First quarter has flown by! We have been busy working diligently on our guided reading groups, water cycle experiments, paragraph writing and more! You may hear your child talking about the Daily 5 as well. This is a classroom management tool that is used during independent work time.
Through the Daily 5, students are working on activities that support the District's Reading Instruction Framework in Content Areas including: Systematic Word Study, Fluency, Comprehension Strategies, and Literature Study. Laptops are brought into the classroom each morning for students to work on Focus Skills, Spelling, and Grammar through the use of technology. Students are enjoying choices they have while working independently. Many choices students have to work on the content areas are designed for the visual, tactile, auditory and kinesthetic learner. It always amazes me how quickly students adapt to the use of the SmartBoard which offers a multitude of interactive lessons that support our learning goals.
Note: You will notice that the spelling and homework areas of the blog (left hand column) are not updated yet. There seems to be a problem with the text gadgets on the blog this week. Please check back in a couple of days once I have had a chance to fix the glitch.
Reading:
Please encourage your child to read Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly the Plane. Comprehension, Vocabulary and Focus Skill will be assessed on Monday.
Your child has been reading Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly the Plane by Cynthia Rylant. In this story, Mr. Putter, an elderly man who loves toys, buys a radio-controlled toy plane. He hopes to fly it because he has always wanted to fly a plane, but he has never had the opportunity to do so. His cat, Tabby, is not happy because toys that move make her nervous. Mr. Putter tries three times to fly his new plane, without success. These failures make Mr. Putter sad, and he declares that old men shouldn’t have toys. Seeing how sad Mr. Putter has become, Tabby rubs against his leg to cheer him up. Mr. Putter tries once more to fly the plane, and this time he succeeds.
Focus Skill: Predict Outcomes
Vocabulary Power:
cranes-machines with long, movable arms used to lift things
directions-instructions on how to do something
promise-statement made by a person telling that he or she will do something
twitch-to move with a sharp, quick movement
worry-to think that bad things may happen
[Interactive Blog Link: Right-hand column - Reading Target Skills_Predict Outcomes]
Science
It rained in our classroom this week! Through our Steaming Hot experiment, students were able to see a miniature model of a water cycle at work. Students learned that steam is water in the form of a gas or vapor. As the water vapor rose into the "cool sky" (cookie sheet with ice cubes) it condensed to form water droplets. Once the water droplets became heavy, they fell (precipitation) back to the ground and accumulated on our classroom counter. (Note to self: put a pan under the rain cloud next year!) If you ask your child to sing the water cycle song, you will hear the following water cycle vocabulary that has been covered over the past two weeks: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and accumulation.
Writing
As we continue to work through our paragraph unit, we will be discussing revising and editing. This week, students will be learning how to make their writing interesting to the reader through the use of adjectives.
Spelling
Your child's list was sent home on Friday. Words will be posted as soon as I can get the blog to cooperate. This week's pattern is abbreviations.
Halloween Party
A note about our upcoming Halloween Party was sent home on Friday. I am posting it here on the blog for your reference. Please read through it carefully and let me know if you have any questions.
Dear Parents,
On Monday, October 31, May Watts School will celebrate a Fall Festival and Halloween Parade. Various activities integrating curriculum will be occurring throughout the day in all Kindergarten through Grade 5 classrooms. The parade will proceed from the north gym doors and finish up at the south gym doors, weather permitting. We will walk around the building on the sidewalk areas. Please keep this area clear of people, dogs, strollers, etc. The parade will occur at 2:00 p.m. The parade will need to continuously move forward so please do not stop the parade to take photos or talk to your child. In case of inclement weather (i.e. threat of rain), the parade will be cancelled. We will follow the same criteria for any outdoor recess.
The PTA will sponsor room parties for the children. The parties will run from:
Kindergarten - 5 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Children must be in attendance throughout the day in order to participate in the parade and party.
Children will be permitted to wear costumes and clothing to school that does not interfere with physical education, lunch, and outdoor recess. Accessories (props, masks, etc.) need to be carried to school in a bag and will be permitted to be used and/or worn for the parade only. Since it will be the responsibility of your child to dress himself/herself, please consider this when choosing his/her costume.
If your child will require make-up or colored hair spray for his/her costume, please apply the make-up or spray at home prior to sending him/her to school. No make-up or spray should be brought to school. Costumes should be appropriate in taste for elementary school children with no adult or violent themes, and not so big as to cause problems walking in halls or through doors. Children should be able to see adequately so as not to have an accident. Anything resembling a weapon (gun, sword, knife, sticks, etc.) should be left at home.
The PTA will be providing the students with cupcakes and a Capri Sun during the party. The cupcakes are from * Whole Foods Market in Naperville. The ingredients are as follows for the cupcakes: vanilla cupcakes contain eggs, milk, soy and wheat, sugar, enriched wheat flour, dry egg whites, palm oil, leavening, dextrose, modified food starch, dry egg yolk, natural flavor, salt, non-fat milk solids, sorbitan monostearate, soy lechithin, soybean oil, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, water, and canola oil. The orange frosting consists of powdered sugar, palm oil shortening, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, sea salt and annatto (natural plant based food color).
If your child is unable to have the treat provided because of allergies, please send the school nurse a note informing us of this. You are asked to provide your child with a treat that he/she can have if they have allergies to the cupcakes being served.
Please do not send in any other treats for the classrooms because of possible food allergies. Treats brought to school will be sent home.
Finally, alternative activities will be planned for children whose families choose not to participate in this event beginning at 2:00 p.m. Please contact Mr. Raczak through email in order that appropriate activities can be arranged. His email is: mike_raczak@ipsd.org.
With the excitement of Halloween, please emphasize the need for safety to and from school.
The May Watts Staff
*The May Watts PTA would like to thank Whole Foods for partnering with the PTA. Whole Foods offered a tremendous price break in order to provide our children with a healthier, more natural and delectable party treat.
