Thursday, October 25, 2007

October 29-November 2nd-Spakausky's Scoop

No School on Monday-October 29th-Teacher's Institute

Halloween Parties-
The Halloween parties will be on Wednesday afternoon from 1:15-2:20. The students will begin the parties with a school parade and then proceed to the classrooms for some game and treats!
Remember-Please only send make-up that the student can put on themselves and leave plastic weapons for trick-or-treating. Thanks!
A special thanks to:
Party coordinator-Mrs. Hougaard
Game supervisors- Mrs. Balinski and Mrs. Swain
Drinks-Mrs. Fisher
Treats-Mrs. DeSanto and Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Dourdourekas
Thanks for making the party a success!

Field Trip-Robert Crown Center-
We will be going to Robert Crown on Wednesday morning from about 9:00-11:30. We won't return until after our usual lunch time, so we will eat lunch in the classroom on this day. Please send a sack lunch to school on Halloween!

Headphones from 2nd grade-
If you purchased headphones in 2nd grade, please send them to school for your child to use for our read naturally series. We will work on this in the computer lab. Thanks!

Book Orders:
Thanks for your orders!

PICTURE RETAKES: are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 30th . Students must have original picture packets in hand to have a retake. If your child was absent on the first picture day, they will have to have their original order envelope with them at the time of retakes.

Junior Achievement-
We started Jr. Achievement Thursday, October 25th. Our volunteer teacher, Mr. Elliot, is from the Diveheart Organization. This is a non-profit organization that helps adults and children with special needs experience skiing and SCUBA diving. In addition to teaching us about our Jr. Achievement “Dollars and Sense” unit, he will be teaching us a little about SCUBA diving. What fun!!!

November/December Spirit Days
Nov. 2 - Character Counts Day
Nov. 9 - School Spirit Day
Nov. 16 - Favorite Sports Team Wear
Dec. 7 - Character Counts Day
Dec. 14 - School Spirit Day
Dec. 21 - Holiday Wear

Goody Basket-
Thanks to:
Isa
Matthew
Amy
For donating to the basket this week!

Student of the Week
Emily B.
The categories that they will cover are:
Me
My Family
Special Friends
My Favorite Foods
Where I Live
Thing I Like to Do
When I Grow Up I’d like to
My Favorite Toys
How the special week works for your child:
Monday-put pictures up
Tuesday-share your board
Wed.-Read a favorite book (practice at home first)
Thursday-Show and Tell
Friday-Share a favorite snack

Spelling
Halloween Unit-
This week we will have a Halloween word unit with appropriate activities.
No challenge list this week. If they get 100% on the pretest, they won't have to take the test on Friday. They will still do the activities we have planned for the week!

Reading-
The next reading strategy we will be learning about is the author's viewpoint. The author's viewpoint includes what an author thinks, feels, and believes (their attitude), and the reason the author writes about a subject (purpose for writing). Authors use details to help readers understand the author's point of view.
We will be using a story by Patricia Polacco called, The Keeping Quilt. The author repeats certain details, such as the gifts each baby receives at birth, to emphasize important ideas. Polacco discusses Jewish traditions that are passed on to each new generation in her family.
Things to think about: What is the tradition with the quilt in her family? What is the author's viewpoint about the quilt? Visit Polacco's website at
http://www.patriciapolacco.com/
for more information about her and her books.

Guest Speaker Opportunity-
Do you know someone who could come and talk to our class about quilting???? They could talk to the students about quilting before, during and after the designs are created.
Maybe you know someone from a store, museum, the neighborhood, your family (grandparents) that is in on the quilt know-how.
We would love to invite them to our class and teach us about the history of their quilt(s). They can show us any quilts that they have created or that have been handed down through different generations.
E-mail me at tspakaus@ccsd66.org

Independent Reading Program
November-
Folders and Money ($3.00) for lunch are Due on-Thursday, 11/1!
Reading Party will be on Wednesday, 11/7 !
This month the students have the option to order a kid's meal from Burger King. This is optional and the students can still bring a sack lunch or order hot lunch for the reading party!
***I still need a parent volunteer to pick up Burger King on Wed. 11/7 at 10:45A.M.

