February+17

=__**FEBRUARY 17**__=

__** ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING DATES :**__
 * Mon., Feb. 20...NO SCHOOL...Professional Development **

**__NEW DATE: Tues., Feb. 21...Silent Auction Items (Iowa/ISU) due for Carnival__**
**Thurs., Feb. 23...Spring Pictures** **Sat., Mar. 3...Elementary Carnival**

__**Mon., Mar. 5...SCIENCE PROJECTS (CELL MODEL) DUE!! **__
**Tues., Mar. 13...Parent-Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 p.m. __DISMISS at 1:30!__** **Thurs., Mar. 15...Parent-Teacher Conferences, 4:00-8:00 p.m. __DISMISS at 1:30!__** **Fri., Mar. 16...NO SCHOOL...Conference Comp Day** **Mon., Mar. 19-Fri., Mar. 23...SPRING BREAK!**

**If your child is going to be absent for a few days due to a family trip, please let us know with a note in advance so we may gather homework to send with you. We can't always have //everything// ready to go, but it's very helpful to the teachers and the office to be aware of extended absences ahead of time. Thank you!**

=== Both homerooms will have a "Homework Club" each quarter. We will keep a chart in our rooms, tracking which students return their homework packets on time each week. Students who consistently return their packets each week will be rewarded at the end of each quarter! ===

=== //We have been informed that the kitchen can no longer store items that need to be frozen or refrigerated. You will need to provide a cooler if your child is bringing treats that require refrigeration. Thank you for your cooperation.// ===

__**LITERACY:**__
We are continuing to introduce the 6-Traits of Writing. In reading, we are making predictions and connections. We are using context clues, identifying main events, questioning, inferring and summarizing. Please encourage your child to read at home.

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We are in the multiplication unit. Students will be learning strategies and concepts to help them understand and to help them multiply. For those students that are fluent in multiplication, we will be working with division concepts. Please begin to add basic multiplication facts to your addition/subtraction fact practice. Geometry and measurement will be our next unit of focus. =====

__SCIENCE:__
==Our cell project has been assigned, and all information has been sent home so this project may be completed at home. Parental supervision is fine, but please let this be your student's project. It's a great learning experience! __THE CELL MODELS ARE DUE BACK AT SCHOOL ON, OR BEFORE, MONDAY, MARCH 5.__ Each student will show and explain their model to their classmates, and the projects will then go on display for other grades to see!==

====This week we played a fun game, "I Have, Who Has", to review our Microworlds unit. We then learned about a special one-celled organism...the amoeba! We also started a new unit entitled "Chemical Tests". This is always a fun and popular unit! We will observe and experiment with common substances as they react with, and to, each other!====

__**SOCIAL STUDIES:**__
==== Mrs. Schrader has been working with the students in social studies. The objectives this chapter are to analyze the role of natural resources in creating new communities and to describe some ways that communities change as they grow. They will be discussing why natural resources are important to industry, and they will give examples of the ways factories changed communities. The students will be responsible for listing some of the reasons immigrants came to the U.S., and they will be describing how communities changed when large numbers of immigrants came to the U.S. Finally, the students will explain how the automobile changed how and where people lived and worked, and students will identify changes made during the last century to provide people with better transportation. ====

Unfortunately, Stacy is trying to finish up her social studies lessons so we were not able to share the adventures of our flat friends this week. We will be sharing soon.

The Country Project is almost upon us! Please use the following link to find out more! Mrs. Volk's Google Site ==== Check with your child about Daily Detective. The purpose of this project is to not only help the students learn about the countries of the world, but also to help them research. Each day a new clue will go up on our 'detective board'. The students will be able to write the clue down and bring it home so that you can, if needed, help your child to identify the country. The clues start out very broad and as the week goes on, get more specific. Please ask your child about Daily Detective and each daily clue. ==== Daily Detective will resume in late February to coincide with our country project.

__**MRS. VOLK:**__
Book orders were due today.

Thank you to Lisa, Liz, Tami, and Paul for helping to make our Valentine party run smoothly. We couldn't have done it without your help!

Your child has been registered for Sumdog.com. This is a site that will help your child practice their math facts. Each student was given a username and password. They are encouraged to use this site at home.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #e600ff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">Please continue to encourage your child to complete and return their weekly homework packet. Some students are not returning their packets in a timely fashion, if at all. Please be looking for those each Monday and they are to be returned on Thursday. Thank you to those students who are completing and returning their packets each week. You are showing responsibility when you do so!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">The February reading goal continues to be 425 minutes. Please feel free to use the list of questions that I sent home earlier this year to help you facilitate a reading conversation with your child. Thank you for your continued support at home.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">**__MRS. SKAHILL/MISS STEPHENS__** We had an hour on Monday with Mrs. Thompson in the Star Lab, and then Mrs. Thompson came to our classroom on Tuesday to help us research and write reports on stars. Next week the students will return to the Star Lab with special guest speaker Chris Adkins.

== It's hard to believe that we've now had our final holiday party of the year! The Valentine party is always popular! Thanks to Nancy Zehr, Lisa Boyd, Brande Holste, and Summer Van Genderen for providing delicious treats and a fun game and prizes! Their help and presence made the party a big success! ==

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em;">**The February Book-It calendar has been sent home. This month's goal is 400 minutes (which averages out to about 14 minutes per day), AND the book report on the back of the calendar. February and March are the last two months in the Book-It program, so please encourage your child to read daily and fill in their calendars! Many of our students haven't met the goal at all yet, so let's finish the last two months with great participation by all!**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Just a reminder: Spelling word lists are handed out at the //beginning// of each unit so they can be studied in preparation for the cloze test. Watch for the word lists glued into the planner. As mentioned previously, we won't be taking a cloze test every week...we work up to tests as we go through the word/phonics lessons in each unit.