Newsletter for 1/28

Notes from Ms. Rau

• Valentine's Day Celebration - Our party will be Thursday, February 14th from 9:30-10:30. Students will decorate paper bags to hold their valentines in class. We will pass out valentine cards at the end of our party. When filling out valentines cards please do not write a name in the TO section. Please only have your student write their name in the from section. This makes passing out valentines cards much quicker. We have 25 students in our class :) 

Important Dates:

• 2/14 - Valentine's Day Celebration, 9:30-10:30
• 2/15 - 1/2 day for students
• 2/18-2/19 Mid Winter Break - No School for Students

Learning This week:

• Writers will...
• use craft moves
• edit step by step
• create a writing museum full of nonfiction topics
• have a final celebration
• Readers will...
• check that what they're reading makes sense
• learn new words as they read
• find and think about key words
• reread a page to find the just right sound
• Mathematicians will...
• complete unit 4 test
• find the unknown partners with teen totals
• solve subtraction problems with teen numbers
• solve mixed problems with teen numbers
• Scientists will...
• discover what protects animals
• learn about adult vs. baby snails
• learn about adult vs. baby whales
• In phonics we will...
• make contractions with not
• play word games
• review snap words and sort them by rules

News for the week

Notes from Ms. Rau

• Semester One Report Cards     Your child’s first semester report will be emailed to you on Friday, January 25. In Lake Orion we use standards-based grading, which means we score your child based on his or her progress towards “mastery” of a particular standard. A score of 4 indicates mastery; a score of 4 on an academic subject means that the end of the year expectation has been reached. A score of 3 means consistent progress toward the standard, a 2 indicates inconsistent progress, and a 1 signals an area of concern. As you would expect, we have not yet taught most academic standards to their full extent. For example, a math standard may include addition and subtraction to 20, but during this first semester we taught addition and subtraction to 10. Consequently, students are scored out of a possible 3, indicating that expected progress towards mastery. At this time, you should expect to see 3s for academic standards on which your child is doing well. A few academic areas that have been taught to mastery at this time are listed below, so that you know to look for 4s on those standards. Because behavioral skills have consistent expectations throughout the year, they are scored out of a possible 4; you should see 4s in the skills section if your child is meeting behavior expectations. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have questions or concerns about the report or your child’s progress. The report card is divided as follows:
• Reading     In this section, the current expectation is reading level F. Only students reading at the end of the year exit level expectation of J or above will see 4s in the reading section. The only exception for the standard “Manipulates spoken sounds and symbols” which has been scored out of 4 as it is expected that oral sounds are mastered at this time. We recently began exploring nonfiction texts but have not yet assessed these elements, so they are not scored at this time.
• Social Studies and Science   Our first two social studies units are complete and were scored out of a possible 4. The other unit that we addressed this semester, the public issue standard, will be revisited in the spring and is scored out of 3.  In science we have only completed the plant portion of the plants and animals unit, so that standard is also scored out of 3 and will be continued.
• Writing and Language   All standards in these sections are scored out of possible 3; all standards will be revisited and expanded upon.
• Math   In math this semester we completed only one standard to mastery, which was “understands and applies properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.” That standard is scored out of 4; all others are scored out of a possible 3. Some students earned 4's if they were able to count AND write their numbers to 120. 
• Skills   These critically important areas were all scored out of a possible 4. 

• Our Valentine's Day Celebration will be Thursday, February 14th. Please consider donating items for our party https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D45ACAB2FABF85-valentines. The time is currently TBD. I will send out an email to parents who volunteered to run a center next week. Thank you! 

Important Dates:

• 1/21 - MLK Day, No School for Students
• 1/25 - Report cards sent out electronically via email, to parent 1, in PowerSchool at 4:00 p.m.
• 2/14 - Valentine's Day Celebration, time: TBD
• 2/15 - 1/2 day for students
• 2/18-2/19 Mid Winter Break - No School for Students

Learning This week:

• Writers will...
• research using photos to say more
• use craft moves learned in small moments
• editing step by step with a checklist
• have a final celebration
• Readers will...
• not let hard words get in their ways
• crash word parts together to solve
• check that the words they read look right and make sense
• learn new words as they read
• Mathematicians will...
• play 2 digit addition games
• complete unit 4 test
• practice adding 10's and 1's
• Scientists will...
• observe how parent animals help their babies survive
• learn about animal features that help them survive
• learn about adult vs. baby snails
• learn about adult vs. baby whales
• In phonics we will...
• bring new knowledge of words to learning snap words
• use snap words to help make and read other longer, trickier words
• make contraction with not

News for this week

Important Dates:

• 1/18 Half Day for Students
• 1/21 - MLK Day, No School for Students
• 1/25 - Report cards sent out electronically via email, to parent 1, in PowerSchool at 4:00 p.m.
• 2/14 - Valentine's Day Celebration time: TBD
• 2/15 - 1/2 day for students
• 2/18-2/19 Mid Winter Break - No School for Students

Learning This week:

• Writers will...
• use all they know to plan for new chapter books
• do research to help them say more
• edit "on the go" 
• use craft moves learned in small moments 
• Readers will...
• work on fluency (stress and intonation)
• celebrate learning and create new goals
• don't let hard words get in their way
• Mathematicians will...
• add 10's and 1's 
• complete the quarter 2 common assessment
• count on from 2 digit numbers
• Scientists will...
• be introduced to sea turtles hatching from their shells
• observe animals and their babies
• discover what will help a sea turtle survive
• In phonics we will...
• spell words part by part
• use a vowel in every word
• karate chop words to read them part by part
• use snap word power in our writing

Photos from the week:

Breaking words apart and crashing them together in phonics

Our MLK Jr. Day project to be displayed at the High School

Studnets use 10's and 1's to add to 100 in the game 100 Ants

Having a mini celebration of our nonfiction chapter books with Miss Weaver's friends

Finding -ill and -ell word patterns

Using our nonfiction books to help us in our nonfiction writing

Using 10 sticks and 1's to represent 2 digit numbers

Welcome 2019!

Notes from Ms. Rau:

I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing break and are ready to take on 2019! 

• I created a sign up genius for our volunteer calendar (Jan-March). If you are interested in helping out with a small group, paper work, or prepping projects/lessons please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d45acab2fabf85-volunteer

• By Monday, 1/14 please email me a picture of any pets (current/past) that your family has had or bring in a hard copy. The picture will get returned. This is for our next science unit: Feature Factor!

Important Dates:

• 1/18 Half Day for Students
• 1/21 - MLK Day, No School for Students

Learning This week:

• Writers will...
• add a small moment as one chapter of their nonfiction chapter book
• add introductions and conclusions
• practice using commas in a list
• Readers will...
• review procedures and routines
• get smart on nonfiction reading
• study every single page in their nonfiction books
• learn more by chatting about what's happening with their partner
• Mathematicians will...
• review doubles
• understand 10's and 1's
• regroup 1's into 10's
• add with groups of 10's
• In social studies we will...
• learn about the American New Year
• learn about the Chinese New Year
• complete an MLK project
• In phonics we will...
• read words part by part
• read across even the longest of words
• spell words part by part