Week of 5/2/16 - 5/6/1

Thank you for coming to our Open House! The children were so excited to show off their work and their classroom! We're in the final stretch of our school year.

MAP Testing*: This upcoming Thursday and Friday, our students will be showing us what they know on the MAP Math and Reading assessments. These assessments are used 3 times during the school year (Fall, Winter and Spring) to measure their growth in academic areas. As always, it is important that your child gets a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast in the morning to help perform at their best on these tests.

*Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) creates a personalized assessment experience by adapting to each student’s learning level. You’ll have assessment data—and essential information about what each student knows and is ready to learn.

COMING UP:

Spelling:  The new list comes home on Monday. Homework Menu (6 activities) and Test are due/will be on Friday, 5/13.

Reading & Language Arts:  Students are working on a Character Poster in class from The One and Only Ivan. Each chooses a character from the story, creates a word cloud describing the character, and supports their findings with excerpts from the text. In stations, students read stories on Raz-Kids and build comprehension.

For language, students continue to build their interactive iBinder with notes and a portfolio of their work samples. This week we learn when to use commas and dialogue (quotation marks) in their writing. We will begin writing friendly letters to our 2nd Grade Pen Pals this week. Our Pen Pals are from Mrs. Walega's 2nd Grade Class.

Thanks to Emily for sharing her Ivan Journal experiences with us last week! We look forward to hearing from Serenity this week about her visit with Ivan. : )

Keep Reading for 20 minutes daily! April Reading Logs are due on or before Tuesday, 5/3. The May Reading Log will come home this week.

Social Science:  We begin Chapter 4 Ecosystems on Monday. There will be an open-book quiz on Thursday covering Lesson 1. This topic ties in with our field trip to the Shedd Aquarium.

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

We begin Unit 8: Bridge Design & Construction using data collection and analysis.
A unit summary sheet will come home on Monday. This month, students will be researching, designing and constructing model bridges. Therefore, we're reaching out to families for material donations. We are in need of:

• uncooked spaghetti or linguini noodles
• round toothpicks
• paper towel tubes
• toilet paper tubes
• straws
• foil
• newspapers
• manila file folders
• fishing line
• cotton string
• copper wire
• rubber bands
• yarn
• marshmallows
• gumdrops
• tape
• paper clips
• twist ties (like from the grocery store, produce section)

Please email me at hlopez@ccsd66.org if you can donate any items. Thank you!!!

IMPORTANT DATES:

5/12 - 3rd Grade Field Trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
5/13 - Early Dismissal (PV @ 11:35am)
5/30 - No School (Memorial Day holiday)
6/3 - Last Day of School (1/2 day of school)

Have a wonderful weekend!
- Mrs. Lopez

Week of 4/25/16 - 4/29/16

PARCC TESTING is DONE: Great job to my Homeroom and Math classes for staying focused and trying their best on the PARCC Tests. There will be makeup times during the school day for those who missed a test.

Prairieview Open House & Book Fair: Our school's annual Open House & Book Fair is this Thursday, 4/28. We have many projects underway and can't wait to show them off! Hope to see you there!

COMING UP:

Spelling:  The Homework Menu (6 activities) and Test are due/will be on Friday, 4/29.

Reading & Language Arts:  We finished reading The One and Only Ivan together. What a wonderful story of the fictional insights of a captive gorilla.

Thanks to Eli for sharing his Ivan Journal experiences with us last week! We look forward to hearing from Emily this week about her visit with Ivan. : )

Keep Reading for 20 minutes daily! April Reading Logs are due on or before Tuesday, 5/3.

Social Science:  We're discovering The Solar System; the planets and constellations. This week we continue reading Chapter 10, Lessons 1-3 with lesson checkpoints throughout.

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

We will finish Unit 7 "Extending Multiplication & Fractions" this week. The Unit 7 Test will be Friday 4/29. A practice study guide will go home with you child during the week.

