Northwest News

Thank you Northwest PTO and Victory Electric for sponsoring our trip to the Autumn Acres Pumpkin Patch. It was a wonderful experience for our students. They learned about how pumpkins grow and the many varieties of pumpkins. They were able to explore the pumpkin patch and pick their very own pumpkins. They also had time to play in the corn pit, giant bounce pillows, slide and swings. It was a fun for everyone.

Thank you!

Kindergarten would like to send a huge thank you to everyone who made our October so wonderful! Our awesome PTO and Victory Electric sponsored our field trip to the pumpkin patch. All of our fantastic parents who helped on our trip and with our class party. We appreciate you more than you know! It is so inspiring to see how we can work together to make all of our kids lives better!

We continue to work on our letters and sounds. We are using them to decode the sounds in words and read! The students are doing a terrific job! We are practicing flat and solid shapes and will begin working on measurement and more or less. We are talking about holidays and being thankful! As teachers, we are so thankful for our hard-working students and all of your support! We hope you have a wonderful November

October has been a busy month. In math we have finished Unit 1-Developing fluency adding and subtracting numbers to 10. Now we are starting our learning into Place Value in Unit 2 where we will be working on addition and subtraction skills to 20. In ELA we are continuing to Retell Literature stories and find Main Idea and Details in Informational Texts. We are also working on improving our Phonemic Awareness skill by listening for all the sounds in a word. Phonics skills we are working on include all the Short vowels sounds and add Inflectional endings to words: _s and _ing. We have been working hard to learn all our Unit 2 High Frequency words. And we are practicing our reading fluency every day to become fluent readers. The students should be bringing home some of the little (decodable) books that go with our materials. It is important that they practice reading those books many times until they are fluent. Our Science standards are focusing on Engineering Design- looking at a structure of an object and building it. In Social Studies we have been learning about becoming a good citizen.

Math Update

· ENY Math Module 3: Students will be working on place value of a number by utilizing place value charts and place value discs.

· Students will be able to recognize numbers in different forms (standard form, word form, unit form).

· Students will be able to compare two numbers by using the terms greater than, less than, and equal to.

Reading Update

· ELA Unit 2 Module A&B: Students will focus on making decisions and forming opinions as well as identifying wants and needs.

· ELA Phonics: R controlled Vowels (er, ir, ur, or, ar) and contractions in a text (can’t, don’t, we’ll).

Fun October Learning Experience

· Pumpkin Patch: Our schools PTO sent each class to the Autumn Acres Pumpkin Patch to learn more about what it takes to grow pumpkins!

· Fire Safety: The second grade classes at our school had the opportunity to talk with firefighters about safety as well as experience the smoke house to practice escaping a house fire.

In third grade we have been doing a lot of things.

Math – We will be starting a new math module where students will practice their math facts to become fluent, and will learn several strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers. At home, practice skip counting by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, and so on, that will really help your child with math facts.

Reading- We are currently reading a chapter book called “The Year of Miss Agnes” and it is a really good book. The students want to keep reading more. They are also learning new vocabulary as we read the story to help them better understand the story. We are able to ask many questions and the students use the book to find key details and use text evidence. We are also working on our reading fluency. Let your child read to you aloud for at least 20 minutes a day.

Writing – We are working on making a narrative story. They need to include characters, setting, a problem and solution. We also have been practicing adding dialogue when a character speaks.

Phonics-We have been working on 2-3 consonant blends and will continue with diagraphs. We will send decodable readers every week for your child to read at home that has the phonics words we work with each week.

Social Studies-We will be working on geography and learning about the continents and mapping schools.

Science-we have been working on studying about how plants reproduce and pass on their traits and they discover how plants reproduce by exploring the process of pollination and fruiting. We also went to the pumpkin patch and we received a pumpkin! When we were there, the owner spoke to the students about how they grow their pumpkins and about pollination. The students were able to make connections to what they had learned in class. It was a great time! The students enjoyed playing with their friends.

Third Grade Teachers

Mrs. Carmona Mr. Ferreiro Mrs. Stefan

Happy November! We are ready to continue another great month filled with learning!

Math: -We will be continuing Module 3- Multi-Digit multiplication and Division. Topics covered this month will be: Topic C: Multiplication of up to Four Digits by Single-Digit Numbers, Topic D: Multiplication Word Problems. Topic E: Division of Tens and Ones with Successive Remainders, Topic F: Reasoning with Divisibility, Topic G: Division of Thousands, Hundreds, Tens, and Ones, and Topic H: Multiplication of Two Digit by Two-Digit numbers.

*Practicing multiplication and division math facts at home will be great help!*

Reading: We will be continuing Unit 2 Module A. In this module, readers will understand that themes in literary texts can be interpreted from dialogue and descriptions. Writers will understand that dialogue and description reveal character traits and story themes. Learners will also understand that cultures interact with and interpret nature in different ways. For our performance based assessment, students will write a tall tale that includes an element of nature and displays the characteristics of the genre: larger-than-life characters, a problem that is solved in a humorous way, and exaggeration of characters and events.

