Wednesday, April 20, 2011

~~ April News ~~

** Please send in clear empty 2 liter soda bottles to be used in Science Class **

Upcoming Dates:
• 4/12-4/27: Feinstein Challenge (see details below)
• 4/21: NO School – Institute Day
• 4/22: NO School – Good Friday
• 4/26: Family Reading Night (Please see below or the electronic backpack for more details)
• 4/27: Progress Reports sent home
• 5/3: Author Night – Paula Kluth (see details below)
• 5/4: ACES – All Children Exercise Simultaneously
• 5/20: Olympic Day

Student Council: Fantastic Fridays (some upcoming dates)
Weird Hair Day (April 29)
Blast From the Past Day (May 6)
PJ Day (May 13)
Blue and White Spirit Day (May 20)
Twin Day (May 27)
Tie-Dye Day (June 3)
Flip-Flop Tuesday (June 7)

Reminders/Notes:
Author Night: DO YOU HAVE AN EPIC COLLECTION? On May 3rd, Longfellow will be welcoming Paula Kluth for its annual author night. Her book, Pedro’s Whale, tells a heartwarming story about a boy who loves whales and eventually begins to collect pictures of them, with the help of his classmates. In anticipation for Longfellow’s author night, we want to know what you collect!

Family Reading Night: is coming, Tuesday, April 26th (6:30 – 7:30 p.m.) - “Read, Recite, Recycle” The “Recycle” part will again include a book swap! Begin collecting gently used children’s books. Bring the books to your homeroom teacher by Tuesday, April 19th. Your teacher will help you keep track of how many books you donate. Come to the Family Reading Night on the 26th, and you will take away “new” books to enjoy! There may be a limit of taking 7-10 books that evening. However, if you can donate more, that will help us make another very successful book swap!

PE NEWS: Exciting news! Gymnastics is coming to Longfellow from Thursday, April 7 through Wednesday, April 20. Students will be learning skills on the balance beam, parallel bars, rings, uneven bars and mats, as well as rope climbing. Your child may participate either in regular gym shoes or gripper socks. Gripper socks have non-slip coating on the bottom. These can be purchased or homemade using "puffy" paint from a craft store. No one may participate in stocking feet without non-slip bottoms. All students should have gym shoes on PE days, just in case. Also, Long hair needs to be tied back during gymnastics classes.
Please contact The PE Team if you have questions. We are looking forward to two exciting weeks of gymnastics! The Physical Education team.

Feinstein Challenge: April 12 -27 - Each spring philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein challenges food pantries across America to collect as many food items and cash donations as possible. To spur donations, Feinstein donates $1million dollars to feed the hungry. Those funds are divided proportionally among competing food pantries based on what they collect (cash and food items) during the months of March and April. Last year the OPRF Food Pantry collected an incredible $64,938 and 21,618 food items in response to the Feinstein Challenge and this year, they know they can do even better.

Custom Typing: We are continuing formal keyboarding lessons and students will routinely go to the computer lab for Custom Typing. This offers the opportunity for your child to become familiar with “home row” and allows for an increase in words per minute. This program can also be accessed at home through our school’s homepage. In order to access a child’s particular screen, that can be accomplished by typing “d97username” (i.e. = d97melsmith). The password is your child’s student ID #. Students should be familiar with this process and can access the program at home for more practice.

Take Home Folder/Assignment Books: Your child should be bringing home their assignment book and a take home (homework) folder everyday. Please check both for assignments, notes, and other information.

Verification of Residency this year: When families first enrolled their children in District 97, they provided several documents that verified their residency in Oak Park and their children’s eligibility to attend our schools. We are asking parents/guardians of all current students to participate in this important process again to ensure that we continue to provide the children of this community with a quality education in accordance with state law and district policy. To access information about the re-verification process please visit the following website: http://www.op97.org/Verification%20of%20Residency%20for%20all%20Current%20D97%20Students.pdf

ACES - All Children Exercise Simultaneously – is the world’s largest exercise class. On Wednesday, May 4 all Longfellow students and staff will participate in this even. This event, occurring at 10:00 AM, will happen in many countries all over the world in efforts to promote physical fitness and health. Please be sure your child has their gym shoes on this day!

Olympic Day: Friday, May 20 is Olympic Day! There will be a climbing wall, tug ‘o war, crab soccer, relay races, and so much more! Students in grades 1, 3, and 5 will participate in the morning, and students in grades K, 2, and 4 will participate in the afternoon.

District Referendum Information: Referendum information can be found at: http://www.op97.org/referendum/index.html

Digital Backpack: Access the school’s digital backpack, to get papers from the school and district. If you need paper copies, please let us know. You can simply go to the district’s website and access it that way.

Special Education Parent Nights: Please save the dates for upcoming K-5 Special Education Parent Nights. There was a change in some of the dates, so please take note of these new dates: March 22nd, April 26th, and May 24th. All parent nights occur at Whittier from 6:30-8 in the library. In March, parents of middle school and high school students with special education needs will be sharing their experiences at parent night. Hope to see you there.

