SPRING PHOTOS

SPRING PICTURES: Spring picture packets went home with your child on Monday, March 31, 2008. If you choose to purchase a portion or all of the packet, please return payment and any extra pictures as soon as possible; no later than Friday, April 4, 2007.

Classroom Issue 26

Odds and Ends

*Spring Break: Enjoy your spring break and time off next week, March 24th -March 28th. I look forward to seeing you all back at school on Monday, March 31st!

*Prize Box: We are in need of some new, fun prizes for both boys and girls. They are working hard and earning many prizes and we are running short. Donations greatly appreciated! Some popular items are notebooks, cool pens and pencils, art supplies, small stuffed animals, and other small toys! Thanks!

Upcoming Events

*Mon. 3/24-Fri. 3/28: Spring Break!

*Mon. 3/31: Welcome Back!

Spelling: List 24 Pretest

*Wed. 4/2: Amazing Animals Assembly

*Fri. 4/4: Math: 5 & 10 division timed tests

Spelling: List 24 Test

SPIRIT DAY! Show your Prairieview Spirit and wear your PV Gear and Green and Gold!

A LOOK AHEAD!

*Math: We will be starting a new chapter, chapter 7, Data and Graphing. We will work with many different types of graphs, as well as work in cooperative groups to make bar graphs. We will also work on the 5's and 10's division facts the week after break.

Students were given the rubric and explanation for our upcoming Geometry projects. They were shown samples of students past work and we discussed any questions or ideas they had. This project is due Friday, April 11th. If you have any additional questions, please email or write a note. Have fun and be creative!

*Science: We will continue to work on ecosystems. The students will work in groups to become the teachers as they teach the class about different ecosystems. Also, the students were given guidelines for making their animal diorama. They will be making animal habitat dioramas for the animals they have chosen in class and wrote their reports on. This project is due Thurs, April 17th. Please email if you have any questions about this fun, creative project!

*Social Studies: I made a slight change in our social studies plans. Rather than begin a unit on Downers Grove, we are going to postpone that unit and do our Chicago unit instead. We started learning about the history of our great city and will continue to learn about the Chicago Fire following break. I have a tentative quiz on the History of Chicago set for Tues. 4/8.

*Reading: The students are finishing up our Stone Fox unit. We are enjoying the story and characters in this popular book. We will finish the book the week following break. There will be a graded vocabulary review on ch 8-10 on Wed. 4/2. We will begin our biography unit next.

*English: Now that we have another grammar lesson under our belts, we are ready to begin a new writing unit. We will begin Expository Writing after break. The students will be writing on a variety of topics as they use support and details to explain their topic.

*Spelling: The students will be working on List 24. There will be a pretest on Monday and a final test on Friday.

Enjoy your well deserved breaks having fun, reading, and enjoying time with your family and friends! I look forward to see you in a week for more learning fun!

~Miss Carlstrom

Classroom Issue 25

Odds and Ends

*ISAT Celebration: Cheeseburger in Paradise! The students have worked very hard this year preparing for the tests and deserve a celebration! The party is scheduled for Thurs. 3/20. We will be ordering McDonald's for lunch and the PTO will be providing a treat for the students. We will watch Lilo and Stitch as part of the celebration. In honor of spring break and thinking of warm weather, your child can wear "tropical" clothes: bright colors, Hawaiian themed clothes, shorts over pants, and other tropical ideas you can think of. This will be a fun day for all!

*Monthly Book Project: Due to spring break and many other school projects during the months of March and April, we will be taking a break from a monthly book project for the month of March and April. I will assign the final book project at the end of April to be completed by the end of May. Your child should still be reading 20 min. each night.

*Thank you to the following families for providing healthy snacks during ISAT week:

Imgruet Family
Sarros Family

McNamara Family

Rovella Family

Seelander Family

*Thank you to all the parents who I spoke with during conference week. It was nice to discuss your child's successes and progress this year. If you have any questions or concerns in the future, please do not hesitate to email or call. Thank you!

Upcoming Events:

*Fri. 3/14: No School

*Mon. 3/17: Happy St. Patrick's Day! Wear Green =)

Reading: Stone Fox ch 1-4 vocab. quiz

*Tues. 3/18: English: Unit 4 Adjective Test

*Thurs. 3/20: Math: Geometry ch 10 Test

Spelling: List 23 test

Cheeseburger in Paradise Party

*Fri. 3/21: SPRING BREAK begins! See you back in school on Mon. 3/31

A Look at Next Week!

*Math: We will go back to reviewing Geometry (ch 10) next week. We will take our final checkpoint from the 2nd half of the chapter, play Geometry jeopardy, and take the final chapter 10 test on Thurs. 3/20. I will send home a study guide on Mon. I will also be explaining and assigning the Geometry Project. This project will be due the week of April 7th. I will also introduce division concepts. We will begin testing division in the same style as multiplication when we return from spring break. I will send a schedule home with your child next week. We will begin with 2's division.

