December Newsletter

Pleasant Hill Intermediate School

1204 E. 163rd Street

Pleasant Hill, MO  64080

816-540-3156

December 2011

Important Dates Dec 5 - Dare Graduation, IS Gym, 7pm. Dec 8 - IS/ES Holiday Concert, IS Gym, 7pm. Dec 20- End of Quarter Party, 2:30-3:20 Dec.21 - Winter Assembly, IS Gym Dec 21 - End of 2nd Quarter/1st Semester Dec 22- Jan 4 - Winter Break

5B TEAM NEWSLETTER   Veteran’s Day Lunch

Rooster Time for December:
As a team we have chosen to read “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”.  The students are learning about the Herdman family.  This story is goes along great with our Respect, Responsibility, and Compassion.  It also goes along with bullying and shows the students (at the end of the story) how the Herdman kids can have a change of heart.  It also teaches tolerance with the students who do not have some of the Herdman’s behaviors.  

End of the Quarter Party:
The end of the quarter party will be held on Dec. 20, 2011 at 2:30.  The students will be viewing a movie and having snacks.  Students need to have no D’s or F’s on their grade card to attend.  

Earlier in the year there was an announcement made about purchasing healthy birthday snacks from the school.   The school is no longer doing this, so if you are sending in birthday treats for your student, please make sure they are store bought.  Thanks so much.  

School and Class Expectations:
We have been working with the students on school wide and classroom expectations.  Some students still need some general reminders about having all of their materials prepared for class and for turning their voices off during class and in the lunch room.  We are still working very hard on traveling to and from lunch.  Some students are still needing extra encouragement when it comes to lunch room behaviors, such as pushing in chairs and cleaning up their areas.  It is encouraged to discuss these positive behaviors at home!  


Planners:  Planners are a great organizational tool for students and a great communication tool for parents. Students are expected to fill out their planner in each core class daily (listing assignments, due dates etc.) and take them home daily. Teachers will sign planners for each class and sometimes may write an important note. We will do periodic planner checks throughout the year spot checking to see if planners are being utilized in this manner. Students may receive a small reward for having a filled out and signed planner (signed by the teacher). Parents are not required to sign planners.

AR/AM Students will need 10 AR points for the quarter and 5 AM tests.  To help your student pace these out, we suggest 1-2 points a week and 1 AM test a week to get the points at an even pace, instead of rushing at the very end of the quarter.  This helps promote good planning ahead skills.  The students may do AM practice at home at the Renaissance Learning website.  If you still need more information about this, contact your student’s homeroom teacher or Mrs. Lucht, math teacher.

Science-Social Studies--Mr. Haight
Social Studies --  We are studying the original thirteen colonies.  We are looking at their economies, geography, and lifestyles.  We should test on chapter 6 before Christmas break.

Science --  We are studying matter.  From the elements and atoms to molecules and compounds.  We also will look at the states of matter (liquids, gases, and solids).  We will be finishing chapter 11 next week and testing the following week (Dec. 12).


Math--Mrs. Lucht
In math, we are beginning a fraction unit.  We have learned equivalent fractions by looking at the multiplication chart.  It was amazing to see and a help for equivalent fractions.  We also are keeping fraction strips to look at equivalent fractions.  We used butcher paper to fold fractions.  Parents, thank you so much for help with fractions at home on your child’s homework. You can show your child how you use fractions in cooking, etc.  Also, this is a reminder that the students need 5 AM tests before December 21.  We are doing Accelerated Math in Math Club at 7:25 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  There is also homework club on Thursdays after school from 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.  They may do Accelerated Math during all of those times.  Our AM day is Thursday every week.  Thanks so much for your support and encouraging your child to complete their homework.  This so helps them when they need to test.  Sincerely, Mrs. Lucht


Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray
We have been working very hard on all things grammar with NOUNS!  This unit the emphasis in grammar is verbs.  We are currently on Unit 3 and will be reading such stories as “Sleds on Boston Commons”, “Ester Morris Heads West”, and “Zathura”.  We have two full weeks left of regular “Treasures” weeks, then we will be doing some review activities on Dec. 19-21.  After the break, the students will be experiencing layered curriculum with some of our weeks and the finale of Unit 3 is the Zathura game that the students will be creating.  Hopefully they will make these on the computer this year (hope for no snow days!)  Also after break, the students’ bell work will begin to be MAP practice to gear us up for the spring map test!  


Ms. Love’s News--

Communication Arts
     We are focusing on Legends, Fables, Tall Tales, and Myths. With these writings, we are discovering how oral traditions are developed and passed down.  We are exploring the use of various forms of figurative language such as hyperbole's and personification.  We are recognizing and understanding the use of ironic endings.  When students finish this unit they will create their own story using one of the above formats.  