PBIS: PBIS program is still accepting donations from families and community partners. You can visit the PBIS blog at http://longfellowpbis.blogspot.com/ for a wish list on the right side menu; it is titled “Bears’s Den Wish List.”

New Last Day of School: Due to our snow days, the last day of school is no longer Friday, June 3. Instead the last day of school will be Tuesday, June 7.

Curriculum Notes:

Reading: This week we continued our reading and discussion of “Frindle”, by Andrew Clements. Students should read the final few chapters over the weekend. We will have a small project, related to “Frindle”, due at the end of next week, so look for details next Monday.
Next week we will also begin Open Court, Unit 4, “Survival”. In this Survival Unit, the students will read various fictional and true stories about extreme situations. Our discussions with the different stories will center on how the characters stand up to the situations, and how we might respond if we were in their place. The selections include accounts of real and fictional people and the many ways they have learned to survive. In a variety of circumstances, these survivors exhibit a great deal of strength, courage, and thought. Some of the stories are about ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary situations.

Math: Next week students will continue working on Unit 9, Percents. The unit focuses on the links among fraction, decimal, and percent names for numbers, with a special emphasis on percents. Students will practice conversions among fractions, decimals, and percents. They will use grid pictures, the multiplication rule for renaming fractions, memorization of simple conversions, and a calculator for more complex conversions.

Social Studies: Students will begin their six week Social Studies rotation next week, which will continue through the end of the school year.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

~ March News ~

Upcoming Dates:
• 3/18: Report Cards Sent Home
• 3/21: Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Tour
• 3/21: Spring Arts Fiesta 6:30 p.m.
• 3/28 – 4/1: Spring Break – School resumes on Monday, April 4


Reminders/Notes:
• Custom Typing: We are continuing formal keyboarding lessons and students will routinely go to the computer lab for Custom Typing. This offers the opportunity for your child to become familiar with “home row” and allows for an increase in words per minute. This program can also be accessed at home through our school’s homepage. In order to access a child’s particular screen, that can be accomplished by typing “d97username” (i.e. = d97melsmith). The password is your child’s student ID #. Students should be familiar with this process and can access the program at home for more practice.
• Take Home Folder/Assignment Books: Your child should be bringing home their assignment book and a take home (homework) folder everyday. Please check both for assignments, notes, and other information.
• District Referendum Information: Referendum information can be found at: http://www.op97.org/referendum/index.html
• Digital Backpack: Access the school’s digital backpack, to get papers from the school and district. If you need paper copies, please let us know. You can simply go to the district’s website and access it that way.
• Special Education Parent Nights: Please save the dates for upcoming K-5 Special Education Parent Nights. There was a change in some of the dates, so please take note of these new dates: March 22nd, April 26th, and May 24th. All parent nights occur at Whittier from 6:30-8 in the library. In March, parents of middle school and high school students with special education needs will be sharing their experiences at parent night. Hope to see you there.
• PBIS: PBIS program is still accepting donations from families and community partners. You can visit the PBIS blog at http://longfellowpbis.blogspot.com/ for a wish list on the right side menu; it is titled “Bears’s Den Wish List.”


Curriculum Notes:

Reading:
Next week we continue Open Court Unit 3: “From Mystery to Medicine.” Next week’s story, titled “Sewed Up His Heart,” is a biography text piece that focuses on the decisions Dr. Daniel Hale Williams faced and the surgery he ultimately performed to save the life of his patient, James Cornish. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams pioneered heart surgery in this country and saved the lives of untold numbers of patients because of his courage to perform an operation that had never been performed before. We will be focusing on the comprehension skills of Drawing Conclusions and Author’s Purpose while reading the passage this week.

Writing: In writer’s workshop our authors have finished drafting their biographies from Black History Month. Students will now begin publishing their work in the form of word processing. We will be spending time in the computer lab typing these pieces throughout the next two weeks. A scored rubric will be coming home regarding your child’s progress in each of the following areas: word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. This biography will also count as a portion of the research grade on the upcoming report card. This grade, along with the state report in social studies, will be combined for their final score.

Math: Students are now working on Unit 7 (Fractions and Their Uses; Chance and Probability), which focuses on three main objectives:
1. To provide reminders, review, and practice of fraction ideas introduced earlier
2. To develop a good understanding of equivalent fractions
3. To provide informal activities related to chance and probability
The probability lessons illustrated a new use of fractions for most students. Fractions, along with decimals and percents, may be used to express probabilities. In the lessons probabilities are expressed most often using fraction notation.

Science: Students will begin the study of Ecosystems starting next week. No organism on earth lives isolated and independent from all others. All living things, including microorganisms, exist in a community of living organisms call an ecosystem. An ecosystem includes nonliving elements too, such as soil, water, air, and sunlight. A stable ecosystem is virtually self-sustaining in the absence of human interference.

