Messages from Mrs. May

    1. The Young Author’s Breakfast for all participants will be on Friday, April 12^th before school. Manuscripts and certificates will be passed out at that time. Watch for the permission slip to come home this Friday. 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place winners were announced in school and will be posted to the Edline LMC page.

2. If you are cleaning out your closets over break, please save your used children’s books for our 5^th Annual Book Exchange to be held the last week in April. More information will come home after Spring Break.

March 18-22

Spelling: Students will receive their spelling lists tomorrow, spelling test Friday! 

5H Math: Last week we reviewed different ways to represent numbers: standard (8), exponential (2^5), scientific notation (3.2 x 10^3), and number and word notation (7 thousand). We also spent several days solving problems using the order of operations; remember if your child needs more help with this, I have attached a video explaining the steps in the math tab. 

On Friday, we began trying to write a multi-step equation based on a given situation. We will spend a bit more time on this on Monday. The rest of the time Monday and Tuesday will be spent plotting points on coordinate planes and interpreting the meaning of points on a coordinate plane/line graph. Students will need to be able to plot points in all 4 quadrants of a coordinate plane. 

The Unit 7 test will be Thursday and Friday this week. Kids may come for a study session Tuesday during lunch and/or recess or Tuesday after school until 4:10. Wednesday's  math class will be spent reviewing for the test. 
 
Reading/Writing: 

Didn't get to this last week: I will read aloud a picture book and ask the kids to decide if the main character showed courage or another virtue? Students will need to provide evidence to support their answers. 

This week we are wrapping up our theme of courage. When we began the unit, we read a book entitled Courage, and now students will be able to make their own version of this picture book. Students will draw from our conversations, from their books, own experiences, the news, etc. to describe acts that show courage. 

Our Time for Kids this week is entitled "Too Much Stuff".  Anyone ever feel like this?? The feature article talks about the large amount of possessions Americans have, in particular the amount of toys kids have. This should be a fun discussion! 

Social Studies: This week students will work with a partner or small group to add to our timeline of important events on the wall. Students will first need to decide which events from our last unit are most important, then answer several questions about the event, and finally create an image to describe the event. 

Science: This week we continue our study of the digestive system. Kids will have a short reading sheet with questions to answer for homework Monday night. We will take part in an activity that shows how the tongue and teeth work together as well as learn about the different kinds of teeth. To go along with this, we will also be reading about oral health. We will discuss how to keep our teeth and gums healthy as well as what happens when we don't... 

We will also read and discuss the 6 types of nutrients and how "balanced" we think our own diets are.  Students will take part in another activity regarding our sense of smell...what does our sense of smell have to do with the digestive system? There will be a digestive system quiz later in the week; I will update you all on the day as I see how much we are able to get through.  

Announcements

MAY WATTS FUN FAIR NEEDS YOU!

The Fun Fair is the PTA's biggest fund raising event of the year and it cannot happen without volunteers to work the various attractions. We need over 85 volunteers on the day and with only 2 weeks to go, we are still short over 15 people.

Think how much your child would enjoy seeing you being involved in the Fun Fair. There are 2 shifts: the first from 11-1 and the second from 1-3 so there will be time for you to help and still enjoy going round the Fun Fair with your family.

We will struggle to run the Fair with such a deficit of help on the day. Please, consider giving just 2 hours of your time to help the PTA bring in thousands for the school.

If you can help out, please use the SignUpGenius form to do so, found at this link:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A48ABA92BAA8-maywatts2

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Message from Ms. Andrews

The safety of our children is of great importance to all of us.  We can do our best to keep them safe at home and school, but situations may arise that we cannot control.  These incidents can happen anywhere, at any time, and with anyone. It is not just an issue in the big cities or always a “stranger danger” attack.  Parents are often unsure of what to say to their young children and how much information they should provide to them. 

Mrs. Andrews will provide an age appropriate, hands on self-defense workshop in which you may participate with your family.  When parents are in attendance, they can hear and see firsthand what she plans to cover.  Your child can practice these techniques on their parents or adult family members. Competence and confidence in self-defense techniques can relieve anxiety and is a good resource for your child.  The majority of self-defense is avoidance of dangerous situations and good information.  This will be Mrs. Andrews’ main focus.  We will be practicing physical defenses, though, so please have your child wear comfortable clothing and safe gym shoes.  Older siblings and all family members are encouraged to participate.  The event will be held Monday, March 11, 2013, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. for students in K-5.  At 8:00 p.m., students from Grades 5 are welcome to stay for a 15- 30 minute internet and middle school situations safety presentation. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mrs. Andrews at terri_andrews@ispd.org or at 630 428-6709. 

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May Watts Service Club Announcement:

Our club’s first service project is called: “RACE to 1,000 MEALS”. We will be collecting money to help the organization Feed My Starving Children. The Service Club will be packing in May, but we would also like to help by raising enough money to cover the cost of 1,000 meals. Each meal costs 22 cents; which means one quarter donated per student would get us close to our goal!

