

Weekly Update
September 2022

April 2023
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April is State Testing Month. The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) is the state assessment and accountability measure for Illinois students enrolled in a public school district. IAR assesses the New Illinois Learning Standards Incorporating the Common Core and will be administered in English language arts and mathematics to all students in grades 3-8. Our K-2 students do not take the IAR, but they are continuing to work on math and literacy skills in class as we prepare for spring testing in May.
Ms. Kenney.
Illinois Assessment of Readiness
How can I help my child prepare for the IAR?
Promote a positive attitude.
Parents should promote a positive attitude towards learning and testing. Kids need to take tests seriously and be strategic, but also feel confident and mentally prepared. Parents can help children feel prepared for the test by encouraging children to visualize success on test day. In other words, ask children to close their eyes and imagine themselves taking the test and feeling great about it.
Discuss what to do if you finish early.
Sometimes kids finish the test early. It’s important to discuss that this is a good opportunity to double check and verify their answers for accuracy. Parents can coach them to review certain questions that were hard. They can also use the process of elimination to rule out some of the answer choices.
Eat well, exercise and rest.
In the weeks leading up to the test, it is important for students to have adequate sleep (eight hours is recommended), eat balanced meals, drink plenty of water, and get exercise. Foods high in protein, and water help to stimulate the brain. Exercise, such as stretching and walking, helps to supply the brain with oxygen. Eating a healthy breakfast before school, particularly on the day of the test, gives the body the fuel it needs to maintain long periods of concentration.
Plan enjoyable and relaxing activities.
We do not advise trying to squeeze a little more preparation in immediately before the test because it can lead to feeling overwhelmed. Studying the day before or day of the test leads to increased anxiety and should be avoided. Instead, plan enjoyable activities to feel relaxed and ready.
Climate and Culture at Wegner
5Essentials Survey
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.
During the 2023 window, 100% of Wegner staff, 96% of Wegner students, and 28% of Wegner parents took the 5Essentials! THANK YOU!! We expect to see the results of this survey in late May.
Save the Date!
Upcoming Events!
Evening Events
2nd/3rd Grade Music Performance - Monday, April 17 - 7:00pm
Wegner Family Art Night - Thursday, April 27 - 6:00pm-8:00pm
5th Grade Bash - Friday, May 12 - more information to come!
What's Happening at Wegner?
Camping with Math and Literacy
Wegner families got together in March to play math and literacy games, "camp" with a good book in the gym, and visit our book fair!
APAC - Assistant Principal Advisory Committee
Kindergarten
This Month we have been working on finishing up our Ecology Research Lab. We learned about the Ocean, Desert, and Rainforest ecosystems. Ask your child which ecosystem they learned about was their favorite.
In math we have begun our study of subtraction. Students are learning how to cross off illustrated models to show how many are left.
First Grade
This month we worked on a social studies unit about families. We discussed different family customs and traditions. In math we are working on understanding place value in order to solve two-digit addition and subtraction problems.
In Reading we are focusing on identifying problems and solutions in a story.
We filled our 1st Grade Level Fuzzie Jar again and had a wonderful celebration outside of extra recess on the big playground! Wegner’s Spirit Week was Camping with Math and Literacy. It was a fun week with the Book Fair and many activities throughout the week!
Fort and Flashlight Friday!
Looking at flowers he planted in the fall!
Guided math centers
Second Grade
Second Grade has been working hard in math, literacy, and our new social studies unit! In math we are working on the foundations on multiplication - arrays and repeated addition - it is a very fun and hands-on unit with a lot of visuals.
In literacy we are still working hard on our animal stories - we are writing new ones everyday.
We have transitioned from science to social studies and have started our first unit on history and historical figures.
Third Grade
Students are starting to write their fractured fairy tale story. We have completed our fraction module and have learned how to plot fractions on a number line as well as how to represent equivalent fractions . We have begun our next module which involves geometry and measurement word problems. Science is underway with topics of inheritance and traits and ecosystems.
Fourth Grade
To start off, Fourth Grade won the Schoolwide Attendance Challenge! Attendance is an integral part of learning and fourth grade showed their excellence.
In our classrooms, our math module is currently focused on fractions! Finding equivalence, comparing, mixed into improper (and vice versa). You can help by showing how fractions are integrated into everyday life (cooking/baking, money, time, etc.). As for our literacy unit, we are focused on our Genre Study: Historical Fiction. We are learning parts of the genre, finding themes, expressing opinions, and synthesizing our own narrative! With our Science Block, our focus is on Contraptions (Rube Goldberg), and the interactions between Energy and Machinery (Simple Machines).
Fifth Grade
Hurricane Emily is quickly coming…and our adventure into studying the genre adventure has started! In reading we are reading the book Storm Runners by Roland Smith. Ask your student to tell you about Chase, our main character, and his complicated life. Ask about the Rossi Family and their interesting profession. To help with our learning, ask your student about anything they are reading. We are working on being able to discuss details and ideas we have about the things we read. So ask questions like “What do you like about this character?” “What would you change in the book and why?” “Why is this book interesting?” The more conversation we have about reading, the better our students will do.
In math we are continuing our adventure in Fractions. We have finished up adding and subtracting and have now moved onto multiplying and dividing. STUDY YOUR MATH FACTS!!! Students are able to be more fluent and able to see patterns in fractions when they know their math facts. Investing a few minutes each day will help them be a stronger math student before they enter sixth grade.
