Pleasant Hill Intermediate School
                                           1204 E. 163rd Street                
                                        Pleasant Hill, MO  64080
                                               816-540-3156                
                                             March 2013

Important Dates

3/8/13 - 3rd Quarter Ends - 3 HR Early Dismissal - Teacher P.D.

3/10/13 - Daylight Savings Time

3/14/13 - Spring Pictures

3/18/13 - 5B Qualifying Students to Children’s Lit Fest

3/19/13 - 5A Qualifying Students to Children’s Lit Fest

3/20/13 - PHIS Musical Matinee @ H.S. PAC

3/21-23/13 - PHIS Musical @ H.S. PAC

3/28/13 - 3 HR Early Dismissal - Teacher P.D

3/29-4/2/13 - Spring Break
        5B TEAM NEWSLETTER



Our School

             
 






Purple day specials:
Haight-Computer/Art
Lucht-Art/Computer
Murray- Music/PE
Gold day specials:
Haight:  Music/PE
Lucht:  PE/Music
Murray-Computer/Art

We will be sending home progress reports on Monday, March 4 as a check to make sure all work is in by Friday, March 8.  Due to the snow days, we felt this would be beneficial for the students to have over the weekend to get caught up (since we had only 3 school days in the last 2 weeks).  Sorry for any inconvenience, but we feel it is best for the students.

Monday, March 4 is the cut off date (at 3:00 p.m.) for the top 15 AR point students.  These students will be announced at the very end of the day on Monday.  They will then come home with a note (Monday) that will need to be returned and include the fee for the field trip.  Again, this has been a bit of a competition all year for the top 15 students from our team!!!

Writing has become of great focus for us and our students this year.    We are using 6 trait writing to compose narratives, persuasive stories, non-fiction, and autobiographies.  Each quarter, we are going to have the students compose a specific piece of writing.  This will be done in Rooster Time.  For
3rd quarter, the students were to write their autobiography, or 3 Important Events in their live (so far!), using a 5 paragraph essay style.  The school is enclosing a scoring guide as to what was  expected from this writing assignment.  The grade for this piece of writing will be included in their Rooster Time Grade.

WEATHER IS CHANGING!  PLEASE MAKE SURE STUDENTS ARE DRESSED APPROPRIATELY FOR OUTDOOR RECESS.  WE WILL GO OUTSIDE IF THE TEMPERATURE (AND WIND CHILL) IS ABOVE 25 DEGREES.  OUR PLAY AREA IS VERY WINDY.


IT'S TIME TO REPLENISH SUCH ITEMS AS PENCILS AND PENS FOR STUDENTS TO HAVE AT SCHOOL FOR CLASS WORK.  PENCIL CAP ERASERS ARE ALSO A GOOD THING FOR THEM TO HAVE, TOO!!


Science-Social Studies--Mr. Haight, Ms. Love, Ms. Dyer

Social Studies - We are studying the Revolutionary War.  We should be finishing that unit within the next two weeks.  Next we will be studying the Constitution.

Science - We are starting a unit on weather and the water cycle.  We also will be reviewing third and fourth grade objectives in preparation for the MAP test.

Math--Mrs. Lucht, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer
In math, we have started a unit on fractions.  The sudents had a
vocabulary contract due February 15th with terms like proper
fractions, improper fractions, benchmark fractions, equivalent
fractions, etc.  We will be doing a fraction strip activity on Monday.
 March 8 is the end of the third quarter.  5 AM tests are due at that
time. Students who complete 5 AM tests get extra recess.  Please check
parent portal for missing homework assignments.  Students are getting
lax about having their homework completed.  You should check their
planners for homework every night that is due  Thanks so much for your
support. I couldn't do it without you. Mrs. Lucht

Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer
We have been working very hard on close reading texts.  This means the students are picking out key words, ideas, etc that are either interesting, or difficult.  They are then analyzing what the text says and writing down what they think the author is saying and being able to justify this from the text.  It is a skill that will make reading more interactive.  Students are actually reading higher level texts with this, as well.  We have also been writing TONS in class.  They just finished a  writing that was to a prompt “Write about someone or something that they love.”  These will be graded on the 6 trait scoring guide.  Parents will be receiving a copy of this with the emailed blog address/newsletter.