Holiday Break

We had a great trip to the Capitol and Historical Museum. Here are a few pictures from our day:

 

 

 

 

 

 
- Students were sent home with a reading log to earn a FREE ticket for Six Flags. See form for specific details and the mid February due date. Students should continue to write their reading in their school reading log if they are choosing to participate in this program.

 Homework over break:

Reading over break should include a minimum of three days for 25 minutes. All students left school on Friday with a goal for their historical fiction book club and jotting assignments.

Math fact logs will still be collected on Friday, January 3rd. I will be looking for 30 minutes of fact practice.

 

Thank you very much for the thoughtful baby shower gifts. I was so surprised by all of the wonderful books with sweet messages from the students. I had so much fun organizing the books in our little girls room.

Week of December 16th

 

Watch for math tests to come home early next week. Please be sure to sign the sticker in your child's assignment notebook stating that you saw and discussed your test with your child. Unit math tests do not need to be returned back to school.

Field trip on Wednesday!

We will be heading to Madison around 8:50 and returning back to school around 2:30. Please be sure your child brings a lunch in which everything can be thrown away. Since it is a longer drive, students are allowed to bring electronics on the bus. Please use your discretion if you would like your child to bring a device or not. Please know that ALL devices will be left on the bus while we are touring the Capitol and Historical Museum.



Maternity Leave

Mrs. Nancy Loth will be joining our class during my maternity leave. She has worked in our building last year and this year as our math interventionist. She started this school year as a long term sub at Nature Hill. I am excited and confident  to have Mrs. Loth her working in our classroom while I am gone. She is a wonderful colleague and educator. Mrs. Loth will join our class on Monday and Tuesday of this week to get to know the students and our classroom procedures. My plan is to continue to be with the class until my due date of  January 14th and return the beginning of April. Kevin and I are excited to for this next chapter in our lives and are looking forward to meeting our little bundle of joy soon! It is going to be so hard for me to take a step away from "my kids" however, know that Mrs. Loth and I will do everything possible to make this a seamless transition.

Week of December 9th

 

Monday we will start our new reading unit, historical fiction. I am very excited about this unit as we will be reading aloud one of my favorite books, Number the Stars.

During this unit, everyone in class will be reading books from this genre and participating in book clubs. Students will start out reading independently and then will quickly transition into book clubs.  As they read these books, they will be discussing them with their partners or small group. For this reason, it is important that they read the amount their partnership/group decides each day. They should also write down thoughts in their reader’s notebook or on post-it notes to make their conversations more meaningful. We are discouraging students from reading other books unless they are finished with their historical fiction book assignment. Please take the time, especially as we begin to launch these book clubs, to ask your child if they are caught up with their  book and have flagged their thinking, a minimum of 3 to 4 jottings each night. 


In order to make have enough books for successful book clubs, we have to borrow many copies from other libraries.  Students will "checkout" these books with their classroom teacher and are responsible for them.  If the book fails to come back or is damaged, it will be the students responsibility to replace the book or pay the fine.  This way, we can continue borrowing titles from other schools for many years to come.

Language and actions in our books often directly and accurately mimics true historical time periods.  We will be having a conversation about being mature readers and asking questions for clarification if necessary.  If these questions arise at home, please view this as a teaching moment.  History is not always appropriate but valuable and should be apart of our students' lives!  Let me know if you have further questions or would like to preview some of the titles.

 On Thursday your child brought home a book order. It is due on Wednesday, December 11th. I am hopeful that the books will be here before the long holiday break. If you would like to order the books as a gift for your child, please let me know and I can keep them for a time that would work for you to pick them up.

 
 

On Thursday, December 12th, students will take their unit 4 math test. This test will cover solving open number sentences, reading and writing decimals to the hundredths place, locating decimals on a number line, and ordering decimals. We will begin our review for the test on Monday. Thank you for your support at home to help your child prepare for this test.

Friendly Reminder: German Star money and shoeboxes are due on Monday! The $2.50 is used to help purchase paper, wax, and glitter. We will start to making our stars on Thursday!

 

 

Thanksgiving Week

On Thursday, student's came home with their district fact tests. These tests are reflected on their report cards. In order for a child to receive a "Yes", stating that they met their fact expectations, they needed to complete 20 problems in a minute. Students need to show 95% accuracy in addition, subtraction, and multiplication and 85% accuracy in division. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the tests that were sent home.

On Monday, students will come home with a note asking for parent volunteers to continue our Summit School tradition of making German Stars. Volunteers must be available during a training session time and the time that we will be folding the stars. Please view the green note that will be coming home on Monday for more details.

