Weekly Update

The weeks before Spring Break are some of the most challenging for school children. The weather is starting to warm up, winter testing is complete, and nearly everyone is ready for a break! March is also a very important month for learning as we continue to work towards meeting our academic and social emotional goals for this year! Below you will find some ideas for things you can do at home to help your child succeed at school. Families are children's first and most important teachers! We cannot do the important work we do at school without your continued support at home!

Ms. Kenney

Read, read, read!

• The VERY best thing families can do to support literacy instruction is to READ!
• Children should read for at least 30 minutes at home every day!
• Ideally, children should be reading from a variety of genres with a mix of fiction and nonfiction texts.

Ask your child to tell you his/her Power Goal

• All children should be able to name their Power Goal
• Dual students have a Power Goal in English and a Power Goal in Spanish
• Ask your child to tell you his/her Power Goal
• Ask your child to tell you how to practice the Power Goal

Help your child practice their Power Goal!

• Power Goals cover the MOST important skills that children need to learn within their color level
• Power Goals can change daily, weekly, or monthly depending on the progress of the child, and the depth of the skill they are mastering
• At school students work on Power Goals in small groups, independently, or one on with with an adult
• Children can and should practice their Power Goals at home!

Click HERE to find the skill card for your child's reading level. This will give you things you can work on at home! You can also reach out to your child's teacher for more ideas!

1. Avoid saying you’re bad at math. Stay positive!

This is probably the most far-reaching tip in terms of how much it will benefit your child. If you feel inclined to say something like “It’s fine that you’re bad at math, so was I,” bite your tongue! Even if that’s firmly how you feel right now, one of the best ways to avoid passing math anxiety on to your children is by steering clear of negative messages about math. Instead, try focusing on difficulty and effort by saying things like, “I understand how difficult this is for you. It was difficult for me too,” or “Don’t worry if it feels like math problems take more effort than some of your other assignments. You may not understand it yet, but I am confident we can work it out together.”

2. Talk about math.

Talking about math doesn’t have to mean making a nuanced statistical analysis or debating what equation best models a phenomenon. Talking about math can be as simple as counting clouds or guessing heights. This is especially crucial for young children who need to feel comfortable just thinking about math and seeing that it is a part of the world. Depending on the age of your child, find ways to incorporate math into any topic you’re talking about as the opportunity arises:

• How many is that? How many would I have if I had another one?
• What would half of that look like?
• How could I split this equally?
• How do you predict this trend will change over time?
• What’s the chance of that happening?
• How can you make that more abstract? (The whole purpose of mathematics is to take ideas and make them abstract!)
• How many cards will you draw?

3. Have your child teach you math.

Here’s a great way to learn something—teach it. Ask any teacher. Most will agree that even when it’s something “simple” that they could swear they knew inside and out, once they have to explain it to someone else, they’re forced to consolidate knowledge and try new ways of explaining it. When faced with a question that you can’t answer, explain that you're stuck too, and challenge your kids to figure it out just well enough that they can try to explain it to you. Even if they help you only a little bit, they may spark insights that allow you to finish where they left off.

PLEASE LOOK FOR A LINK TO TAKE THIS YEAR'S 5Essentials SURVEY IN THIS WEEK'S PARENT UPDATE! In order to receive a Parent Report, a school must both meet the reporting threshold of 20% and have a minimum of 8 parents who submit survey responses!! Right now, 58 parents have taken the survey which is 18%. PLEASE HELP US OUT!!

The 5Essentials were developed by the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute, in partnership with Chicago Public Schools. Past research has shown that schools strong on at least three of the five essentials are 10 times more likely to improve student learning than schools weak on three or more of the five essentials.

NO SCHOOL

Monday, March 27-Friday, March 31 - Spring Break!

Evening Events

Wegner Math and Literacy Night/Book Fair - Tuesday, March 14: 6pm-8pm

Elementary and Middle School Choir Concert at LMS - Wednesday, March 22 - 6pm-8pm

On Friday, February 10, 2023, Wegner School celebrated Valentine's Day with class parties!

Our first APAC meeting was held during school on February 23. WHAT A SUCCESS! February’s meeting was developed around Goal #2 from District 33’s strategic plan- Equity, Engagement, and Agency. We focused on student voice & choice and agency.

As a committee, we developed an APAC mission statement and vision. During lunch, we spent time creating a handout for those who want to learn more about APAC. We welcome all who want to join!

In kindergarten we are having a lot of fun learning about animal habitats. The first habitat we learned about was the Savanna. Another name for the Savanna is Grasslands. DId you know the Savanna has two seasons? The wet season and the dry season. The second habitat we learned about is the Forest. Unlike the Savanna, the Forest has four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall.

In math, we are learning about ways to make 5,6,7, and 8! Ask your child if they can show you how to make a number bond using one of those numbers.

First grade is working on Place Value with values to 50 in math. We’re having fun using manipulatives to solve problems. In Social Studies, we’re working on understanding and building maps. In Language Arts, we’re working on identifying story elements within a story (characters, setting, problem, solution). Kids will also be writing their own stories. We hope to earn a popcorn party soon for moving to the next higher level in ST Math.

Currently, Second Grade students are working through different units as we are continuing through the school year. We are finishing up our Earth Changes Science Unit. The students will propose and create a strategy to prevent a landslide from occurring. The students are also nearing the end of Module 5 in Math. In Language Arts, we are working on learning about Animal Stories and the students will learn what an Animal Story is and will start to practice making their own Animal Stories.

