Ms. Arnold's Weekly News
Week of 12-15-14
Holiday News!
This Week
Tuesday: Math Homework
Wednesday: Secret Santa Shopping; Unit 4 Math Test
Thursday: X
Friday: Cardinal Connections; Nursing Home Gifts Due; Ice Cream Sundae Party (PM); Spelling Test #12
Our Classroom Learning Time
Our Focus Points
Reading / Language Arts
Students are continuing to work through our Daily 5 rotations, Read to Self, Read to Someone, Partner Fluency Time, Listening Time, and Teacher Time. Students are also meeting with me one-on-one through the week to work on specific goals. Our comprehension focus this week is a using our prior knowledge to connect to text as well as to the story elements. We will continue to work on our summarizing and identifying author's purpose throughout the trimester. Other areas of focus throughout our Daily 5 rotations are: response to reading, writing, fluency, listening, and word building. I am very excited to see their excitement and focus to their day to day reading and writing grow. We are truly building life long readers and writers.
Math (Chapter 4/Unit 4)
We are excited to begin the trimester with our new "MY MATH" journals and lessons all of which focus on our grade level standards. Our current unit will be focusing on introductory multiplication concepts and strategies (repeated addition, equal groups, arrays...) Our unit 4 test will be given this Wednesday.
Writing
Students are continuing to gather stories in their writer's notebooks. This week we will be adding on to our sentence building. We will be reviewing and applying the use of different kinds of nouns-plural and possessive and the proper use of capitalization. Students will also be writing a paragraph about "how they were nice this year", their Christmas list on KidBlog, editing and revising their narratives, and working on their revising and editing skills. Paragraph structure and legible handwriting are continuously encouraged and taught.
Science
We will begin our next science after returning from our winter break. Our next unit is on traits, ecosystems, and habitats.
Social Studies
We will be wrapping up or Map Skills unit in the next two weeks. Currently we are studying the difference between a hemisphere, continent, country, region, state, and city. This is in preparation for our more detailed study of Michigan that we will continue to dig into this trimester. Students will study more about Michigan's natural resources, weather/climate, landforms, agriculture, government, economics, and historical events and people.
This Week's Spelling Words: List #12
Week of 12-15-14 (Test Friday)
1. yawn
2. taught
3. salt
4. lawn
5. halls
6. hauls
7. hawks
8. squawk
9. bought
10. bawls
11. drawing
12. caused
Weekly Specials and Nightly Homework
Tuesday: Gym; Math Homework #2; Study spelling words; Red folders come home
Wednesday: Computers; Study spelling words; Red folders come home
Thursday: Gym; Study spelling words; Red folders come home
Friday: No specials; Spelling test #6; Red folders come home; new spelling list comes home
What information do you need from me?
Keicher News
DATES AT A GLANCE
DECEMBER
13 Breakfast Buffet – St. Aidan’s Church – Michigan Center HS Jazz Band – 8:30 – 11:00 a.m.
15-18 Secret Santa Shop – More information to follow
16 6th Grade Winter Concert – Keicher West Gym – 2:30 & 6:30 p.m.
17 Credit Union Day
19 Christmas Activities - Afternoon
3:25 – Christmas Break Begins
23 Michigan Center Community Food Pantry – 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
JANUARY
5 Welcome back everyone!
Bible Release
7 Credit Union Day
12 School Board Meeting – MCHS – 7:00 p.m.
Good News Club – Permission Slips week before
13 Michigan Center Community Food Panty – 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
14 Credit Union Day
19 NO SCHOOL – STAFF ONLY
20 4th Grade Hearing Screening
3rd and 5th Grade Vision Screening
PTO Meeting – Arnold School – 6:00 p.m.
21 3rd and 5th Grade Vision Screening
Credit Union Day
22 3rd and 5th Grade Vision Screening
27 Michigan Center Community Food Panty – 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
28 Credit Union Day
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1. SANTA’S SECRET SHOP – Our gift shop is being held next week here at Keicher School. The schedule for the classrooms was sent home this week. Some great gift options will include Michigan/Michigan State, Tigers, Red Wings and Lions items. There are also gifts that are personalized to “Mom”, “Sister”, “Grandpa”, and more! Decorative self-sealing bags allow kids to wrap their gifts before they leave, so they are ready to put under the tree. Arnold and Keicher students will have the opportunity to shop with their families after school on Monday, December 15th and Tuesday, December 16th from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m. There are over 100 gifts between 25 cents and $5.00 and more gifts under $11.00. An envelope went home with your student on Wednesday, December 11th to put money in and designate how the money will be spent. Parents are welcome to preview the product line during classroom times
2. The winter weather has been unpredictable so far this year. Remember this is Michigan, so please be sure your students are prepared for what each day brings us. Students need to get outside for some fresh air during the day, but we do not send them out if the
wind chill is below zero.
