Week of 3/14/16 - 3/18/16

Spring Ahead this weekend! Don't forget to to your clocks forward 1 hour before you sleep Saturday night. Daylight Savings Time begins. : )

"IVAN the Gorilla" Student: Natalie took IVAN home this past week and spent some time with him. She will write in IVAN's journal how they spent the week together, add a photo or drawing, and share their experiences with the class.

Interested in Volunteering at our school?

Physical Education class: Mrs. Cushing, the PE teacher, is looking for some help with her Indoor Tennis Unit in April. Parents can just come in for their child's 25 min. PE class or come for the grade level time. Students need help getting the fundamentals down. Students would benefit from having extra people to help toss balls to them so they can practice their skills. Please let her know if you are available at all to help out. Please email Mrs. Cushing at tcushing@ccsd66.org Thank you!

Parent Volunteer: Is there a parent who would be interested in helping sort and classify our classroom story books? A few weeks ago, all 3rd Graders were assessed to find their Fountas and Pinnell (F&P) reading level. We need to update our classroom story books with "level" stickers to show each book's F&P level. If you would like to help for one morning or one afternoon each week, we would greatly appreciate it! I'll show you how to look up the book F&P level online and mark each book. Email me at hlopez@ccsd66.org if you are interested.

COMING UP:

Spelling:  New spelling lists will be sent home this week. The new homework menu (6 activities) and Test are due/will be on Thursday 3/24/16 (right before our Spring Break).

Reading & Language Arts:  Our final reading unit is "Stand Up for What You Believe In". We've begun reading The One and Only Ivan together. It is the true story of a silverback gorilla (told from his point-of-view) who lived most of his life in captivity. I encourage parents to read it as well. We will work to discover the characters, setting, plot, and solution through close-read and comprehension strategies.

Your child's Leprechaun Trap and planning sheet (rough draft) is due Wednesday. 3/16/16. From this project, each student will learn to write an Informational/Explanatory writing piece in class explaining the materials they used to build the trap, the steps they followed to build it, and finally, how the trap works. They might even trap a Leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day (3/17/16). : )


During Daily Independent Stations, students are working on...
Read to Self: reading a fictional book (matching their Fountas & Pinnell reading level) and completing a book report template (I hope to have these finished by 4/11/16)
Word Work: sorting spelling words, working with verbs and pronouns
Work on Writing: writing and revising their Leprechaun Trap explanatory writing piece, writing to Dubai Pen Pals
Listening to Reading: listening to audio books on Tumblebooks.com

Social Science:  The open-book quiz on Chapter 3, Lesson 4 (New Life in America) is on Monday, 3/14/16. The students can re-read textbook pages 90-97 and practice the Kahoot! on Google Classroom to study for this quiz.

We are continuing our Chicago Unit. We're finishing the first section of an Overview of Chicagoland and its Early History. There will be a quiz covering this first section on Monday, 3/21/16. A study guide will be sent home this week. If students complete the study guide, they may use it for their quiz.

Mrs. Lopez & Mrs. Forsman's Math Class:   

We're continuing Unit 6 "Geometry" with quadrilaterals and perimeter. A checkpoint quiz will be on Wed. 3/16/16 covering polygons, quadrilaterals, and parallelograms.

Our x6 multiplication test will be Friday, 3/18/16. The students will have the x6 practice worksheet for homework this week. Practicing with x6 flashcards is a fantastic idea, too! Your child can make their own!

IMPORTANT DATES:

3/15 - No School (Election Day)
3/25 - No School (Non-Attendance Day)
3/28 - No School (Spring Break begins)
4/4 - Classes Resume

Have a great week!
- Mrs. Lopez