Third grade has begun our traditional and fairy tales unit. We will be reading and analyzing Cinderella stories and other tales from many countries for common elements including themes. Students have been busy mathematicians learning how to find the area of regular and irregular shapes and applying these skills to real world problems. Module 5 focuses on fractions. This includes identifying fractional parts in visual models and number lines, improper fractions, mixed numbers, equivalent fractions as well as applying these skills in word problems. Please continue to have your children practice math facts daily. In Social Studies we are learning about economics, goods and services, supply and demand, and imports and exports. Our Mighty Acorns outdoor field trip had us exploring nature in winter. Looking for signs of wildlife, and spreading native seeds to sprout in spring time. Third grade is a busy and exciting place to be!

Fourth Grade has been having a Fun February! In Math we have been working with some funky fractions, and in Reading we have been reading some fresh fiction with a historical twist! Our Science unit has also kicked off with a focus on energy (such as sound, light, heat, and electricity)! We had a great Valentine’s celebration- making hearts and playing games. A good time was had by all!

Happy Valentine’s Month! We have been working on finishing up our ecosystem projects and getting ready to move onto our next unit. Students are putting the finishing touches on their projects…so ask them about their ecosystem!

We are full into fractions in math. Please practice those math facts with your students-IT REALLY HELPS! We are moving from adding and subtracting fractions to multiplying and dividing fractions. Students should also be practicing in Freckle everyday! Our goal is to have students finish 10 problems everyday and have 80% accuracy. We are building up our math skills this way and getting us ready for middle school math.

Finally, we have been working on making sure that we are showing our best behavior while we are here at school, and in the world around us. Fifth grade is having a bit of early spring fever and we are making choices that aren’t reflecting our schools core values. Please talk with your student about what our 5 Core Values are and how they are showing them everyday.

Save the following dates for our District 33 Art Shows and Wegner’s Family Art Night!

Art at the ARC March 1, 2023. @5-7 pm. The ARC Center in West Chicago

Family Art Night: April 27, 2023 @6-8 pm. Wegner School

Gala 33 Art Show: May 11, 2023 @ 5-7 pm. Leman Middle School

*Please continue to donate paper towels and T.P. Rolls. We can use them in our sculpture center.*

Students have visited the STEM lab for a variety of activities again this month. Kindergarten used our Beebots to practice PowerWords. 1st Grade students used Beebots to practice their map skills. 2nd Grade students learned about Earth’s changes via the VR headsets, they also designed and tested earthquake resistant buildings with Kinex. 3rd grade students made green screen videos for their weather reports. During math 3rd grade students used Ozobots to practice calculating area. Some also coded a fraction light show with our Little Bits. Fourth grade students used the design process to create a flashlight using Little Bits. Our Black History Month Celebration included learning about influential black Americans and programming Ozobot robots to travel a timeline of those leaders.

STEM Club used their code cracking skills to open suitcases and earn a prize. They also worked hard to solve gravity mazes.

We are wrapping up our basketball units and are beginning to work on volleyball skills. We are focusing on the 3 main volleyball hits of underhand serve, forearm pass, and the set.

Grades K - 2 will only be working on the basic volleyball hits

Grades 3 - 5 will work on the basic volleyball hits, but will also work into volleyball lead up games.

In Kindergarten and First grade the students have been learning about their 5 Senses and body parts (head, shoulders, knees, ankles, wrists).

Grades 2-5 have started learning about their different body systems. Starting with Skeletal and Muscular Systems.

4th Grade and 5th Grade have focused a lot on their Brain and Nervous Systems. All of their grades are learning how to take care of their bodies and why it is so important.

In our Special Education department, we are involving our students with their IEP goals and discussing their personal growth and where they would like to improve in the future. As we develop these conversations, we are also planning gradually to give our students more leadership roles in our IEP meetings by inviting them to speak on their behalf. Students are the primary stakeholder in their individualized education program, and they can play a role in annual meetings from an early age. We want them to begin to feel more comfortable advocating for themselves.

Kindergarten students have been reading short books and writing matching sentences in reading. In math we have been working on one hundred chart puzzles and number bonds.

First grade students from 1R and 1L have been working on vocabulary and synonyms in reading.

First grade students from 1N and 1F have been working on reading poems and vocabulary building.

First grade math students have been continuing to work on measurement. We even used Valentine’s Day candy for estimation!

Second grade reading students have been researching for biographies. Second grade math students have been learning the basics of multiplication.

All K-2 students have had the opportunity for STEM activities in the classroom. The focus the last few weeks have been on winter and Valentine’s Day activities.

Math students, 3rd and 5th graders, have been enjoying the "Lock of the Day" from Breakout EDU which is a fun activity which is similar to an escape room.

4th Grade Reading Enrichment - Students have been pondering the question, "If you had the chance to stay young forever, would you take it?"

We are busy gearing up for Spring time. Mrs. Sepulveda is gearing us up with a calendar of positive affirmations each day.

In Speech, Mrs. Gustafson is finishing up a novel study with the 3rd graders. The novel talks about choice and how we can take more responsibility and care with others. We are also working on building our vocabulary and sentences with more meaning.

Family Math Challenge:

Grocery Shopping: Be on the lookout for prices at the grocery store that seem shockingly high. For example, the prices of eggs and grapes and other essentials. Why do you think the prices are so expensive for certain items?

The next time your family goes shopping for groceries try to estimate the total bill before sales tax. Round the cost of each item to the nearest fifty cents to make the math easier. Helping to figure out the cost will be very helpful to your family. See who in the family comes to the closest number when the cashier tells you the number or look at the receipt. Also check your receipt when you arrive home.