Lincoln's October Newsletter
Leading The Pack In Kingsport
Principal's Corner
We hope everyone has a wonderful fall break the week of the 14th of October. Be safe if you are traveling and enjoy the time exploring new places. For those staying in town, which my family is doing, spend some time together to make a fun fall memory or enjoy time together to make this week different or special from others. It is difficult with the daily grind of working, many parents don't have off that week or have the time to take off, but I sincerely hope that you'll have a moment to slow down and enjoy some time with your family.
Safety Updates
This will be a process but one that we are committed to as a district to ensure the safety of all students.
Roaring Readers Update
To continue the upward trend of students reading outside of school we need the help of our families. We are doing everything that we can do within the six and a half hours of the school day to maximize students interaction with text, but our students need to read more. We are working to encourage them to read what is interesting to them so they enjoy reading. If together we can encourage our students to read in the evenings for 20 minutes our students ability to achieve in school will increase. Modeling for your child by reading in front of them things that you like to read, taking about things that you read that interested you, planning time after school/in the evening to set aside for reading. Anything that you can do to support your child reading anything that they may love is greatly appreciated.
Grade Level Updates
Literacy
We are continuing to work on learning letters and their sounds. We are beginning to apply the knowledge we learn to help sound out words for reading and spelling. We are also learning to read high frequency words. These are the words we have learned so far: I, a, me, mom, dad, the, see, like, can. Please practice reading these words with your child. In our literacy unit, we are learning about characters and their traits and cause and effect. Please remember to read for 20 minutes each night with your child and sign the green, October reading calendar.
Math
Our math routines for the 2nd nine weeks include counting by 1's to 50, counting by 10's to 100, identifying a penny and knowing its value. Continue working with you child on identifying and writing numbers 1-15. Our next unit introduces 2D shapes. We will learn to identify, describe, and construct these shapes. We will also look for these shapes in our environment by doing shape hunts.
Reminders
Remember to send these things daily: backpack, folder, snack, and extra change of clothes. Students can now purchase ice cream on Fridays if they have money. Please send money in a ziploc bag with your child's name on it.
First Grade
First Grade is strolling along with students settling in to routines and procedures. We continue to build relationships at school through morning circles. The teachers appreciate the attendance at fall conferences and the conversations about our students. First grade is a fabulous place to be as we rush into fall.
In literacy, we have started a study on the life cycles of plants. Students will learn about a plant’s changes, growth, and survival during the different phases of its life cycle. This will be one of the two plant studies this year. After fall break, we will begin a study called Out of this World. We will focus on natural objects found in the sky and how these bodies in space move and change in appearance according to predictable patterns. For phonics skills, we are focusing on final consonant clusters ( ng, nt, nd, nk,ft,lp,lt, mp) and initial three letter blends (spr, str,spl,scr). Our language study will be on noun/verb agreement, pronouns, and adjectives. We continue to work on developing sentences using capital letters at the beginning with spacing and an end mark. For writing, students have completed the first writing assessment (a narrative). We will continue to write narrative stories with beginning/middle/end; to use dialogue; and to write 3-5 sentences. First grade will begin working on informational writing. They will be introduced to a graphic organizer to assist with fact collection. Our first informational piece will be about pumpkins or an oak tree.
In math, we will begin a unit on ‘How Many of Each? How Many in All?’. We will continue to find totals of two and three quantities, develop counting on/back strategies, and time to the hour. We will begin to learn about unknown addends. For example, I have 5 things on my plate. Some are peas and some are carrots. How many peas and how many carrots could I have? Students will discover there are many ways to make 5.
Second Grade
See link at the end of this segment
Third Grade
In literacy we are finishing up our unit on folktales. The students have enjoyed learning about and reading a variety of folktales, including fairy tales, fables, and trickster tales. We wrapped up the unit by having each student write their own folktale. After fall break we will begin our next unit titled "Imagine That!" This unit contains stories that encourage the reader to use their imagination to interact with the text.
