Reed's End of the Year Newsletter
Have a great summer! See you in August!
Reed School's April and May Students of the Month
Reed students who demonstrated responsible citizenship throughout April and May were celebrated in a very special way. Three students from each classroom were recognized for their outstanding efforts. Students nominated for this prestigious honor demonstrated the 3 B's (Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Peaceful) consistently throughout the month.
All students nominated for the monthly award were recognized and celebrated at the school. The District 92 Foundation for Educational Excellence generously funded the lawn signs for this school-wide project. Look for Student of the Month signs soon in your neighborhood!
FAMILY Math Problems of the Month
Problem #2: Mika was using an app in which he could build towers by stacking cubes. The app gave Mika 3 cubes of 2 colors, red and green. Mika quickly built the tower shown. What other towers could he make? How do you know whether you found them all?
Block 1 on top: Green
Block 2 in the middle: Red
Block 3 on the bottom: Red
Have fun solving these problems! Turn them into the office to be hung on the Problem Solving wall!
Financial Literacy: 8 Ways to Promote Money Management Awareness
April is National Financial Capability Month, and there are a lot of resources available to help consumers, particularly young people, become more educated about money.
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) offers the microsite Pocket Cents that includes the game Hit the Road, which takes players on a virtual road trip across the country, promoting saving and spending wisely to complete challenges along the way. The game provides an opportunity to introduce other areas of learning as well.
Civics
- Learn about government and money: With the Hit the Road trip starting at our nation’s capital, talk to your kids about our government’s role with regard to money. Do they know it is the government that decides to make new paper bills or coins? The government’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing makes our paper money, while the U.S. Mint produces coins. Play games, like the U.S. Mint’s Break the Bank, to test kids’ knowledge of coin production and usage throughout the ages. Try this and other U.S. Mint activities, such as starting a coin collection, to promote appreciation of the value of careful consideration of expenditures.
Social Studies
- Think about careers and salaries: Hit the Road players are offered six choices of career in the game. Talk to your kids about what each of these professions entails and what each might do on any given day in their job. Get kids thinking about what kind of skills and interests they would need for each job. For younger kids, find interactive games that can help explain what people do in different jobs. Get kids thinking about what to do with money earned, what kind of spender they may be, and the power of saving.
Math
- Build arithmetic skills: Although Hit the Road players receive some upfront cash to help cover road trip expenditures, additional funds must be earned along the way to remain solvent. Help kids understand keeping within a budget. Involve your kids in making a budget for an upcoming family activity of your own, like shopping for food or clothing, and show them during the trip how to stay within budget by not spending more than planned for.
History
- Identify coins by president: Although Hit the Road game players deal solely with whole dollar numbers, have kids become familiar with coinage as well. See if kids can identify the presidents on the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. Ask kids why they think these men are commemorated on our nation’s coinage. See if they can place the coins in the correct denominational order. Try with larger denominations for an extra challenge.
Geography
- Become aware of coin-making operations: The Hit the Road final trip destination is Colorado. One of the U.S. Mint facilities, where coins are made, is located in Denver. Help kids find the city of Denver on a state map.
- Foster awareness of currencies as universal means of transactions: Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are highlighted in Hit the Road. Talk to kids about the fact that the statue was a gift from France, find France on a world map, and talk about the distance one would travel to get to the U.S. from places like France. Have kids play act as to what it was like to leave the only home they’ve known, pack what little they could bring, get on a ship, and ride across the ocean. Would the money they have be good in the U.S.? What would they do if it was not? If you were to take your road trip in another country, what would you do for money?
Reading
- Promote financial awareness with books: Read stories to your kids, such as A Chair for My Mother, that promote financial responsibility.
Older kids might enjoy books, such as Money, that explores the history of money around the world.
Get Moving
- Combine learning with exercise. Set out some coins in a pile for each kid. Make each coin equate to a certain exercise; for example, a penny means do one jumping jack; a nickel equates to one sit-up; and a quarter is one squat. Let each kid get moving with their individualized exercise plan based on their coins.
There’s much more to experience in the game than mentioned here, so find out just how financially savvy you and your kids are with Hit the Road. NCUA, an independent agency overseeing federal credit unions, offers financial literacy resources for consumers of all ages.
This feature is based on a blog post that originally appeared on free.ed.gov, a site that is now retired. Please visit ed.gov/FREE for more information.
Earth Day: 9 Ways to Promote Environmental Consciousness
April 22 is Earth Day. Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin founded Earth Day in 1970, as a means of bringing attention to environmental issues. Promote a deeper awareness of environmental stewardship in your kids with these suggested resources from the Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, and more.
Get Outdoors and Get Moving
Visit a national park: Get a first-hand look at the flora and fauna close by, by seeing if you have a national park in your area and take your kids for a walk or a hike in one of these parks. Or go to a local park instead. Ask your kids what kinds of plants and animals they see. How many different kinds of plants and animals can everyone point out?
Start a garden: Whether you plant flower or vegetable seeds or both, you and your kids can enjoy some time together in the outdoors. A small space in the backyard, a flower pot on a balcony, or a window sill planter box are all fine. Give your kids a packet or two of seeds to plant, and some potting soil, and remember to follow the directions on the packets regarding sun and water for the best results. Once seedlings appear, sharpen arithmetic skills by measuring the tallest plant once a week, and keep a log for several weeks to see if the plant grows by the same amount each week. Or have kids keep a garden journal from year to year to see how much they’ve learned from their experiences.
