Pleasant Hill Intermediate School

                                               1204 E. 163rd Street                  

                                            Pleasant Hill, MO  64080

                                                    816-540-3156                 

                                                     May 2013

Important Dates 5/3/13 - STUCO Lock-In - 4 pm -10 pm, All Officers & Representatives 5/5/13 - Cinco de Mayo 5/9/13 - 4th Grade to tour the PHIS at 9:30 am 5/10/13 - PHIS Field Day 5/12/13 - Mother’s Day 5/14/13 - Middle School Choir to perform for the PHIS 5/16/13 -  Roving Chef program 5/20/13 - 6th Grade to tour the Middle School at 9:00 am 5/23/13 - Last Day of School 5/27/13 - Memorial Day 5/28/13-6/21/13 - Summer School at the Elementary School

5B TEAM NEWSLETTER         Practicing for Mingle & Play Night

Purple day specials:

Haight-Computer/Art

Lucht-Art/Computer

Murray- Music/PE

Gold day specials:

Haight:  Music/PE

Lucht:  PE/Music

Murray-Computer/Art

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 will be finishing our layered curriculum on events leading to the Civil War.  After that we will be studying the Civil War with a particular emphasis on the Battle of Gettysburg.

Science -

We will be starting a unit on space and technology after MAP testing.  We are currently reviewing 3rd and 4th grade objectives in preparation for MAP testing in Science on Wednesday and Thursday.

Math--Mrs. Lucht, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer  

We are in the middle of Map Testing.  Thank you so much for all your support.  We will be doing two

days of Accelerated Math this week to catch up on AM.  We will have math club until the end of school.

Starting this Friday, we will start a Restaurant Unit and be divided into business partners.  We will

create a menu, draw blueprints, measure perimeter and area and volume, and we will be cooking

a menu.  We will be asking you to send something with your child to help provide for cooking.

We can use parents to help when we do the cooking part.  I cannot believe it is almost May.  We will

be doing math until the end of school.  Thank you, Mrs. Lucyht

Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer

I was so proud of all the effort the students put forth on the MAP!  We will continue on in our Treasures Book after MAP with a layered curriculum on Weslandia.  The students will be discussing things such as a staple crop, new foods, and some technological advances!  It is actually a very fun unit, that ends with a food tasting on Friday, May 10.  The students can bring in a fruit or vegetable to share that is unique. They have a writing assignment that goes along with this, too.  We also integrate some recipes and technical writing into this unit.  We will also be putting together our Memory books/writing portfolios the next few weeks.  Thanks again for a great year.  I have so enjoyed teaching your students.  

Pleasant Hill Intermediate School

                                               1204 E. 163rd Street                  

                                            Pleasant Hill, MO  64080

                                                    816-540-3156                 

                                                     April 2013

Important Dates 4/4 & 5/13 - 6th Grade Band Try Out - During Music class 4/9/13 - Band Instrument Rental Night - PHIS Gym 5:30-7:00 pm. 4/18/13 - Mingle & Play - PHIS Gym - 6:30 - 7:30pm 4/19/13 - Wear purple & gold for FOR 4/24 & 25/13 - 5th Grade Comm Arts MAP Testing 4/26 & 30/13 - 5th Grade Math MAP Testing 4/29/13 - Hillside Performance 5/1 & 2/13 - 5th Grade Science MAP Testing 5/3/13 - STUCO Lock-In - 4 pm -10 pm, All Officers & Representatives

5B TEAM NEWSLETTER Students perfecting their bowling skills in PE

Purple day specials:

Haight-Computer/Art

Lucht-Art/Computer

Murray- Music/PE

Gold day specials:

Haight:  Music/PE

Lucht:  PE/Music

Murray-Computer/Art

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 will be starting our layered curriculum unit on the events leading to the Civil War.  We will be discussing slavery, abolition, and the leading figures of the era.  In layered curriculum the students get to choose what they would like to do as far as assignments.  There are C, B, and A levels, with different levels of difficulty depending on the level.  I will be sending home the syllabus next week.

Science - We will be reviewing for the MAP test a couple of days every week.  They are tested over objectives that they worked on in the 3rd and 4th grades as well as the 5th.  A little review should really help their performance.  We also will be learning about the water cycle and weather.

