Quick Classroom Updates

Can you believe there are only two weeks of school left?!?  This year has really felt like it has flown by and it as been amazing to see the students grow as individuals and academically.  I anticipate a fun and exciting end of the year. Beginning this week we will also be celebrating all of the summer birthdays in the classroom.

Later in the week I will update you all on what we are working on, but for the time being….

A Few Reminders and Information

June 5th will be our trip to Lansing. Thank you all for returning signed permission slips. Please remember* this is a field trip your child must arrive early to school for. 

The Ice Cream Social is this Friday! Baked goodies needed! 
 
Reminder: The annual King Elementary School  Ice Cream (FROYO) Social is onFriday, June 5th from 6:00 - 8:00pm. The weather is supposed to be great, and its time to celebrate the hard work of ours kids and all members of the King Community. Don’t forget to join us for this fun event that includes Games, Moonwalk, Cakewalk, our ever-popular Water Wars, Pizza (for purchase), and FROYO (frozen yogurt) from Orange Leaf!!

Cost: $6 (includes all games and activities and FROYO) or $4 (just FROYO)
 
Note: We need lots of goodies (cakes, pies, brownies or other specialty desserts) to give as prizes for the popular cakewalk event. The more goodies we have, the longer the CakeWalk will last. There is no signup sheet for this. Just bring your baked goods and drop off to the Teacher’s lounge on Friday Morning, or you can bring them to the Multi Purpose room directly when you come to the social!

 Questions?  Contact:

· Sara Schneidewind [email protected]

· Kirti Karia [email protected]

· Yang Bing [email protected]

June 8th we will be celebrating the end of the year by taking a trip to Fuller Pool.

Another side note:

The King Learning Garden needs your help!  

 

We are so appreciative of the help we have received in the past during the summer months.  We still need that help this year. Without your help, we can not maintain this garden and all the benefits it provides.  The kids benefit so much from it and so does our community.  Please consider signing up to adopt the garden this summer for one week or more!  We need lots of help during the summer and have been fortunate enough to have the best King and community volunteers ever!  Thank you so much for your consideration.

 

Usually, we have two or more families who come to the garden during any given week.  During that week, you can set your schedule with the other family to come at your leisure to help with the needs of the garden.  You don't have to come everyday unless you want to!  Most people come 3-4 times during the week to weed and water.  You will receive an email the week before you are signed up to get the low down of what needs to be done.  We will also provide you with the contact information of the other family signed up so you can plan your week together if you would like.  Please help us continue to grow out garden this summer!  

 

The sign up link is below:  

http://goo.gl/7pJKA

Thank you for considering to help the King Learning Garden!

As the weather has been heating up, then cooling down, and then heating back up again, we have been very busy in the classroom! As things are ever-changing, we welcomed a new student, Stone, last week.

Next week, we will begin taking the M-STEP. As most of you know, this is the test that is replacing the MEAP.

Our testing days will be Tuesday (28th) , Wednesday (29th), Thursday (30th) , Friday (1st)  and Monday ( May 4th).  

I apologize for the late notice of these dates as we’ve been in the process of ironing them out.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE  make sure your child is here for all of these days. It is also VERY important that your child is at school on time during this week. 

We have already had a conversation and I answered questions today about the test and what to expect. As I told the students, this is not something that they should be overly stressed about or study for, but it is something that I want them to take seriously. Fifth grade has just taken the M-STEP and many of the teachers are saying that it is taking a lot of time meaning the schedule MAY change so please be flexible. I will keep everyone updated. Please feel free to email me if you have questions as well.

If your child is absent one of the days they are going to have to do a make-up creating which will mean they will miss valuable instruction time.

Tips for the M-STEP (similar to the MEAP)

-       Make sure your child gets to bed early and gets a good night sleep

-        Make sure they have breakfast in the morning

-       To school on time


 

Important Dates
-- May 14th we will be going on a Water Tour from Dexter to Ann Arbor stopping at the water treatment plant and more. It will be an all day field trip from 9:20-2:30. Students will have to bring a lunch 




Thank you to all of the parents that donated money and purchased gift cards for the silent auction baskets! A big thank you to Becky for putting them together!!

What we’ve been up to:

Math: We finished up Unit 10 with a review and our test. I was very impressed with how well the students demonstrated their understanding of translations, rotations, reflections and lines of symmetry. We also touched upon adding negative and positive integers. We started Unit 11 but will postpone Math until M-STEP is over.