This will be a grade level competition to see which grade level "donates the most meals". The fundraiser will start the first week in March and continue until spring break.

We appreciate your support. If you have any questions please contact Mrs. Beutler or Ms. Happy.

Thank you!

March 11-15

Kids did a great job focusing last week during ISATs and doing their best on their tests! 

This Tuesday we will go to the Paramount Theater to enjoy a play on the Civil War. Before we go, we will discuss the Civil War and afterward kids will compare and contrast what they learned about the Civil War to what they know about the American Revolution. There will be no hot lunch Tuesday because of the field trip.  I am still hoping to get a few permission slips back. 

Spelling: Students will receive their spelling lists tomorrow, spelling test Friday! 

5H Math: We will wrap up unit 7 in the next two weeks. Students will take the test the last 2 days before spring break. We will start the week by representing numbers in different ways: standard (8), exponential (2^5), scientific notation (3.2 x 10^3), and number and word notation ( 7 thousand). Students will have to be flexible to convert between these different ways of representing numbers. 

Students will also be asked to think about how 6 thousands is equal to 60 hundreds problems similar to this. We will spend the rest of the week understanding the order of operations in equations and writing multi-step equations using the order of operation rules.

I have added a couple more links in the math tab that should be helpful. I will let the students know, and post on the blog, when there will be study sessions.  
Reading/Writing: Because of the snow day, I told the kids they have until Tuesday morning to turn in their research writing. They will have a little time tomorrow to do some typing and will need to finish at home if they don't complete their papers in school. 

We will be reading and writing a variety of things this week. We've analyzed poems as a whole group, and this week students will have a chance to do this independently. We will write in response to our read aloud, Wonder. Also, I will read aloud a picture book and ask the kids to decide if the main character showed courage or another virtue? Students will need to provide evidence to support their answers. We will also spend a couple days reading through a Time for Kids magazine. 

Grammar: This week we will review the parts of speech we've learned about so far (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, articles, and different types of verbs). Students will be cutting words from magazines, sorting into parts of speech and creating a collage. :)

Social Studies: The kids are finishing up reading "George vs. George" early this week and then students will have a written assessment on the American Revolution. Students will start the assessment on  Wednesday and will also have time on Thursday. Students will be able to use their notes they've taken from various sources to help them answer the questions. It would be helpful to have a discussion with your child about what they've learned about the American Revolution. We've focused on causes and effects, major events of the war, important people, different points of view (loyalists, patriots, George Washington, King George). 

Science: We will begin to study the digestive system this week as well as discuss health and diet. Students will learn about the process of digestion and the major organs involved. Students will get a homework assignment Wednesday that will be due Friday. They will need to research some of the organs involved in the digestion process. Also, if kids could bring 2 labels from foods they enjoy by Friday, we will be doing an activity that requires us to analyze the contents of the foods we enjoy..sometimes scary!  

March 4-8

ISATs will be taken Tuesday through Thursday next week. Students will take one math and one reading assessment each of the three days. 

If you haven't done so already, please send in your child's permission slip to attend the play on the Civil War as soon as possible.

Spelling: no spelling this week! :)

5H Math: We will only meet as a math class Monday and Friday this week. We will work on representing numbers in standard notation, exponential notation, and number and word notation. We may also begin talking about order of operations. I have added some links under the math tab, but please remember that although the IXL site matches the standards we are learning about, the questions often don't go into great depth. Encourage your child to visit XtraMath at least 3 times during the week. 

Reading/Writing: The kids have done an awesome job determining the topic/subject of a piece as well as the theme. We will continue to practice this skill with a few of my favorite poems. I'm hopeful the kids will be able to share some of their favorite poems (or find some) of their own!

We will use a lot of our time this week to take part in a mini research project. Details about the project are written below; please encourage your child to visit the blog and read the blurb below. Kids can start thinking about who they might want to research. We will begin on Monday and students' papers will be due Friday 3/8. We will have plenty of laptop/computer lab time this week, but kids may need to do some research at home. 

Grammar: This week we will review the parts of speech we've learned about so far (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, articles, and different types of verbs). Students will be cutting words from magazines, sorting into parts of speech and creating a collage. :)

Social Studies: Students will be reading an awesome book with a partner this coming week: "George vs. George: The American Revolution as seen from Both Sides." It presents information about George Washington and King George III and their role in the American Revolution in a fun and interesting manner. With our research project and while reading this book, we will have lessons on what to take notes on and how to organize notes so they are useful. 

Mini-Research Project Directions

        Today you are going to begin a mini-research project focused on our theme of courage.  We have been studying The American Revolution during social studies, and you have been exposed to many brave people from our past.  You need to pick one person from The American Revolution, a Loyalist or a Patriot, to find more information about.  You will need to write a short essay on this person and explain how their life and their actions showed courage.  Next, you may pick any other person from history who you believe showed courage in a different way to research. You will then write a short essay on this second person explaining how their life and actions demonstrated courage.  Finally, you will prepare a third short essay that describes the similarities and differences between the types of courage shown by the two people you researched.