Math
  Focus is on factors, primes, and composite numbers.  Students are continue to work on decimals, fractions, and percents.  

Mrs. Meyer’s News--

In December, we will be learning about different holiday celebrations including Hanukkah, Christmas, Las Posadas, and Kwanzaa in Communication Arts. We will also be working on persuasive writing. In our reading, we will be working on problem and solution and making inferences. Keep working on those AR points.

    In math we are working on geometry, graphing, multiplication, division, and fractions. Students need to be working on math facts at home. Many still don't know the basic multiplication and division facts.

November Newsletter

Pleasant Hill Intermediate School

1204 E. 163rd Street

Pleasant Hill, MO  64080

816-540-3156

November 2011

Important Dates Nov 4 - No School - Professional Development Nov 8 - BMX Bike/Bully Assembly DARE final copies due! Nov 16 -  Mid-Terms Nov 22- Reader’s Theatre Program during Rooster time Nov 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break

5B TEAM NEWSLETTER

Rooster Time for November:
We will begin working on Reader’s Theatre in class.  The students will be performing these on November 22, at 2:30 in their Rooster time classes.  They will have either a social studies/historical theme or be related to harvest.  Parents and grandparents are invited to attend the performance.

School and Class Expectations:
We have been working with the students on school wide and classroom expectations.  Some students still need some general reminders about having all of their materials prepared for class and for turning their voices off during class and in the lunch room.  We are still working very hard on traveling to and from lunch.  Some students are still needing extra encouragement when it comes to lunch room behaviors, such as pushing in chairs and cleaning up their areas.  It is encouraged to discuss these positive behaviors at home!  


Planners:  Planners are a great organizational tool for students and a great communication tool for parents. Students are expected to fill out their planner in each core class daily (listing assignments, due dates etc.) and take them home daily. Teachers will sign planners for each class and sometimes may write an important note. We will do periodic planner checks throughout the year spot checking to see if planners are being utilized in this manner. Students may receive a small reward for having a filled out and signed planner (signed by the teacher). Parents are not required to sign planners.

AR/AM Students will need 10 AR points for the quarter and 5 AM tests.  To help your student pace these out, we suggest 1-2 points a week and 1 AM test a week to get the points at an even pace, instead of rushing at the very end of the quarter.  This helps promote good planning ahead skills.  The students may do AM practice at home at the Renaissance Learning website.  If you still need more information about this, contact your student’s homeroom teacher or Mrs. Lucht, math teacher.

Science-Social Studies--Mr. Haight
Social Studies --
In social studies,  we will be finishing up with early explorers and settlements.  We will test on ch. 5 next week also.  We then will look at the founding of the thirteen original colonies.  We will look at their economies, culture, and the people who founded them.

Science --
In Science we will be finishing up our studies of human body systems and will test over ch. 2&3 next week.  Our next unit of study will be over plants, their systems, and reproduction.

Math--Mrs. Lucht
Lucht Math Class is heavy into long division.  We are learning Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring Down, and check.  We also check as we are doing our problem.  We also learned how to do it horizontally with short division.  Some of the students like having a choice. Thank you for all the help you are giving your child at home for them to understand the process. We are going to learn a rap this week which will help us remember the steps.  We are getting lots of practice.
Pumpkin Math went very well with many parents helping me.  I want to thank those parents who made our day of studying our pumpkins and doing math such a success.  We did bar graph, line graph, ordered pairs to create a pumpkin picture, weighing, measuring height, writing an article, drawing a picture. Etc.  I know many of you baked pumpkin seeds.  We really had a great day of learning.
Thanks for all you do.  Let me know if you have any concerns.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Lucht






Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray
In communication arts, we will be working on building better vocabulary skills using some daily dictionary/thesaurus skills.  We will also be working on Unit 2 weeks 4 and 5 and then will have a review week and a Unit common assessment.  Starting Unit 3, we will begin doing some layered curriculum activities which will give the students some choice on their assignments.  We still have spelling homework weekly that includes vocabulary skills, writing skills, and proofreading and checking grammar.      These are passed out on Tuesday and should be completed and turned in on Thursday, unless there is no school on Friday and then they will be passed out on Monday and due on Wednesday.



Ms. Love’s News--

Communication Arts
Discovery Education has an excellent series of videos and activities for developing the writing process. We have utilized various clips to help with the pre-writing process, revising, editing, and publishing.  We learned how to evaluate others work in order to provide positive feedback.  We will continue with this series developing our writing purpose,  knowing our audience, and creating dialogue. We will find out how the use time lines, maps, and pictures that can enhance our writing.  We will use this information to produce our own writings besides analyze others writings.

Math
We are working diligently on developing our skills with decimals.   In our RTI time, we are focusing on some specific areas of Math that Discovery Education testing indicated that we were not as proficient as we needed to be.  This includes geometric constructions, properties of 3 dimensional figures, construction of 2 & 3 dimensional figures, congruence & similarity, and scale.  

