Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Week of May 26, 2008

Dear Parents:
I hope everyone has a relaxing Memorial Day weekend! With no school on Monday, that means there's only one Monday left of school. Where does time go?

Center Cass School District #66 is in the process of implementing an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) mandate, Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is an array of procedures that can be used to determine if and how students respond to specific changes in instruction. RTI provides an improved process and structure for school teams in designing, implementing, and evaluating educational interventions.
Please look for the additional information on RTI, which will be included with your child’s end of the year Report Card.

SOME HAPPENINGS FOR THIS WEEK:
~Tuesday.......Robert Crown Field Trip "Body Systems" SACK LUNCH (milk will be available)
~Wednesday..Lakeview library visit to check out books for summer reading!
~Thursday.....Bowling Field Trip - $ for snacks, if purchasing!
~Friday..........5th grade end of the year farewall party!



HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR CLASSROOM:
Spelling = Words of the Week....Letters S-Z! ABC books due Thursday and test Friday!
Narrative Writing = Working on editing, proofreading, and our final copy!
Reading = Anne of Green Gables and P-M-I response journals!
Social Studies = Chapter 12 Test "open note" test = Wednesday, May 28th!
Hopefully your child has taken good notes because this has been independent work....if they've worked hard, it will sure pay off during an "open note" test!
Science = Human Body
Math = We will be taking the Chapter 10 Checkpoint Quiz on Friday, May 30th.
The quiz is taken directly from textbook page 398.
GO CUBS....LET'S STAY IN FIRST PLACE!!!
MISS TREFONAS

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Week of May 19, 2008

Dear Parents,
Congratulations to the band and choir members for their awesome concerts!

SOME SPECIAL EVENTS:
~We have a special guest visiting our class Monday, Mrs. Sindee Viano, to teach cartooning to our class. Mrs. Viano also offers art workshops and classes at her house.....perhaps a good summer activity? Information will be sent home!

~Tuesday, Indian Prairie Library will be presenting their summer reading program to the students.

~Thursday, 5th grade attends the "dress rehearsal" for the Lakeview play/musical MUSIC MAN @ 1:00!

~Friday, 1:15 the Cadet Band and choir concert for our students in the gym..... Parents are invited!!!

HERE'S WHAT WE ARE DOING IN THE CLASSROOM:
Spelling: Words of the Week letters J-R
English: Unit 7 Adverb test is Tuesday. (only testing on adverbs not prepositions at this time)
Writing: Narratives......the student have shown their creativity in the first stories they have written!
Reading: Anne of Green Gables....has your child told you about Ann(e) with an "e"?
Ask about the infamous apology and what type of character Anne is!
SCOOPer Reading is due Friday, May 23rd!!!!
Social Studies: Chapter 12 Lesson 3 and review this week. Test is Tuesday, May 28th.
Science: Human Body...Ear and Eye!!
Math: Chapter 10! We will be adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators.
GO CUBS!!!! We need to break the "curse"!!
Miss Trefonas

Friday, May 9, 2008

The Week of May 12, 2008

Dear Parents,
Thanks to all of you who made Teacher Appreciation Week special. I appreciate the thoughtfulness.
Our Kleenex supply is almost out! Can you send in a box? Thanks!

IMPORTANT:
~Monday, May 12th = 5th grade visits Lakeview for an orientation in the afternoon!

HERE'S WHAT WE ARE UP TO THIS WEEK:
SPELLING: We are finished with our "regular" spelling workbook. We are doing an ABC
book with our WORDS of the WEEK. This week the WORDS of the WEEK that begin with A-I
will be assigned and tested.
ENGLISH: Unit 7 Adverbs.....comparing with adverbs and being able to distinguish whether a word is an adjective or an adverb.
READING: Narratives.....We will be reading a variety of picture books and discussing elements of a narrative text. Then, the children will create a narrative and make a picture book!
SOCIAL STUDIES: continuing Chapter 12......The students are completing and checking note sheets for each lesson independently after we read and discuss the information. The test will be an open-note test!
SCIENCE: continuing Human Body!
MATH: Any student who completed the checkpoint from the textbook prior to the quiz last week received 2 extra credit points!
Chapter 9 Fraction test = Thursday, May 15th!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CADET BAND FOR AN OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE!!!!
MISS TREFONAS

Monday, May 5, 2008

The Week of 5-5-08

Dear Parents,
We have been learning and playing various language arts games to enhance skills like spelling, vocabulary, creative and critical thinking. The games we have been playing are You've Been Sentenced, Boggle, In a Pickle, and Scrabble.
HELP WANTED......
If you'd like to purchase a game, we could use more of these games:
~Boggle ~Scrabble ~In a Pickle (Target sells this game) ~Upwords


HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE CLASSROOM:
SPELLING: Lesson 32 and word of the week
ENGLISH: Unit 6 Pronoun Test = Tuesday, May 6th.... Next, we begin Unit 7 Adverbs.
READING: Flap Books will be the culminating activity for our Book Clubs.
SCOOPer Reading = Deadline is May 23rd.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Chapter 11 Test is Monday, May 5th.
SCIENCE: Human Body - Nutrition
MATH: Fractions - Chapter 9....Checkpoint quiz is Tuesday. The quiz is taken from problems on p.348 in the textbook.
WELCOME SPRING!!!!
MISS TREFONAS