*Science: Your child has been working hard on their animal reports. We are currently typing them up in the computer lab. We will work on our illustrations next week. Next week I will be sending home the instructions on how to make your animal diorama. They will be due the week of April 14th, so your child will be able to get a head start over the break if they would like. We started our unit on ecosystems as well.

*Social Studies: We are finishing up our maps. The students will share their creative maps next week. We will begin our Downers Grove unit next week.

*Reading: The students are working on Stone Fox. We will finish this book the week after spring break. There will be a short graded quiz on the vocabulary from ch 1-4 on Mon. 3/17. Your child should have a study sheet of these words in their binder.

*English: Our Unit 4 on Adjectives is coming to an end. Your child received a review over the entire unit today in class. We will go over the review on Monday and the final test will be on Tues. 3/18. Our next unit will be a writing unit on Expository writing.

*Spelling: Next week we will be on List 23. The list contains words with the ending er and est. We will not have a pretest due to the shortened week. The final test will be on Thurs. 3/20.

Thanks for reading this week's newsletter. Have a nice, relaxing LONG weekend!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

~Miss Carlstrom

Classroom Issue 24

Odds and Ends

* ISAT Week: The ISAT's are upon us and the students (and teachers) are ready to go! We will be taking math and reading tests Mon. 3/10 - Thurs. 3/13. As always, be sure your child gets plenty of rest, eats a healthy, hearty breakfast, and as always, they will do their best and be great! A practice packet was sent home last week to let you get a glimpse as to what will be on the test. If you want to learn more about the importance of these tests or have your child practice, you can check out the ISAT website(http://www.isbe.net/assessment/htmls/sample_books.htm)

I strongly encourage you to check out the website and try some practice work in the packet and/or website.

*Testing Week Treats: The students work very hard during testing next week. As a nice treat and break, I am asking for any donations of drinks or healthy snacks for the students. Bananas are a great source of protein, so that would make a great snack! We have 24 students in our class. If you would like to participate, please send the snacks in with your child any day next week. Thank you in advance!

* Art to Remember: A magnet displaying your child's work was sent home this week. If you would like to keep the magnet or order any other item with your child's work on it, please return the envelope and money by Mon. 3/13. If you are not interested in ordering, please return the magnet and envelope by Mon. 3/13. Thanks!

*Reading Party: Our next reading party will be during lunch on Thurs. 3/13. If your child would like to join us, please have them turn in the reading folders NO LATER than Wed. 3/12 with 28 days of reading completed. Thanks!

*Parent-Teacher Conferences: I am looking forward to meeting with parents next week for Spring conferences. I am holding conferences Mon-Wed. Please return the confirmation sheet as soon as possible so I know if the time and date I gave you works out. Thanks!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon-Thurs: ISAT Tests

*Mon-Wed.: Parent-Teacher Conferences

*Tues. 3/19: Report Cards Sent Home

*Thurs. 3/13: Reading Party

Spelling: List 22 Test

*Fri. 3/14: No school! Enjoy the long weekend!

Spirit Day: Wear GREEN in honor of St. Patrick's Day =)

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Math: We are keeping busy as we review geometry, t-charts, and other math concepts. Please study over the practice tests that are in your child's math folder to help them understand some tricky concepts. We will be taking ISAT's in math class next week Tues.-Thurs. We will continue finishing geometry the following week.

*Reading: The students are doing a tremendous job on their extended responses. We will continue to apply our reading strategies to Stone Fox next week. I will be giving the students an optional assignment to practice extended response over the weekend if they would like to do it for extra credit on their point cards. This will be in their IL workbook.

*English: The students are continuing to work on adjectives and adverbs. The test is tentatively scheduled for the week of 3/17. We will try to finish the chapter before spring break.

*Science: Your child has chosen an animal to do a research on and make a non fiction book about. The students searched for information about their animal in the computer lab and now we are learning how to "research" information with color coding tips and note taking. I will be reviewing topic, support, and closing sentences within paragraphs as we work on writing this non-fiction report. We will complete most of the work in class, however, your child may have some writing and researching to do at home if they do not complete it in class. The animal they chose will be the subject of a habitat diorama...more information coming soon! We will begin ecosystems next.

*Social Studies: The creative juices are flowing during map making in our class! The students are coming up with very creative and fun towns and islands as we learn about map skills. Our next unit will be Downers Grove as we get ready for an upcoming field trip (more information soon!)

*Spelling: Next week we will work on list 22. Due to the shortened week, there will be no pretest. A final graded test will be given Thurs. 3/13.

Thank you for tuning into my blog this week. Have a wonderful weekend!

~Miss Carlstrom