Mrs. Meyer’s News--
Mrs. Meyer's class is working on main ideas and supporting details, making inferences, summarizing, and drawing conclusions in communication arts. We are learning about compound and complex sentences and writing paragraphs for different purposes.
In math, we are starting to work on multiplication and division, fractions, money, and measurement. Students should be working toward their 10 AR points for the quarter (that's about one point per week) and getting their AM tests (about one every two weeks).

October Newsletter

leasant Hill Intermediate School

1204 E. 163rd Street

Pleasant Hill, MO  64080

816-540-3156

October 2011

Important Dates Oct. 4:  Picture Retakes Oct. 7: 3 Hour Early Release (Homecoming) Oct. 11:  5th Grade PTO Performance Oct. 14: 3 Hour Early Release (work day); End of 1st Quarter Oct. 18 & 19: Parent-Teacher Conferences Oct. 24-28: Red Ribbon Week

5B TEAM NEWSLETTER

Rooster Time for this Week:
We have begun working on class books in rooster time.  We are going to be doing small groups and working on expectations of Rooster time.  We may be doing some cross team switching with small groups during this time.

School and Class Expectations:
We have been working with the students on school wide and classroom expectations.  Some students still need some general reminders about having all of their materials prepared for class.  We are still working very hard on traveling to and from lunch.  Some students are still needing extra encouragement when it comes to lunch room behaviors, such as pushing in chairs and cleaning up their areas.  It is encouraged to discuss these positive behaviors at home!  

Conference Sign-ups:
If you were unable to attend meet the teacher night, please contact Mrs. Murray either by phone or email so that we can sign you and your student up for parent teacher conferences.  We will be sending home reminders next week (Oct. 3-7)

Planners:  Planners are a great organizational tool for students and a great communication tool for parents. Students are expected to fill out their planner in each core class daily (listing assignments, due dates etc.) and take them home daily. Teachers will sign planners for each class and sometimes may write an important note. We will do periodic planner checks throughout the year spot checking to see if planners are being utilized in this manner. Students may receive a small reward for having a filled out and signed planner (signed by the teacher). Parents are not required to sign planners.

AR
Just a reminder, students need 10 AR points before the end of 1st quarter, on October 14, 2011.  These points may come from AR books and non AR points, or Bloom’s questions.  Feel free to contact your student’s rooster teacher for a copy of the Bloom’s questions or see our blog.  There is a link to the questions and AR procedures on School Related

Science-Social Studies--Mr. Haight
Social Studies --


Science --
In Science we will be learning about cells, tissue, organs, and body systems.  The chapter two test should be in two weeks.




Math--Mrs. Lucht
Parents and Students, We are working hard to accomplish 5 Accelerated
Math tests by the end of the quarter.  During math club on Wednesday mornings,
we are now doing Accelerated Math.  The students can come at 7:25 a.m. and
eat donuts and do AM.  Also, on Thursday nights we have homework club and
the students can stay from 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.to work on AM or homework
and get extra help.
We are having a great time in math right now and are currently studying
algebraic expressions, variables, and equations.  We've seen that like
a balance scale, in order to balance, both sides must be equal.
We are currently having math pull out on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
All of our team of teachers are teaching math at that time.  The students
are with a new little group of students working on fractions, decimals,
and percents right now.
Thank you so much for all you do to help me teach math to your students.
I truly appreciate all of you.

Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray
We are finally back to one weekly theme a week!  At first we were spreading this out over 2 weeks, just to get some routines down.  The students schedule in class for the week as with homework and classwork is mostly like this:  Monday: Vocabulary day where the students create a foldable (due on Tuesday)  with the definition, sentence, and a reminder (such as a synonym or antonym of the word) or a picture reminder and the will read the introduction to the theme story and as a class we will model the comprehension skill for the week.  Tuesday we will hand out spelling and this will be due on Thursday.  We will also read the main selection and the students will complete a comprehension check or organizer that corresponds with the story.  Grammar will also be introduced.  Wednesday will be small groups and in class practice of materials for the story.  Thursday will be turn in spelling homework day and finish small groups and reinforcement of skills.  Friday will be assessments with our Map Quiz and spelling test, along with a writing activity.  Next week we will be reading about Rescue Dogs.  The following week, we will have a Unit 1 review and common assessment.  We will then begin Unit 2!  Please have your students bring in an AR book and their planner and binder daily!  Have a great month.  


Ms. Love’s News--

Communication Arts
Students are focusing on writing short reports.  These reports are on people, places, and events.  Students are analyzing and synthesizing the information in order to write the report.  Students are also working on recognizing literary element and applying them to a story.

Math
Students are working on data analysis.  Students have been collecting data, developing tables, and creating various types of graph.  Students continue to practice basic facts and operations.

