Monday, November 22, 2010

November 29th - December 3rd

Important Dates . . .
December 1 -- Parent/Teacher Conferences p.m.
December 3 -- Parent/Teacher Conferences -- No School
December 20 -- Winter Break Begins
January 3 -- Classes Resume after Winter Break


IMPORTANT NOTES:

The students of Project Challenge grades 3-5 are participating in a Lion's Club Holiday Drive. We are looking for donations such as new toys, new games, toiletries, and food for the needy families in the Darien area. If you wish to participate you will need to bring the donations in by December 13. Remember that some of these families live right here in Darien. So let's help these families have a happy holiday season. PLEASE DONATE!

Paper Recycling Fundraiser Comes to Prairieview: We are happy to announce we can now raise money for our district by recycling paper! You can help us out, too! Please collect any paper you are going to throw away or recycle (office and school paper, newspaper, magazines and catalogs, and construction paper---no cardboard!) and send it in with your child to school or drop it off at the green and yellow Paper Retriever bin in the Lakeview parking lot (near the fence by the Prairieview playground). The bin is available for drop offs 24/7. The more paper we recycle, the more money we can make! Do something good for our schools AND the environment! Thank you!

Language Arts
We are beginning on to a new unit this week on Nouns.

Reading
This week we will continue with Soar to Success. We will read a new story each week and focus on phonics and comprehension skills in small groups. This week they will be reading The Wolf's Chicken Stew.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! You may just note the time read in increments of 20 minutes in the pages read section. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade at the end of the month. Keep reading!

Spelling
This week we will wrap up the list of the top 100 words with a review. These l00 words as listed in the "A.B.C. Language Arts Bulletin" Educational Research Service, American Book Co., account for 65% of all running words in the writing of adults.

Practice pages will be assigned for the upcoming week's list on Monday. At the beginning of the week would be a good time to discuss the meaning of the words. Although we work on meaning typically on Fridays and Mondays, help from home is greatly encouraged! They will be receiving them daily as an assignment. A test over the lesson will be given this Friday.

Please try to help your child study if you see they are not performing as well as you'd expect on the weekly test. One strategy you can use to help is: Finger Tracing - Use your finger to spell out each of your words one letter at a time on your Mom or Dad’s back. Then it’s YOUR turn to feel and spell.

Science
This upcoming week we will be introducing Chapter 5, Exploring Earth's Surface. The "Big Idea" of this chapter is the Earth's surface is made up of many different materials and can change over time. To maintain a consistent understanding of the science vocabulary words, we will be building this throughout the chapter in the form of flashcards.

Math
We are continuing with subtraction! Not only have they learned strategies to subtraction, but they have had to learn to solve subtraction word problems. The children have done a wonderful job with the PAL rule when solving word problems.
P = problem ( 2 + 2 = )
A = answer ( 4 )
L = label ( toys )


Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and complete Independent Reading Folder Log
- weekly turn in on Friday
- practice reading poems given to work on fluency
Spelling - Practice Page nightly to be turned in & study words for test

*Please check your child's homework and sign assignment notebook when complete.
**If your child is having difficulties with their homework please send a note and I will help them during free time.

Friday, November 19, 2010

November 22nd - November 23rd

Important Dates . . .
Tuesday, November 23 -- Report Cards
-- Picture Retake Day
-- Unit 4 Social Studies Test
November 24, 25, 26 -- Thanksgiving Holiday -- No Schoool

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 will be picture retake day. Any student that did not have their picture taken prior to this date may do so. They will be required to have a picture envelope with money to have a picture taken. Any student wishing to have a picture retaken will have to return the original picture packet for a retake.

The students of Project Challenge grades 3-5 are participating in a Lion's Club Holiday Drive. We are looking for donations such as new toys, new games, toiletries, and food for the needy families in the Darien area. If you wish to participate you will need to bring the donations in by December 13. Remember that some of these families live right here in Darien. So let's help these families have a happy holiday season. PLEASE DONATE!

