News from Pier 25
April 8, 2016
Dear UMAC Parents,
We had a great first week back after spring break! I had a “pep talk” with our team to motivate them to make our last TWO months of the school year the very BEST. I reminded them that this is like the 9th inning of a baseball game and every “at bat counts” in determining the final score of the game. It is also a time to celebrate their accomplishments. I am confident that all my players will finish the game STRONG!
The circus is coming to Woods Creek! The PTO reading committee is celebrating reading month with a circus theme. Our halls have been beautifully decorated for the month due to our amazing parent volunteers! There will be scavenger hunt activities around the school and each student will receive a FREE book at the end of the month on April 29th! Thank you so much to our PTO Reading Incentive committee for all of their hard work in putting this together for our students.
Have a great weekend!
Kelly Horist
Shared Reading
This week our team read a biography that compared the lives of two young people in the American Revolution. We Were There, Too! describes how Joseph Martin and Sybil Ludington showed their patriotism, one by enlisting in the army and the other by traveling across the countryside to call members of the militia to battle. Students used a Venn Diagram to record similarities and differences between the two patriots. This graphic organizer helped answer our essential question: How are patriotism and courage related?
Math
Old Friends: This week our old friends worked hard on some challenging problems that are similar to ones that they will likely encounter on our PARCC testing next week! We also began unit 10. This unit focuses on pre-algebra concepts and skills. Students were introduced to this skill by solving a variety of pan-balance problems, which means making sure that a change to one side is compensated by a change to the other side.
New Friends: This week our new friends worked on renaming fractions as percents using a calculator and renaming decimals as percents. They were able to rename fractions as decimals by dividing, and then changing the decimal to a percent by multiplying it by 100. Next week, students will use estimation for multiplying decimals.
PARCC Week!
Next week Team Horist and Team Ebert will be completing the PARCC assessment. There are seven testing sessions; however, we will be completing it within four days (see schedule below). Please be sure that your child gets a good night’s sleep and eats a hearty breakfast to fuel them up to put forth their best effort on these assessments. Our students have worked incredibly hard all year long and now it is time to show off their accomplishments.
TESTING SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, April 12: Math 1 (1:35-3:20)
Wednesday, April 13: Math 2 (11:05-12:40) Math 3 (1:35-3:20)
Thursday, April 14: Math 4 (11:05-12:40) ELA 1 (1:35-3:20)
Friday, April 15: ELA 2 (11:00-12:45) ELA 3 (1:35-3:20)
Volunteer Breakfast
Our volunteers do so much for us here at Woods Creek ALL year long and we want to THANK YOU for your time and energy in helping our school by inviting you to a special breakfast in YOUR honor! Please use the following link to RSVP to the breakfast (April 29th at 8:15): https://docs.google.com/a/d47.org/forms/d/1FXy61i_fU-jh898IBDFC6bwecT8EY363fhVWvmB6JPc/viewform?c=0&w=1
Upcoming Events/Reminders:
April 14: Family skate night 6:00–8:00 p.m. Xtreme Wheels
April 24: Feet Meet 1 mile race at 8:00 a.m. 5K race at 8:30 a.m.
April 25: 5th grade picture, 9:00 a.m.
April 26: 5th grade parent meeting about Family Living unit: 4:00 p.m. Room 26
April 27: Early Release Day 2:00 p.m. student dismissal
April 29: Woods Creek Volunteer Breakfast 8:15-8:45 a.m. learning center
May 4: Multiage Informational parent meeting @ 6:30 in the library