Week of 12/3

Welcome to December!  Winter has arrived! Please remember to dress your child for the weather because we do try to go outside for recess. 

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Tues. 12/4: Early Dismissal 

*Fri. 12/7: Spelling test and activities due

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Spelling: 3 activities are due on Fri. 12/7. Your child has been given several times during the last week to work on these so they should have at least 2 activities done. The test is on Fri. 12/7

*Reading and Language Arts: This week we will focus on character traits and extended responses. We will determine traits of characters in stories and about ourselves using evidences. We will be writing a story about what would happen if we got stuck in a snow globe!

November Reading calendars are due on Mon. 12/3. Your child will get a December Calendar on Mon. 

*Science: We continue to work on amplify. We will be making magnet observations this week. 

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: Unit 2 continues with multiplication strategies. There will be a graded "work sample" this week. We will also work on 5's multiplication. 

Have a great weekend! Stay warm!
Mrs. Olsen 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is the end of Trimester 1. Grades will be finalized soon. What a great first part of the school year! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving break with your families. This blog will include information for the next 2 weeks.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

* Wed-Fri 11/21-23: No School: Happy Thanksgiving!

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will work on fluency, context clues, and expression and we do readers theatres' with myths. Students will practice and perform with their reading groups.

*Spelling: New word sorts will be going home on Mon. 11/26. 3 activities and the test will be on 12/7.

*Science: We will continue our new science curriculum as we observe forces in chain reactions.

*Mrs. Olsen's Math class: Unit 2 continues with work on multiplication strategies. Please have your child study their facts every night! There will be a short checkpoint on multiplication on 11/27.

Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Olsen

Week of 11/12

Odds and Ends:

Our Downers Grove field trip is on Mon. 11/12. Please have your child dress for walking and for the weather as we get off and on the bus throughout the day. If you did not order and pay for Giordano's pizza, please send your child with a disposable sack lunch.  Also, you can send a snack in with your child if they would like to eat it before we leave.

Veteran's Day: In honor of Veteran's Day, we had a school wide assembly honoring veteran's who have a Prairieview connection. It was a very emotional and touching assembly and meant so much to the students and veterans. Please ask your child about this special assembly. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Mon. 11/12: Downers Grove Field Trip

*Wed. 11/14; Disguised Turkeys due 

*Fri. 11/16: Spelling: Test and homework due
End of Trimester 1

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will continue to discuss myth's as we learn about King Midas and Pandora's Box. We are focusing on character traits and using text evidence to help answer questions. 

*English: We will be using our disguised turkeys (which are due Wed) to write a persuasive paragraph to convince the farmer not to eat him/her on Thanksgiving! We will also work on adverbs and quotation marks. 

*Science: We are working on our new curriculum called Amplify. Our first unit is on balances and forces.

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We will take a step back to Unit 2 which is an introduction to Multiplication. 

Hope you had a great weekend!
Mrs.Olsen 

Week of 11/5

Odds and Ends: 

Thank you to all of the parents who helped at this year's Halloween Party! What a fun time the kids had! We all really appreciate the generous donations of food, drinks, and party utensils and the fun games prepared for the class! I hope you all had a great, fun, and safe Halloween!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

* Wed. 11/7 :  Turn in due date for DG field trip form and  money 
Social Studies: Downers Grove History Test 

*Fri. 11/9: Math: Unit 3 Test 

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will continue to work on our reading strategies of cause and effect and sequencing and begin our study of myths. 

*English: We will focus on adverbs and quotations marks. 

* Spelling: A new word sort will be sent home on Monday. The 3 activities and test will be on Fri. 11/16. 

* Social Studies: We are wrapping up our unit on Downers Grove history. We will learn about Tivoli theatre and then do some group work to review the information. A study guide was sent home this week for the DG quiz on Wed. 11/7. 

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We are nearing the end of Unit 3. A practice test/study guide will be sent home Monday and due Thurs. The Unit 3 test will be on Friday. 11/9. 

Have a great weekend enjoying the beautiful fall colors! 

Mrs. Olsen 

Week of 10/29

Odds and Ends:

Thank you! It was so wonderful to meet with so many of the families for parent teacher conference. It is always nice to have an opportunity to sit and discuss your child's progress together. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to email or call! Thanks you for your continued support! 