*Paper Recycling Fundraiser Comes to Prairieview: We are happy to announce we can now raise money for our district by recycling paper! You can help us out, too! Please collect any paper you are going to throw away or recycle (office and school paper, newspaper, magazines and catalogs, and construction paper---no cardboard!) and send it in with your child to school or drop it off at the green and yellow Paper Retriever bin in the Lakeview parking lot (near the fence by the Prairieview playground). The bin is available for drop offs 24/7. The more paper we recycle, the more money we can make! Do something good for our schools AND the environment! Thank you!

Language Arts
We are wrapping up the Capitalization unit this week.

Reading
This week we will be reading about Thanksgiving and focusing on comprehension skills in small groups.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! You may just note the time read in increments of 20 minutes in the pages read section. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade at the end of the month. Keep reading!

Spelling
No spelling list to study this week. We will be working on spelling strategies using a Thanksgiving theme.

Social Studies
We will wrap up Unit 4 this week, with a test on Tuesday, November 23rd. We have discussed and written various definitions on notecards in this unit thus far. There is a lot of information to know. Please review lessons over the weekend when the book will be sent home. The definitions/vocabulary cards will be found in their social studies folder in their binder. This will help when the test arrives next week.

No news event or report this week.

Math
We are continuing on with subtraction!


Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and complete Independent Reading Folder Log
- weekly turn in on Friday
Social Studies - current event newsclip due Monday
- study for Unit 4 test - Tuesday, November 23rd

*Please check your child's homework and sign assignment notebook when complete.
**If your child is having difficulties with their homework please send a note and I will help them during free time.

Friday, November 12, 2010

November 15th - 19th

Important Dates . . .
Tuesday, November 23 -- Report Cards
-- Picture Retake Day
-- Unit 4 Social Studies Test
November 24, 25, 26 -- Thanksgiving Holiday -- No Schoool

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 will be picture retake day. Any student that did not have their picture taken prior to this date may do so. They will be required to have a picture envelope with money to have a picture taken. Any student wishing to have a picture retaken will have to return the original picture packet for a retake.


Language Arts
We are continuing on with Capitalization this week. By midweek your child should be able to answer the question: "What is a proper noun?"

Reading
This week we will continue with Soar to Success. We will read a new story each week and focus on phonics and comprehension skills in small groups. This week they will be reading Arturo's Baton.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! You may just note the time read in increments of 20 minutes in the pages read section. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade at the end of the month. Keep reading!

Spelling
This week we will wrap up the list of the top 100 words. These l00 words as listed in the "A.B.C. Language Arts Bulletin" Educational Research Service, American Book Co., account for 65% of all running words in the writing of adults.

Practice pages will be assigned for the upcoming week's list on Friday to give additional study time. Over the weekend would be a good time to discuss the meaning of the words. Although we work on meaning typically on Fridays and Mondays, help from home is greatly encouraged! They will be receiving them daily as an assignment. A test over the lesson will be given this Friday.

Please try to help your child study if you see they are not performing as well as you'd expect on the weekly test. One strategy you can use to help is: Scratch n' Sniff - Use a new sensation to teach the alphabet or spelling words. Write letters with glue on paper, then sprinkle with Jell-O. Makes a super scratch n' sniff when tracing over the letters.

Social Studies
We will wrap up Unit 4 this week, with a test the following Tuesday, November 23rd. We have discussed and written various definitions on notecards in this unit thus far. There is a lot of information to know. Please review lessons over the weekend when the book will be sent home. The definitions/vocabulary cards will be found in their social studies folder in their binder. This will help when the test arrives next week.