Finally, we are working on the ideas of respect and responsibility. We respect others in our school by sharing positive ideas and using kind words. We have had an outbreak of colorful language that we would like to see not happen. We are also working on being responsible for your actions…good or bad. When we don’t complete work or forget something, rather than blaming others and/or lying about it, we want students to learn to admit what they did and then come up with a plan to fix the situation. As fifth graders (almost sixth graders) we need to own our education and make sure that the choices we make today will be choices that push us into the future we want.
Art
Save the following dates for the next District 33 Art Show and Wegner’s Family Art Night!
Family Art Night: April 27, 2023 @6-8 pm. Wegner School
Gala 33 Art Show: May 11, 2023 @ 5-7 pm. Leman Middle School
Music
In music we are busy preparing for another evening concert. Our second and third grade students are spending a lot of time refining their skills with singing, playing recorders, xylophones, and drums in preparation for that event. In addition, the Wegner School Chorus and Wegner Ensemble are also working hard preparing songs and instrumental numbers that they enjoy playing and that our audience will enjoy watching and listening to. We will be performing on Monday, April 17 at 7 P.M. All are invited! Come and see your children make music through singing, dancing, and playing different musical instruments.
Innovation Center
In March, all students in grades K-3 voted for their favorite Monarch Award nominee. Students in grades 4 and 5 voted for their favorite Bluestem nominee. All votes were sent into the state to be counted towards choosing the winner for each Illinois state award. The state of Illinois winners will be announced on Friday, March 24. 1st grade students learned how to choose “just right” books from the book shelves and how to use a shelf marker. March is International Women’s Month. Students in grades 3-5 learned about amazing women like Mary Walker who learned to read at age 115, Grandma Gatewood who hiked the Appalachian Trail at ages 67 and 69 by herself, and Shark Lady, Eugenie Clark who paved the way for women in the fields of shark research and zoology. K-2 read books about crayons for National Crayon Day and spring books. Lessons focused on fiction and nonfiction text features.
Technology
Students used technology to deepen their understanding of arrays by programming an array light show.
Ms. Knopp’s students worked together to solve an Egyptian Breakout Room.
Students applied their knowledge of energy to solve the Weird and Wacky Contraptions challenge.
During health students programmed ozobots to follow the path of the digestive system.
Students designed dioramas about ecosystems, then used the green screen to place themselves into their dioramas.
Students practiced their equivalent fractions while using the ozobot robots to do equivalent fraction bowling.
Physical Education
Social Emotional Learning and Health
In March the students in all grade levels continued to learn about the different body systems and how they all work together. They each had different opportunities to show how the systems worked and their understanding of them. They all learned about what happens to your food after you eat it and the importance of eating healthy. Fourth and Fifth grade had a chance to show how the digestive system works using the Ozobots in the Stem Lab.
Special Education
The Special Education Teachers will be working with students throughout the month to support their testing accommodations and continue working on IEP Goals and Objectives.
Please encourage your child to read for at least 20 minutes each evening from the books that they bring home & record their minutes on the Classroom Teacher’s Reading Log. Listen to your child read and ask questions about what they have read. Your support is a vital part of helping your child gain Literacy skills and succeed!
Enrichment K-2
Kindergarten students have been working reading leveled books and finding word family patterns. We are also practicing answering questions. In math students have been working on solving subtraction problems.
First graders in 1F/1L have been working on synonyms and antonyms along with reading poems. Students in 1N/1F have been reading poems as well. Students have also been practicing English power words and reading/writing about pets.
First grade math students have been working on various problem solving challenges. We have also started to learn about fractions.
Second graders have been working hard on researching and writing biographies. Second graders are also finishing up our Egypt unit with some hands-on fun!
Second grade math students have been working on building number sense and the basics of multiplication.
All K-2 students have had the opportunity for a literacy based STEM activity in their classrooms. Some of the activities include building shape snowflakes, creating a snowball launcher, building a container for Leprechaun gold, and building bridges.
Gifted and Talented Education 3-5
5th Grade - Mrs. Renner and I are starting our Socratic Seminar. We look forward to challenging students to write high level questions to drive discussions that will engage students to think critically.
4th Grade - Students enjoyed discussing with classmates a particular section from our novel they found interesting, funny, etc.
3rd Grade - Students had so much fun "acting" out vocabulary words from our novel "Abby Takes a Stand."
Related Services
Speech/Language In the News!!!!
We are working on lots of fun grammar and learning about prefixes and suffixes. Multiple meaning words that can help us with understanding what we are reading. Here is a recent post:
Frog Parking Only/ All Others will be Toad! (what is the word that has another meaning?...toad/towed)
Towed as in pulling a car that has broken down. Toad is an amphibian who loves to swim!
Interventionists
Spring Family Fun!!! Math Riddles !!!
Read the math riddle and think creatively to solve!!!
1. There are four baskets and you take three. How many do you have ?
Answer: You will have three baskets.
2. There is an empty basket, three feet in diameter and one foot deep. How many oranges can you put in this empty basket?
Answer: Just one. As long as you put something in an empty basket, it’s not empty any more.
3. Two math books complain to each other. What do they tell each other?
Answer: I have so many problems.
Wegner School
1180 Marcella Lane
West Chicago, IL 60185
630-293-6400