Hi Families!
Quick notes to know:
- 1/14/21 Materials Exchange 3:00 -4:00 p.m.
- 1/15/21 Early Release (@ 1:00 p.m.)
- 1/15/21 Virtual Spelling Bee participation
- 1/18/21 No School- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- 1/29 Materials Drop Off and Pick up
- 2/12 Valentine’s Day party
- 2/13 No School- Teacher Institute
- 2/15 No School- President’s Day
Homework Calendar LINK
Powerschool link
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Mrs. Trage and I wanted to thank everyone for the very thoughtful and generous gifts. We were both so grateful for everyone’s gifts, treats, thoughtful words and the script gift cards. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
We also wanted to thank everyone for contributing to the winter party! The students had such a wonderful time- thank you to all who contributed!
The next materials pick up will be on 1/14 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Students should drop off: Personal narrative of winter break moment, math pages SB 107-108, 110 and HC 63-64, and social studies winter count.
Virtual Spelling Bee
This year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has developed an online testing platform that will allow schools to host a school spelling bee program, whether children are learning in classrooms or remotely from homes. Prairie Crossing Charter School will be taking advantage of this online platform.
In place of our traditional spelling bee program, we will hold our grade-level and school-wide competition through online spelling tests. The first step to spelling bee participation is for you to register for the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s online testing platform by visiting https://online-test.spellingbee.com (here is a video tutorial that will walk you through the registration process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ThKRsffiFc).
Once you have registered, we will be able to assign the appropriate grade-level test to your child. Your child must complete the test before the given deadline, and these tests can be taken on any device with a web browser, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Each student who chooses to participate will be given a test of 25 words that they must type correctly. They will click a button to hear the word and are given the normal spelling bee information (definition, part of speech, sentence, and origin of the word). The students from each grade with the highest scores will move on to compete at the school level. Our school-level competition will also be administered via this online test platform. Our school champion will then move on to represent PCCS in the Lake County Regional Spelling Bee Program. The Regional Office of Education has not yet determined the method, but they will be conducting regional competitions either virtually, in-peron, or online.
The first step to spelling bee participation is to register at https://online-test.spellingbee.com. Please register at your earliest convenience as we will begin assigning tests to students on Friday, December 18th. Grade-level tests must be completed by Friday, January 15th. If you have already registered in the online testing platform for another child, you can log in to your account and add an additional child to that same parent account. There is no need to register a different email address for each child in your household.
Please reach out to Frances Verenski if you have any questions about our school spelling bee program. We look forward to having your child compete to represent our school!
Preview YouTube video Online Testing Platform Tutorial for Parents: Spelling Bee
NEXT TWO WEEKS:
In Writing,
Students will be writing a winter fictional story. Then, students will be writing on the topic of Martin Luther King Jr. Next week, we are going to start an informational writing piece. This will be based on a person each student will read about and then write an informational biography writing piece.
In Reading,
We will be reading texts about Martin Luther King Jr., and sorting fact and opinion cards. We are also reading Native American texts on Native american belief systems, past cultural practices. We will also learn about Woodland and Prairie Native Americans and their similarities and differences. These texts support our social studies curriculum and will enhance the students’ understanding. Next week, we will also be reading some biographies to help students select which person they want to write about.
In Math, We have just started unit 4. This unit begins with measurement concepts and skills. Students tell time to the minute and solve elapsed time problems. In the second module, students work with volume and solve measurement-related story problems. The third module introduces them to fractions, using several different
models to build, compare, and investigate the relationships among unit and common fractions. There are checkpoints in this unit to assess students understanding of the modules. The unit assessment is planned for the end of January. This week and next we will complete module 1 and 2 of unit 4.
Module 1 Measuring Time & Mass
Students investigate time through
hands-on experiences, a new Work Place game,
carefully constructed questions and discussions,
and a read-aloud. After beginning the module
with a screener, students practice
telling time and begin working with elapsed time.
The Work Place Tic-Tac-Tock reinforces these skills.
Module 2 Measuring Volume & Solving
Measurement Story Problems
Students continue their work with measurement.
Sessions 3, 4, and 5 feature two sets
of measurement-related story problems and two
math forums back-to-back. Students compare
strategies for solving problems that necessitate
identifying the operations needed, and which in
some cases require more than one step and one
operation to solve.
We have started our January number corner. This number corner reinforces fractional values, as well as, shape recognition. A pattern will evolve over time revealing equivalent fractions. Our January collection will be elapsed time. We will roll dice to determine the minutes gained each day and add it to our collection.
For Science/Social Studies,
We are reading chapter 3 in our Illinois book. We have learned about glaciers, and paleo and archaic indians in the Midwest. Then we moved forward in time to learn about the Cahokia and Hopewell Indians in Illinois. Now we are reading about Illini tribes. We will be finishing this chapter in the next two weeks.
Ms. Naomi will continue to teach us a special EE lesson.
We will continue participating in phenology and solo spots, alternating each week on Friday afternoons (sometimes other days as our schedule dictates). This week (1/11) solo spots will be on Thursday due to the Friday Early Release. Your student may complete these by going outside in your own yard, or, if this is not possible, by looking out a window at nature.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
