Ideal Times
October 2013
All School Activities
Panther Pals
Our whole school met for Panther Pals on Thursday, October 17th. Our groups discussed the quote "When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind." Focusing on the qualities of being good citizens, students were presented various scenarios and discussed what good choices look like. It was great to learn that despite being in different grade levels, our groups still agreed that choosing to be KIND was the best thing to do!
Greek Mythology All-School Meeting
Grade Level News
Preschool's Parent Day!
This month our PFA and ELP families were invited to join their child for a day at school. They took part in our daily activities and had a chance to see all the fun things we do in preschool. Our students were very excited to show their parents their favorite things and introduce them to their friends.
Kindergartners Are Learning About The Season of Fall
The kindergartners have been busy talking about the only season to have two different names…Fall/Autumn! They have been reading informational text about this season and even have a few new books that they CAN READ in their binders now. They are learning to point to each word that they read. They are also learning about other concepts of print such as knowing where to start reading on a page and counting the words in a sentence and the letters in a word. The kindergartners have also learned new fall poems and songs and even created pumpkins with a computer program. They went to Bengtson’s Pumpkin Farm on a cold and rainy day but, managed to have LOTS of fun!
1st Grade: Building Stamina!
Now that fall assessments are finished, first grade has begun switching classes for power hour. In power hour we are all working on Read to Self. Read to Self is when we read all by our self for a period of time. Our goal is to build our stamina or how long we can read for. While we are doing Read to Self we have four expectations we would like to follow. Those expectations are get started right away, stay in one spot, eyes on the book, and read the whole time. There are several ways we can read a book. Those ways are read the words, read the pictures, retell the story, and reread the story. Stop in and watch us read sometime!
2nd Grade: Friendly Letters to Veterans
This month one of our 2nd grade goals was to learn to write a friendly letter. We were excited to join Ideal School in sending friendly letters to a Veteran. We discussed why we should celebrate these brave heroes. We read a story about the Honor Flight program. We hope our friendly letters will make someone feel special.
3rd Grade: Exploring Character Traits!
Third graders have been exploring the many different types of character traits. We have examined our own traits and how they make up our personalities. Also, we have read many wonderful books searching for the character’s traits and finding evidence to prove our thinking. We are currently working on the last piece of our project where we will write letters to the bully.
We want to tell them why it is important to be kinder than they feel. Come back next month and read more about it!
4th Grade: Focus on Mythology
The fourth graders have been studying Greek mythology for almost two months now, and we were thrilled to share what we’ve learned at an epic all-school meeting last Thursday, October 24. The students acted out Greek myth plays, taught the audience how the Greek language influences many English words, and even sang some silly songs about mythological gods and monsters. We’ve learned that myths helped people explain why things happened in the world (before science figured a lot of it out), and we’ve realized that Greek mythology still plays a big part in our culture today. We will be sad to see this unit come to an end – it’s been fantastic!
5th Grade: Exploring STEM Through Building a Terrarium
5th grade has been extra busy working on STEM in the classroom. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It is a push to produce more engineering minded students. This month we designed terrariums. In our content area of Science we have been reading about plants and how they reproduce, so a great STEM project was to buy all the materials to make a terrarium and build it. The students calculated area, volume, placement of materials, and how much it cost per student to make our masterpiece. Now we are working on the upkeep of our duo biomes! We are investigating what it will take to make our desert and deciduous biomes work under one roof! Hopefully we can keep our design alive in the coming months! Stay tuned for more engineering projects! Here is a picture of what we designed!
6th Grade: Visits Vulcan Quarry
The sixth grades got an inside look at our local Vulcan Quarry in McCook as a continuation of their learning from science class. The sixth graders are experts in natural resources, and while at the quarry, they spoke to geologists and environmentalists to learn about their roles at the quarry. They also got to take a bus tour of the quarry and see firsthand the steps that are taken to mine limestone. It was an amazing field trip that bought their learning in the classroom to life. They are now extending their learning and working in small groups on reclamation projects. They are designing socially, environmentally, and economically sound plans to reclaim the land for when the quarry is done being mined. It’ll be exciting to see all of their creative ideas!
Special Share: Physical Ed. using Fitness Gram!
The Ideal Bulletin Board
Birthday Books
If your child would like to share the gift of reading for his/her birthday, consider buying a book for the Ideal Library in honor of your child. Click here to see the library's Amazon wishlist. You can purchase a book from this list OR bring $10.00 to Mrs. Rodkey in the LLC and she will help you pick out a perfect birthday book.
November Breakfast and Lunch Menus
See what's cooking at Ideal School. Click here for the Ideal Breakfast and Lunch Menu.
PTO Events
11/4 - 11/8: Book Fair (evening hours during parent-teacher conferences).
11/7/13: Market Day pick up (last day to order Monday 11/4)
11/9/13: Ideal Vendor Fair (Ideal Gym 9am- 3pm) - Idealvendorfair@gmail.com
11/11/13: No School --Come Join us at FLYING HIGH-- Pizza FUNdraiser Lunch 11am -2pm
11/14/13: Ideal PTO meeting 8:45am
11/20/13: Fun Lunch
District 105 Events
11/4/13 Early Dismissal 2pm
11/4/13 1st Day of Parent Teacher Conferences
11/6/13 Early Dismissal 2pm
11/6/13 2nd Day of Parent Teacher Conferences
11/11/13 Veterans Day – No School
11/13/13 Team 105 Volleyball
11/21/13 District FAST Program
11/25/13 Team 105 Volleyball
11/25/13 District 105 Board Meeting
11/27/13 – 11/29/13 Thanksgiving Break
About Us
Email: lrodkey@d105.net
Website: www.d105.net
Location: 9901 West 58th Street, Countryside, IL
Phone: (708)482-2750