October 2014 Newsletter
James Ward School
2701 S. Shields Ave.
Upcoming Events
Chicago, IL 60616
October 2- Fall Picture Day
773-534-9050
Updates from Specialist’s Team
October 4-5- Chicago High School Fair
at McCormick Place from 8am-3pm
Physical Education
In the month of October, the 3rd - 8th grade students will be participating in the
Volleyball Unit. This unit will focus on bumping, setting, spiking, serving, and playing
volleyball games. The PreK-2nd grade students will be participating in the Manipulative
Unit. They will be using balloons, learning basic volleyball skills and learning basic soccer
skills.
Music
The music program is off to a great start this quarter with the exploration of beat and
rhythm. The primary grades are learning about the percussion family and getting their
groove on with two new folk dances. Intermediate and middle school students are
working in small groups this quarter to create rhythm compositions and performing drum
pieces in two parts. Come visit us anytime!
October 8- 3rd grade fieldtrip- Chicago
Architectural Tour
October 9- Primary Team fieldtrip to
Pumpkin Farm & High School Fair at
Mark Sheridan from 6-7:30pm
October 10- LSC meeting at 8am;
WALK-A-THON; Progress report
distribution
October 13- No School (Columbus
Day)
October 15- Chicago Ridge Fire &
Police Department trip with 1st grade
Spanish
Mark your calendar! Hispanic Heritage Celebration is Thursday, October 30 at 8:30am.
4th and 5th grade students are exploring gamesongs and dances and holiday traditions
from Latin American cultures and will participate in a special performance to celebrate
Hispanic Heritage Month.
October 17- Safe Passage for grades 2
&5
October 20- Kids ID Program- pictures
October 20-24- Book Fair
Technology
The technology classes are starting off on a great start! Third and fourth graders are
working on a family Photostory. Fifth and sixth graders are working on an influential
person Voicethread. Seventh and eighth graders are working on Microsoft Excel projects
about collecting and showing data in a meaningful way (presentation). The primary team
is learning to maneuver the web to find their programs of compass learning, raz-kids,
abcmouse, and also to login and remember their passwords. If you have any questions
you can email Mrs. Chacon at cachacon@cps.edu.
October 24- Family Reading Night
from 6-8pm (Book Fair from 45:45pm)
October 29- Kids IS Program retakes
October 30- Hispanic Heritage
Celebration at 8:30am in auditorium
(presented by grades 4 & 5)
October 31- Happy Halloween!
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November 2- Daylight Saving Time
ends
WALK-A-THON is October 10th!!!
Art
Happy October from the art room! The year is off to an exciting start and creativity is in the air. I ask that you please take some
time to check out the “donors choose” account I have created to raise money for an exciting eighth grade sculpture project! You
can find the link by visiting the James Ward School website. Locate and click on the art website and you will find the link to the
“donors choose” account in my blog. Before you check out the fundraising page, check out the unit snapshots of each grade over
the next month!
Pre-K: exploring new materials in the art room
K: mixed media collages
1st: pop art!
2nd: sculpture design
3rd: cave art
4th/5th: Mexican folk art
6th: one-point perspective
7th: two-point perspective
8th: exploring the elements of art
Team News
Pre-School
This month, our class started a new study on trees. We started the unit by sharing in class what we know about trees. We talked
about how trees grow from tiny seeds and how they need water to get bigger. We also did the celery and food coloring
experiment to learn how plants absorb water. In phonics, we learned to say the beginning sounds and the ending sounds for the
unit vocabulary (tree, root, tree cookie, acorn, seed, bark), while in math, we learned to use non-standard measuring units such as
paperclips and acorns to measure and compare the length of the leaves that we collected for the study.
K-2nd
October is Fire Safety Month. Kindergarten will be learning All About Me and Fire Safety. We will have an Apple Fair where students
will do activities with apples including tasting food made from apples. First grade will study fire safety and go on a field trip to the
fire station and police department. We will also learn about pumpkins and create a "Pumpkin Book". Parents: Grades are entered
into grade book. Please review student planners and homework folders daily and make sure your child completes Compass Learning
assignments. Also, please make sure you check parent portal and our websites. We will be going to the pumpkin patch on October
9th. Second grade will be going to the library on October 7th.
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WALK-A-THON is October 10th!!!
3rd/4th
The 3rd grade is looking forward to our upcoming architectural tour as well as the Walk-a-thon. We are starting the Words my Way
program during literacy block and are continuing to read and work in our lexile groups. In math we are focusing on addition and
subtraction and are also starting the Think Through Math program. This month is Hispanic Heritage Month so we will be reading and
writing about issues pertaining to the Hispanic Community. In Science we will be focusing on rocks and minerals.
The 4th grade will begin reading The BFG by Roald Dahl in Literacy. We just finished reviewing multiplication and division in Math
and will begin to discuss factors, place value, and order of operations. In Science, we are studying Earth's features and changes
through investigations where students observe that water has an important role in shaping the land and landforms may change the
direction and flow of water. While in Social Studies, our major focus will be on the geography and history of Illinois, with some
attention to current events.
5/6th
Literacy: We’ve been using the online program ThinkCERCA to identify the parts of a strong argument and are constructing our own
arguments over whether it’s summer or the school year that is the best time to see friends. We will be wrapping up the unit by
analyzing articles and debating what summer vacation should look like for CPS students. By mid-October, we will begin reading
poetry to help us identify different literary elements that we can later apply to the novels we are reading at home as a part of the
ongoing independent reading project as well as for our classroom novels next quarter.
Science: We are learning about "What Scientist Do" while we collect data during our investigations to interpret the relevant data
that will help us determine whether our predictions were correct for the stated hypothesis or not. Please be sure to sign the lab
contracts and discipline policies, pay the $10 lab fee, and sign in on ClassDojo.
Social Studies: 5th grade began their studies of Chapter 2 on Native Americans. Students will continue reading and taking notes. 6 th
graders began the second chapter on the Fertile Crescent and they will also continue reading and taking notes.
Math: Both 5th & 6th graders are currently working on Statistics and Graphing. On Mondays and Thursdays, students will complete
60 problems in 60 seconds (math drill). This will be part of their formative assessment grade.
7/8th
We are off to a very productive 2014 – 2015 School Year!!! Our fall NWEA testing is complete and the data is being analyzed to help
with future instruction. Here are some of the things we are up to in our classes:
Literature with Mrs. Rewers (the Cubs fan):
The 7th and 8th graders are engaged in a unit called "Establishing a Literacy Foundation". We are reengaging the skills we have used
in the past in order to have a solid foundation for our work this year with biblionasium.com. We are practicing writing effective
arguments using ThinkCERCA.com, logging our independent reading with biblionasium.com, reviewing annotating skills, identifying
main idea and summarizing information texts. I'm looking forward to a year full of academic growth from all our students.
Math with Mr. Kania (the golf fan):
8th/Algebra – Linear equations, linear relationships
7th – Operations with Fractions
Science with Mrs. Slowik (the Michigan State fan):
Why is bacteria considered a living thing but a virus is not? That is one of the many investigations 7th grade students will be
discovering. 8th grade students are examining the periodic table and finding out how it is organized. That is just the beginning of
their investigation into the world of chemistry.
“
WALK-A-THON is October 10th!!!
Specials with Ms. Healy (owner of the most wonderful cat in the world):
I am excited to be working with the 7th and 8th grade students this year. We are already hard at work delving into solving equations
in math and evaluating texts for the central idea and related evidence in literacy. I am available for help in the mornings for any
student that might need a little extra help in any subject.
Social Studies with Mr. Danaher:
7th graders are working on projects dealing with the 1st Americans and Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of this new land. They will
be taking a unit test soon.
8th graders are currently learning the reasons for the Civil War. They are learning that there were many reasons for this devastating
war in addition to the issue of slavery. They will also be taking a test on this unit in the very near future.
OTHER NEWS