Halloween Party and Parade: If your child would like to dress up for Halloween, please send the costume with to school on Wed. 10/31. They will be given time to change into their costume before the party begins at 1:00. They will not be going to the bathroom to change, but we will have a girls classroom and boys classroom where they can get ready. If possible, its best to wear the costume over clothes. No weapons allowed.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Fri. 10/26: No School 

*Mon. 10/29: No School: Teacher Institute

*Wed. 10/31: Happy Halloween!

* Fri. 11/2: Spelling Test 

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We are working on cause and effect and sequencing. We are reading leveled non fiction texts as we apply these skills to different texts. 

*English: The students are busy writing their persuasive and descriptive haunted house papers. We are working on finishing our rough drafts and will begin our final copies. We are applying what we know about adjectives, similes, sensory words, color words, and descriptive language to our writing. 

We are also working on adverbs. 

*Spelling: We are in week 2 of our spelling list. Check on your child's progress with their spelling activities. 3 activities from the spelling menu are due on Fri. 11/2. That is also the day of the test. 

*Social Studies: We spent a lot of time learning about the Underground Railroad and how it is connected to our study of Downers Grove. The students loved learning about Harriet Tubman and Henry "Box" Brown. Check out their google classroom page to see videos and books about these things. We will continue our study of Downers Grove as we learn about Prince Pond, Dicke Tool Company, and Tivoli Theatre. 

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We are working hard on learning the different addition and subtraction tables....using number lines, decomposing (breaking apart) numbers, and constant difference...oh my! The students are getting a hang of it with more and more practice. We will work on finding estimated answers, mental math practice, and expanded notation. 

Have a great LONG weekend!
Mrs. Olsen 

Week of 10/22

Odds and Ends; 

I am looking forward to meeting with you next week during parent teacher conferences. If you have not signed up for a time yet, please email me! Thanks!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Thurs. 10/25: DOL #4 quiz

*Fri. 10/26: No School
* Mon. 10/29: No School
*Wed. 10/31: Happy Halloween! Classroom parties

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Reading: We will work with informational text as we focus on sequencing and cause and effect.

*English: We are working with adjectives and adverbs as we apply them to our descriptive writing unit. We will be using color words, sensory words, similes and adjectives as we write about our haunted houses.

We are also working on month abbreviations and commas in a series. A quiz covering those skills will be on Thurs. 10/25.

*Spelling: A new word list will be sent home on Monday. The 3 activities and test will be on Fri. Nov. 9th.

*Social Studies: We are busy learning about Downers Grove history and how it is connected to the underground railroad. A field trip form was sent home this week. Our field trip will be on Nov. 12th. Please contact me with any questions.

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We are learning so many different strategies to add and subtract. These can by tricky at first, but once the kids get the hang of it, they are really amazed at all the ways they can work with numbers.

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Olsen

week of 10/15

Odds and Ends

Thank you for all of those families who have signed up for parent teacher conferences. I sent out another reminder to families I have not yet heard from. I look forward to meeting with each of you to discuss your child's progress so far this year!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

*Fri. 10/19: Spelling: Test and 3 activities due for list 3 of the year

*Mon-Wed. 10/22-10/24: Conferences
*Fri. 10/26: No School 
*Mon. 10/29: No School 
*Wed. 10/31: Halloween! Classroom party and parade 

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK: 

*Spelling: We are working on list 3 this week. Please check in with your child to see if they have 3 menu activities completed or will be able to complete 3 by Friday 10/19. Please help them practice the words for the test on Friday. 

*Reading/English: We are working on folktales as we find text evidence to back up our answers. We are also focusing on sequencing, cause and effect, character traits, and theme. We are applying these skills to our social studies lessons as well.  

We are also working on descriptive writing and adjectives.  This time of year is a great time to practice our descriptive writing skills as we describe our haunted houses. 

* Social Studies: We have started our unit on the history of Downers Grove. Ask your child about Pierce Downer and what kind of person he was. We are learning all about the town's history to prepare us for a field trip on Monday, November 12th. More info coming soon!

*Mrs. Olsen's Math Class: We will continue to work on Unit 3, focusing on rounding to the nearest 10 or 100 to get estimated answers, and then working on strategies to add and subtract 3 digit numbers and solve word problems.  There will be a checkpoint on Monday covering rounding and addition multi digit numbers. 

Have a great weekend and stay warm!
Mrs. Olsen