Bobcat Brag Reward: Dance Party
Message from our Principal
This week at Indian Lane saw our Geography Bee winner participate on the entry exam for the state spelling bee competition. We should know sometime in March if he will be moving on. We also had our Bobcat
Brags Reward Day. Students were surprised throughout the day with dance tunes culminating with the students dancing to “Whip and Nae
Nae.” What a sight! Tuesday, students from Indian Lane and Rose
Tree Elementary Schools participated in the 4th grade beginner strings concert. Mr. Walls had these young musicians sounding great.
The week concluded with the Mid-Winter Festival with over 400 people in attendance for carnival games, moon bounce, pizza, Chic-fil-A and everyone‛s favorite Minute to Win It. It was just another great week at Indian Lane.
From our Classrooms
Kindergarten

The kindergarten students have learned to be super readers. They have been using many skills to help them read stories independently and with partners. They met Mr. J this week and surprisingly created a lists of over 40 words that begin with J. This was a hard letter and the children stood up to the challenge.
Last week the children predicted if Punxsutawney Phil would see his shadow. On Monday we discussed Punxsutawney‛s prediction and learned many things about the famous groundhog.
First Grade
This week we learned readers have two jobs. One is to figure out the words and the other is to think about and understand what is read.
Retelling helps readers recall what is happening in the story, develop a sense of story structure, and become more accurate in monitoring their understanding. After modeling this strategy with familiar read-aloud books, We introduced our readers to a retelling ribbon. The retelling ribbon is both a visual reminder and a kinesthetic action. It helps the kids focus to remember the story and the important parts needed in the retelling.
Second Grade
We are now in full swing of our series books reading unit. We assessed our landform unit, which also included continents and oceans. In addition, the children created bags to serve as Valentine‛s Day
“mailboxes”. This means that the children‛s Valentines may begin to come in on Monday! Of course, we can‛t forget Phil! Our class was pretty much split in their predictions of whether or not Phil would see his shadow. Personally,we were happy to hear that Phil did NOT see his shadow! In Math, we are practicing the algorithm for completing double-digit subtraction, both with and without regrouping. You can help your child by reminding him or her to keep in mind some important things:
∙ Always start in the ones.

∙ Only regroup when needed.
∙ Show regrouping marks.
∙ Line up the ones, tens, hundreds, etc.
∙ Subtract down.
∙ When adding or subtracting money, line up the decimal points.
Third Grade
The students in third grade are working on rounding in Math. We reviewed rounding to the nearest ten and to the nearest hundred.
Students then worked on estimating sums and differences by rounding to the nearest hundred or ten. They learned about compatible numbers and using those to estimate sums and differences. In Reading we are wrapping up our Mystery Book Club Unit. Students are putting together the clues and naming suspects. They are working on understanding how recurring characters often play a specific role in a mystery. They are making flexible predictions. In Writing we are crafting persuasive essays. The students are focused on providing evidence that stirs emotion in the reader. They are working on including strong transition words in their paragraphs. We are excited to learn about heart health and exchange valentines next Thursday!
Fourth Grade
Fourth grade has been immersed in writing essays, both personal and persuasive. Students have been going through the process of selecting topics, understanding the structure, and learning about the types of transition words, which can be used in writing essays.
We are also coming to a close in our Motion and Design unit in Science.
Students vocabulary has expanded to include terms such as: air resistance, drag, thrust, kinetic energy, force, potential energy, technical drawings, and front, top, and side views. We will be completing our study with a trip to the American Helicopter Museum.
There we will really witness motion and design put into practice.

Fifth Grade
In reading workshop we are beginning social issues. In writing workshop we are beginning units on poetry and figurative language. AMP math is finishing up rates and ratios chapter and assessing next week. Other math classes are wrapping up division of decimals unit and assessing in the next week.
From our Specialists:
Art
First graders are starting a portrait unit. Second graders are finishing molas celebrating South American art. Third graders are backing their knight images with paper stained glass. Fourth graders are beginning a unit on motion. Fifth graders formed flower pots from clay.
Gym
This week all grades started gymnastics! Students started working on different types of rolls such as; butterfly, log, egg, left/right shoulder and forward/backward.
Library
We‛re getting excited about Google in library class. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students will begin to explore a variety of Google‛s capabilities over the next few weeks. First, we‛ll be sure that we all know how to log in to our rtmsd.net Google accounts.
The next IL Night at MFL is Wednesday, February 17th at 6:00 p.m.
Let‛s help Mr. Jason paint tiles for the community room. Click here for the form and more information.
If you would like to volunteer in the library, please visit Mrs. Hatton‛s website or click here to sign up. Thank you!
Music
1 ​ Students can now read quarter note, eighth note and quarter rest rhythms!

2 ​ : “All Around the Brickyard” – a song with many, many, many verses, but so much fun to sing!
3 ​ : Third graders learned two hand clapping partner songs. Next, they create their own verses.
4 ​ : Learning about ostinatos is fun with “Dum, Dum Da Dah.”
5 ​ : ​ (We hail the coming of the lion) as fifth graders sing the “Circle of Life.”
From our PTG
Thanks to all who came to our Mid-Winter Festival on Friday. It was a great success. Also, thanks to all who handed in Box Tops for
Education. Our next PTG meeting is Tuesday, February 16th at 7 p.m. in the library. We hope to see you there.
Upcoming Events and Reminders
● Thursday, 2/11 - Early dismissal at 12:20 p.m.
● Friday, 2/12 - No school for students; Teacher in-service day
● Monday, 2/15 - No school; President‛s Day
● Tuesday, 2/16 - Parent/Teacher Conference sign-ups go live.
Conferences are Wednesday, 3/9 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, 3/10 from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. No school for students on 3/10 & 3/11.
● Tuesday, 2/16 - PTG meeting, 7:00 p.m., library
● Wednesday, 2/17 - IL Night at MFL, 6:00 p.m.
● Friday, 2/19 - February Bobcat Breakfast, 8:15 a.m., cafeteria
● Wednesday, 2/24 - Kindergarten registration for the 2016-17 school year, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., lobby
● Thursday, 2/25 - Featured Artist Breakfast, 8:15 a.m., main office