English-
We are finishing up unit 2 on nouns and the study guide will be handed out on Friday, 10/26 and it will be due on Tuesday, 10/30. The unit 2 test will be on Thursday, 11/1.

Writing
The writing prompt will be due on Thursday , November 1st!

Social Studies-
In social studies we have read and discussed chapter 1 on communities. We will probably have the test on Friday, 11/2, so reread the chapter and study the three assignments that you did for each lesson. These three papers should be in their SS pockets, in their binder. These questions are very similar to the ones on the test. Hint Hint!!! The study guide will come home next week and will also be very helpful!

Spakausky's Math Update-
Please send in the money bags asap. Thanks!
Money is next!
Practice counting money and
making change on the internet!
www.gamequarium.com

Have an awesome weekend!
Mrs. T. Spakausky
Miss Nabor

Friday, October 19, 2007

Spakausky's Scoop October 22-26 and My Math Update


Poetry Contest-optional
Read the attached information to see if your child would like to participate in the Anthology of Poetry for Young Americans contest. We won't be doing this in class, so if your child would like the opportunity to participate, please send in their poem and other required information by November 10th and I will mail them in all together. Thanks and Good Luck!

Headphones from 2nd grade-
If you purchased headphones in 2nd grade, please send them to school for your child to use for our read naturally series. We will work on this in the computer lab. Thanks!

Book Orders:
Scholastic book orders were sent home on Tuesday. The orders are due on Tuesday, October 23rd. We are going to try something new this month. You can now order on-line (using my user name and password) or you can still send in the paper order and check and I will send it in. I prefer that you try and order the books on-line with your credit card number, but I will still be happy to send it in for you.
www.scholastic.com/parentordering
Username: spakausky
password: Books

PICTURE RETAKES:
are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 30th . Students must have original picture packets in hand to have a retake. If your child was absent on the first picture day, they will have to have their original order envelope with them at the time of retakes.

October Spirit Days
10/26: Slipper Day

Goody Basket-
The Goody Basket is used as a reward system. If the student receives 5 tickets, they get to pick out of the special basket at the end of the day!
Donations for toys, pencils, and other items of interest are always appreciated.
Thanks to:
For donating to the basket this week!
Student of the Week
Paul H.
The categories that they will cover are:
Me
My Family
Special Friends
My Favorite Foods
Where I Live
Thing I Like to Do
When I Grow Up I’d like to
My Favorite Toys
How the special week works for your child:
Monday-put pictures up
Tuesday-share your board
Wed.-Read a favorite book (practice at home first)
Thursday-Show and Tell
Friday-Share a favorite snack

Spelling
Lesson 9-
We are back to the regular spelling routine and lesson 9 is next!

Reading-
We just finished up the story Mulan in reading. We also enjoyed watching the Disney version of the movie Mulan. We did an excellent job at comparing and contrasting the story Mulan that we read with the movie version.
Next week we will begin reading the story Lost and Found by Mark Teague. The class will be completing various activities associated with it. The skill that we will be focusing on during this story is sequencing.

Independent Reading Program
November-
Folders and Money ($3.00) for lunch are Due on-Thursday, 11/1!
Reading Party will be on Wednesday, 11/7 (change of date)!
This month the students have the option to order a kid's meal from Burger King. This is optional and the students can still bring a sack lunch or order hot lunch for the reading party!
***I need a parent volunteer to pick up Burger King on Tuesday, 11/6 at 10:45A.M.
Let me know:)

English-
We are continuing to learn about nouns in English. We have already discussed singular and plural nouns and we will be moving on to discuss possessive nouns in the singular and plural form. We are planning on having our Unit 2 test at the end of next week.

Writing
The writing prompt will be due on Thursday, October 25th!

Social Studies-
In social studies we have been discussing various communities within the United States. Next week we will begin our discussion on communities on other continents. We will continue to compare and contrast different communities to our own. This is the last section that we will be learning about before we take our unit test on communities!

Spakausky's Math Update-
We just finished learning about rounding and we started to make a class book on rounding numbers. We will be reviewing for our next checkpoint quiz. The quiz will be on Friday, October 19th. The quiz will cover even and odd numbers, ordinal numbers, place value and forms, as well as rounding.
Next week we will be working on understanding thousands, reading and writing four digit numbers, and comparing and ordering numbers.

