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.

February 25-28

Reminders: No school Friday and ISATs are next week: Tuesday-Thursday! 

Spelling: Unit 20 test is this Thursday. The words and homework assignment are uploaded under the Spelling Tab. 

5H Math: Thank you for reviewing the unit 6 test with your child! I appreciate your support in your child's learning!  
Today we reviewed multiplying whole numbers and decimals by powers of 10. Students worked to determine a pattern when multiplying by powers of 10. On Tuesday, I will ask students to determine what happens to a number when divided by a power of 10. This week we will also practice the types of problems students will see on the ISAT: multiple choice, short answer, and extended response. 

Reading/Writing: We continue to read Wonder aloud in class. The book allows for connections to the kids' lives as well as to our theme of courage. As in our read aloud Because of Mr. Terupt, the book is written from several characters' points of view. What a great reminder that different people can take different experiences away from the same event. We will be completing an extended response based on a question from the read aloud; students will answer a question using evidence from the text, explain their evidence, as well as incorporate their own thoughts. 

We will be discussing theme in literature in greater detail this week. I hope students will be able to describe what exactly literary theme means. We will be determining the theme in different pieces and move to comparing themes among pieces. 

Of course we always have time for independent reading! The kids are doing a great job trying different genres of books- keep up the reading at home and remember to log your minutes on maywattsreads.com

I'm also hoping to get the kids on Edline at some point this week. Some kids are familiar with this, while others are not...more information to come. 

Grammar: This week we'll finish up using the correct tense of verbs and we'll also review adjectives (what they do and how to identify them in sentences). Many kids had a difficult time identifying adjectives. 

Social Studies: Students did a wonderful job creating an organizer using Microsoft Word to gather important facts about key people in the Revolutionary War. We continue to read from our text and discuss the events of the war. It's great how our discussion of the war ties into our theme of courage. We will compare and contrast the views of Loyalists and Patriots this week.  

February 20-22

We filled our marble jar! The kids have voted to have a pajama/gum/electronic day. We will have our celebration this Friday. If your child brings in an electronic, please write a note showing me they have permission to have the device at school; if you already signed an e-reader form and they are bringing in that device, you do not need to write a note.

 

Spelling: No spelling this week.

 

5H Math: This week students will get back their unit 6 math tests. We will take some time to review interpreting line plots before students will get their tests back. Students will also complete another "transfer task" which requires them to apply several skills from the unit. We will begin unit 7 by reviewing powers of ten.

 

Reading/Writing: Last week students read about whether pennies should be retired through reading in their Time for Kids and on several web sites. This week students will use this information to write an opinion piece using their gathered facts as evidence for their opinion.

 

Students will be responding to questions about our read aloud Wonder this week. Students will be asked to analyze and compare the courage of different characters in the book.

 

Grammar: This week, we will review the parts of speech we have learned about so far this year: nouns, pronouns, adjectives and articles, and the different types of verbs. We started learning a song last week to memorize the helping verbs. See if your child can tell you what each of these parts of speech does in a sentence...

Social Studies: Last week students read and watched a video about the growing tensions between Great Britain and the colonies. This week we will begin to learn more about the important events and people during the Revolutionary War. Soon students will be asked to write about whether learning about the Revolutionary War was easier through reading and discussion or through watching the video.