Lincoln's February Newsletter
Leading The Pack In Kingsport
Flu Season Is Here
All students must be 24 hour fever free (without medicine ) before returning to school. This policy of 24 hours is also the same for vomit. If your child throws-up at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, they cannot return to school until a full 24 hours of no vomit. So if they leave school on Wednesday for throwing up, and don't throw up after that, your child can return on Friday. Not the next morning. That is not a full 24 hours. Every time your child throws up, you need to start your 24 hours over again.
Your child being in school is a priority for us and for you....except when they are sick and contagious. To prevent others from becoming sick, do not send your child to school when they have a fever or have thrown-up. If you know your child is infectious, keep them home. As a working parent (this is Mrs. Zahner typing) I understand the frustration of having to call out of work when my child is sick. I would not want another parent sending his/her child into school sick and possibly making my child sick. I would not want my son infecting someone else if I can help it and keep him home.
Once your child is fever free, or hasn't thrown up in 24 hours, send them back to school. We will be excited to have your child back the moment they are clear and healthy to join us at school!
Science Fair
MARK YOUR CALENDAR--MARCH 4th will be Lincoln's Science Night! A fun event for ALL FAMILIES to come and learn more about all the fun science opportunities in our schools.
WE LOVE READING Event
Spend part our your Valentine's Day with us at the book fair! You will LOVE it !
Spelling Bee Winner
Garrett will be representing Lincoln at the Regional Spelling Bee in Knoxville next month.
Grade Level Updates
Kindergarten
Literacy/Social Studies:
We are learning about community helpers and the difference between needs and wants. As we approach the end of the 3rd nine weeks, we are working hard to become more fluent readers. An important part of being a fluent reader in kindergarten is learning to read our high frequency words. Please continue to check the kindergarten newsletter weekly for the updated list of high frequency words. We are beginning to learn how to read and spell word family words (ex: bat, pin, jet, ran).
For math:
We just finished our unit on teen numbers. Please continue to work with your child on identifying and writing numbers 1-20. We are now beginning our unit on 3D shapes. We will learn to name them and find these 3D shapes in our environment. We are continuing to work on counting by 1s to 75, and counting to 100 by 5s and 10s. Please remember to practice the addition and subtraction fluency flashcards that were sent home. In the 4th nine weeks we will be learning and practicing addition and subtraction facts up to 10.
First Grade
First graders will discover character traits through the words and actions of the main characters in text. They will explore character motivation and how characters interact with one another. For phonics, we are focusing on final y as a vowel and r-controlled vowel patterns. Our language focus will be prepositions and how prepositional phrases add details to sentences. We will continue to practice capitalization and punctuation of sentences. In math, students will understand, represent, and solve problems involving addition and subtraction. We will understand equivalence and place value. This unit has several math games for homework practice. Students need to practice reading analog clocks to the hour and half hour. First graders must be fluent with addition facts up to 10. In science, students are learning about light. They will explore ways light appears between objects: opaque, translucent, transparent, reflective.In social studies, students will focus on Black History month. They will learn about many amazing accomplishments from various African-Americans. We will read about Presidents Lincoln and Washington. This work will end with an informational writing about a famous American. Students will use the TIDE plan for the informational piece.
Second Grade:
Second graders will be learning about the layers of the Earth and how the surface of the Earth changes. We will study the fast changes, such as volcanoes and earthquakes, and the slow changes such as erosion and deposition. Ask your child about The Ring of Fire, the different types of volcanoes, and the layers of the Earth. We will also study how volcanoes become islands, and how water shapes the face of the Earth. Students will be reading, writing, and representing their learning in a variety of ways. The third nine weeks’ writing focus is about opinion. We will also continue to write narratives and informational pieces. In February we will learn about contractions, adverbs, and review previous grammar skills. In class we are learning about coin values and equivalencies of one dollar. At home, you can discuss how much one dollar is worth in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. We are also continuing to work on telling time to the quarter hour. See if your child can figure out what time it will be in one hour, half an hour, or fifteen minutes. Students are continuing to solve 2-digit addition and subtraction story problems. We are also working on reading, writing, and comparing numbers to 1,000 as well as understanding that 3-digit numbers represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones. Towards the end of February we will start a new unit that focuses on measuring lengths and distances as well as solving story problems. Students will work with a variety of measurement units. Nonstandard units of measurement will include shoe-lengths, craft sticks, and paper clips. Standard units will be the traditional inches, feet, yards, centimeters and meters.
Third grade
Third grade has started their unit on man-made disasters ~ ask your child to share with you the stories of floods, fires, and weather disasters. We continue to push the students to put forth their very best personal effort, always working hard to complete assignments and not giving up when things get tough. We will continue to have word work lists each week, so please ask your child for those on Mondays so he or she can study at home for the quiz on Friday.
In math students will be working on fair shares and factions on number lines. The math focus will be on understanding the meaning of fractions as numbers and as equal parts of a whole; reasoning about equivalent fractions; comparing fractions; and using notation to model fractions and fraction relationships.
Your child's classroom teacher will be sending home information on any Valentine's Day events taking place at school, so keep an eye out for that!
Fourth Grade
Math:
Fourth graders will continue to study fractions into the 2nd or 3rd week of February. This is considered a major work of the grade level. Some of the concepts students need to deeply understand include: fraction equivalence and comparison, decomposing fractions, adding and subtracting mixed numbers, representing fractions as decimals, comparing decimals, and more. After this, we will transition into representing and analyzing patterns with arithmetic expressions. Please continue to talk with your child as he or she completes homework. These conversations help the students consider the meaning behind the work that they do.
Science:
During science class, students will continue to explore topics within earth science. We will explore what a fossil is and what information we can gather from studying them. Students will also learn about natural resources, formation of land forms, and the layers of the earth in the coming weeks! Please consider completing a science fair project for the Lincoln event which will take place on March 4.
Literacy:
We will continue to focus on the skills of character analysis, figurative language, point of view, and theme using narrative texts. Also, we will review the skills of main idea and making inferences using informational text. Concerning writing, the students will continue to focus on writing an expository opinion essay. The students will focus on planning and supporting their opinion by using text evidence. Please continue to encourage your child to read each day!
Social Studies:
We will continue to focus on the foundations of our government as we understand the importance behind specific documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Also, the students will analyze the challenges and successes that the colonists faced as they shaped our government.
Fifth Grade
As 5th grade ELA finishes out our Child Labor unit, we are excited to start a brand new unit that was just added to the curriculum this year. The title of the unit, Acquaintances, will focus on three very different texts as we learn how the author’s point of view influences what the reader sees and understands. The takeaway knowledge from this unit will include the value of accepting others, treating others with respect is essential, and acquaintances can impact the life/lives of someone else. We encourage parents to extend the engagement of this unit through rich, meaningful discussions at home.