Social Studies: In our unit this month, students will investigate settlement patterns to draw conclusions about a sense of place, first in Kansas, and then in relation to five geographic regions in the United States. Students will compare and contrast the Kansa with one prominent tribe from each of five geographic regions in the United States in the context of their geographic, cultural, political, and social characteristics.

Science: In our unit this month, students will continue to investigate structures and functions of the human body. Students explore how our bones and muscles are interconnected, how our eyes interact with light and impact our vision, and how our brain responds to stimuli in our environment.

Thank you for your continued support at home!

-4th grade team (Mrs. Egger, Miss Blankman, and Miss Luetters)

November is often a time for us to reflect on the many blessings we have, family gatherings, and a time to celebrate our successes and remember the many challenges we have overcome. As teachers, we have an opportunity to take part in your children's lives, help them overcome struggles, and share in their efforts every day. It is truly a partnership between parents and teachers to prepare them for the future.

As we look forward to the weeks ahead, your students will learn how people have overcome adversity against all odds. It all starts with "The Road to Freedom," a realistic fiction book about slaves' hardships to escape to the north by using the underground railroad. We will also read about the struggle women had to earn the right to vote in this country through the book "Operation Clean Sweep." We will also read the non-fictional story about Cesar Chavez and his struggles to get fair wages for day laborers working on farms during their harvest. Finally, we will end this unit with your students writing an opinion speech about inequality or injustice that they have learned about, experienced in their own life, or that exists in the world around them.

In math, your students are finishing a module on long division, and we are getting ready to start a new module on adding and subtracting fractions. These lessons will incorporate their understanding of their math facts, finding common multiples, and simplifying fractions. Although factions may seem scary to students at first, they should be confident to solve any fraction addition or subtraction problem that comes their way after this module.

We will learn about the water cycle in science, which is an essential issue for all of us living in Southwest Kansas. Your students will learn that saltwater makes up most of the water on our planet, only emphasizing how important finding freshwater is to all of us. We will learn about water vapor and how it forms clouds and condensation on cold drinks. The lessons will help your students understand that freshwater is not only found in lakes and rivers but is also stored underground in aquifers.

Your students will continue to learn about life in the early European colonies in America. These lessons will help your students understand the struggles of creating new settlements. The frustration that the settlers had with dealing with their leaders far away in England. They will also learn more about the uneasy relationship between the settlers and the American Indians.

Again, as we approach the month of November, we have many things to be thankful for and celebrate. We look forward to celebrating your students' many successes this month. We are confident that together we can help them achieve more than they ever dreamed possible. We all want to wish you and your family a safe and enjoyable holiday season and a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Kindergarten through 2nd grade has done some fun Halloween lessons/activities that also incorporated playing instruments. Here are some of the songs, activities, books they have used: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, Pumpkin Bones, Pumpkin March, Up the Creaky Stairs, etc.

3rd grade continues to work in music with a focus on rhythm and is now learning how to “road map” music. Road mapping music consists of learning how to track the words from the beginning to the end of the song. This can be kind of tricky since music is not always read from top to bottom. We have to learn how to use various music symbols which tell us where to go; hence “road mapping”.

4th grade continues to work on their music program, The 4 Seasons. NOTE: The date has been moved to Thursday, 12/2 at 6:30pm. More time was needed to be prepare our music in order to have a successful program. More information coming soon! I’m so excited for these kids to share their hard work with you!

5th grade did their music program on October 7th and did a wonderful job! They also got to do some Halloween activities in which they sang and/or played instruments: Pumpkin Bones, Skeleton Bones, Spooky Night, etc.

Mrs. Scheve and Mrs. Richins

The last few weeks have been all smiles in P.E.! Students have been working on teambuilding activities and learning what it takes to be a good teammate!! They have done a wonderful job showing good sportsmanship and building their peers up!!

Healthy Sleep Habits

Did you know it is recommended for school age children to get 9-11 hours of sleep in 24 hours?

As we continue through the year I wanted to educate on healthy sleep habits; often times we are seeing students struggling to stay awake during class. Considering that wake up times vary depending on schedules, school age children should be in bed around 8 to 9 PM.

Habits to make part of your nightly routine should include: being consistent, having set bedtimes, making sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and relaxing, making sure to turn the electronic devise off at least 30 minutes before your bed time, avoiding caffeine, and getting plenty of exercise.

Shutting off electronics is important because the blue light which is produced by televisions, smartphones, tablets and computers can decrease sleepiness and make it difficult to fall asleep. Daylight exposure to natural blue light from the sun is a healthy promoter of energy and concentration, but late evening exposure from electronics can impact sleep.

Remember sleep is vital for health, performance and wellbeing.

1- No School

3-Picture Retakes

9-PTO, Papa John's Night

18-Title 1 Turkey Bingo

23-Kinder, First, Second Grade Thanksgiving Feast

24-26- No School Thanksgiving Break