Reed's November Newsletter
Happy Thanksgiving!
The First Trimester Ends November 4th
Parent Teacher Conferences
Reminder: Parent-Teacher Conferences are Around the Corner!
Fall Break
We will see you when we return on Monday, November 28th.
Family Math Problem: Return to School When Completed
We’re continuing with Family Math this year and hope families enjoy spending time together solving problems. A few times a year I am going to describe some Family Math activities that you can complete together at home. These activities pertain to real life, and I hope that they will help students to see the importance that math skills play in adult lives on a daily basis. A few years ago I purchased a great book entitled, Beyond Math Facts and Flashcards: Exploring Math with Your Kids by Jan Mokros. This month’s activities revolve around the Coupon Game. Below are some suggested activities at different grade levels. See what works best for you. Be creative and have fun together.
At-Home Activities:
· Have the children cut out coupons that they think the family might use.
· Sort the coupons into piles using categories, such as healthy foods, things only pets can use, things you use to clean, etc.
· Find coupons in each collection that save the most money.
· Find how many coupons have more or less than a given amount, such as .50.
· Find coupons that, together, will save the family more than a dollar.
No Cell Phones in School Zones
This is just a reminder that in accordance with Illinois State Law cell phone use is prohibited in school zones. This law includes the use of text messaging. Your
assistance is greatly appreciated.
Second Step and Social Emotional Learning Standards
Here's an example of a Monday morning announcement:
Good morning and Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend! This month in Second Step you will be learning about compassion. Compassion is EMPATHY in action! Empathy is focusing your attention and listening to others to help you notice how they are feeling. Compassion is noticing other’s feelings and showing that you care or are concerned. For example, a friend’s pet may be sick. You could show compassion by saying, “I’m sorry your pet is sick, you look sad. Is there anything I can do to help?” Showing others you care about them makes you a great friend! Let’s work on putting our empathy in action!
Lockport Rotary Gifts 3rd Grade Students with Dictionaries
News from the Art Room
The 3rd grade classes will be starting a multi-media weaving project. We'll begin by painting rolling hills in a variety of green hues. Then, building on the weaving skills we learned last year, we'll weave a tree in fall colors. For the finishing touch, we'll add cute leaf shaped buttons.
Physical Education News
A note from the P.E. Office:
We have been working hard on our basketball drills. We learned the proper way of dribbling a ball and passing a ball. We took a short break to have some Halloween fun. We will be working on shooting and then play different variations of basketball. We can never play a "real" game of basketball in PE class because we would have about 20-30 kids sitting out not playing.
The next unit we will cover will be cup stacking. Cup stacking really works on the student's eye-hand coordination and works both sides of the brain at the same time. We have a lot of relay race style games during this unit. We also work with giant stacking cups as well. We will be participating in the Stack Up challenge and will be counted as part of the WSSA (World Sport Stacking Association) World Record.
In the month of November, we are hoping to borrow Ludwig's mini golf set. We will hopefully be having a mini golf unit in the gym. How fun would that be?! We did send home a few reminders about guidelines in the gym.
Shoes: Please make sure that your student is bringing gym shoes to school for P.E. class. Please no crocs, winter boots, etc. They don't have to be fancy gym shoes. It is to keep the children safe. There have been injuries in the past that were due to not having proper shoes on. 3rd grade students have P.E. everyday and 2nd grade has P.E. four days a week.
Sitting out of P.E. and recess: If your child needs to sit out of P.E. they do need a note to do so. Parent notes are good for 2 days, then after that they need a doctor's note. P.E. is a required class and students need to be earning their grade. If your child sits out of P.E. they will also be sitting out of recess.
Music News
The Third Grade Veterans Day Concerts are Friday, November 11! The schedule is as follows:
9:30-10:00 Mrs. Billquist/Mrs. Lustyk
10:30-11:00 Mrs. Bohanan/Mrs. Sinram
1:00-1:30 Mrs. Shramuk/Mrs. Larson
2:00-2:30 Ms. Haywood/Mrs. McElheny
Please have your child dress in red, white and blue clothing! Choir students may wear their new D92 Music Shirts and dark pants. (The shirts will be coming soon!)
Our Composer of the Month for November is Frederic Chopin.
News From the LMC
During media time, students have been practicing logging into Google Meet, in case of any remote learning days this year.
In addition, students have been learning about the characteristics of realistic fiction and learning about character traits. We've been creating character webs on the Seesaw app and retelling stories using the Book Creator app.
In the library, students made Henry and Mudge bobble heads and played Idioms matching games.
Thank you to all the families who attended our Reed Family Night Under the Stars! Over 125 students attended this fun-filled event with their families. We hope you had a wonderful time!!!
Reed students certainly displayed their creativity during our book character pumpkin decorating contest! We had 55 participants this year! Congratulations to the following students for their prize winning entries:
-Most Creative: Baby Yoda by Aria G. in Mrs. Amsden's class
-Most Challenging: Pigeon by Alexandra S. in Mrs. Lustyk's class
-#1 Overall Favorite Pumpkin: Cat in the Hat by Anna C. in Mrs. Billquist's class
I'm happy to announce that our Scholastic Book Fair will be returning, in person, this November! Students will attend the book fair, during media time, the week before parent-teacher conferences. The book fair will also be open during conferences, in case you'd like to visit with your family. It's a great way to reward your child for a job well done, or to get a jump start on holiday shopping!
Dismissal Changes
Falling Temperatures
Erin's Law Presentations
Self-Regulation Coping Strategies Students Can Use at School
DreamBox
Red Ribbon Week
Picture Retakes
Reed's October Students of the Month
Reed students who demonstrated responsible citizenship throughout October were celebrated in a very special way. Students from each classroom were recognized for their outstanding efforts. Students nominated for this prestigious honor demonstrated the 3 R's in our pledge consistently throughout the month.
For those of you new to Reed School, students recite the following pledge on Mondays during our Morning Announcements. Our pledge helps our friends to start their day on a positive note and providing a focus:
I am proud to be at Reed School.
I promise to be respectful.
I promise to be responsible.
I promise to be peaceful.
Today I will be the best I can be.
Today I will be all three.
Look for lawn signs soon in your neighborhood!
Pictured below are our October Students of the Month!