy snacks, taking a five minute nap, exercising, and brushing our teeth. Parents, if you can send in a healthy snack for us to eat, that would be great (fruit kabobs, veggies & dip, cheese & crackers, chocolate milk, or whatever you can think of!). Thanks in advance. Students can bring their toothbrush and toothpaste, pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal for the Health Fest on Thursday too. All this information will come home on Monday. The chapter 2 test on Health is scheduled for Friday. The study guide went home Friday 10/17. It is due on Tuesday. Students should start studying. Their books came home this weekend.

Social Studies
We will move onto modern day Downers Grove and local government (ch 12 in our textbook).
We will discuss our nation's upcoming election!

Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.

Spelling
L. 7 words this week are irregular spelling of plural nouns. We will take a pretest on Monday. The test is Friday. Here is an overview of the homework for this week:
Tuesday: pages 39-40
Wednesday: p. 41-42
Thursday: ABC order
Friday: Test

English
We will finish up our noun unit. The test is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28. A study guide will come home this week.

Reading
The students enjoyed learning about puffins as we reviewed fact and opinion. Check out this video we watched in class.
http://www.puffinpalooza.com/a-puffling-heads-to-sea/ We did our first extended response to a story. An extended response is where we combine the author ideas with our own ideas to answer a question. Our class response and information about extended responses will come home on Monday. Our next focus will be on compare and contrast.
Also...don't forget....fiction book projects due 10/30! If your child finishes early, they can turn them in early.

Please visit the blog of your child's Math teacher to find out information for that Math class.

Math
We will finish up chapter 2 on Monday. Students will be taking a checkpoint on Tuesday for a grade. We will play a Jeopardy review game on Wednesday. (We are scheduled to still have math even though it is early dismissal). The test is scheduled for Thursday. Students should start studying chapter 2. Extra practice can be found on pages 76-79 in the textbook. We will take a break from mad minutes this week. Students should still start times 5's. We will begin times fives the week of October 27th.

Week of October 13-17

Important Dates:
*No school Monday-10/13
*Downers Grove Field Trip Thursday-10/16
*Book Fair Thursday-10/16


Classroom Chatter
Christopher Columbus Day is Monday and we have no school! Enjoy the day off. We will see you on Tuesday.


Thursday, my class and Mrs. Olsen's class will have their field trip to Downers Grove. We will leave around 9:15 that morning and return around 2pm. If your child did not pay $7 for pizza, don't forget to send a lunch with them. If you would like to meet us for lunch, I'm estimating that we'll be at Girodano's Pizzeria between 11:35 and 11:45 am. Please feel free to meet us for some good eats! You may also then join your child's group for some shopping at the local stores. Students are allowed to bring in $5-$7 that day to buy something on their field trip. I will not be collecting this money. They will be responsible for it. Thanks to Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs. Morton, Mr. Olsen, Mrs. Raso, Mrs. Arquilla, Mrs. Walsh, and Mrs. Smiles for volunteering their time to chaperone. We look forward to a great day!

Our first box top turn in day was on Friday. Please continue to send them in. We are always collecting them.

Science
This week we will finish up chapter 2. We will learn in lesson 3 about safe medicine use, harmful effects of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. The science test is scheduled for Friday, 10/24. A study guide will come home at the end of this week to help with studying. On Tuesday a permission slip for Robert Crown will be coming home. The cost is nothing. I just need a parent signatuare. We will be going to Robert Crown Center the morning of 10/31. Please sign and return this slip asap. Thanks.


Social Studies
We will continue with our study of Downers Grove. Students will be doing an Internet activity on the Tivoli theatre in the computer lab this week. We also will begin learning about what Downers Grove is like today and how it has changed from the past. Our field trip to Downers Grove is Thursday.


Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.



Spelling
There is no spelling this week.


English
We will continue with our study of nouns. This week we will learn about nouns in the subject, singular nouns, and plural nouns.


Reading
We will continue with the monitor and clarify strategy. While reading some non-fiction text, we will finish up with fact and opinion. Don't forget our first book report is due Thursday, October 30. Fiction- "Advertise a Book" Poster.



Please visit the blog of your child's Math teacher to find out information for that Math class.


Math
This week we will finish up chapter 2. Students will be learning about money and counting back change. We will do some problem solving with money too. The test is scheduled for the following week on Thursday 10/23. We will begin x4 mad minutes. I also wanted to correct a mistake in my blog from a few weeks ago regarding mad minutes. There are 26 problems on the test, not 16. Students have 90 seconds to complete the test. Sorry for the mistake.

Week of October 6-10

Important Dates:
Downers Grove permission slip/money due Friday, 10/10
Downers Grove field trip-Thursday 10/16



Classroom Chatter:
This week is bullying prevention week. Here is a great website for students and parents to check out. It offers games and activities: www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org

A permission slip for the field trip to Downers Grove went home Friday. I can take 6 chaperones. Please fill out the bottom portion of the permission slip with your name, email, and phone number. I will be contacting the first 6 parents I hear from. I also would like to invite any parents who don't chaperone to meet us for lunch at Giordano's.


Science
This week we will learn about germs in lesson 2 of our health unit. Students will learn what harm some germs can do, how the body fights these germs, and how to keep germs from spreading.


Social Studies
We will continue our study of Downers Grove which we started last week. Last week we learned about the Pierce Downer. This week we will focus our studies on, Potawatomi Indians, Chief Waubonsee, Israel Blogett, the Underground Railroad, Prince Pond, Dicke Tool Company, and Tivoli Theater.



Please visit the blog of your child's Reading teacher to find out information for Reading, Language Arts, and Spelling in that classroom.


Spelling
Lesson 6's words are plurals of consonant + y words. There will be a pretest on Monday. The test will be on Friday. Here is an overview of this week's spelling homework:
Tuesday: workbook p 34-35
Wednesday: workbook p 36-37
Thursday: ABC order
Friday: Test


English
This week we will begin Unit Two: Nouns. Students will learn about nouns, common & proper nouns, nouns in the subject, and singular and plural nouns.


Reading
This week we will begin with the strategy of monitor/clarify. This means while we read, we will need to ask ourselves if what we read makes sense. If we don't understand what we're reading, we should reread, read ahead, or use illustrations to help us understand what we're reading. We also will be working on fact and opinion. The first story we'll read a non-fictional story called Nights of the Pufflings.

Please visit the blog of your child's Math teacher to find out information for that Math class.

Math
This week we will learn to subtract across zeros, problem solving, and mental math strategies. Students will take the mad minute on times 3's this week.