Oakview South Newsletter
January
Principal Message
As we start the new year, I think it is a great time to have a discussion with your child about setting academic goals. You could start by talking about what is going well and then you could discuss what they are struggling with at school. Help them set goals based on this information for the rest of the school year. When setting academic goals it is useful to think about the acronym SMART. The letters in SMART stand for smart, measureable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Just having this discussion will help reinforce with your children how important you feel their education is to you.
Also, I would like to add a couple of quick reminders. Please check each day that your children remember their gloves, hats, boots, etc. We want everyone to stay safe and warm during recess and it helps when they remember these items. Also, I just wanted to remind everyone that each school day we offer a free breakfast for children. If you get a moment, ask your child if they are taking advantage of this great program. Finally, in the next couple of weeks you should be hearing from your child's teacher about their class Valentine's Day party. Parties this time around will take place in the afternoon at Oakview.
Important Dates
February 16 - No School
February 19 - No School
Title 1 Resources
If you get a chance, check out the resources we have for families on our Title page.
Suggestion Box
If you have any feedback or suggestions for Oakview, click the box below. Thank you!
3rd Grade
Happy New Year! In third grade, we’re getting back into the swing of things and have wrapped up many mid-year assessments.
In math we continue to learn about addition and subtraction of larger numbers. Soon we’ll be learning about perimeter, area and polygons.
In science we completed our unit on balanced and unbalanced forces. The students really enjoyed building standing & moving sculptures with asymmetry and figuring out how to make them balance.
In social studies, we’ve completed our first unit on Michigan’s Native American history and have begun our unit about the French exploration and the fur trade. Through this unit we will also be learning about economics: trade, opportunity cost, credit & interest.
Field Trip Dates:
We’re looking forward to two field trips in the next few months!
In February, we’ll be working on arrangements/paperwork for a two-hour local field trip to Agro Liquid on March 5th (Dean/Kiel) and March 6th (Smiley/Schrauben). We’ll have lessons to support our learning about Michigan history and plant science.
In March, in the two weeks after the Agro Liquid trip we will be working on arrangements/paperwork for our second field trip to The Michigan History Museum. The date for Smiley/Schrauben is April 3rd and Dean/Kiel will go on April 4th.
As the weather gets colder, please remember to help your child be prepared for fun outside: a coat that zips, boots, hats, gloves and other warm gear is necessary. Please let us know if you need support to get winter gear for your child.
4th Grade
Hengesbach/McCracken:
In Reading and Writing we are beginning to look at Historical Fiction texts. We are learning how author's use a historic moment to create a fiction story around. In Social Studies, we are continuing our unit on Human Geography. We are learning about the different reasons how and why people have moved around our world and how we are impacted by the environments that we live in. In Math, we are learning about measuring and classifying shapes.
Parker/Berkhousen:
In Reading and Writing, we are working on reading Personal Narratives and finding the different story elements such as characters and setting. In Science, students are learning about scientific questions and how to answer them through investigations. In Math, we are learning about measuring and classifying shapes.
5th Grade
Math
In math, students are learning about multiplication strategies for multi-digit numbers. Since returning from break, students have been practicing the standard algorithm for multiplication which is how a majority of adults in the USA were taught multiplication. Students are making connections between the standard algorithm and other multiplication strategies to understand why the answer makes sense. Students are also working on estimating their answers to determine the reasonableness of their answer. The next concept students will be working on is division strategies, specifically dividing by a 2-digit number.
ELA
We will begin our informational text unit this month. Focusing on extended responses when answering comprehension questions.
Social Studies
We are wrapping up our study on pre-Columbian exploration focusing on the Vikings. Students have enjoyed learning about this colorful and interesting culture. We will move on to learning about the Age of Exploration this week. We will be discussing the reasons for European sea exploration and the results of these explorations.
Science
We are ready to explain how a nurse log system supports animals to live and grow and revise our initial consensus model to include our new ideas and supporting evidence. We share our community connections about matter and energy in other animals. We develop a model to show how animals get and use matter and energy and use it to write a claim about where matter goes in a system.
We want to know more about what animals get from the food that they eat, besides matter. We focus in on energy. To see how animals use that energy, we carry out an investigation with isopods and read about birds to understand different ways that animals use energy, including repairing their bodies and balancing their body temperature. Finally, we create a comparison chart of the two animals and draw conclusions about where animals in general get and use their energy.
Capturing Kids' Hearts
Here is a link to our monthly newsletter from Capturing Kids' Hearts.