Pleasant Hill Intermediate School
1204 E. 163rd Street Pleasant Hill, MO 64080
816-540-3156 April 2012
Important DatesApril 6-10-Spring Break April 16-23-MAP Testing April 25-5th Grade Field Trip to the Coterie Theatre May 7-IS Awards Assembly at 8:45am in the Gym May 8-MS Choir Tour May 9-Field Day May 15-5th Grade Park Day | 5B TEAM NEWSLETTER Having Fun in The Morning Motivator! |
MAP TESTING WILL BEGIN APRIL 16TH. OUR TEAM WILL BE TESTING IN THE AFTERNOON. WE BEGIN TESTING AT APPROXIMATELY 12:45.
TO EARN THE MAP REWARD PARTY, STUDENTS WILL NEED TO HAVE PERFECT ATTENDANCE FOR THE MAP TEST. OUR MAP REWARD PARTY IS ON APRIL 27TH, AT 2:25. STUDENTS WHO HAVE GOOD BEHAVIOR WILL DURING MAP TESTING WILL BE ENTERED IN A DRAWING FOR SEVERAL PRIZES.
MINGLE AND PLAY NIGHT IS COMING SOON! APRIL 12TH. COME OUT AND ENJOY A FUN NIGHT TO GET PUMPED AND EXCITED ABOUT THE MAP TEST. IT’S A CELEBRATION OF ALL THE HARD WORK YOUR STUDENT HAS DONE THIS YEAR. THE EVENT IS FROM 6:30-7:30.
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 Mrs. Murray. She is heading up this information.
WITH WARMER WEATHER COMES THE NEED FOR WEARING SHORTS AND COOLER CLOTHING. PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT SHORTS ARE AT LEAST FINGER TIPPED LENGTH! WE ALSO STRESS THAT TANK TOPS BE TWO FINGERS WIDE AND NO SPAGHETTI STRAPS OR HALTERS, UNLESS THERE IS A SWEATER OR OTHER SHIRT OVER THEM. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THIS!
Science-Social Studies--Mr. Haight
Science
We will be finishing our unit on weather the first week of April. We then will do a short unit on the scientific method. This should be a fun unit. We also will be preparing for the MAP test on an ongoing basis.
Social Studies
In early April we will be looking at the time period of 1820-1850. This will be on the Industrial Revolution, Jackson's Presidency, expansion westward to California and Oregon, Texas' independence and the resulting war with Mexico.
Later in the month we will be looking at the events that led to the Civil War. This unit will be my first attempt at layered curriculum. It should be fun for both the students and myself.
Math--Mrs. Lucht
Dear Parents, We are working hard in math doing a lot of reviewing.
The students will have homework nightly. Thank you so much for your
support and help on getting homework done. We just finished a
geometry test and the students did very well. I was extremely proud
of them. We are in the homestretch for Map Testing, which is the week
of April 16-23. After Map Testing, we will be doing a Restaurant Unit
which will include technology, cooking, and measurement, etc. This
will be very motivating as it is hands on and very interactive. We
will be measuring the lunch room and other rooms in our school
building. It will be so connected to real life. We may have some
restaurant entrepreneurs after this unit.
Please encourage your child to attend Math Club on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays at 7:25 a.m. if they need extra time for Accelerated Math.
Five AM tests will be due at the end of 4th quarter. There is also
homework club on Thursday nights after school from 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Thanks so much for your help with this. We so want the students to
succeed and this is the extra help available to them.
Happy Spring!!
Mrs. Lucht
Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray
We are gearing up for the MAP test. We will be finishing up our last two full weeks with Fairy Tales and Science Explorations. The students did AMAZING on their layered curriculum projects. Thank you to ALL the PARENT support on making this so successful. We will begin a writing project the week following MAP tests. The students will be making a memory book. We are hoping that parents will be able to purchase hard copies of these, or the students will be handwriting them. We are going to give the students a choice on how they want to format their books. With this comes a lot of perseverance on writing and typing. We will send home a letter explaining this project as the middle of April comes closer.
Ms. Love’s News--
Math:
In math, students will continue to developing skills using Geometry and Measurement. These skills are applied to solving for area parallelograms, triangles, and circles. Students will continue on with integers and their operations.
Communication Arts:
Communication Arts
Students are reading a group fiction book and completing a variety of activities based upon the book. These activities include writing poems, creating a CD cover, or searching for adverbs.
Mrs. Meyer’s News--
Mrs.Meyer's classes are preparing for the MAP testing with MAP-like questions. We are working on drawing conclusions and making inferences in our reading. Students have been working on writing stories and other pieces of writing that focus on writing from a particular point of view. Our focus in writing will be on using proofreading marks and finding spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation errors.
In math, we are working on multiplication and division of larger numbers, fractions, graphing, and geometry. We do word problems daily to help strengthen problem solving skills.