Over the next two weeks, students will be busy building ecosystems in class. First, they will set up aquariums with duckweed, algae, and elodea for the mosquito fish and pond snails. Next, they will grow alfalfa, mustard, and rye grass in terrariums, so there would be a food supply for the crickets. They will also provide leaf matter, twigs and a rock for the isopods.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

~ Bottles Needed ~

Beginning next Trimester, the 4th grade will be creating ecosystems in Science. We are in need of clear 2 liter plastic bottles with their cap. If you happen to come across any over the next few weeks, would you please send them into school with your child.

Friday, January 21, 2011

~~ January News ~~

Upcoming Dates:
•1/24: NO School – Teacher Institute Day
•1/31 - 2/4: Conference Week
•1/31 – 2/4: PTO Book Fair
•2/3 – 2/4: Half Days – Dismissal from school is at 11:00 a.m.
•2/4: Froebel Block workshop in class
•2/11: Field Trip - Ice Skating
•2/21: NO School – Presidents’ Day

Reminders/Notes:
Frank Lloyd Wright/Froebel Blocks: Frank Lloyd Wright grew up playing with a set of blocks that helped to inspire him to go into architecture. These same blocks, named after the gentleman who created them, will be coming into all fourth grade classrooms the first Friday in February. Students will have the opportunity to create a number of different structures with these blocks throughout the one hour time period.
Custom Typing: We are continuing formal keyboarding lessons and students will routinely go to the computer lab for Custom Typing. This offers the opportunity for your child to become familiar with “home row” and allows for an increase in words per minute. This program can also be accessed at home through our school’s homepage. In order to access a child’s particular screen, that can be accomplished by typing “d97username” (i.e. = d97melsmith). The password is your child’s student ID #. Students should be familiar with this process and can access the program at home for more practice.
Take Home Folder/Assignment Books: Your child should be bringing home their assignment book and a take home (homework) folder everyday. Please check both for assignments, notes, and other information.
• District Referendum Information: Referendum information can be found at: http://www.op97.org/referendum/index.html
• District Food Service Survey: District 97 has created an online survey parents/guardians and students can use to provide feedback about our food service program. The survey features questions about a variety of topics, including the quality of the menu and overall satisfaction with the program. Links to the survey can be accessed off of our webpage at http://www.op97.org/longfellow/index.html Print versions of both surveys are also available. The deadline for completing the survey is January 26, 2011. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about our food service program, and for your continued support of District 97.
• Digital Backpack: Access the school’s digital backpack, to get papers from the school and district. If you need paper copies, please let us know. You can simply go to the district’s website and access it that way.
• PBIS: PBIS program is accepting donations from families and community partners. You can visit the PBIS blog at http://longfellowpbis.blogspot.com/ for a wish list on the right side menu; it is titled “Bears’s Den Wish List.”

Curriculum Notes:

Reading: Next week we will be focusing on modeling and practicing Literary Responses. In class we will read a short story, and then use a graphic organizer to help build each response. This additional practice will help students include details that support their answer.
Next we will be starting Unit 3: “From Mystery to Medicine.” In this unit, your child will read and discuss a variety of selections that present many concepts about medicine. This will include modern medicine, as well as folk medicine. The first story, titled “Medicine: Past and Present,” is an expository text piece that focuses on how medical practices and technology have greatly advanced over the years.

Writing: In writer’s workshop our authors will be starting a new genre in writing –biographies. For the upcoming Black History month students will be choosing one individual (past or present) that they would like to research in depth. Students will be assessed in the following traits: conventions, sentence fluency, and word choice. Students will be learning how to read information and take notes. Using a strategy called RTW (Read, Think, Write) students will learn to put printed information in their own words using abbreviations. Students will then compile all of their information to create a four paragraph essay. We ask that students choose an individual that has made strong contributions to our society. Please discuss some possibilities with your child over the weekend. Feel free to start gathering resources together for research. Students will be doing the actual research at school, but if you would like to visit the library and start gather resources to support this, please have your child bring them in next Tuesday.

Math: Students have started working in Unit 6 (Division; Map Reference Frames; Measures of Angles), which focuses on understanding the division operation, developing a method for dividing whole numbers, and solving division number stories. Students will learn a division method “Partial-Quotients Algorithm” to build up partial quotients until the exact quotient and remainder are determined. We will then practice a “Traditional” method for long division. There is also focus on numbers in map coordinate systems, and informal work with rotations and angles.

Science: In Science the students are finishing the Land and Water Unit. In this unit, students investigate the interactions between land and water. Using a stream table as a model, they create hills, build dams, and grow vegetation. Miniature valleys, waterfalls, and canyons form in the stream table as water flows over and through the soil. From these firsthand observations, students discover how water changes the shape of land and how features in the land, in turn, affect the flow of water.