Lowell Elementary
April Newsletter
Heinzerling's Headlines
ISASP
All students in third, fourth, and fifth grades will take the ISASP assessments in April. In-person students that have accommodations will test at some point between April 5-30. All other in-person students will test on the following dates: Tuesday, April 13- reading, Wednesday, April 14- writing, Thursday, April 15- math, and 5th graders will take science on Friday, April 16. One thing you can do to help us out is to make sure your student is at school on time each day of testing!
Virtual students are testing the week of April 19th. You should have received a letter about testing. Please call 433-1900 if you have any questions.
Spring Weather
As we move into April, we recognize that the weather can change quickly. It can be really cold in the morning and hot by the afternoon. Students will go outside for recess unless it is raining. Please make sure they have appropriate clothing to match the weather!
Among Us Challenge
We continue to see our reading scores improve through the Among Us Challenge. We need students to be readers and crewmates so they can improve their scores on the FAST progress monitoring. Please encourage your students to read each night, work on sight words, or letter sounds. This will help to keep their scores moving in the right direction!
District Parent Survey
If you have not already done so, please take the district parent survey so we can make changes based on your feedback. We would love to hear what you think is going well and what you feel we still need to work on. If you have students at multiple schools, you will need to do a separate survey for each school. Thank you in advance for your feedback!
Dates to Remember
April 5th Snow Make-Up Day- YES we have school!
April 5th-30th ISASP Testing for 3-5th graders
May 7th Snow Make-Up Day- YES we have school!
Kindergarten News
Happy March, kindergarten families!
Writing: We are just beginning our Persuasive Writing unit, in which students are writing their opinion to convince our readers (teachers, peers, family) one way or the other. Don’t be surprised to see some writing asking for a new pet or to get to go somewhere special coming home! We are working hard to use sight words we know in our writing as well as stretch words and record letters for the sounds we hear!
Reading: We are really focusing on the illustrations in books. We have learned you can learn a lot about what is happening through the pictures. And, that you can use the pictures for clues to help read the words. During small group everyone is reaching for the goal to be reading at a Level D by the end of the year! So keep reading at home and practicing those sight words!
Math: We are really diving into story problems. It is fun to try all of the new strategies we are learning. We love acting out problems to really visualize if we are going to end up with more in the end (plus) or less in the end (minus). We are also using pictures, our fingers, cubes, and learning to write number sentences. It is still our goal for everyone to count to 100 so we can all be in the 100s Club by the end of the year! Check out some great counting to 100 videos on YouTube :)
Musical Updates
Hello Lowell families!!
The music-mobile tour continues to make the rounds to all the classrooms each week to bring your students all kinds of fun socially-distanced musical experiences. 4th graders have now started learning to play the ukulele - they are doing awesome!! The rest of the grades have continued to incorporate lots of movement, singing, and instrument activities so far this year, and we have so much more to come!
Please feel free to continue to ask your students to perform some of the songs we do in music class at home for you! :)
Mrs. Beckwith
1st Grade News
Our first-graders are working hard this Spring to ensure we are ready for second grade! We begin each day working on leadership skills through lessons on our 7 Leader in Me Habits. This next month we will be working on the following skills in each subject:
READING: We are focusing right now on being accurate and fluent readers. We work on reading passages and texts aloud daily. Our goal is for all students to be reading 66 words per minute by the end of the year. We appreciate all of the time and support you have given from home as our students are making great progress. Our first-graders continue to work on identifying the main idea and details in a story.
MATH: We are finishing our unit on making combinations of 10 and solving problems with unknown parts. We plan to start working on patterns and counting-on during April. Any opportunities you can give them at home to work on math skills is very helpful also.
WRITING: We are just finishing our focus on writing opinion pieces. Students will now be focused on writing fiction narrative pieces where they will write their own realistic fiction stories. This final writing unit is always very engaging for students!
