Woods Weekly
Week of September 28th-October 2nd
Classroom Happenings
Dear Parents/Guardians,
I wanted to let you know that we have two new students in our class, which brings our class roster up to 26 kids. If your child is planning on bringing birthday treats for his/her birthday, please make sure there are enough for all students. Thank you :)
Today, students received their Scholastic Book Order for the month of October. There are two ways that you can order from Scholastic. 1. You can send in your order and a check made out to Scholastic Reading Club, or 2. You can order on-line at scholastic.com/readingclub. Our class activation code for on-line orders is NG6FZ. All orders are due by Friday, October 9th.
As a reminder, our class will be going on the Beyond Boundaries field trip this Tuesday, August 29th. Remember, if your child is bringing a lunch from home, please do not pack any pop. Students need to dress appropriately for the weather because our field trip is outside. Students also need to remember to wear their gym shoes, so they are able to participate in all of the challenges. I know the kids are super excited. I think they are in for a great time!
We need your help!
This fall, Central is helping with a supply drive for our troops called Supplies4GI's. Supplies4GI's is an organization that has been sending care packages to our deployed soldiers around the world for 11 years. They partner with school corporations (Tri-Creek, Kankakee Valley, Valparaiso, and Crown Point) to make this happen. The supply drive runs from October 1st through November 11th (Veteran's Day). There are a couple of ways that you can help out:
1. Send in the names of soldiers (enlisted friends, relatives, neighbors) that you would like to receive letters and care packages. Please send in their names and the address where they are stationed.
2. Donate items from our grade level Wish List so they can be added to care packages. 4th grade is in charge of collecting canned soup (small pop top cans), stick deodorant, toothbrushes, and dental floss.
Any donation, no matter how big or small, is appreciated.
Yesterday, a flyer came home about The Color Run. This is a fun, family event that will help raise money to benefit our school. You can support this fundraiser by: 1. being a color runner; go to https://colorrunvalpo.eventbrite.com to register, 2. encouraging your child to collect donations, and 3. sharing the event with friends, family, and neighbors on social media.
Our school goal is to raise $5,000. If we meet this goal, Mrs. Sienkowski and Mr. Bob will have to kiss a pig. That's right, a PIG! We also have possible class prizes. The class with the highest percentage of students who collect donations will win one of the following prizes:
1st prize: Class pizza party
2nd prize: Class ice cream party
3rd prize: Class extra recess
There are also individual prizes:
The Top Fundraising Student from Central and TJ Middle School will win a Go Pro Camera.
Each student who raises $50 or more in donations will be entered into a raffle for a $100 gift card. There will be one winner at each school.
Please come out and support the schools with this super fun event! I hope to see you there!
Here is a look at what is coming up next week:
Science:
Students will get their chapter 3 Earth Science test back on Monday. We will go over the answers, and students will have the chance to ask questions about anything they may have missed. Then, we will be taking a break from science in order to concentrate on social studies.
Social Studies:
We will kick off social studies by learning about the government. I really want students to understand the way that our government is set up, so that when we learn about the colonists wanting to break away from Britain, they already have an understanding of what type of government the colonists wanted to create. It will also help demonstrate that the documents the colonists wrote up, such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, are still being used today.
In our exploration of government, students will learn about the national government as well as state and local governments. We will cover the branches of government, the people who are a part of those branches, and the roles those people play in making our government work properly. We will also discuss the role citizens have in helping our government work well.
Math:
We are wrapping up unit 1 in math this week. Students will have time to work on their study guide, which is actually the pre-test that they took at the beginning of the unit. This will allow them to see how much they have grown in math as they tackle the problems that stumped them about 5 1/2 weeks ago. Due to our field trip on Tuesday, we will not go over the study guide until Wednesday. The test will be on Thursday.
Reading:
Students have been working very hard at identifying the text structure of various stories. They have realized that stories can be written in a variety of ways such as in chronological, compare and contrast, cause and effect, & problem and solution formats.
This week, we will review the text structures and explore figurative language such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and idioms. To help with this task, I will be using a variety of popular, school appropriate songs. Students will be surprised to find that many of the songs they listen to are filled with figurative language.
Writing:
We are beginning our first writing unit which is writing a personal narrative. We will start off the week by getting our writing folder set up; the yellow Nicky folder you purchased at the beginning of the school year will be used as their writing folder. We will then move into brainstorming ideas, discussing features of personal narratives, and mapping out our personal narrative.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Woods
Spelling: Challenging Plurals
Students will be tested over the Core Words and 10 words from "Test Words." They will need to study ALL 25 words because they do not know which of the test words I will choose.
Spelling homework will be assigned on Monday to give them practice on their spelling words. They will be able to choose 1 out of the 5 activities to complete. If they want to complete additional activities at home for more practice, they may.
The spelling test will be on Friday morning.
Core Words
crises
kilos
data
vertebrae
cacti
diagnoses
pimentos
kangaroos
media
curricula
Test Words
torpedoes
indexes
hypotheses
algae
potatoes
echoes
memos
photos
videos
fungi
strata
radii
nuclei
matrixes
embargoes
Important Dates to Remember:
September 30th: Buffalo Wild Wings Fundraiser 5-9 pm
October 21st: Panera Restaurant Night 4-8 pm
October 22nd: End of the first grading period
October 23rd: Fall Break/ No School
October 30th: Harvest Fest
Specials and Lunch/Recess Schedule
Tuesday: Music and Gym
Wednesday: Music and Gym
Thursday: Computers
Friday: Art
Lunch: 12:20-12:50
Recess: 12:50-1:20
Conferences
Contact Information
Email: jkras@valpo.k12.in.us
Website: http://misskrasclass.weebly.com/
Location: 305 Franklin St, Valparaiso, IN 46383
Phone: 219-531-3030