1/22/16
IMPORTANT NEWS FOR THE WEEK:

SUPPLIES? As the year progresses, students’ supplies are starting to dwindle. Please check
with your child to see if they need more pencils, glue or replacement scissors. As we work
on interactive notebook activities, it’s becoming cumbersome to share with the amount of
students needing supplies replaced.
 KINDERGARTEN PICTURES NEEDED - It’s that time of year again that PTO needs to gather
Kindergarten pictures of our 5th grade students; these pictures will accompany their
current 5th grade picture in the yearbook. Please put your child’s name on the back of the
picture so that we can return the pictures back to you.
 The Parent Feed + Project B3 – District 95 will be hosting two fun and informative all-family
events in February! The Parent Feed + Project B3 is a 90-minute digital responsibility
awareness event that parents and students can attend together.
Parents will experience The Parent Feed seminar given by social media professional Matt
Batt. They will get the latest, most up-to-date information on what this “digital generation”
is doing online. They will be given information on popular Apps and how kids are using them
as well as steps they can take to keep their children’s digital lives under control with an
emphasis on safety, future impact and cyberbullying.
Students will spend time with local high school student leaders participating in Project B3:
Be Safe. Be Smart. Be Kind. They will be lead through fun activities and take part in
discussions on what they can do to be digitally responsible individuals, taking an active role
in avoiding and combatting risky behavior and cyberbullying. The student program (Project
B3) is particularly geared toward students in grades 2-8.
We will hold two sessions available to all District 95 families:
 February 3rd, at Lake Zurich Middle School North, 7-8:30 pm
 February 18th, at Lake Zurich Middle School South, 7-8:30 pm
 Benefiting Joanie’s Closet:
A fun-filled and memorable evening awaits you and your special little someone on
Friday, February 5th, 6-8:30pm! Mark your calendar now. Don’t miss this popular family
event which includes dinner, dancing, professional photos, raffle baskets and more. The
event will be held at May Whitney Elementary School. Ticket ordering details will be
available by mid-December.
IMPORTANT DATES:
January 25
January 27
January 28
February 4
February 11
February 12
February 19 & 20
March 17
After School Book Club – Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
Ch. 10 Social Studies test
School Board Meeting
HONK! Field Trip
Valentine’s Day Party; Early Release
Institute Day – NO School
SP Musical
5th Grade Music Concert
READ ON TO SEE WHAT WE ACCOMPLISHED THIS PAST WEEK:
Math- Students have really demonstrated their understanding of decimals this week in Module
5! They learned to compare, order and add decimals. We also began the second half of
module 5 learning about polygons and how we categorize them based on their features.
Literacy
Reading - This week we finished our work with Martin Luther King’s “What is Your Life’s
Blueprint?” speech, and then reflected and wrote about the “blueprints” that we are
creating for our own lives. We also worked on learning more about characters through
their dialogue, thoughts and actions.
Writing –Students completed their Young Author’s writing and turned them in today.
Students have also been learning about expository writing, brainstorming ideas to
explain how to do something, developing a focus statement and researching amazing
details. This weekend, students should be finishing up creating a bulleted list including
the focus statement, three topic sentences and three details for each topic sentence.
Students began working on it in class, and we’ll begin writing the expository essay next
week.
Science – While we have not been studying Science right now, we have been discussing
celestial events in the news. Feel free to read more about being able to view the lineup of 5
planets for the next month using the following links:
http://mentalfloss.com/us/go/73914
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/science/space/five-planets-align-marsjupiter-mercury-saturn-venus.html?_r=1
Social Studies - Students took a closer look at the 3 branches of government through a
webquest. Students also finished Lesson 3 in Chapter 10, taking a look at the Bill of Rights,
including more kid-friendly explanations of our rights. Feel free to check out the “Bill of Rights –
Shake it Off!” on You Tube. Students should be completing their study guides and vocabulary
work (ROK cards/Spelling City, etc.), which will be due on Monday. Chapter 10 test will be on
Wednesday, January 27th.
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or compliments!