Please remember that we do not have traditional spelling tests in 3rd grade, but instead ask the students to write a short paragraph explaining that week's word work pattern (for example, plural nouns or adding -ing to a word.) This ensures that the student has a better working knowledge of the pattern.
Look for the October reading logs in your child's folder each night! There are prizes and incentives for every student who meets of exceeds their goal each month.
This month we are beginning our Unit on addition and subtraction. The students will be focusing on counting and quantity, place value and the structure of the base-10 number system, the meaning of operations, and the development of computational fluency. The students will use knowledge of place value to add and subtract, add and subtract fluently, and understand different types of addition and subtraction problems.
Homework is very important for math because it is focusing on multiplication fluency and has questions of what we are working on or need to continue to work on. Multiplication fluency assessments will begin after fall break!
Fourth Grade
During the month of October, students will continue their work with multiplication extending to larger numbers. Students will work with various problem types, including multiplicative comparison and multi-step problems. Students will be introduced to division problems with remainders. Students will continue to use their knowledge of factors and multiples to solve increasingly challenging problems.
In Science students are investigating the components of an ecosystem, which include abiotic and biotic factors. Students will consider what happens when an ecosystem becomes unbalanced due to natural disasters, invasive species and more.
In Literacy, we are continuing our discussions on theme, character analysis, inferencing, point of view, and main idea. We will be doing an author's study on Chris Van Allsburg, reading his famous texts "Jumanji" and "Just a Dream," along with a few others if we get time. In writing, we are focusing on opinion and informational writing, using text evidence to support our answers.
In Social Studies, we are discussing the major battles of the Revolutionary War. We will also talk about the Declaration of Independence, as well as the start of our new nation and the creation of our government. Ask your child at home these questions: What happened at the Boston Tea Party? What did American colonists do to boycott British goods? Who were the Redcoats?
Fifth Grade
Literacy/Social Studies: We are currently focusing on Unit 3 in our curriculum, the issues of child labor. We have a special focus on character development and narrative techniques. We will begin unit 2, focusing on main idea and making inferences, shortly. We are working through Tennessee history, from the prehistoric time to modern day.
Math/Science: We have begun a new unit, focusing on multiplication and the use of the U.S. Standard Algorithm. We have just finished an exciting unit on motion and forces that concluded with the opportunity for our students to build marble roller coasters! Our students also had the opportunity to encounter hands-on science presented by local chemists from Eastman.
PTO Updates
Fall Fundraiser Update:
Volunteer opportunities:
We need volunteers for our fall fundraiser distribution day(date unknown) and the Fall Festival (October 31st) If you are willing to help us out please email, ALincolnPTO@gmail.com and let us know!
We are also hosting a staff luncheon on October 23rd. We will need donations of food items.
Meeting:
Our October meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 22nd at 6pm. If you need childcare, please email us at ALincolnPTO@gmail.com to reserve your child's spot
If you want to be added to our email distribution list, please send us an email and let us know!
Fall Festival is October 31st!
Activities we have scheduled for this fun afternoon include storytelling by Tony Marr, crafts including Pumpkin fun, face painting, fingerprinting by KPD, Creepy Science activities and the fundraiser Mega Party . We hope to see many of you at school to celebrate the fun of fall at Lincoln.
YMCA After School Care
Building opens at 7:30 and not earlier
Reminders Regarding Afternoon Dismissal
Another note to ensure safety at dismissal, obey the flow of traffic at all dismissal points for our school. Please do not cut line, or try to get ahead of someone that disrupts our flow of traffic. We are averaging about 12 minutes for each exit point to get almost all of the people in line through and students in cars and on the way home. We always do our best to start on time and move efficiently. Thank you in advance for not cutting lines, or creating alternative traffic patterns. This upsets others and can cause safety concerns.
Employment Opportunities with KCS
District wide we are also looking for bus drivers and custodians. These positions are full time and include benefits. If you are interested in these position please visit the district website at https://www.k12k.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=345728&type=d&pREC_ID=781054