Students are to research a current news event or report weekly. The 5Ws are found in most news stories. Often, the five Ws are introduced in a story's opening paragraph. First of all find a news story that interests your child. They should either find it on the internet and print it out or cut out from a newspaper to bring into school at the beginning of the week. They will be asked to discuss this current event with fellow students throughout the week. In order to do this it would be good to ask your child to talk about the who, where, when, what, and why of the story. Circle, underline, or highlight the areas of the story that tell each of the five Ws. At school each student will be asked to report to the class the who, where, when, what, and why of the story. (Online resource suggestions: Time For Kids, Science News for Kids, Weekly Reader Feature Zone, & National Geographic Kids )

Math
We are moving on to the next chapter, subtraction! The children had done a wonderful job with the last chapter, especially when they are able to have hands on materials with problem solving!

Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and complete Independent Reading Folder Log
- weekly turn in on Friday
- practice reading poems given to work on fluency
Spelling - Practice Page nightly to be turned in & study words for test
Social Studies - current event newsclip due Monday
- study for Unit 4 test - Tuesday, November 23rd

*Please check your child's homework and sign assignment notebook when complete.
**If your child is having difficulties with their homework please send a note and I will help them during free time.

Friday, November 5, 2010

November 8th - 12th

Important Dates . . .
Thursday, November 11th -- No School - Veterans Day
Friday, November 12 -- End of Trimester
-- 3rd Grade Downers Grove Field Trip
Tuesday, November 23 -- Report Cards
-- Picture Retake Day
November 24, 25, 26 -- Thanksgiving Holiday -- No Schoool

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 will be picture retake day. Any student that did not have their picture taken prior to this date may do so. They will be required to have a picture envelope with money to have a picture taken. Any student wishing to have a picture retaken will have to return the original picture packet for a retake.


Language Arts
We are beginning on to a new unit this week on Capitalization.

Reading
This week we will begin a new comprehension program called Soar to Success. We will read a new story each week and focus on comprehension skills in small groups.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! You may just note the time read in increments of 20 minutes in the pages read section. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade at the end of the month. Keep reading!

Spelling
This week we will begin working through a list of the top 100 words. These l00 words as listed in the "A.B.C. Language Arts Bulletin" Educational Research Service, American Book Co., account for 65% of all running words in the writing of adults. We will continue to work through the list of these words for the next few weeks. Reading and spelling skills will be built at the same time through this list.

Practice pages will be assigned for the upcoming week's list on Friday to give additional study time. Over the weekend would be a good time to discuss the meaning of the words. Although we work on meaning typically on Fridays and Mondays, help from home is greatly encouraged! They will be receiving them daily as an assignment. A test over the lesson will be given this Friday.

Please try to help your child study if you see they are not performing as well as you'd expect on the weekly test. One strategy you can use to help is: Fancy Letters - Use old magazines, catalogs, or newspapers to cut out letters and glue them down to spell your words!

Social Studies
We will review the first few lessons in Unit 4 this week. Also, we will connect our study with information on Downers Grove.

Students are to research a current news event or report. The 5Ws are found in most news stories. Often, the five Ws are introduced in a story's opening paragraph. First of all find a news story that interests your child. They should either find it on the internet and print it out or cut out from a newspaper to bring into school at the beginning of the week. They will be asked to discuss this current event with fellow students throughout the week. In order to do this it would be good to ask your child to talk about the who, where, when, what, and why of the story. Circle, underline, or highlight the areas of the story that tell each of the five Ws. At school each student will be asked to report to the class the who, where, when, what, and why of the story.
(Online resource suggestions: Time For Kids, Learning With Newsweek, Weekly Reader Feature Zone, & National Geographic Kids )

Math
We will be wrapping up the chapter on basic addition. The children have enjoyed working through this chapter, especially when they are able to have hands on materials with problem solving!

Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and complete Independent Reading Folder Log
- weekly turn in on Friday
- practice reading poems given to work on fluency
Spelling - Practice Page nightly to be turned in & study words for test
Social Studies - current event newsclip

*Please check your child's homework and sign assignment notebook when complete.
**If your child is having difficulties with their homework please send a note and I will help them during free time.