Team Peaceful!

Today Team Peaceful learned another valuable lesson! Understanding personal space for yourself and others. Through discussion and modeling, the students saw spaces for one another that are too big/too far apart so that they are yelling. Also, spaces that are too close leaving many bodies uncomfortable. There is a new rule to feel comfortable when speaking and interacting with other people. Use the invisible hula hoop! Space between people should fit a hula hoop so that all bodies have their own space bubble.

So here are the rules:

1. ASK first! 

"Do you want to play tag?" Instead of running up to someone and hitting them before asking.

"Can I hug you?" Not everyone likes hugs and some people like to be prepared for the touch of a hug.

2. CONTROL the space around you

3. Be GENTLE and SAFE which also means to be AWARE of yourself and those around you. 

Due to the students doing such a fantastic and peaceful job during their weekly lessons with Mrs. Sulecki, they earned a game at the end of this lesson. They all stayed in their circle, held hands and trie to get two hula hoops, going in opposite directions, all the way around the circle. They were crawling through hula hoops, twisting their bodies different ways, helping one another get the hula hoop pass one student to the next, etc. They had fun! A much deserved reward for great behavior and awesome listening skills!

Spelling & Homework

Spelling came home today along with a new homework packet. The students were a little over confident on their spelling words due to the smaller size of most words. However, I couldn't stress enough this list is going to be one of the hardest. Contractions are a more difficult concept to master. Taking two words and making one, but also eliminating the correct letters, while also replacing those absent letters with an apostrophe is very tricky.

While practicing these words, please help by saying both words to the your child and having them write the contraction. I not only want them to know how to spell the contraction, but I also want them to know what contraction to form out of the two words given. For instance, say to your child

she will

They should write

she'll

Tricky word this week is their. Tricky because it does not follow the spelling rules and can not be sounded out. The tricky word this week is also giving us more conversation on homophones!

Updates

Halloween Celebration

Our classroom will be celebrating Halloween on the afternoon of the 31st from 2:20 - 3:20.

Last week I sent out an e-mail to sign up for items, treats, and drinks to bring as well as activities to create. Thank you to all that were able to help so far! Here is the link to sign up for any additional spots still open. 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f49a5a82ca4f58-halloween

Please know if you are not able to help this time around and wanted to, there will be other times throughout the year where I would love your help again. Thanks!!

Parent Helpers

I would love more parent helpers for our Classroom Book Clubs. Here is the link to sign up:

http://signup.com/go/cHvR4m

We are still doing Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:30 - 11:00. Students have really been enjoying this time with their book clubs and especially when parents are able to join in. If you are interested please take a look to see if any dates correspond with your schedule. Thank you!

Westwoods Spirit Wear

Friday your child came home with an order form for Westwoods gear. Spirit wear will be available to try on and check out each conference night in the hall across from the cafeteria.

Please submit orders by Tuesday, November 1

Make checks payable to Westwoods

All items will be delivered the week of Nov. 22

Book Fair News

Our classroom will be attending the book fair during our scheduled library time on Wednesday morning 9:35 - 10:05.

There have been added dates for the students to shop. Book Fair will be open during the following times next week:

       Tuesday, October 25^th                    4:30pm – 7:30pm

       Wednesday, October 26^th            2:30pm – 4:30pm

       Thursday, October 27^th                  4:30pm – 7:30pm

Don’t forget that you can also shop for books at the Online Book Fair! Visit Westwoods Elementary School Book Fair homepage at:http://www.scholastic.com/bf/westwoodselemsch and click on Shop Now. Online shopping is available until October 28^th with an expanded selection for ALL ages and your purchase will be shipped free to the school and hand delivered to your student!

Mark Your Calendars!

Westwoods 2nd Annual Family Fun Night

Wednesday, November 2

5:00 - 8:00

Adult cost - $20

Kid's cost (11 yrs old and younger) - $15

1 Game of Bowling & Shoe Rental

2 Slices of Pizza & Soda

$10 Arcade Card

Each additional $10.00 arcade card purchased gives $5.00 back to Westwoods. Order forms for arcade cards will be sent home with students the week of October 24th. If you cannot make the event but still want to purchase arcade cards, just send in the form with a check written to Incredible Mo's by Wednesday, November 2nd. These make great stocking stuffers. 

Overseas Visitor!

Last week we had a special visitor welcomed into our classroom...Jack! More known as San Yueng Chan in China.

Jack is an exchange student from China attending West Senior High while in the states. Our classroom was beyond excited for Jack to visit. We have been learning about Ancient China and the history behind certain amazing aspects of the country. This was a great experience, giving the students a chance to further their learning and to connect what they know to a someone who has experienced the culture. Of course the excitement was all about Jack speaking and writing in Chinese, however, they also had many curious questions about what Jack does in his free time, how his school is different, what he likes to eat, all about his family, and more.

