Lion Tales. Olin Consolidated School District Trilby Street - Olin, IA Phone

Transcription

1 D E C E M B E R Lion Tales Olin Consolidated School District Trilby Street - Olin, IA Phone FROM THE DESK OF MRS. SHARON DICKMAN OLIN SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT/PRINCIPAL PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES: Big THANKS to all of the parents who made it to Parent-Teacher Conferences in November. We had a great turn out with a 94% attendance rate. In fact there were four classrooms with 100% of the parents attending conferences. They were Pre-K, 2 nd, 5 th, and 6 th grades. WAY TO GO PARENTS! For parents who were not able to attend, I highly recommend a phone conversation with your child s teacher. PRE-K PLAYGROUND: The school board recently decided to develop a Pre-K playground on school grounds. Currently, the Olin Pre-K shares the Little Lions playground because the school playground is not age appropriate for 4 year olds. Recently, the Department of Education completed a site visit to determine if we were in compliance with policies, procedures, and regulations. We learned that the Pre-K playground is required to have gross motor equipment for activities such as pulling up; walking, climbing in, on and over; moving through, around, and under; pushing, pulling; and riding. In addition the equipment needs to be commercial quality and secured to the ground to prevent injuries. In other words, equipment purchased at Wal-Mart does NOT meet the regulations. The items will be paid out of the LOSST fund. SENIOR CITIZENS CHRISTMAS DINNER: The Senior Citizens Christmas Dinner will be Thursday, December 12 in the school cafeteria. In addition, students will be singing holiday music. This year ham will be served along with all of the fixings. The kitchen staff - Terri Hamilton, Karen Townsend, and Mary Fletchall work diligently to make this a memorable occasion. TEACHER LEADERSHIP AND COMPENSATION PLAN: We need parents to volunteer to be part of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation Plan committee. The committee consists of parents, teachers and administration. The purpose of the committee is to write an application to be submitted to the DE in January, The goals of the Teacher Leadership Compensation Plan are to 1. Offer competitive salaries to new teachers, 2. Retain effective teachers, 3. Promote collaboration between teachers, 4.Reward teachers with increased leadership responsibilities with increases in compensation. 5. Improve student achievement by strengthening instruction. Please call or Sharon Dickman, Superintendent at for more information. Olin Consolidated School District 1

2 FIRST GRADE: Our word study program, Words Their Way, makes us smile. We ve sorted our way to the sh and ch sounds. Doubles, doubles, we can count doubles! We have been singing our double facts. 1+1=2, 2+2=4, doubles, doubles, I can count doubles! Ask a first grader to sing the doubles sound to you. Phonics is still fun! We ve added b, c, d, k, and o. We re hoping to finish our alphabet review before Winter break. First grade students have been making unique creations inspired by literature. They ve made a cityscape, a desert with sand, and spaghetti and meatballs with yarn. Our books come to life every week! ~ Mrs. Hendrickson SECOND GRADE: Greetings from Second Grade! The students busy practicing their buddy reading, addition math facts, and showing everyone their BUG behavior. Last month they learned about the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving and this month they are anxiously awaiting to learn about Christmas Around the World. The students are currently filling out their passports so that they can travel abroad! It is a fun and exciting time of year for them and I am proud of how well they are staying focused and working hard. ~Mrs. Meixner and the Second Grade Class THIRD GRADE: Hello from Third Grade! November has brought many busy topics to the classroom. Third grade mathematicians are moving from multi-digit addition and subtraction to beginning multiplication! They are also continuing to work on math facts. Students have been studying the skeleton system in science, and are very excited to dissect owl pellets in the near future! In relation to their science topic, students are brightening up the classroom by creating unique owls in art class, using secondary colors. ~ Ms. Lundgren and the Third Grade Class Olin Consolidated School District 2