Reminder: Lowell students are still working on a monthly reading challenge where we ask each of our students to read more at home. Reading each night for even 15 minutes will increase your child's reading scores. Thanks for all you do to support our Lowell 1st Grade Leaders!
The First Grade Team
2nd Grade News
The second graders have been busy learning more and more each day
Reading: The second graders have been understanding character traits and how they help to discover what characters think, say, do, and feel. They also have been learning how to think about how characters change throughout the story. The students are continuing to work on fluency by making their reading sound smooth.
Writing: The students will be finishing up their opinion writing unit. They will soon begin to learn about poetry. The second graders will learn how to write different types of poetry and how to use the sounds of words to make music. They will also discover how to write a poem to where there is a mood to go with it.
Math: They have been focusing on adding by multiples of 5s and 10s. The second graders have been understanding how to use a 100s chart to solve problems with 2-digit numbers. They also have been working with adding and subtracting coins up to $1.00. While at home, ask your second grader to recall the names of the coins (quarter, dime, nickel, penny) and how much each coin is worth. Your student can even work on adding coin amounts together.
Lowell Library News
Students in K-1 have been listening to stories and working on identifying characters, setting, and main details in retelling. When students are reading at home (or being read to), you can reinforce this skill by asking them questions. The kids have been doing a great job of describing where AND when to describe the setting.
All students in 1-5 had the opportunity to write a haiku poem for submission in a contest. I submitted 12 completed poems by first graders, 35 poems in second grade, 33 in third grade, 22 in fourth grade, and 15 in fifth grade. Unfortunately, all students did not complete a poem although instruction, support, and class time was provided.
Please keep looking for library books at home. All Waterloo School library books have a barcode label with the school name on it. You may return any books to Lowell and I will make sure they get to the correct school. Thank you!
3rd Grade News
In Math, we have started our fractions unit. We have been learning about unit fractions, pieces of a whole, and how to share equally among friends.
In Reading, we have been learning about biographies. We have read about some great people and how their lives have impacted our world.
In Writing, we are working on finishing our persuasive writing. We are working to convince others of something that is important and explain why they should agree with us.
Thanks for all of your support as we continue to learn and grow in 3rd grade. We appreciate our 3rd-grade families so much!
Mrs. Peters and Mr. Lehmann
3rd Grade Team
4th Grade News
5th Grade News
5th Graders are continually making huge progress this year! We are working hard to get ready for ISASP in April. Here is what we have been working on lately to help us prepare:
Reading: In Reading we have been working on Biographies, Cause and Effect, and Expository Nonfiction. The students learned so much about different famous people and how they made an impact. Please continue having your student read outloud and focus on the comprehension of the story.
Writing: In Writing we are working on stating our opinions and supporting those opinions with facts and explanations. The students have been researching about their topic to help support their opinion. These students have some pretty amazing arguments! Our next unit will be Memoirs and diving into students' memories.
Math: In Math we have been learning about decimals. We will be learning to add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals. We are also working on putting decimals in order. Freckle is a GREAT site to have the students practice these.
Content: In Science we finished our Chemical Detectives unit. The students learned about reactions and solutions. They got to create a GIANT orbeez! In Social Studies, we are diving into the Civil War and the effects it had on America.Physical Education
K-2
Students will again be practicing locomotor skills such as jumping, hopping, skipping, galloping, sliding, and leaping. We will also put more of an emphasis on becoming more familiar with different body weight exercises including push-ups, curl-ups, burpees, wall-sits, jumping jacks, v-sits, and lunges. Over the next couple of months there will be a strong emphasis on being able to control body weight and balance with a variety of exercises.
3-5
Students will be gearing up for their Fitnessgram assessments in mid April. They will be tested again on push-ups, curl-ups, and the PACER test. They have received their Fitnessgram reports from their fall tests and have written some personal goals for improvement on the spring Fitnessgram tests. Please encourage your child to do body weight exercises and assist them with meeting their goals.
Thank you,
Brian Guetzlaff-Physical Education