E-News on the Lane
Highlights from the week at Indian Lane
September 28-October 2, 2015
Message from our Principal
On Tuesday, September 29th, our student council officers were
elected. Our ten fifth grade candidates prepared and delivered
impressive speeches before the vote. I am proud of each and every
one of these students for their hard work and dedication to Indian
Lane. Congratulations to Student Council President Thomas M., Vice
President Wyatt H., and Maggie A. and Kain W. who tied for the office
of Secretary/Treasurer. They will work together to share the
responsibilities.
I am happy to share some exciting news about our Bobcat Breakfasts.
I understand that these have been done a number of ways in the past.
We’re going to try something entirely new this year by including every
Indian Lane student. Here’s how it will work - Parents can choose one
month (from October through June) to sign up for all children and
parents/guardians in the family to attend a breakfast. Look for the
sign-up sheet to be posted on our website with all the details in the
next few days. The purpose of the breakfast will be to celebrate our
shared Bobcat Pride. Students will get individual photos taken with our
beloved bobcat mascot and enjoy a light breakfast with family and
friends. There will also be a small memento for each Indian Lane
student attending.
From our Classrooms
Kindergarten
The kindergarten students are excellent readers! They have been
learning to look for popcorn words when they read. When we come
across a popcorn word the students read the words they know. The
children started partner reading and are learning how to help each
other read books. They also started The Wheel this week. During The
Wheel the children visit three stations to practice phonemic
awareness, handwriting, and writing.
The kindergarteners are learning new vocabulary words during math
time. They have been comparing numbers, learning about sets that have
more or fewer objects, equal, greater than, and less than other sets.
First Grade
First graders are learning all about different ways to grow stronger as a
reader and writer. We now know that it’s so important to know all of our
letter sounds in order to read and write. One of our big phonics focuses
this week was discriminating between /c/ and /k/ at the beginning of a
word. We learned that /c/ is a round friend; therefore, usually precedes
a round vowel like a or o. /K/ is a stick friend; therefore, usually
precedes a stick vowel like i. We reviewed the marriage of Q and U and
we spent a good amount of time practicing the use of –ck at the end of a
word.
Second Grade
In Reading Workshop, we practiced growing “big ideas”. Strong readers
do this by staying on the same topic when sharing with their partner.
Then, they are to keep digging deeper! We also discovered what it
means to be an independent problem solver when it comes to reading.
Additionally, we practiced what to do when we come to unknown words.
In Writing Workshop, we are immersing ourselves in small moments,
both by reading them and writing them. We are investigating the
techniques of master writers such as Jane Yolen and Angela Johnson in
order to discover what makes a powerful story. In Math, we identified
and analyzed patterns to help us memorize our math facts.
Investigating these patterns also allows us to see the relationships
between numbers, specifically between addends and their sums. In
Social Studies, we are discovering what features are found in a
community. We are then creating 2-dimensional versions of these
features to include in our own communities.
Third Grade
Third graders have had another exciting week at Indian Lane! We
finished Topic One in Math, which focused on different strategies to
use when multiplying and dividing. We are looking forward to
memorizing our math facts! In Reading Workshop, we have continued to
read ​
Stone Fox​
and practice our “Good Reader” reading habits. Third
graders are learning how to “Stop and Jot” on sticky notes as we read.
We also learned about KidBiz this week! In Writing Workshop, we have
continued to develop our personal narratives by rehearsing our writing,
writing different leads, writing discovery drafts, and getting to the
heart of our stories. In Social Studies, we have been measuring the
distance between Media and a variety of landmarks around the United
States using a scaled ruler. The first full week of school was a success!
Fourth Grade
Fourth graders are now switching classes every other day for Science
and Social Studies. Students are now making strong observations and
learning the parts of the scientific method in the first unit,
Microworlds. One focus is making clear and precise conclusions! The
tricky part is not using pronouns to describe what they have learned
through the lab.
In Social Studies, students are immersing themselves in the study of
different types of maps. It was fabulous getting a bird’s eye view into
all of the student’s houses! We will be learning more about physical,
elevation, population and region maps next week.
Fifth Grade
Fifth Grade The fifth grade team has a date scheduled for our first
field trip of the year. We will be going to Chadds Ford to see the John
Chadd House and the Barnes Brinton house on November 12th. More
information will be coming home as the date approaches.
In math the Envisions math classes have just completed their first unit
on place value. The next unit is using operations with decimals. The Big
Ideas math group has just completed the first unit on numerical
expressions and factors. The second chapter is on fractions and
decimals. So far our pacing seems to be strong and steady!
From our Specialists:
Art
First graders are exploring painting with watercolors. Second grade is
identifying positive shapes and negative space. Third graders are
creating line drawings on textured paper. Fourth graders are using
acrylic paint to add color to their clay. Fifth graders are using plastic
straws to add volume to their wire sculptures.
Gym
This week 1st and 2nd graders are continuing their tag game unit.
3rd and 4th graders started their unit on soccer. 5th grade started
their unit on Football.
Library
Kindergarten classes began to check out books from the library. First
and second graders enjoyed ​
Olivia​
by Ian Falconer. We discussed that
characters can appear in several books, usually by the same author.
Some classes read additional Olivia books such as ​
Olivia Forms a Band
and ​
Olivia Goes to Venice​
. Third, fourth, and fifth graders completed
activity sheets using Destiny, our library’s online catalog.
Thanks to everyone who has signed up for Birthday Book Club. The
deadline is Friday, October 9th. For more information,​
click here​
​
.
Music
st​
This week 1​
grade has started playing a steady beat on Orff
metalophones .
nd​
2​
graders were composing rhythm patterns and also discovering how
th​
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his 7​
symphony around a melody of
tahs and titis.
rd​
In 3​
grade, students are working on singing rounds (a great
introduction to part singing)
4th grade is learning about form with a hand clapping game.
Finally, 5th grade has begun to prepare for their Halloween dance!
From our PTG:
To view this week’s Tuesday Packet,​
click here​
​
, or visit the website.
Please sign up to volunteer or donate items for Bingo Night. ​
Click here
​
for the online sign-up sheet.
Upcoming Events & Reminders
● Tuesday, 10/6 - Sketchbook Club begins
● Tuesday, 10/6 - Principal’s Chat, 5:30 p.m., library
● Tuesday, 10/6 - PTG meeting, 7:00 p.m., library
● Friday, 10/9 - PTG Bingo Night, 6:00-8:00 p.m., gym
● Monday, 10/12 - No school for students
● Thursday, 10/15 - Grandparents Day, 9:15-10:00 a.m.
● Friday, 10/16 - October Bobcat Pride Breakfast, 8:15 a.m.,
cafeteria