IMPORTANT DATES:

4/28 - Prairieview's Spring Open House & Book Fair
5/12 - 3rd Grade Field Trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
5/13 - Early Dismissal (PV @ 11:35am)
5/30 - No School (Memorial Day holiday)
6/3 - Last Day of School (1/2 day of school)

Have a wonderful weekend!
- Mrs. Lopez

Week of 4/18/16 - 4/22/16

PARCC TESTING: We completed our first round of PARCC* Testing for English Language Arts (ELA). This week we'll be testing Math. The students are doing a fantastic job focusing during these tests.
Math classes are taking the MATH portion (4 parts) this week; Tuesday through Friday.
Students will need their fully-charged Chromebooks, chargers, and earbuds/headphones to take the tests. It is very important that students bring these everyday. 
Also, it is important that your child gets a good night's sleep, eats a good breakfast, and brings a healthy snack in order to perform at his/her best for the PARCC Test.
* The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is the state assessment and accountability measure for Illinois students enrolled in a public school district. PARCC assesses the New Illinois Learning Standards Incorporating the Common Core and will be administered to students in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

COMING UP:

Spelling:  Due to the PARCC testing schedule last week, I was only able to give some of the Spelling Tests to students on Friday. I will give the remaining Spelling Tests on Monday. Then, our students will receive their new Spelling Lists this week. The Homework Menu (6 activities) and Test are due/will be on Friday, 4/29.

Reading & Language Arts:  We're reading The One and Only Ivan together. We are discovering the characters, setting, plot, and solution through close-read and comprehension strategies.

Thanks to Alexa for sharing her Ivan Journal experiences with us last week! We look forward to hearing from Eli this week about his visit with Ivan. : )

Keep Reading for 20 minutes daily! April Reading Logs have gone home and will be due on or before Tuesday, 5/3.

Social Science:  Students have received a study guide to prepare them for the Chicago Test #2. It is a good idea for each student to complete their study guide because they can use it as a reference while taking their test. The Chicago Test #2 is scheduled for Monday, 4/18.

This week, we get back into science discovering The Solar System. 

We have many projects underway and can't wait to show them off at our Open House on Thursday 4/28! Hope to see you there!

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

We're continuing Unit 7 "Extending Multiplication & Fractions" on Monday. We will be taking the PARCC Math Test (in 4 parts; 1 each day) Tuesday through Friday.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Weeks of 4/11 and 4/18 - PARCC Testing
4/22 - Shedd Field Trip permission slip & money due
4/28 - Prairieview's Spring Open House & Book Fair
5/12 - 3rd Grade Field Trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
5/13 - Early Dismissal (PV @ 11:35am)
5/30 - No School (Memorial Day holiday)
6/3 - Last Day of School (1/2 day of school)

Have a wonderful weekend!
- Mrs. Lopez

Week of 4/11/16 - 4/15/16

Happy Spring.. with snow?? We've had some crazy weather this past week. Hopefully it will feel more like springtime soon.

PARCC TESTING: We will be conducting PARCC Testing during the next two weeks. 
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is the state assessment and accountability measure for Illinois students enrolled in a public school district. PARCC assesses the New Illinois Learning Standards Incorporating the Common Core and will be administered to students in English Language Arts and Mathematics.
Homeroom classes are taking the ELA portion this week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Math classes are taking the MATH portion next week Tuesday through Friday.
Students will need their fully-charged Chromebooks, chargers, and earbuds/headphones to take the tests. It is very important that students bring these everyday. 
Also, it is important that your child gets a good night's sleep, eats a good breakfast, and brings a healthy snack in order to perform at his/her best for the PARCC Test.

COMING UP:

Spelling:  The Homework Menu (6 activities) and Test are due/will be on Friday, 4/15.

Reading & Language Arts:  We're reading The One and Only Ivan together. We are discovering the characters, setting, plot, and solution through close-read and comprehension strategies.

Keep Reading for 20 minutes daily! April Reading Logs have gone home and will be due on or before Tuesday, 5/3.

Social Science:  We're finishing the second section of Chicago history covering The World's Fairs. Students will receive a study guide to prepare them for the Chicago Test #2. It is a good idea for each student to complete their study guide because they can use it as a reference while taking their test. The Chicago Test #2 is scheduled for Monday, 4/18.

We will also get back into science very soon and start discovering The Solar System.

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

We're continuing Unit 7 "Extending Multiplication & Fractions". Unit 7 provides a review of material covered earlier in the year, as well as opportunities to extend skills and concepts into work with larger numbers and bigger ideas. The next multiplication facts will be x11's and x12's with the tests on Friday, 4/15.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Weeks of 4/11 and 4/18 - PARCC Testing
4/13 - Early Dismissal (PV @ 11:35am)
4/28 - PV Spring Open House & Book Fair
5/13 - Early Dismissal (PV @ 11:35am)
5/30 - No School (Memorial Day holiday)
6/3 - Last Day of School (1/2 day of school)

Have a wonderful weekend!
- Mrs. Lopez