3rd Grade
In Mrs. Coffey’s class, students are working on reading paperback books. For example, one of the paperback books that they just have
started is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. They also have a Percy Jackson book club. Percy Jackson books are a series of fantasy books. In
writing they are working on personal narrative in their writing journals. They also have reading journals that they use every time that they
finish a book and write a summary of what the book was about. In math they have started groups and centers. They have also done one
project with making a skeleton!
Mr. Francis’s students’ most favorite thing to do is write letters to famous people and businesses. For example they wrote to Duck Dynasty.
They sent back an autographed picture. They also wrote to Taylor Swift. Reggie Phillips came to their classroom and gave them all t-shirts,
plus Reggie’s grandson is in his class! But the most wonderful, most exiting business they wrote to was Dairy Queen! They sent a letter to Dairy Queen asking for
a signed autograph, but instead the president of Dairy Queen, John Gainor, sent back a $50.00 gift card for them to buy an ice cream cake and enclosed 30 mini
DQ spoon pins for all of them! In reading class, they are doing spelling basketball and reading different books. They are also making art decorations to hang up
around their room! They LOVE writing scary stories!!! They even went on a trip to Springfield, Illinois, and rode a charter bus. This was an amazing field trip for
social studies!
Miss Smith reading class is reading non-fiction books. One book that they have read was The Dog’s Rose. The books they like to read are chapter books and paperbacks. In writing they have reading response journals, which they use when they are finished reading. They write what they have learned from the books and a
short summary of that book. They also have writing binders. Some things that they do in stations are hands-on practice and math facts. They
love to do their magnets project for science! They also have no homework Fridays, which the students love! Miss Smith gets the students into
different centers for what their levels are for school. She also makes time for all of them so they can all learn what they need to learn!
By Kendall Davis
1st Graders
The students at Carl Sandburg have been pretty busy this year. In Ms. Nordland’s class, every day the
students get a math worksheet to complete at home. They have been working on subtraction, and had
a review in addition to help with this lesson. In reading, students learned to visualize the story in their
head, so that they knew they understood. They also have spelling and sight words every week. This
helps to build their vocabulary, which improves their reading and writing. Ms. Nordland says that she
tries to do a special project once a month, to hang in the hallway. For the month of October, all of the
students made pictures of pumpkins, and then the whole grade had a pumpkin day in which they
learned all about pumpkins. Other teachers said that students were also making connections in reading. “Reading stories such as Aliens Love Underpants makes reading fun for the students,” says Mrs.
Lynn. She also says that students have a daily journal, where each day they receive a prompt and then
write a story to go with it. Afterwards, they draw a matching picture above the sentence. Mrs. Lampley
said that students worked on improving their handwriring in their own folders every day. Heighdon
Fairley, a student at Carl Sandburg, said that they do a lot of reading and sight word recognition. Also,
that they are doing a drug awareness campaign. She says that their motto is be respectful, be responsible, be safe, and be your best. What a great motto, and when is said and done, I believe that all the first
graders are certainly doing a wonderful job living up to this motto!
By: Ellie A. Stankiewicz
Special Areas Update
In Carl Sandburg’s music class all three of the grades are learning The National Anthem, Thank You Soldiers, and This Land is Your
Land. These songs were chosen by the music teacher Miss Harris Because of the range coinciding with the children’s’ singing range.
At the end of class they have a go-noodle activity. This is an activity where the kids get rid of some of their energy.
2nd Grade Fall Silhouette
By Avery Beals
In art class, students are doing different projects depending on their grade level. Third graders
are working on their own version of the “Scream” painted by Edvard Munch in 1893. Second
graders are working on a silhouette for fall, the silhouette picture is made of glued scraps and
water color. The first graders are making a fall tree. This is made of tempera paint. Then every
week Mrs. Brian picks classes that get a paint brush. This is an award that consists of extra art
time.
In the library the book contests are the Caldecott award and the Blue Stem. The books are: The
Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, Nana in the City, The Noisy Paint Box: The
Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art, Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, and many more. The
kids will vote for their favorite and the winner will win an award.
In the physical education classes they did a Jog-A-Thon. This fundraiser is to raise money for the school. The advantage is the kids also get to be active. There are
many prizes such as bikes, little pins, and medals. To conclude Carl Sandburg’s exploratory class teachers work hard for the children’s future.
By: Nathan Logsdon
Carl Sandburg
Classroom Courier, page 5