Mrs. Meyer’s News--
Mrs. Meyer's communication arts class is working hard on learning comprehension skills. We have covered characters. setting, plot, summarizing, and cause and effect. We will be covering inferences, main ideas and supporting details, and problem and solution soon. Students are working on using graphic organizers, writing, and proofreading skills as well. Please encourage your child to study their spelling words and work on their AR points each day. The end of the quarter is coming up Oct. 14th and they need 10 points by then.

In math, we are working on addition and subtraction of larger numbers, multiplication facts, time, money, word problems, and reading charts and tables. We will be working on geometry and fractions soon.

September Newsletter

Pleasant Hill Intermediate School

1204 E. 163rd Street

Pleasant Hill, MO  64080

816-540-3156

September 2011

Important Dates Sept. 2 & 5: No School (Labor Day Weekend) Sept. 7:  PTO Fundraiser Kickoff Sept. 16: 3 Hour Early Release (Professional Development) Oct. 4:  Picture Retakes Oct. 7: 3 Hour Early Release (Homecoming) Oct. 11:  5th Grade PTO Performance Oct. 14: 3 Hour Early Release (work day); End of 1st Quarter Oct. 18 & 19: Parent-Teacher Conferences

5B TEAM NEWSLETTER

Rooster Time for this Week:
We have begun working on class books in rooster time.  We are going to be doing small groups and working on expectations of Rooster time.  We may be doing some cross team switching with small groups during this time.

School and Class Expectations:
We have been working with the students on school wide and classroom expectations.  Some students still need some general reminders about having all of their materials prepared for class.  We are still working very hard on traveling to and from lunch.  Some students are still needing extra encouragement when it comes to lunch room behaviors, such as pushing in chairs and cleaning up their areas.  It is encouraged to discuss these positive behaviors at home!  



Conference Sign-ups:
If you were unable to attend meet the teacher night, please contact Mrs. Murray either by phone or email so that we can sign you and your student up for parent teacher conferences.  

Planners:  Planners are a great organizational tool for students and a great communication tool for parents. Students are expected to fill out their planner in each core class daily (listing assignments, due dates etc.) and take them home daily. Teachers will sign planners for each class and sometimes may write an important note. We will do periodic planner checks throughout the year spot checking to see if planners are being utilized in this manner. Students may receive a small reward for having a filled out and signed planner (signed by the teacher). Parents are not required to sign planners.

Science-Social Studies--Mr. Haight
Social Studies ------
We are studying Native American cultures by region.  We will be testing in two weeks over the Native American cultures.  They will then produce a power point on a Native American tribe.

Science -----
We are finishing chapter one on classification.  The test will be in two weeks.  After that we will be studying cells and cell structure.

Math--Mrs. Lucht
Math Club started this week on August 30th and we will have math club every Tuesday and Wednesday morning at 7:25 a.m.-7:55 a.m.  We will be eating donuts and doing math.  I would love any parents who would bring a cheap bag of donuts to help with this.  If your student is struggling with homework in math, they can come to math club.  Also, on Thursdays after school there will be homework club in Ms. Bradley’s room down the sixth grade hallway.   Thursdays is Accelerated Math day and students have a whole period to work on AM.  Also note that they can work on practices on Ren -Learn on line. Fridays we do learning centers in the classroom and there is homework called writing about math. We just finished a foldable of whole numbers and decimals to the thousandths.   If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at school.

Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray
We will be spending the two next short weeks on Tall Tales.  The students are becoming familiar with the procedures in the communication arts class such as class small groups, homework (which will be due on Thursdays and will include grammar and spelling), classwork, and vocabulary day.  It feels as if the students have taken tons of assessments thus far, however we still have one fall district test left and that is the Discovery Education test.  We will be taking this on September 8.  This will be our baseline data for this test.  We will have quarterly STAR tests that will aid in adjusting the students’ reading levels.  We will also be testing Discovery Education 2 other times before we have the MAP in the spring.

Ms. Love’s News---
Math
 Students will review numbers and operations.  There will be a focus on word problems.  Students will look key words or phrases to indicate what operation(s) to be used.  We started AM and students have caught on and seem to enjoy it.

Communication Arts
 Students are working on various language skills.  This includes synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms.  Students are using guided reading sets and literature responses.  For example,  students created wanted posters and masks for various characters in the book.  Students have requested to continue this process with other books.  We also worked on descriptive paragraphs.

Rooster Time
      We are working on 2 different books.  We are working on listening skills with the books The Day No Pigs Would Die with the 6th grade and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda with the 5th grade.

Mrs. Meyer’s News-
In communication arts, we will be working on Tall Tales along with story elements.  We will be working on parts of speech and writing descriptive paragraphs.
In math we will be working on subtraction, place value, word problems, time and money.