Week of 10/22/12 - 10/26/12

Our first marble party was a huge success! Thank you to Jackie's mom for providing the delicious popcorn and to Emma's and Juliana's moms for providing the refreshing water.

Just a reminder, Halloween is fast approaching. There will be a costume parade at 1:00 around the school (weather permitting) and parties will start at 1:30. I have great moms who have already been making plans! Costumes are to be brought in with your child on Wednesday. Students cannot wear their costumes to school. Remember, we only have a short time to change and we will be changing in the classroom (one class for boys, another for girls.) Please make sure their costumes are suitable for this. Trips to the bathroom for changing are not allowed. No weapons of any kind are allowed.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: This week, we will be taking a pretest on LESSON 9 on Monday. The cursive worksheet is homework on Monday. On Tuesday, depending on what group your child is in (challenge or non-challenge) the homework will either be 2 challenge activities OR ABC order and 2 workbook pages. The homework assigned on Tuesday will be due on Thursday.  The final test is on Friday. The students will only be tested on the regular spelling words; challenge words will not be tested.

English: We will be writing our persuasive haunted house paragraphs this week using sensory and Halloween words. The students will be using vivid words to describe the haunted house they wish to persuade someone to buy! They will also be making the haunted house.

Reading: We will continue predicting and we will also focus on cause and effect. There will be a short vocabulary quiz on Cliffhanger words on Wednesday. We will also be starting our reading groups this week. There will be 3 groups and 3 different novels the students will be reading and discussing. I have chosen “good fit” books for each group.

Social Studies: We will start our communities unit this week, focusing specifically on my own town, Downers Grove.

Science: We will continue chapter 4 on ecosystems. There will be a short graded review on lesson 1 on Tuesday.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class: We will start chapter 4 on subtraction. Please make sure your child is practicing his/her subtraction math facts. It will come in handy during this chapter. Probably the trickiest lesson we will encounter will be subtraction across zeroes, for example, 5000 – 1399. This is a tricky concept for children. Any practice they can receive at home would be greatly appreciated. Looks like Friday and Monday will be reserved for that fun lesson!

Important Dates:

10/25 – Early Dismissal (11:00 PV)

10/26 – End of quarter 1

10/29 & 10/30 – Homeroom conferences

10/31 – Halloween festivities

11/5 – Day off

11/6 – Teacher Institute (students are off/parents are voting!!)

11/12 – Day off; Veteran's Day

11/20 – Mrs. Klacza's class DG field trip

11/21-11/23 – Thanksgiving holiday

11/29 – Picture retakes

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Klacza