Reading: Within reading we have been learning about poetry. We have been focusing on interpreting poems and the different rhyme schemes that poems have. We examined a “Where I’m From” Poem by George Ella Lyon focusing on the meaning and tone behind the poem. We also reviewed reader’s workshop norms, as some students have strayed away from what is expected out of them.

Writing: In writing, we have been busy learning about the different rhyme schemes and practicing writing poems using them. The tone of most of our poems have been pretty humorous so it was nice to switch it up by writing own “Where I’m From” poems.

Science and Social Studies: We have begun our tour of the West region of the United States by examining the geography of the land and some important places on interest.  We have also been working on finding the main idea in the passages as we read.  In Science we have been doing investigations looking at the different phases of matter looking at how and what make them change state.

Classroom Updates:

-Thank you SO much for you generous donations for the silent auction baskets. We have reached our goal (aside from two gift cards which the donations will make up for).

- The special area teachers have been extremely impressed with our behavior the past couple of weeks! J

-We earned a Bonus Point party and will be doing a southwest themed lunch this Thursday. 

-Thank you for sending back the weekly reflections signed! I would love to hear feedback on your opinions of these as well!

Reminders:

- No school Friday, April 3rd

- Spring Break starts at the end of the day Thursday (4/2) until (4/13)

What we’ve been up to:

Math: In math we have been looking at decimals, fractions, and their relationship to percent’s. We have been learning how to find percent’s of and off using real world situations. We have learned how to multiply and divide numbers that include decimals.  This week we will finish up Unit 9 and take the unit test Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop: Within writing and reading, we have been exploring and examining poetry. We have been specifically looking at the different types of figurative language that poet’s use and the structure of poetry as a whole. Each day we have been focusing on a different aspect of poetry. We spent time immersing ourselves into poetry by spending lot of time looking at the different characteristics of poetry. We have now moved into looking at some of the figurative language that poets use. So far we have covered alliterations, hyperboles, personification, similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia. Overall we have been looking at the reason WHY poets use these types of figurative language and what each adds to poems.  During reader’s workshop we’ve been spending some time of each day reading through poetry to find examples of what we’re learning. To build off of this, in writer’s workshop we then try writing poetry using the different structures, characteristics and figurative language we’ve discussed. We will be working towards completing poetry anthologies that will consists of mentor poems accompanied by poems written by the students demonstrating what they’ve learned. We also have begun discussing reading response letters again, and I’m looking to start back up with these when we return from break.

Science: We have been examining the properties of solids, liquids, and gases through experiments. Last week, we designed experiments to prove the property that air takes up space. We also spent some time looking at the difference between volume and weight, and this week we will look at density.

Social Studies: Last week we finished up our tour of the Southwest Region and took the test on the chapter. This week we will be focusing on one of the main problems affecting the southwest region and how it could potentially affects us within Michigan. 

It feels like spring is almost here! As the temperatures outside are rising, so is the amount of learning taking place in the classroom and activities happening around the school! 

Last week, we welcomed two new students, Sunny and Ellie. I have been particularly impressed with how helpful and welcoming all the students have been in easing these two students transition to King!

Side note: Thank you to PTO for helping us purchase non-fiction books for our classroom library!

Report cards will be sent home Tuesday, as always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me by phone or email.


Looking ahead:


Book Fair

Wednesday of this week will be the start of the New and Used Scholastic Book Fair. Please continue to donate books, puzzles, games, CD’s and DVD’s. Donations will be accepted up until the 18th.  We will be previewing the book fair Wednesday and shopping Thursday. If you are going to send money with your child, please send it in an envelope with the student’s name on it.

 

Silent Auction Information

As many of you are new to King, here is a little more information about the upcoming silent auction. Thank you Nithya for taking the time to help inform others!

The King Elementary School PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) is sponsoring our 2015 Silent Auction on Friday, April 24, to raise funds that will support the school’s PTO programming.

This year alone, King PTO will be spending $80,000 to supplement our children's education.

With continued district budget cuts, this support is more important than ever.  

Money raised will help fund important enrichment activities for our students such as:

- Field trips
- Disability awareness workshop
- Science Olympiad
- classroom supplies for teachers
- learning garden

When & Where?  Friday, April 24 at King School. The auction starts at 5:30, final bidding closes by8pm and check out is over by 9pm.

Is it silent?  Not at all! It’s a big, fun event with lots to do. “Silent” means there isn’t a live auctioneer calling out each item.