Math--Mrs. Lucht, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer  We are in the last quarter of math and headed for Map Testing.  We are covering fractions and geometry right now.  We are all singing the polygon song from Youtube.  Our next unit will be measurement which we will include the Metric System and Customary System of Measurement.  Thanks so much for your support with homework at home.  After Map testing, we will be doing a Restaurant Unit and doing some cooking in the science lab to study fractions and weight measurement. Remember to continue to encourage your student to get their tests for Accelerated Math for this quarter.  They can stay for homework club on Tuesday and Thursday after school.  They can also attend math club on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 7:25 a.m.  Have a great Spring Break and Easter.  Mrs. Lucht

Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer

The students are currently working on a persuasive letter.  I am very proud of the progress the students have made in writing this year.  Their endurance for writing has greatly increased.  We will do a mini unit on figurative language, review some grammar skills, and begin our Map prep book.  After Map testing we will have a layered curriculum unit on Weslandia.  The students will love this.  We have a taste testing along with this.  More information will follow.  I truly appreciate your kind thoughts for our family this year.  I love being with your kids, it adds great joy to my life.  

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.

Pleasant Hill Intermediate School

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

Important Dates 2/18/13 - No School - President’s Day 2/19/13 - No School - Teacher P.D. Day 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 Having Fun in P.E.

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


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 will be studying the events leading to the Revolutionary War such as the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party, and Lexington and Concord.  This should take us about two weeks.  Then we will start on the Revolutionary War itself.

Science - We are finishing up forces and motion.  During the next week we will be looking at simple machines.  We will test on chapter 13 and then work on a project designing an amusement park ride exhibiting the forces, motions, simple machines, and Newton's Laws that we have learned about.



Math--Mrs. Lucht, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer
We are working hard in math to master long division and dividing with
2 digit divisors into 3 digit dividends.  Most of us are mastering
long division, but it has been very challenging. Parents, it would be
helpful if you could review your child on their math facts.  It would
be great to get flash cards and do some practicing.  Unless a student
knows their math facts, they will have difficulty with all of math.
Please check SIS HW link for HW assignments.  Also, HW is written in
their planner.  We most likely will have HW every night.  We do work
on it in class, but then they work independently at home on their HW.
Don't be afraid to help your child with their HW because there is
always more than one strategy to use to solve mathematical problems.
Our next unit will be fractions which is a very enjoyable unit.
Remember that 5  Accelerated Math tests are due by March 8th.  Again,
I want to remind you that students can work on practices at home for
AM.  You can go to Renaissance Home Connect Link  and is on the
Intermediate  Webpage.  Thanks so much for all your support.
Sincerely, Joy Lucht
HW=Homework




Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer
We have been focusing on Pre, During, and Post reading strategies that the students can apply to all of their reading.  We have also been working in small reading groups to customize our students’ needs for reading and comprehension.  The students have also been working on various grammar skills with verbs.  We will take our Unit 3 common assessment Friday, February 8.  We will begin Unit 4 Week 1 next week with a look back into history and the civil rights movement.  

Pleasant Hill Intermediate School

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

Important Dates 1/3/13 -  School Resumes 1/21/13 - No School - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 1/23/13 - District Spelling Bee @ High School PAC 2/18/13 - No School - President’s Day 2/19/13 - No School - Teacher P.D. Day

5B TEAM NEWSLETTER Holiday Activities

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


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 will be finishing chapter 6 on the settling of the 13 original colonies.  Then we will be looking at the events that led to the Revolution.


Science -
We will be starting chapter 13 which is on physics.  We will start with forces such as gravity and magnetism.  Then we will study Newton's Laws.  Finally we will look at simple machines such as levers and inclined planes.



Math--Mrs. Lucht, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer
Happy New Year!!  We are back in the grove finishing our division unit
in math.  This week we will cover prime numbers, composite numbers,
and divisibility rules or how can I tell that a number divides another
number?  We start again our five AM tests that are due this quarter.
Our math focus groups will be preparing us for the MAP test and taking
tests in general.  We also will be continuing to master our math facts
through the 12s.  If the students say they are ever bored at home,
please let them recite math facts to you. LOL  We will continue to
write about math and learn how to put math ideas in writing to justify
our answers. Thanks so much for your support and all you do to help
you child succeed in math.  Joy Lucht

Communication Arts--Mrs. Murray, Ms. Love, Mrs. Dyer
Happy New Year!  We will start our first two days back working on the 6 trait writing skill of organization.  Students will be writing about their New Year’s Resolutions.  We will also be spending time doing some close reading on what resolutions are.  The following weeks will be spent finishing up Unit 3.  We will also begin to prep for the MAP test.  We will do weekly MAP prep activities along with switching up our bell work and doing some more writing, proofreading and grammar skills.  Finally, we will begin Unit 4.  Thank you for all of your support this 1st semester and 2nd semester will be AWESOME!   I will also be having students recycle or take home any materials they have used for 1st semester.  This will help to lessen the load in their binder.