Next week will be a short week due to Thanksgiving. Just a reminder, school will be closed on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

I hope your days off are spent together as a family and your stomach's are filled with yummy food! This holiday season I am thankful for 26 wonderful students and their supportive families.

November 18th

Few Reminders For the Week of November 18th

 

Things will start to get back to "normal" this week, after two weeks of WKCE testing. Thank you for helping your child prepare for these tests!

Word Study is back is session this week! Students will be receiving their weekly sorts on Monday followed by a spell check on Friday.  Please help in reminding them to complete their nightly homework, especially explaining their blind sorts on Wednesday.  Notebooks are due to school on Thursday.

 
Madison field trip forms are due to school on November 22nd.  As a reminder, the district has switched to an online payment system this year.  Please be sure to visit your family access account to pay for your child's trip. However, the yellow permission slip should be turned in to school. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Week of November 11th

- Reading Reminder: Students should continue to turn in their reader's notebooks when they finish their fiction chapter books. At school, we are focusing on nonfiction skills, but at home students should continue to practice their fiction skills by reading just right chapter books and jotting their thinking. Reminders of ways to jot are stapled to the front cover of their notebooks and their grading requirements are stapled to the back. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for your continued literacy support.

- Students will not receive a new spelling sort this week. Students have been working so hard to prepare for the WKCE we thought we would reward them with a little less homework this week. They deserve it!

- Math fact tests should be signed and returned before the next Wednesday's math fact test.

- Unit 3 math test will be on Friday the 8th. Students have been working hard to practice their multiplication skills as this was the main focus of you the unit. Other skills that will be tested are, in and out boxes, elapsed time, open number sentences, story problems, and naming multiples and factors of numbers. Look for review packets to come home on Wednesday.

WKCE Testing Schedule for this week:

Tuesday, November 12th
Math Session 3- 10:30-11

Wednesday, November 13th
Science- 10:30-11:10

Thursday, November 14th
Language 10:30-11:00
Break 11-11:10
Writing 11:10-11:40

Friday, November 15th
Social Studies 10:30 - 11:10

Family Fun Event:
Looking for a FREE family fun event? Time Warner Cable is sponsoring an event at Discovery World with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) inspired exhibits. Check out the link for more details. Sounds like fun to me, and the event has the perfect price... FREE!!!

https://www.discoveryworld.org/events/time-warner-cables-5th-annual-stemfest-at-discovery-world/

 

 

At the beginning of the school year I filled out a grant on the Donors Choose website that was fully funded by US Cellular. The project that I asked to have funded provided our classroom with two Google Chromebooks. The students and I are extremely excited to get to use these Google App laptops. So far we have enjoyed using them to practice our math facts during math workshop. I look forward to working with them in the future during writing and science. Technology can open up so many doors in education! I hope to promote more project ideas on this the Donors Choose website. If you have not heard of this website before, I think it is worth checking out! http://www.donorschoose.org/

Thank you  to US Cellular for funding this project!

 

 

 

 

Week of November 4th

Thank you for reminding your child to bring in a flashlight on Thursday. We had a blast writing spooky stories in the dark! It was a great opportunity to see their creative minds work, we may have some thriller writers in our future! We also enjoyed a little bit of flashlight reading during our independent reading time. This could be a fun family activity especially on dreary days like Thursday!

On Monday, students will come home with the latest book order. There are numerous great book choices! Some books that I highly recommend in this order: Mysteries According to Humphrey, Swindle series, the National Geographic nonfiction books, and the I Survived series.

Scholastic Book Clubs Code: J44M7

WKCE starts this week!

Students will begin their WKCE testing this week. Students will be tested on reading and math. It is important that students come to school well rested and have had a hearty breakfast. The testing schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, November 5th:
10:15-10:30 Test Introduction
10:30-11:10 Reading Session 1
11:10-11:25 Break
11:25-12:05 Reading Session 2

Wednesday, November 6th:
10:30-11:10 Reading Session 3

Thursday, November 7th:
10:30-10:55 Math Session 1
10:55-11:05 Break
11:05-11:35 Math Session 2

Please let me know if you have any questions. As you can imagine our schedule will be very different and nightly homework assignments may also be different too.

On Friday, students came home with a note regarding Artsonia. This allows you to share your child's artwork with family members. The quarter size sheet provides you with a log-in and password to view and share your child's artwork.

Packer (or Bears) Spirit Day on Monday! Students are encouraged to wear their team spirit colors on Monday to celebrate the great team rivalry that will be displayed during the Monday Night Football game.

 

Go Pack Go!