Lincoln's April Newsletter
Leading The Pack In Kingsport
Principal's note
BEDTIME, BEDTIME, BEDTIME!! I cant stress the importance of a reasonable and early bed time. Our students need sleep. Sleep allows the brain to recover from the day, to rejuvenate after a busy day, and to get ready for the day ahead. One thing that you can do at home is to ensure that your students, especially those taking the TNReady (grades 3-5) have 10 or more hours of sleep.
BE HERE AND BE ON TIME! 8:15 is GO TIME!! Students who are late in grades 3-5 on testing days won't be able to test with their peers that day. They will have to make up the test at a later time. To ensure that your student is at their best, testing with their assigned group, make sure that your child is here on time during testing.
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GETS GOING. We need your help to reiterate with your child the importance of not giving up when things are tough. The TNReady is a tough test. It requires your student to remain focused and working for extended periods to time. Our teachers have gotten our kids ready to shine, but we need to pour all of our positive and supportive words into out students. They can do this! This test is not too hard. They are able to succeed. We need your help to tell our students to not give up. Persevere no matter the question. Hearing this message from all the people who support them is powerful.
Thank you in advance for your support during this month. We are ready for our lions to shine!
Testing Information
Tuesday, April 16th- Thursday April 18th--English Language Arts Assessment
Monday, April 22nd-Friday April 26th--Math, Science, and Make-ups.
Testing will start first thing in the morning. Students must be ON TIME every day to ensure that they are able to test with their regular testing group. Our Lions are ready to excel on TNReady!
Please remember to reschedule any appointments that you may have had scheduled during testing if your child is in grades 3-5. We appreciate you working with us to ensure that your students is here and doing their best.
PTO
Upcoming events:
April 10, 2018: 5:30-6:30 pm is our monthly meeting. We will meet in the library.
April 27, 2018: Play Day in the Park...Stay tuned for details on this exciting event!
May 3rd, 2018: Walkathon! Details to be sent home soon.
May 6th - May 10th is teacher appreciation week. PTO has decided to do things a little differently this year. We are going to be celebrating Lincoln Appreciation week. We will focus on all areas of our school and show appreciation!
If you are interested in volunteering with any of the above events, please email Jessica Slaughter @ jessns1015@gmail.com
Grade Level Updates
Kindergarten
Literacy:
Word families
Blends - for example: br, cr, bl, & etc
Digraphs - th, ch, sh, & wh
CVC words - for example: cat, dog, frog & etc.
Math:
Add & subtract within ten
Continue counting by ones, fives , and tens to 100
Continue working on writing numbers 0 - 20 or higher
Name and tell the value of a penny, nickel, dime , and quarter
Science:
Animal Habitats
Weather
First Grade
First graders will be learning why it is important for scientists to possess positive character traits. As we are learning about Discovering Scientists, we will compare and contrast texts, characters, events, and make connections between texts. Students will write an informational piece using text evidence to compare and contrast two scientists by their character traits. Again, we will use a graphic organizer to help us plan our writing. Students will also write a narrative to describe what character traits they possess that are similar to one of the scientists. For phonics, we are focusing on variant vowels /o/ as in saw, /oo/ as in book, and /ou/ as in house. Our language focus will be prefixes, suffixes, and compound words. We will continue to practice capitalization and punctuation of sentences. In math, students will understand and extend the counting sequence, understand place value, and use knowledge of place value to add 10s from any number (ex. 63 + 30 = 93) and subtract 10s from any number (ex. 72- 30=42). They will continue to understand, represent, and solve problems involving addition and subtraction. Students need to practice reading analog clocks to the hour and half hour. Please continue to practice the addition fluency facts to 10 with your child.
Second Grade
Second graders will be learning about life cycles and adaptations of animals during April. We will investigate the different states of the life cycle as well as how some creatures experience life differently. Students will learn about how animals have physical characteristics and observable behaviors that support their growth and survival.
Students will imagine that they are an ambassador at the zoo and their job is to teach school groups about animal life cycles. They will select two animals with different life cycles and write a report about how they are the same and how they are different.
In April we will study homophones and review previous grammar skills.
In class we are learning telling time to the nearest 5 minutes as well as understanding the difference between a.m. and p.m. Have conversations with your child about the difference between a.m. and p.m. as well as practicing using analog and digital clocks.
Students are investigating odd and even numbers and working with equal groups. This will lay the foundation for work with multiplication. Ask your child to determine whether or not there are an odd or even number of specific items around your home, such as stuffed animals or cups. Students will be solving problems using equal groups and write addition equations to express the total number of objects in a rectangular array. (Example: 3 + 3 + 3 = 9)
Towards the end of April we will start our final math unit that focuses on addition and subtraction as well as solving story problems using 3-digit numbers.
Third Grade
Third grade has been working hard to prepare for the upcoming TNReady testing! Since this is new to third graders, we want to make sure that you are parents/guardians are informed about what this means. Students across the state of Tennessee begin taking state standardized tests in the 3rd grade ~ these tests are meant to cover the skills and content that we have been teaching this year. Your child has been working hard all year and is now ready to SHOW WHAT THEY KNOW! You can help your child do his or her best during testing by remembering these things:
1) They need a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP each night of the testing period.
2) They need to BE AT SCHOOL ON TIME each day that we are testing.
3) They need to EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST each morning before the test.
4) They need to KNOW THAT YOU BELIEVE IN THEM and their efforts.
Please give extra support and encouragement to your child during this time! We are scheduled to start testing the weeks of April 15 - 18 and April 22- 26.
Fourth Grade
4th grade is gearing up for the TN Ready assessments, starting the week of April 16th! We are reviewing all of the skills we've learned throughout the year, making sure students feel prepared and can be successful. The benchmark tests earlier in the year have given us some feedback on what each student needs, and we are using this to help them do their best! Continue reading and working on homework with your child to help them be successful. In math, students have been given specific skills to work on at home using their Chromebooks. Please utilize Study Island and IXL as resources to help your child be more confident. We will use these last several weeks of school to do everything we can for students to be ready for 5th grade!
Fifth Grade
Math and Science
We are reviewing for the upcoming TNReady assessments. Students are working hard to review what they already know and fill in the gaps on skills they are struggling with. We are doing the same in science, and working on applying what we have learned to hands on experiments in the classroom.
ELA and Social Studies
We are reviewing for our upcoming state assessments. Our testing window is April 16-26. Please help us encourage and support your child as they have worked very hard and we are excited for them to show what they know. In social studies, we are continuing to discuss World War II.
Lincoln's Science Fair
Science excitement abounds at Lincoln! On March 4th we hosted the 2019 Science fair. Students in grades K-5 competed in our science fair, presenting their hypothesis and scientific results to our guest judges. Our judging team included members of our community and ETSU faculty. We were so proud of all of our participants and the time and effort they put forth to complete their projects.
We also want to thank Mrs. Musick for her work to bring in Eastman, the FBI, DB Excell, Robinson Middle, and Mayfair Church to highlight all the great things that you can do with science in middle school, high school, and out in the working world! It was a great evening.