Purse Pages

October 7, 2016
Edition 3

Enjoy the Long Weekend!

Dear Parents,
Another week has
flown by and we
certainly have been
working hard! We
have begun to get into
the Halloween spirit
with a change of
classroom
decorations.
Thank you for all of
you who signed up for
Conferences. If you
have not had an
opportunity to yet, and
you plan to attend,
please take a moment
to sign up. I have very

few slots left on Nov.

21st.
GREAT NEWS!
The class completed
their first paper clip
chain which means
we can plan a party.
Since this week and
next week are short
weeks, we are going
to wait until later in
the month to
celebrate. They
worked hard to earn
this party! Let the
celebration begin.

The students paid

their first months
rent and received
their salary. I have
some financial
planners in here.
Now that they see
how the whole
process works, I
can see some
wheels spinning on
how they are going
to save or spend
their money.
We will see who
chooses to spend at
the auction!

Whats Happening in the Classroom?

ELA

During ELA we have been

focusing on some new
skills. The students have
been working on citing
evidence to support
claims they make about
what they are reading as
well as writing concise
summaries. These are
difficult strategies that we
will be working on all year
long. The students have
to be close readers. They
have to think about the
text they are reading while
they are reading it.
We continued to explore
our theme of beliefs and
values. This week I
introduced the essential

question: At what lengths

will someone (a character)
go to, to protect his or her
values?
The students are
continuing to work through
our novel Bud Not Buddy.
While reading I am having
the students pay close
attention to what they are
thinking while they are
reading. They are
annotating using post-it
notes. So, when you see
their books coming home
you should see post-its
popping out all over!
Often times, we have a lot
of thoughts, feelings, and
questions while reading.

By drawing attention to
this, the students are
seeing what they do when
they read that helps them
to connect to the text and
their characters on a
deeper level.
In writing, we are
continuing to try to find
small moment stories to
write about. The students
learned what it is like to
write from their point of
view. They also got their
writing partners and
started to share their
stories and practice giving
constructive feedback to
one another.

Page 2 of 3

Continued
Science
"You can teach a
student a lesson
for a day; but if
you can teach him
to learn by
creating curiosity,
he will continue
the learning
process as long as
he lives."

Clay P. Bedford

This was an exciting week

in our science unit. The
students have been
waiting for their salt
solutions to evaporate and
they finally did. What they
saw was surprising to
them. The salt crystals
that remained in the
evaporation dish were
larger than what they had
poured in originally and
the crystals had a
pattern/shape. The
students had great
questions and wanted to
further their investigation
on separating solutions.
They weighed the salt to
see if the mass was the
same as before it
dissolved and drew

pictures of their
observations. Now we are
investigating if it will
evaporate again and have
the same result.

Social Studies
We have just begun our
study of the American
Indians and their land.
The students will be
looking at the migration
routes of the first
Americans and how they
adapted to their new
environments. They will
learn about some of the
tribes that migrated here
as well as their origin
stories.

Math
In math, we have continued
our study of operations and
algebraic thinking. This
week we dove into the world
of Harry Potter and visited
Hogwarts to discuss
expressions and equations.
The students were sorted
into different houses and
were vying for the house
cup based on how well they
worked and applied their
Standards for Mathematical
Practice to their work. They
had to identify real world
situations where
expressions and equations
would be used. They are
really starting to be able to
write about their process
rather than just solve
problems.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

Monday 10/10
Columbus Day No School

Monday 10/11
Institute day

Monday 10/12
No School

Questions to Ask Your Child

.

1.

Phone:
(224)-765-3674

E-Mail:
rpurse@nssd112.org

What did you do in art, gym, music, and

tree house this week?
2. Who is in your new group?
3. What house were you sorted into for the
Hogwarts House Cup this week?
4. Did Ms. Purse do anything different to the
classroom for October?
5. What do the new bathroom bears look like?
6. What is a read-to-self four square?
7. What activity did you do in community
building this week? How did your group do?
8. Are you being responsible and getting your
agenda signed and your book to school each
day?
9. What is something that Bud values, in Bud
not Buddy? Why?
10. Did you spend your money at the first class
auction? If so, what did you buy? If not,
are you saving it for any reason?