Have a fabulous weekend!
Mrs. T. Spakausky
Miss Nabor

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Spakausky Scoop for October 15-19

Dear Parents,

There will be an 11:00 dismissal on Wednesday, 10/17.

The book fair will be on Thursday, 10/18 from 6:30.-8:15.

STICKERS-
I am always looking for cute stickers to put on the students' papers. If you would like to send any to school---wonderful!!!

Here are our spirit days for October:
Spirit Days
10/12: Prairieview Wear Spirit Day or Green and Gold colors
10/19: Crazy Hat Day
10/26: Slipper Day

Independent Reading Program
A BIG thank you to Mr. Balinski for picking up the pizzas at Home Run Inn last week! We loved it!

November reading party-
Folders and Money ($3.00) for lunch are Due on-Thursday, 11/1!
Reading Party will be on Wednesday, 11/7!
This month the students have the option to order a kid's meal from Burger King. This is optional and the students can still bring a sack lunch or order hot lunch for the reading party!
***I need a parent volunteer to pick up Burger King on Tuesday, 11/6 at 10:45A.M.
Let me know:)

Goody Basket-
The Goody Basket is used as a reward system. If the student receives 5 tickets, they get to pick out of the special basket at the end of the day!
Donations for toys, candy, pencils, and other items of interest are always appreciated.
Thanks to:
Emma
For donating to the basket this week!

Student of the Week
Mary
The categories that they will cover are:
Me
My Family
Special Friends
My Favorite Foods
Where I Live
Thing I Like to Do
When I Grow Up I’d like to
My Favorite Toys
How the special week works for your child:
Monday-put pictures up
Tuesday-share your board
Wed.-Read a favorite book (practice at home first)
Thursday-Show and Tell
Friday-Share a favorite snack


Spelling
Next week we will do a spelling lesson that goes with the story in our reading book! The words will go with the story, Lost and Found by Mark Teague. There will be no challenge group this week. The spelling packet will be given on Monday and is due on Friday. We will do some spelling activities each day and the test will be on Friday, 10/19.

Reading-
The next reading skill we are working on, in more depth, is inferences. We are reading The Ballad of Mulan to cover this skill. We will also be working on vocabulary development and comprehension.

Grades will taken on the skill covered (inference), vocabulary, comprehension and a written response about the story.

After we finish reading and testing on the story, we will watch the video, Mulan. We will compare and contrast the video to the story.

The next skill we will work on is an “event map.” This skill will help the students sequence a story correctly, so they would be able to retell it in a logical order. The story we will be using for this skill is called, Lost and Found by Mark Teague.

English
We took the test and sent them home this week. How did your child do?
We will start Unit 2 next! We will cover proper and common nouns and nouns in the subject first!

Writing
The writing prompt will be due on Friday, October 19th! I have added a point system to the following chart! There are 2 responses and each one is worth 4 points, so their will be 8 points a week.

Journal Responses
I have sent back your child's first journal response. What do the pluses, checks and minuses mean? I hope this will help.
4 + (plus) = Excellent-Keep up the great work!
3 Check plus = Very Good-You have great content, but maybe you forgot to write in cursive, or something else minor. Some punctuation or capitals not used.
2 Check =Satisfactory-You may have forgotten one or more of the above and your response needs more content.
1 - (minus) =Needs Improvement-All or some of the above, you may need to add more to your response. You left the reader “hanging” and sounds incomplete.

Science-
The chapter 1 science test was returned. How did your child do?
We will start a health unit in a couple weeks.

Social Studies
We have started chapter 1 in our social studies book. The chapter is about communities. We will be looking at communities around the U.S.A. and a community in Africa. We will be comparing these communities to our own to we can see the similarities and differences. I will be sending home the book after each lesson so the students can reread them to you. The first community we will learn about is El Paso, Texas.

Have an awesome weekend!
Mrs. T. Spakausky
Miss Nabor

Math News for October 12-15

In chapter 1 we have talked about even and odd numbers, ordinal numbers, number patterns and place value. Rounding will be next and there will most likely be a checkpoint quiz Friday, 10/19, so study pages 16-17 in the math textbook next week.