How do I bid?  Every item is displayed on tables in the gym and has a bid sheet. You put a bid on the item you want, going higher amount than the person’s bid. But come back to check on it—you can get outbid quickly!

Gift cards from local restaurants, theater shows, travel and destination packages ,themed baskets from classroom teachers , families donating meals and dessert delivery (incl. Turkish tea party), bird watching trip for kids - many such wonderful items.

Please support Ms.Peck with classroom baskets either by donating gift cards or through monetary donations. 

 

Within the week I will be choosing a finalized list of the items needed for our classroom baskets and sending out a sign-up genius link.

 

This is what we’ve been up to:


Math: Last week, we took our Unit 8 test that focused on perimeter and area. This week we will be reviewing our tests and starting Unit 9. Unit 9 will be focusing on fractions, decimals and percent’s.

Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop: As we finished up our informative text pieces last week, this week we will begin our exploration of poetry. We will be reading poetry, learning about the different components of poetry, and writing poetry. This week we will be focusing on poetry’s purpose, exploring different types of poems, and learning about figurative language.

Science and Social Studies: Last week, students worked really hard to create a “flyer” promoting a famous location in the southwest region. The students then presented their flyer to class in order to inform others about the region. This week, we are going to focus on the similarities and differences between the southwest and the midwest region, and take a closer look at a few stops on the southwest tour. In science, we have been exploring the weight of solids, liquids, and gases. This week we are going to be doing some experiments involving the volume of solids, liquids and gases.

 

 

Short week, quick updates

On Monday, February 9th our school will be hosting NAAPID (National African American Parent Involvement Day). On this day, King welcomes all families to visit our school and our classrooms. I have posted a daily schedule below so that you are aware of what is going on during the day and hopefully will hop in to visit your child.

 

9:00-9:25 Music

9:25-9:55 Gym

9:55-10:10 Read Aloud/ Snack

10:10 – 11:10 Reader’s Workshop:  I can name and notice parts of grabbing non-fiction introductions.

11:10 - 11:40 Writer’s Workshop: I can write a grabbing introduction about my non-fiction topic.

11:40 – 12: 20 Word Study Sort 11 /ar/ Spelled er, ir, ur in First Syllables

12:20-1:08 Lunch

1:10 – 2:00 Social Studies: How does the geography of the southeast affect life there?

2:00- 3:00 Math Workshop:  I can find equivalent fractions.

3:00- 3:30 Reading Buddies: We meet and read with our Kindergarten buddies in Mrs. Gatonez’s class

3:30 Stack and Pack

 

February 10th is Jump Rope for Hearts our time slot is 2:30 to 3:00

 

February 11th is our field trip to the UMMA. It will be a half day field trip and we will be back in time for lunch. Thank you to those of you that are chaperoning our trip. I will be sending out an itinerary on Sunday for the chaperones.

 

We are going to be having a Bonus Point party on Friday, February 13th this will be a bonus point party/Valentines day party. If your child would like to bring in valentines for classmates please make sure that they have one for every student. I have also posted a class list. Once again, please do not feel obligated.

 

   Praveen

   Andy

   Julianne

   Adeesh

   Parsh

   Kenneth

   Kaan

Emma

   Ben

Henna

Julia

Ismael

Heidi

Hana

Kirilo

Gabby

Neela

Arnav

Laith

Tim

Tony

Mia

Audrey W.

Yohan

Audrey Z.

John

Annie W.

Have a good weekend! Stay warm!

Updates in the classroom:

- Last week we focused on Problem Solving as our life skill for the week. Due to the short weeks we have decided to continue to work on this skill this week. I have been emphasizing problem solving less in the sense of conflict management but more-so to help solve the problem of redundant questions such as “Where do I turn this in?” or “There is a mess on the floor what should I do?”

Thank you to everyone for continuing to return weekly reflections.  I told everyone today that I do not mind if these get turned in during the week as I understand Monday’s are hectic and they become easily forgotten from Friday. I have however really been a stickler about homework being turned in on time. I have provided students with a “homework pass” for a time in which they may have forgotten their homework. I am really trying to emphasize good habits and if students do not bring their homework they will either owe me the homework pass or will have to make it up during a recess time. Please feel free to email me if there is ever an issue beyond them “just not feeling like doing it” .  

Last week we started A World in Motion with GradSWE.
Here is a little information about it:
A World in Motion with GradSWE
Last Friday, the Graduate Society of Women Engineers (GradSWE) from U of M started A World in Motion (AWIM) program from 1:30-2:30 pm that will continue for the next six weeks.

