Sieracki Sentinel- February 4th, 2010
PARENT NEWS:
Vaughan Elementary Mission Statement
Our mission at Vaughan Elementary School is to work as a community to meet
the diverse learning needs of students in order to prepare them for success
in a global economy.
We will be having a Valentine exchange on Friday, February 12th. A list of
all the students went home last week in your child's Thursday folder. We have
23 students in class. If your child will be exchanging they need to have
Valentines to share with all their classmates. Your child should also
decorate a shoebox to collect their own Valentines.The students may bring in
their Valentines and box starting on Wednesday of next week.Thanks.
* Yearbooks are on sale now through the website that was sent home in your
child's Thursday Folder. Please be advised that after January 24th the price
of the yearbook will be going up.
* Especially since we are into cold and flu season, we are in need of Clorox
wipes. We wipe down the desks every evening, hoping to cut down the amount
of germs on the desktops. Thanks so much! We greatly appreciate it!
Clorox Wipes
Extra snacks for the snack bin.
Reminders:
*** Please help your child to remember to wear to bring gym shoes on P.E.
days. They are unable to participate in gym class if they do not have the
proper shoe attire.
**Please sign your child' reading log every Sunday. At this point in the year
your child should be constructing good mini-summaries of what they read each
evening. We have talked about using transition words in our summaries to help
tie our sentences together. Please remember the summaries should be in your
child's own words.
Our "Rockin'Reader" this week was Eastyn. Our most improved for the week
was Logan. Way to go ladies and gentleman. Who will it be next week?
Academics:
Our Schedule:
7:15-7:50: Unpack and begin morning work.
7:50-8:20: Announcements and Daily Math RAP
8:20-9:20: Math
9:20-10:00: Reading Workshop
10:50-11:30: Spelling and Grammar
11:33-12:03: Lunch
12:03-12:10: Check over Morning Work
12:10-12:30: Recess and Study Hall
12:30-1:15: Math Enrichment(Monday, Wednesday, Friday) Content (
Tuesday/Thursday)
1:15-2:00: Writer's Workshop
2:00-2:10: Pack-up and dismissal
** Content is also being incorporated into reading.
Next week at a glance:
Reading:E.Q.: How do I use what I read to learn? How can I predict when I am
reading? We are starting our novel studies this week. Each child will be
choosing activities to complete independently as they enjoy their novels. At
the end of each novel the students will be taking a comprehensive test. When
the books are sent home the students may count the minutes read toward their
reading logs for the night.
Writing:E.Q.:How can I write to inform? How do I write to explain what I've
read? This week we will begin to find research on our first independent
informational pieces. We finished up our writing on butterflies and put all
of our well constructed paragraphs together to build a very well developed
essay on butterflies. We edited our pieces together and the students did a
great job on finding where they could make improvements in our piece. We
talked about being able to do this on our own when we our doing our writing
next week. I know they will do a great job. Today, we had a guest author that
told us she had to rewrite her book 16 times before it was ready for
publication. I think the students realized that you can not just write a
piece of writing once and expect perfection. All great work takes time and
patience.
English: We will continue with our study of prepositional phrases.In addition
to classifying our sentences we will be learning our "Prepositional Phrase"
song. It goes along to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." We will have a quiz on
Wednesday over classifying our sentences, finding the noun's job, and
identifying all the parts of speech that we have studied so far this year. A
study guide will come home on Tuesday but most of the quiz will be
application of the material.
Spelling: Unit 7. Test on Tuesday.
Math: E.Q.: How do I show perimeter using linear units? How can I identify
perimeter as being the boundary of a simple geometric figure? Today we
created our own figures in groups and then exchanged to find the perimeter of
another groups figures. The students did a great job. Ask your child about
the perimeter song. "Perimeter, Perimeter, the distance all around." We
repeat it 4 times as we walk around. We will have a quiz over perimeter on
Thursday.
In addition to math class in the morning we will also begin math compacting
on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. This week in compacting all classes
worked on angles. Next week all classes will work on triangles.
Continue to play the multiplication game with your child at home. The facts
are coming along, especially with those children who are practicing at home.
Keep up the good work
Social Studies: We are going to start constructing our game boards on our
famous people. The game boards/games will not be complete until the end of
the school year. Please send in an old game board from a game you might have
at home. I know when I look in our game cupboard I usually find at least one
game that is missing too many pieces to salvage. Please send that board in
with your child's name on the back. We will be spray painting the boards
white so that the students have a clean slate to construct their own games.
Science:E.Q.: How do organisms depend on their environment? We will discuss
the habitats of Georgia in addition to the different features animals have
that allow them to live and thrive in various regions of Georgia. Next week
we will discuss and learn about how animals adapt to their environment.
Important Dates:
Chick-Fil-A every Tuesday morning.$2.50
February 15th ~ Student Holiday/Professional Workday for Teachers
February 18th/19th ~ Variety Show
February 23rd ~ Six Flags Reading Logs are Due. Your child can turn his/her
form in early if they are finished.
February 23rd ~ Optional Science Fair Projects are due.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Sieracki