3. SNOW DAYS – With our “PowerSchool”
automatic calling, you should receive a phone call if school is called off due to the weather. Please make sure we have a working number for you on file.
4. PARENTS- If you pick your child up after school, please remind them to use the crossing guard located at the corner of Sixth Street. Also, extra caution needs to be taken by parents pulling out of the parking lots (school or church) as students are crossing Sixth Street to get to their rides. Thank you for your help in keeping our students safe.
5. LOST AND FOUND - If your child has lost a coat, hat, or mittens, please have him/her check the lost and found located in the Keicher foyer. We have quite an assortment of items that have not been claimed. Unclaimed items will be donated to the Keicher Clothes Closet on Friday, December 19th.
6. SCHOOL HOURS – Parents, please do NOT drop your students off at school before 8:10 a.m. In addition, the cold, damp weather makes the long waiting time uncomfortable for your child. When you pick your child up after school, we would appreciate
promptness in doing so. Making sure the students are safe is our first concern. Thank you for your cooperation.
7. EASTERN BRANCH LIBRARY – Santa and Mrs. Claus will be coming to the Eastern Branch Library on Saturday, December 13th from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Come visit and hear Santa read stories and hear requests for presents. Bring your camera and have your photo taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus! We’ll have music, refreshments, gifts, and more at our branch, located at 3125 East Michigan Avenue, right next to Arby’s. Call us at 788-4074 for more information.
8. ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER – Our “Keicher “K”onnection (newsletter) has been going out through email since the beginning of the school year. It is also posted on our Keicher Elementary School website for those of you that do not have an email address. If you do not have an email address on file or choose not to receive it through email, please send a note to the office.
9. SUBWAY CARDS FUNDRAISER is starting this week and will end on January 12th. Each card sells for $2.50 and is redeemable for any regular 6 inch sandwich at the Page Avenue Subway. Ten (10) cards will be sent home with your student to start. If you are not going to participate in this fundraiser, please return the cards to school as soon as possible. Thank you!
TRANSPORTATION NEWS
Please make sure you are at the bus stop at least ten (10) minutes prior to your posted bus time. Bus stop times are approximate times and can vary due to the weather and a different bus driver on the route. Your help is greatly appreciated to make sure all students get to school on time. Thank you.
CP CREDIT UNION
POPCORN Challenge 2015
Start date 1/7/2015
Who likes popcorn? We sure do! To challenge students and schools this year to build their savings’ habit, CP has developed the following Popcorn Challenge:
The first time your school reaches 40 transactions at your student credit union – Everyone at Keicher will earn a small treat for reaching your goal.
Now, let’s do it for 4 weeks in a row!
Reach 40 transactions every week for 4 consecutive weeks; win a popcorn party for your school.
Let’s do this!
PARENT’S NIGHT OUT
We invite you to let us take care of your children K-grade 6 so you can take care of any last minute Christmas shopping.
Crafts, Cookie Decorating, Movie, and Snack will be provided.
When: Saturday, December 13, 2014
Where: St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church
361 E. Grove, Michigan Center
Time: 3:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Cost: Suggested donation of $20.00
Why is homework important?
In the early grades, homework can help children develop strong study habits and positive attitudes. From third through sixth grades, small amounts of homework, gradually increased each year, may support improved academic achievement. In seventh grade and beyond, students who complete more homework score better on standardized tests and earn better grades, on average, than students who do less homework.
Homework helps students to:
- ⎫ Review and practice what they have covered in class;
- ⎫ Prepare for class the next day;
- ⎫ Learn to use resources, such as libraries, reference materials, and Web sites;
- ⎫ Explore subjects more fully than classroom time permits;
- ⎫ Extend learning by applying skills they already have to new situations;
- ⎫ Integrate their learning by applying many different skills to a single task, such as book reports or science projects; and
- ⎫ Learn to manage time and meet deadlines
No Child Left Behind
U.S. Department of Education