AWIM is a hands-on educational program developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers designed to:

· teach through direct, hands-on experience with materials and tools

· educate students about the engineering profession and engineering design process

· bring engineering specialists into the classroom to motivate future generations

We'll be doing the Jet Toy activity, which focuses on the concepts of jet propulsion, friction, and air resistance. Students will be working in small teams to design, build, and test balloon-powered toy cars, optimizing for speed, distance, and weight carried.

The GradSWE volunteers come from a broad variety of engineering backgrounds and levels, but all of us are incredibly excited to be working in Ms.Peck’s class these next several weeks! 



- We will be taking a field trip on February 11th to the UMMA from 11am – 12 pm. I will be need the help of 6 parents as chaperones. If you would be interested in spending the morning with us touring the UMMA please send me an email.  

 
- International Night is January 30th at Huron High School.  Thank you to those of you that brought in posters to inform and decorate the school.

- The students worked really hard in their first math journals and I will be sending them home later this week. Please understand that any pages that are not complete were lessons in which supplemental activities were done in their place.

 

Writing and Reading:

We are continuing to explore informative non-fiction texts. This week we are focusing on the text structures of informative text and trying to incorporate the structures into our own writing. These text structures include description, cause and effect, compare and contrast, sequence, and problem and solution. We are paying close attention to the “signal words” that help us identify the structure of the text and also looking at how that structure helps us as readers. I will be starting some guided reading groups focusing on non-fiction this week.

We will be skipping this week’s word study sort as we had to take our last week word study test today. We will pick back up next week.


Science: We will begin an experiment in which students will investigate the properties of matter by exploring some “mystery” materials in balloons.

 

Social studies: We will continue touring the Southeast region. Focusing on summarizing notes from the text and stopping to focus on the area of Jamestown.

 

Math: We are starting Unit 7, which is on fractions. This week we will be reviewing what we already know about fractions, fractions on a number line, and learning about fractions of a whole.  

 

 

 

I hope you all had a relaxing winter break!  Thank you all so much for the gifts and cards I really appreciated them. As we start the New Year, we are back in the full swing of things. This week the life skill we have been discussing is patience and our goal for the week was to be more patient with each other in the classroom. We also finished our read-aloud book Wonder. Ask your child about it, it’s a wonderful book! We also began setting up our data binders.

Reminders:

-       Thank you to those of you that have been returning weekly reflections signed. 

-       There is no school Monday as it is Martin Luther King Jr. day.

What we’ve been up to:

Math
 We have been working with a division strategy called partial quotients. Next week traditional long division will be touched upon, but not explain in depth. We have also been looking at interpreting the remainders in story problems, the similarities between clocks and angles, measuring, drawing, and classifying angles.

As I understand partial quotients and partial products may be different from the traditional way you have learned multiplication and division, please encourage your student to try to solve problems using these strategies as they will come up again in 5th grade.

Looking Ahead

Next week we will be finishing up Unit 6, reviewing, and taking our Unit 6 test somewhere towards the end of the week.

Writing and Reading

We have finished publishing our personal narratives and have moved into a informational/informative writing and reading.  Considering writing and reading are closely intertwined we will be taking what we learn from reading informative texts and applying it to our writing. This week we have looked at the different types of informative text, compared and contrasted informative text to personal narratives, identified the purpose and audience of informative text, brainstormed and choose a “good fit” topic, investigated what makes a good text and internet resource and used what we found to begin researching our topics.

Looking Ahead:

We will be learning how to summarize text and paraphrase. We will also be learning how to identify the main ideas and supporting details within text, and use all this information to takes notes on our topic and use graphic organizers to both; plan our writing and organize our ideas. 

Social Studies

We have finished and summarized big ideas from the Northeast region and begun to discuss the Southeast. We have discussed what we know about the southeast region and brainstormed what we would like to learn about. Considering Monday is MLK day, we have jumped ahead in the chapter to learn about the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr.

Looking ahead:

Our Southeast tour will take us to other locations in the Southeast region that reflect elements of the Southeast and how the region differs from others.

Science

We finished our nature’s recyclers unit and took a pre-test to see what we already know on our new unit Matter.  We will begin experiments relating to matter next week.

Word Study

We took our word study test from the previous week due to the snow days, and began Sort 9, which focused on r-influenced o in accented syllables.