Website Alert-
Here is a good site for place value games. The website is www.aaamath.com. There are a lot of different links that might be good!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

MATH NEWS - Mrs. Spakausky - October 4, 2007

Math is going very well! We are working on even and odd numbers, ordinal numbers, place values, and rounding.

There will most likely be a checkpoint QUIZ (pages 16-17 in the hard textbook) at the end of next week.

We played MATHO on www.aplusmath.com. Check out this website and see what other neat activities there are!!!

We finished the chapter two test last Thursday 9/27/07.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

October 8-12-Spakausky Scoop

Dear Parents,

BLOGS
In an attempt to make access easier for parents, there is now a link to each teacher/administrator website/blog on the Staff Directory page. The staff directory link is on our district homepage -- http://www.ccsd66.org.

The directory is available by clicking on the Staff Directory link on our district homepage -- http://www.ccsd66.org ( http://www.ccsd66.org/ ) or the direct address is . . .
http://www.ccsd66.org/Directory.htm

I hope this makes it easier to access teacher blogs and websites.

No School-
No school on Monday, 10/8-Columbus Day!

Here are our spirit days for October:
Spirit Days
10/5: Responsibility : Wear Green
10/12: Prairieview Spirit Day
10/19: Crazy Hat Day
10/26: Slipper Day

Movie Night
Friday, October 5th is movie night.

Independent Reading Program
Congratulations to the following students who participated in our September reading party:
*Adam *Amy *T.J.
*Lauren *Madison *Caitlin
*Greg *Karina *Ryan R.
*Ryan S. *James *Daniel
*Anita *Emily *Joey
*Mary *Matthew *Nicky
*Grant *Emma *Kelsey
*Paul
Keep up the GREAT reading and recording. Try some different genre's this month!

Guest Speakers-
I'd like to thank Dr. Greiner and Mrs. Z. from High Touch-High Tech, for coming to talk about the body and it's systems.

I would like to invite other guest speakers to our class to talk about the different topics we will cover in school. If you read in the newsletter about something you know about, let us know. It can be yourself, a friend, or a relative. Thanks! What a way to enrich the curriculum!!!


Goody Basket-
The Goody Basket is used as a reward system. If the student receives 5 tickets, they get to pick out of the special basket at the end of the day!
Donations for toys, candy, pencils, and other items of interest are always appreciated.
Thanks to:
James
For donating to the basket this week!

Student of the Week
Adam Z.
The categories that they will cover are:
Me
My Family
Special Friends
My Favorite Foods
Where I Live
Thing I Like to Do
When I Grow Up I’d like to
My Favorite Toys
How the special week works for your child:
Monday-put pictures up
Tuesday-share your board
Wed.-Read a favorite book (practice at home first)
Thursday-Show and Tell
Friday-Share a favorite snack

Spelling
Next week we will do Lesson 7 in the spelling book.
Monday-No School
Tuesday-Pre-TEST
Wednesday-Bookwork assigned
Thursday-Extra Activity
Friday-Spelling TEST


Reading-
How is your reading coming along? We will be finishing Math Wiz and Hey, New Kid. The students will be graded on their journal packets.

English
We are crusin' right through Unit 1. We have learned about subjects and predicates, questions, statements, commands and exclamations. What FUN!
The Unit 1 TEST will be on Wednesday, 10/10!

Writing
The first writing prompt will be due on Friday, October 5th!

Journal Responses
I have sent back your child's first journal response. What do the pluses, checks and minuses mean? I hope this will help.

+ (plus) = Excellent-Keep up the great work!

Check plus = Very Good-You have great content, but maybe you forgot to write in cursive, or something else minor. Some punctuation or capitals not used.

Check =Satisfactory-You may have forgotten one or more of the above and your response needs more content.

(minus) =Needs Improvement-All or some of the above, you may need to add more to your response. You left the reader “hanging” and sounds incomplete.

The next writing prompt will be due on Friday, October 12th!!!


Science-
The chapter 1 science test will be on Friday, October 5th! Reread chapter 1 and study the study guide!

Have a super 3 day weekend!
Mrs. T. Spakausky
Miss Nabor