Update 10/18/21

Hi Families!

Quick notes to know:

• 10/17/21  Fall Fest 12-4pm
• 10/20 Early Release- Snunch, no nuts please
• 10/21 Outdoor Assembly- Joey FineRhyme
• 10/25 Applesauce cooking & canning tentatively planned 
• 10/28 Eat real cooking project- potatoes tentatively planned
• 10/29 Halloween Parade 2:00 p.m. Masks are required
• 10/29 Halloween Parties 2:15-3:15
• 11/4 -11/18 Thursdays 3:45-­4:45 p.m., Pokemon Fall Club
• Tuesday, December 7th 3:45­ -5:30 pm (one time club) Winter Craft Club

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• As part of our economics unit, students will run a business. The 4th graders will be cooking and canning applesauce jars for sale. Please look for more details to come later regarding the sale of applesauce. Cooking and canning applesauce is tentatively planned for 10/25 (pending approval of use of facilities).
• The Green Challenge is to be aware of the impact of your food choices. As part of this challenge, we will be cooking potatoes that the 3rd and 4th grades grew on campus. Potatoes were planted last spring and harvested this school year. Cooking potatoes is tentatively planned for 10/28 (pending approval of use of facilities).
• The Green Challenge of being aware of the impact of your food choices will include a second challenge! We will be asking room 18 students to participate in Halloween candy for Heroes and to consider donating a portion of their Halloween candies to heroes. Please look for more information to be sent later with these details. 
• We would love to invite you to join us in viewing our Halloween Parade, which will be held outside from 2:00-2:15 p.m. Masks over mouths and noses are required for all guests and participants. Please note that only official party volunteers are allowed to attend the party portion that will follow the parade.
• Halloween parties will be on 10/29. Students are welcome to bring to school their Halloween costumes and will be given a brief amount of time to change or put on over their clothing. As in prior years, students cannot wear face coverings as a part of their costume. Additionally, please do not send any costume weapons, or costumes that depict violence or gore. Lastly, we will not have a ton of time to change so detailed face makeup will be difficult to complete. 
• Please look for an email to come shortly outlining what is needed for our Halloween party! We appreciate your help!
• Please consider filling out volunteer paperwork to have on file with the school. This paperwork is good for one school year and will expedite the process of chaperoning or volunteering for future events. Thank you so much for your support!  Below is a summary of volunteer requirements that was emailed previously this year:
  • Many have asked what it takes to be a volunteer under these current conditions at PCCS. While we still are keenly aware that this pandemic is still among us, we have taken many steps to try to provide a “normal” school year. So far, we have been able to do so without much incident. To that end, there are specific criteria that we are requiring to be a volunteer at PCCS.
    All volunteers looking to enter the school grounds, interact with classes, or be a part of the staff and students must:
    1. Fill out the volunteer form
    2. Provide their DCFS certification
    3. Provide a copy of their COVID-19 Vaccination card.
    4. Submit these completed forms to the Executive Director
    Once these forms are approved by the Executive Director, the School will provide the PSO, Classrooms, and Administrators an “Approved” list of names that are vetted and thus authorized volunteers.
    Please understand that these are school-wide requirements that are driven by the Governor’s Executive Order and are being implemented so that we can remain as safe at school as possible. As a reminder, neither the classroom teaching teams nor the PSO has any flexibility about providing exceptions. It’s important for the school to continue to implement these safety protocols for our Students, Staff, and Community while staying in compliance with the State’s mandate.

NEXT WEEK:

Reading and Writing,  

This week we will continue our normal spelling groups and resume normal spelling homework assignments.

Students are continuing their realistic fiction stories. Each story was inspired by or includes a portion of a true personal experience. While students will use this as a moment in their story or a jumping off point, they will use their imagination to create fictional characters or events throughout the story. Students have completed a graphic organizer and brainstormed sensory details to include in their story. We have also been discussing an interesting opening for each story that includes introducing the main character and setting. Students will continue to work on writing the rough draft this week. Next week, I plan to have students use a checklist to self edit. Following this they will work with a peer to edit their rough draft as well. We will continue to make revisions as we work toward a final draft. 

4th graders will be starting our chapter book studies. Fourth graders will start the chapter book, “Underworlds, The Battle Begins.” Students will read these independently, as well as, with the teacher and in a group at times. We will complete many activities with these books over the next few weeks that will broaden our vocabulary and strengthen our comprehension. Students will also apply previously learned comprehension strategies to the books as they read. Students will also be listening to two read aloud stories. Both stories introduce Norse mythology concepts, which they will later connect to characters in our novel study, “Underworlds, The Battle Begins.”

Next week, we will have several cooking projects, as well as a Halloween party. Part of our reader’s lessons will be Halloween themed writings and readings. 

4th grade math,  We have been working hard on multiplication strategies for multiplying two digit numbers.  Some of the strategies we have worked on are to use base ten grids, base ten blocks, skip counting, and the associative property of multiplication to solve the problems.   We are moving towards multiplication story problems next.  After that we will be introducing division with remainders.  Ask your child about our game of “Race to a Million”.  We are having a lot of fun with it.

Science/Social Studies,  

We are continuing our social studies unit on economics. We are currently in the middle of developing our business. This part of the unit is Project Based Learning. We have discussed selling applesauce as our business. Right now, we are in the planning phases and working on a budget. We will be finalizing our budget and creating a loan request to fund our business. Look for future information and advertisements for ordering applesauce from our business. Our applesauce cooking and canning date is tentatively set on 10/25.

In the next two weeks, students will learn all about advertising techniques. Students will create a magazine ad for an invented ice cream flavor. They will also use what they have learned to create advertising for our PBL applesauce business.  

We will continue phenology and solo spots, alternating each week. Please make sure your student is prepared to be outside on a regular basis. 

I hope you have a wonderful week!