Science
Learn more about the water cycle: Instill a greater awareness of natural resources, such as water, by exploring the water cycle. To help kids gain an understanding that resources are finite, look at the water cycle in either online or in poster form, or watch the cycle in motion.
Develop energy awareness: Kids may not be aware that energy is a resource, just like water, and should be conserved. To help kids understand the need for energy conservation, try playing some online games.
Go bird watching: Put some bird seed or bread out on your patio, balcony, deck, or back step. See how many different birds come to eat. Try making a bird feeder with pine cones and peanut butter, to attract local species of birds and increase your kids’ appreciation of nature. If you go to a National Park, check out what kinds of birds are indigenous to that area.
Explore the neighborhood’s geology: Take a walk with your kids and find different rocks. See how many different kinds of small rocks you find, based on the color, size, shape, and texture. Make a log of these descriptors, and include where you found each—was it the park, a friend’s front yard, your backyard—and draw or put a picture of the rock with each entry. Can you find any similarities among the rocks? Are there different kinds in each location or are they all the same kind? Dig deeper into the study of geology with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Education website.
Healthy Eating
Go to a farmers’ market: There are a lot of reasons to shop at a farmers’ market. If close enough, walk or bike with your family to a local farmers’ market. Have your kids pick out a favorite fruit or two to make smoothies, or pick out a favorite vegetable that can be served with a low-calorie dip or with another favorite food, like peanut butter.
Reading
Find books and other information about the environment: Take a trip to your local library and check out books on the environment. Some books that have messages to share with your kids about the environment include:
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Also, check out websites where kids can learn about different ecosystems, recycling, and the importance of plants and animals.
Arts Connections
- Get creative with recyclables: Talk to your kids about why it’s a bad idea to litter—not only can it be unsightly, but it can actually harm animals, water, and soil. Explain that recycling things, such as plastic, glass, and paper, also can help by not creating as much trash that could become litter. See if your kids can identify recyclables around the house and come up with ideas of something they could make and use, like a pencil holder from a plastic milk bottle or a desk organizer from an egg carton.
This feature is based on a blog post that originally appeared on free.ed.gov, a site that is now retired. Please visit ed.gov/FREE for more information.
The Monarch Award: Illinois' K-3 Readers' Choice Award
Reed students let their voices be heard when they vote on their top books for this year's Monarch Award.
Reed's Winners were the following:
1st Place: Claymates by Dev Petty
2nd Place: Bob, Not Bob! by Liz Garton
3rd: Creepy Pair of Underwear by Aaron Reynolds
Stay Fit This Summer with a Free Bowling Opportunity!
April's Composer of the Month: Charlie Parker
Our Composer of the Month for April was Charlie Parker. Not only was Parker a composer, but also an amazing saxophone player. Students enjoyed listening to many of his compositions and performances during lunch. One of the favorites was a performance of Night in Tunisia. This piece of music goes along with a book that the students listened to in music class called Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka.
April is Poetry Month
Third Grade Choir performing at the Chicago Wolves game
Character Education and Our Focus on Kindness
Fine Arts Day
Students had the opportunity to learn about the many careers related to the arts. The day concluded with an assembly by Frankie Ace, magician. Frankie wowed and entertained the crowd with humor and wit.
News From Physical Education
Happy Spring! As most families know by now, we are Cup Stacking in PE. Forms went home about buying the Speed Stacking Cups. It is on a first come first serve basis. If your child buys cups from Speed Stack, they are your responsibility to take care of them. We have already sold out of our first box and will be getting one more shipment of them. After that we won't be getting anymore. You may be asking yourself.... Cup Stacking? In PE? Well there are MANY benefits of Cup Stacking and here are the reasons why it is beneficial to every age group imaginable.
1. Speed Stacking is a fitness based sport that kids from all backgrounds and abilities can do.
2. Speed stacking levels the playing field for all kids. Non-Athletic kids can now compete head to head with their more athletic counterparts. This significantly raises student self-esteem, motivating them to work harder in PE and be excited to participate.
3. Speed stacking not only promotes physical fitness, but also academic learning. Students that sport stack on a regular basis have shown increases in test scores and levels of concentration. This is achieved by students using both their right and left sides of their brain. When students sport stack they are crossing the "midline" of their bodies and developing new connections in their brains. These new connections help to spur brain growth which in turn promotes greater academic achievement.
4. As parents we always want the best for our kids academically and physically? You want your kids to be active after school, watching less TV or playing fewer video games but funds are tight. How can you bring PE home to your kids? Buying a basketball hoop would be good, but those are expensive and what do your kids do on cold days? Maybe your child doesn't like traditional sports! We understand! Kids of all ages, abilities and personalities love speed stacking because it is fun and challenging. Teachers love sport stacking because it motivates kids to be more active and fit. Parents love speed stacking because it is affordable and you can buy your child something that benefits their body, brain and spirit!
We love cup stacking (speed stacking) here at Reed. Once you know how to properly cup stack it is a lot of fun! Thank you!
Mrs. Dietz and Ms. Little
News From Music
News From the Art Room
The 3rd grade students are finishing their Audubon inspired bird illustrations. They are also researching their birds to find identification information as well as interesting facts. For our last project, we'll be learning about artist Henri Matisse. Matisse is known not only for his colorful paintings, but also for his paper cutout collages. We'll be using construction paper to cut organic and geometric shapes in the style of Matisse to create our own paper cutout collages.