"Hello" in Chinese

 "Good-Bye" or "See You Later" in Chinese

Book Fair!

The library has been taken over by the BOOK FAIR! Students are completely stoked to see all the new books they can possibly purchase. It is really neat to see how excited they all are about books!

For our classroom students had the opportunity today to view books and jot down their favorites on a wish list for home. Next Wednesday, at our library time 9:35-10:05, students will have another chance to purchase books from the fair if they have money.

Other than that, all scheduled parent/teacher conference times the book fair will be open.

Tuesday, Oct. 25 4:30-7:30

Thursday, Oct. 27 4:30-7:30

Six Minute Fluency

Six Minute Fluency is a program we began this week in the classroom. It is an added supplement to our reading block where students spend six minutes increasing their reading fluency through interactive, peer-to-peer repeated readings of high interest, leveled passages.  

 Students are paired with a reading buddy, where they are reading informational text passages based on social studies and science content. This helps to enhance their background knowledge and content area vocabulary. Each set of partners are given a new passage each Monday to read for the week. Partners work together to track one anothers reading errors and progress. To follow, they help each other solve errors, graph words read correctly within one minute, and visually see fluency growth on their graph throughout the week.

  

 Their six minute fluency folders will be available for students to also use as reading practice during read to self and other book choice reading times.

Homework/Spelling

Sorry for the late post...

Students did come home with a new homework packet and spelling list!

Spelling words this week are similar to last week with adding a suffix to the end of words. However, the difference this week is that students will now be seeing a vowel at the end of words that we like to call the "magic e." The magic e signifies to student a change in the vowel sound for the word. It goes from a short vowel sound to a long vowel sound. Students also learned the magic e creates a separated digraph in words where two vowels work together to make one sound. 

When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking

The letters are not next to each other and instead separated by a consonant. Have your child explain the magic e and where it shows a separated digraph. They are great at the horseshoes to prove it!

With the spelling this week students are learning to drop the magic e to add the suffix -ing. One word they will notice follows the three rules to double the consonant when adding a suffix - hop.

Our spelling test will be Monday, October 24th

MOVE A THON

All Move-A-Thon money is due tomorrow to be counted towards prizes! We currently have $12,897.75 and we would love to see that total over $14,000 to beat last year!  

Each student who raises $50 will be receiving a prize and a bigger prize at $150. Each classroom who meets the classroom goal receives $50 for supplies!

Thank you everyone for your support! 

Peace Talk!

Todays peace talk focused on creating a stoplight in our mind.

When someone says STOP you freeze and your light turns red.

Then as you stop your light begins to turn yellow, where you need to slow down and think peacefully about how to act and what to say. Think about your choice before you act. 

When you are ready your light begins to turn green. This is when you make peaceful choices and kind words are exchanged and good choices are then made.

The traffic light helps us to think about it first. We STOP, THINK, then ACT.

Mrs. Sulecki this week also gave the students homework. They need to think of the stoplight and make peaceful choices at school, home and anywhere else they go.

It was a great peace talk today and one we will incorporate into our classroom as well! 

Ask your child about the stoplight they get to start using.

Ancient India

As we went through our unit in Ancient India the students learned about Mandalas created by the people of India. These are geometric designs made to create art in nature and through drawings, yarn, fabric or paint. Many mandalas have a spiritual significance, however, we focused not only on the artistic aspect of India, we also incorporated this into our math with symmetry. We noticed many mandalas are mirror images showing a form of symmetry which exposed a new math concept to all our minds.

The students were able to create their own mandalas on a rock. While I visited Lake Michigan, I found each student their own canvas to create a mandala of their own. 

Some students also created a seal. These are ancient writing pieces that were found by archaeologists uncovering a form of writing.

Each rock turned out awesome! You will see these coming home!

Fire Prevention

This morning we had a fire prevention assembly. Firemen from Long Lake township made their way to Westwoods this morning to share their expertise of how to stay safe if they ever encounter a fire.

They also gave the students homework:

Do a fire drill at home to practice the process

Check all smoke detectors to make sure they are properly working

Kids were able to get actively involved with staying low and crawling beneath the smoke.

Some helpful reminders were

Do NOT open windows in a fire. To get attention shine a flashlight or knock on the window until someone sees you.

Shout when you are inside to attract help, don't hide!

GET OUT AND STAY OUT

and of course, Stop Drop and Roll

In addition to our inside assembly with GREAT information, the students were also able to get outside. Here they checked out the firemens vehicle and engine used for fire emergencies. The firemen went over what the main uses are and what they do when they are needed to put out a fire.

The students were great and learned a lot!

Please make sure you ask your child about what they learned today and how they could teach you what to do in case of a fire.