Parent Power Chicago Presents- Chicago School Fair (7th-8th grade students, families, and community members)
Saturday, October 4th
Sunday, October 5th
McCormick Place
8am-3pm
Free Admission- Register at parentpowerchicago.com or call the Hotline at 773-907-2777

Third Annual Bridgeport Community High School Fair- (7th-8th grade students, families, and community members)
Thursday, October 9th, 2014 from 6:00pm-7:30pm
Mark Sheridan Academy
533 W. 27th Street, Chicago, IL 60616

Diverse Learners Open House- Wednesday, October 15th from 4:30-5:30pm
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REMINDER: Register NOW for SelectivePrep’s After School Selective Enrollment Program –Classes start on Tuesday, October 14!
One third of the entrance score is determined by your child’s performance on the Selective Enrollment High School Entrance Exam.
SelectivePrep offers an intensive program to help prepare students for the Selective Enrollment Entrance Exam. SelectivePrep’s
course will review all the Exam’s Reading, Math, Language, and Vocabulary topics and discuss optimal test taking techniques.
Included in this program is a Study Guide containing extensive content review and exercises. Classes at James Ward Elementary will
start on Tuesday, October 14th and run for 8 sessions from 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM. We will need a minimum of 10 students to run the
class at James Ward Elementary – so please spread the word. If you need more information or have any questions, please visit our
website at www.selectiveprep.com or call 312-409-8411.
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WALK-A-THON is October 10th!!!