3 FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADE: The 5 th graders are finishing their large unit up on dividing. We are almost done with dividing in decimals. After that we will be starting our large unit on fractions. In English they just end their work on their persuasive paper. We will be starting verbs in our next unit. In Science we are working on our unit Microworlds; seeing things that are around them in much great detail. They will be using a microscope to see microscopic animals and learning what it means to be detailed in drawing and observing. The 6 th graders just started a new unit in Math, Geometry! They are working on identifying different lines and angles. They are also working on being able to measure and use math to solve what degree the angle is. In Science they are starting their Experimenting with Plants unit. They designed to experiments that they hope will make their plants grow quicker, larger, and produce more seeds at the end. Both the 5 th and 6 th graders are working hard in their Spelling lessons. They are also doing well in Word Wall Words, knowing the meanings and being able to apply them to see if they are used correctly or not in sentences. In Literature Groups we are starting our unit on Science Fiction and Fantasy stories. I am excited to see if they like these styles of writing. ~ Mrs. Armstrong In 6 th grade Reading, we have been reading some short stories and completing some activities and comprehension questions to go along with them. We continue to make connections with what we read. We have also been expanding our vocabulary using the word wall and practicing those words in various ways. In Social Studies, we have started our Chapter on Ancient Egypt. We have read about the location of Ancient Egypt, mummies, pyramids, writing, math, pharaohs, and will continue learning much more. We recently did some writing using hieroglyphics and drawing using Frontalism. In English, after completing a unit on nouns, we ve just finished up a paper that compares where we talked about the similarities and differences between two things. In 5 th grade Reading, we have been reading some short stories from our reading book and making connections as we read. We are looking at seeing things from other points of view. In Social Studies, we have been learning about some of the early settlers who came to our country and will be writing an essay about a Native American Tribe. ~ Mrs. Onken PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Hello, Olin. Last month the entire school participated in the Healthy Kids Iowa Day. On that day we, as a school, walked around the part of Olin promoting the act of being healthy and taking care of our bodies. Also, on that day was Walk to School Day, which resulted in about 15 students riding their bikes and over 20 students that rode bikes/walked to school. It was really encouraging to see the excitement the students had on this day and that they want to do it again next year. This month the PreK-2 nd grade have been focusing on throwing, along with a little bit of catching for our unit. This is helping the students with some hand-eye coordination, along with some fine motor skills. The 3 rd -6 th graders are starting to finish up their volleyball unit. The passing has been getting better and hopefully that carries over into the games. ~ Mr. Husak Olin Consolidated School District 3

4 RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES POP TAB COLLECTION CONTEST: Olin Elementary is participating in the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois (RMHC-EIWI) sixth annual Pop Tab Collection Contest this year. The contest runs from November 2013 to April Schools in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois compete against each other in collecting pop tabs. The TWO schools that collect the most tabs will both be awarded a prize and a presentation ceremony! Students are encouraged to bring the pull-tabs from cans to school to put in the collection containers. This is an excellent way to recycle and contribute back to our community. For more information about the Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Pop Tab Collection Contest, visit the website OLIN ELEMENTARY IS THANKFUL: The students and staff at Olin Elementary are thankful for many things. The halls were lined with black paper, and students and staff had the opportunity to write what they are thankful for in life. Here are a few of the comments: Thank You! Teri, Karen, & Mary for all the good meals! I m thankful for my family. I m thankful for this holiday and turkey. I m thankful for my life and my friends. I m thankful for my friends and family. I m thankful for my family, a house, and food. IOWA AEA ONLINE RESOURCES: Iowa Area Education Agencies provide twelve dynamic online resources for grades prek-6 to all Iowa accredited schools. Iowa students have access at school and at home (Internet access required), 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These online resources give your child access to a wealth of information for assignments, classroom projects, and personal interest. One of these online resources is BookFLIX, an online literacy resource that pairs fictional video storybooks with related nonfiction books for grades PreK to third. Read-aloud feature provides accessibility to all readers. Vocabulary feature and interactive games extend student learning. Student can access these online resources at using the username and password they are given at school. The password can also be obtained by contacting the elementary school. Olin Consolidated School District 4

5 OCTOBER 2013 B.U.G.S Kings and Queens Students are taught and reminded to make choices based on: The SAFETY of all students and adults Treating all students and adults with RESPECT RESPONSIBLE behaviors Pre-Kindergarten Kindergarten 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade Olin Consolidated School District 5

6 Senior Citizen Christmas Dinner: Please join us at the Olin School December 12th at 11:30 for our Senior Citizen Christmas Dinner. Please call Carrie or Sandy at to RSVP by December 6th. Olin Consolidated School DECEMBER Trilby Street PO Box 320 Olin, IA CAR-RT-SORT Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Permit No 2 Olin, Iowa ECRWSS BOX HOLDER OLIN, IA 52320