Ashmore K-2
Ashmore’s kindergarten, first and second grade seemed to be having a busy end of the school year! In kindergarten, Mrs. McKee’s class had to
read lots of books. In math, they learned how to add and subtract and in science they raised butterflies and plants. Every time the class had a readaloud book, the class has to write about the story they read. They also wrote to their first grade teacher, Mrs. Cougill.
Mrs. Cougill’s first grade class stepped up their game in science. They wrote books about a chosen animal; they research the animal about what it
eats, its habitat, etc. In the end of the book, they put an “About the Author” section, where they have a picture of the kid who wrote the book, and
some details. In reading, they were learning about genres like folktales, fairytales, and biographies. In math, they did geometry. They learned
about plane shapes (2D) and solid shapes (3D). They seemed to be learning loads of information!
Mrs. Oakley’s second grade class learned the plurals of words such as turning “rabbit” to “rabbits.” They also really enjoyed learning how to write in
cursive and were very proud of their cursive skills. In math, they were learning how to use measurements, like how many quarts in a gallon, or how
to convert units. They also learned all their multiplication in 0’s, 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 100’s. In science they had a big test over weather and its
likes. They also had a health lesson in which they learned about exercising, staying fit, eating vegetables, and everything good for your body.
Finally, the entire school did two big things that everybody did. They first had on Teacher Appreciation Week (May 2- 6), a spirit week like celebration. They had hats on the Monday, sports teams on Tuesday, etc. Later, on May 23 the students went on a field trip
to a park and to the movie theater. They enjoyed that trip very much with its play and entertainment. It turns out that
Ashmore’s students had a great time ending their prosperous school year.
By Lahiru Periyannan
Ashmore 4th Grade and Specials
A lot has been going on in Ashmore. Fourth graders are busy with Greek Mythology in reading classes. First the students read and talked about classic myths like “Pandora’s Box” and “King Mitis’s Golden Touch” and many others.
Students usually like this unit because they got to watch cartoon versions of some of these Myths. After they watched
and read both versions they compared and contrasted the two versions of each myth. In Writing students focus on
the final steps in illustrating and sharing “personal narratives” about a positive or negative experiences that they have
had once in their lives so far. Math classes are working on measurements, capacities, length, and weight. With the
measurement unit students will also get to learn about the rest of the world’s measurement system, the metric system. The fourth grade also went
to Illinois capitol Spring field. They went there via charter bus to the Presidential Museum. The students learned a lot about the United States sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln. They also visited Lincoln’s Tomb.
In the Music classes K-2 are learning spring songs to celebrate the season. Kindergarteners are learning just basic spring songs. First graders
learn songs like April Showers Bring May Flowers. Second graders are singing other songs such as Vamoose Alomar. Third graders are learning
the notes on the Treble Clef staff. And fourth graders are writing exciting compositions all of their own. These are some things that have been going on in Ashmore.
By Nathan Logsdon
Mark Twain Update
At Mark Twain Kindergarten, kids are getting excited for school to be out for the summer.
Ms. Veach, a title one teacher, is teaching her students about sight words. Each day, they
read a book, take it home and read it, and then read it once again the next day. After that,
they take out their journals and write a couple sentences about what they read about and
add a picture. Students also write about what their favorite page was and illustrate it. They
also are working on matching sight words. Mrs. Oakley’s and Mrs. Westfall’s classes are both are doing a fun end of
the year activity where there are balloons hanging from the ceiling. Each day they choose one to pop. Inside there
are fun things to do like wear a mustache for the day or create a nickname for yourself for everyone to address you
by. Mrs. Oakley’s class picks a different subject/topic to discuss. For example, one week they might talk about fairytales, and the next week pizza might be the topic. They are also learning about short and long vowels. For writing,
they’re using their sight word skills to draw a picture and write about it. In math, most classes are working on their
simple adding and subtracting skills. In science they are learning about day and night. Mrs. Westfall’s class is doing
reading stations, and in science they are working on life cycles of insects. The kindergarteners visited Carl Sandburg, their new school for next year. Overall, the kindergarteners are excited to move on to first grade and ready for
summer.
By Chase Bosler
Ashmore & Mark Twain
Classroom Courier, page 6