Mrs. Connor's
Newsletter
February 15, 2016
Reading Workshop
Classroom News
The boys and girls had a wonderful time at
the Valentine’s Day party. A HUGE THANK
YOU goes out to everyone who helped plan,
donate supplies or supervise the craft and
games during the party. You’re awesome!
Every student received a Six Flags Read to
Succeed letter explaining the reading
incentive program. The completed reading
log is due on Monday, February 29th.
Next week, we will begin Unit 4 Learning to
Be Assertive in our Schoolwide 4Rs
Program. Assertiveness is standing up for
rights and stating needs, wants, and
opinions while respecting others’ rights;
being honest and direct but appropriate.
Look for another 4R’s Family Connections
Activity to come home soon. You will be
discussing a time when someone bothered
your child. How did it make he/she feel?
Was your child able to give a strong, not
mean response? Together, you will
illustrate their response.
Scientist of the Day
I appreciate the time you are spending with
your children guiding them through their
experiments. I don’t know who loves the
experiments more; the scientists or their
audience! Ask your child all about Luca and
The boys and girls continue to read text from the three
types of nonfiction: Literary, Reference and Biography.
They practiced recalling key details by answering who,
what, where, when, why and how questions about the
text. I am requiring all students to answer these questions
in complete sentences while using the correct
punctuation. The class is learning how to explain what
the text is about as well as sharing how they feel about a
particular topic using evidence from the text. I will be
assigning homework where students read short
informational passages, answer text dependent questions,
and reflect on what they are reading using evidence from
the passage. We have been practicing this at school
during our Reading Workshop lessons. The goal is to have
students closely read the text, grasp its key ideas and
provide text based evidence in their answers.
While writing literary nonfiction, authors use crafting
(use of descriptive language) and reporting (presenting
factual information), so their readers learn new
information in a fun and enjoyable way.
During upcoming reading lessons, students will learn
how to use the text features found in reference nonfiction
texts to activate their schema. The students are using this
term which means using your prior experience or
involvement with a topic in order to better understand a
new subject.
Claire’s experiments!!
Reading Tip: After your child has finished reading to you, have them take a few minutes to reflect on the book.
Ask: Did you like it or not? What makes you say that? Retell what happened in the story or what new
information did you discover. Who else might like this book? Would you like to read more by this author?
Email address: molly.connor@lz95.org
Phone Number: (847) 540-2874
Science
The students have been busy recording the
noontime temperature on a line graph. We
highlighted the thirty-two degrees freezing
point on our graph. It is the exact opposite
from last winter. Most of the days so far have
been ABOVE freezing, but took a sharp drop
recently!
The students demonstrated their knowledge
of the water cycle by creating a visual which
included all 4 processes of the water cycle
drawn on a paper plate. An arrow follows
each cycle around and shows how it repeats
itself over and over again!
As we end the second trimester, I will be
sending home a study guide for you to review
with your child to prepare for an assessment
on weather. Your child should have brought
home their flashcards. Please have your child
match the word and its definition.
Social Studies
th
On February 29 , our class will begin
taking turns leading the school in the
Pledge of Allegiance after the morning
announcements. I will read the class the
book The Pledge of Allegiance by
Norman Pearl. Although we say the
Pledge of Allegiance every morning, we
will take a closer look at what the words
really mean. Special vocabulary words
we will define include allegiance,
indivisible, patriotism, pledge, recite,
republic, and symbol.
Students continue learning all about
the Earth’s landforms. Soon, they will
create a map of their own imaginary
country. We will do the map key
together. Then, students will create a
theme such as Candyland, Sports
World, or Veggie Land. Each map will
include at least 6 of the different
landforms we have studied. They will
name each island, mountain,
peninsula according to their theme.
Math
The boys and girls have begun lessons in Module 6.
A parent letter explaining the core focus of this
module went home last week. This letter offers
activities to do at home that will support your child’s
learning at school.
Lessons within Module 6 will have students fluently
adding and subtracting within 20 using their doubles
facts. They will use strategies (place value and counton) to add one and two digit numbers within 100.
They will estimate and measure length in centimeters
and meters. Finally, students will create, describe
and interpret a line plot.
I find that boys and girls love to play math games
using just a deck of playing cards. I will be teaching
the students games that can be played at home to
reinforce many of the skills emphasized in Module 6.
These games are easy to learn and fun! So, if your
child asks to play a fun game of cards, please say
“YES!” They will be having fun while building their
number sense and getting extra practice with math
facts all at the same time! I will send home game
directions!!
Writing
Each student will plan, draft, revise and edit an expository
paragraph. An expository paragraph gives information that explains a
topic. It can tell how to get someplace or how to do something.
Students will learn what makes an explanation easy to understand.
They will often refer back to the following ideas:




Giving all the needed information
Using easy to understand words
Staying on the subject
Putting ideas in order
Before beginning to write their own expository paragraph, the boys
and girls will read several examples of expository (how to) paragraphs.
They will read a paragraph that details how to get from a classroom to
the lunchroom. Together, we will write an explanation how to get from
th
our classroom to our buddy 5 grade classroom.