Here is a curriculum preview for next week:
*Math- Next week will continue to be a review week of counting money, time, and operations.
*Reading- Our focus for the next few weeks in reading will be on story elements. We will be using examples of fairy tales and additional stories to help us practice pulling out the story elements.
*L.A.- Students will be receiving their first spelling words and begin to use the Read Naturally program this week.
*S.S. (7/8 only)- We will be spending the next few weeks reviewing/learning map skills. This includes reading maps, understanding the components of maps, and creating our own maps.
I have attached my parent letter also for your viewing.
Have a wonderful and relaxing Labor Day weekend!
August 28, 2013
Dear Parents,
Welcome!
As
we begin the 2013-2014 school year, I would like to give an introduction to our
curriculum for this year. Within this
packet, there are several descriptions of our classroom activities and
community outings that we will be taking this year. I will be sending out a more detailed list of
outings with dates, as this is finalized.
If you have any questions or concerns,
do not hesitate to call or email me. My
school phone number is 630-783-5019. My
email address is cnino@ccsd66.org.
Again, thank you for your time and
cooperation. Our goal is to make your
child's school year a positive, rewarding, and enriching educational
experience.
Brief Curriculum Overview
Language
Arts/Spelling:
Spelling is an
essential skills that receives a great deal of attention during Language
Arts. Each week, students will receive a
new spelling list of 10-15 words depending on the week. Students will be completing a variety of
spelling activities in class daily, as well as, practice daily at home.
In Language Arts,
students will be completing a 5-questions Daily Oral Language (DOL)
“quiz”. This will be done at the
beginning of each class period and will count towards their daily work
grade. We will also be
reviewing/learning sentence composition, parts of speech, and writing
composition.
Students will also
be writing daily journals in their Writers Notebook, similar to last year. Students will share these journals with the
class, as time allows, and as the year progresses, returning to edit their
writing.
Reading/Writing:
Students will be
reading novels, completing author studies, reading poetry, and more this
year.
There will also be
a weekly reading homework assignment, where students will be responsible for
reading/logging a book of their choice.
More details about this will be sent home in the beginning of the school
year.
Social Studies:7/8th grade ONLY
(6th
grade Social Studies will be taught by Mrs. Maass)
Our Social Studies
curriculum this year will focus on a variety of topics. We will begin the year briefly discussing
technology and how to successfully use it.
We will learn about Ancient Civilizations, Map skills, and American
landmarks, cultures, and traditions.
We will also learn
utilize current events within the classroom on a weekly basis. Students will be required to find, read, and
bring in a newspaper article to share with the class. I will be sending home a list of suggested
kid-friendly websites that can be used to help find articles.
Mathematics:
This math
curriculum is a functional program designed to prepare the students to apply
math skills to real-life situations.
Students will be reviewing and learning more about time, money,
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
All of these skills
learned in the classroom will also be generalized into the community outings
and assignments.
Room 117 Classroom Rules
and Behavior Plan
Classroom
Rules
1. Be respectful.
Use kind words, raise your hand,
listen, & get permission before doing.
2. Be responsible.
Complete
your work, stay organized, and clean up after yourself.
3. Be safe.
Keep
your hands/feet to yourself & be cautious!
4. Be positive.
Smile,
laugh, and have fun learning!
Classroom
Compass
Each student has a
compass on the side of their desk that will serve as their behavior monitoring
system. The categories on the compass
include “Smooth Sailing”, “On Course”, “Veering Off Course”, and “Off Course”. In a collaborative effort between the
students and the classroom staff, students will move a clothspin to represent
how their day has been in relation to how many warning/reminders they have
received from the teacher/staff.
Positive behavior always allows the students to move their clothspins
higher on the compass.
During the last
period of their day in my classroom, each student is able to receive a 10
minute reward. If their clothspin is on either “Smooth Sailing” or “On Course”
the students are to spin the “steering wheel” to earn their prize. Some rewards include 10 minutes of computer
time, 10 minutes of choice time, and others that the students will determine in
the first few days of school.
Community-Based Program
One Thursday of
every month, students will have an opportunity to visit a community
location. With each visit, students will
go in with a specific learning goal. We
will be preparing for our community trip in the weeks prior to going. In addition, students will be completing a
graded assignment, in class, on the day following the trip. The monthly locations for our community
outings will be announced closer to the date.
Below is a general
list of objectives that students will be working toward.
*Display
appropriate manners while eating
*Eat in a variety
of locations/order and wait for meal
*Managing currency
*Managing time
*Applying units of
measurement
*Applying number
concepts
*Displaying
appropriate social behavior
*Following rules
