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Campus News

Lower Division NewsletterNovember 6, 2009

Junior Kindergarten

Language Arts

We will begin our theme on the seasons anddiscuss weather throughout the year.Children will learn about nature and readstories about animals and plants. Thestudents will continue to work on colorwords, adding brown to our previously

studied color words. We will learn new Alpha friends, Y and W. In handwriting(HWT), we will learn the letters, Cc and Oo.

Social Studies

We will talk about the proper attire fordifferent weather conditions. We will alsodiscuss the importance of celebrations.

Science

Students will do a variety of experiments that focus on the sense of sight and look at how objects differwhen far and near. Children will also learn to categorize objects by shape, size, color, and texture.

Math

Students will learn about the order of things. Vocabulary words will include first and last, as well asposition words. Children will also work onsets of 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Senior Kindergarten

Language Arts

The children will read the story, The Very First Thanksgiving . They will review thestory elements of character, setting,events, and problems. The readingstrategy will emphasize the use of pictureclues, trying to sound out words, andchecking to see if words make sense in astory. They will also work on rhymingwords, CVC patterns, and review thevowels a, e, and i. We will introduce the

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letter Oo. Handwriting practice will focus on first and last names, proper spacing, and letter formation of Ee, Ll and Yy. The children are now working on developing their organization skills as well as expandingtheir writing ideas when writing. We are soproud of our great young authors!

Science

Our Pumpkin Math and Science was a HUGEsuccess. Thank you to our dads, Mr. Riley, Mr.Reed, and Mr. Rodriguez. They were a greathelp, and the children really enjoyed it. Thechildren will continue in their efforts to think like scientists while questioning, investigating,predicting, and discovering. The students willstudy the four seasons and Thanksgiving.

Math

Our focus this week is on: counting to 20, counting backwards from 20, identifying odd and evennumbers to 20, making tally marks to 20, simple addition to 10, measuring using nonstandard units of measurement, graphing, and using same, more, and less in our thinking.

Virtues

The children will read stories such as The Most Thankful Thing to discuss the virtue of thankfulness.

Grade 1

Language Arts

We will continue to work on story elements including comparing and contrasting using a Venn diagram.The children will review plot, setting, main characters, and main idea. Please continue to read with yourchild and review the high frequency words each evening. We will continue to emphasize sentenceconventions such as beginning with a capital letter and ending with punctuation. The children aregrasping the concepts of nounsand verbs. We will continue tostress the importance of havingnouns and verbs in our sentencesas we write. Vowel patterns anddigraphs will be reviewed. We willalso introduce homophones.

Social Studies

Our emphasis this period will be onlearning about the pilgrims andNative Americans and how theylearned to get along with eachother. Our virtue, thankfulness,will be a significant part of ourlessons.

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Math

The children need to learn addition and subtraction facts to 10. As a part of our math routine, we willhave daily timed tests. Please review at least 2 times a week. Our emphasis for the next two weeks willbe on mastering subtraction concepts in word problems.

Grade 2

Language Arts

We will finish our reading theme Nature Walk byconnecting and comparing realistic fiction andnonfiction stories and then focus on fables inliterature. As we read these selections we willmonitor/clarify, categorize and classify, compare andcontrast, predict and infer, and discuss fact andopinion. Our phonics and spelling skills will focus onlong vowels o, u, e with final e words, two soundsfor g, two sounds for c, and /k/ spelled ck and k.Our writing will focus on creating a completeparagraph and adding details to our writing, writingcomplete sentences, and writing a fable. Ourgrammar will focus on nouns, verbs, exclamationpoints, question marks, and periods.

Social Studies

We will continue to focus on the concept of a community by looking at Native American tribes. Thechildren are discovering things about Native

Americans and communities long ago as we readThe Magic Tree House book, Thanksgiving on Thursday . We are also reading books about the firstThanksgiving.

Science

The students will begin an inquiry about soils as webegin our second science unit. We will discuss whatsoil is and where dead plants go, as well asinvestigate sand, clay, and humus. Now that theweather is better for gardening, we will be sprucingup the butterfly garden and identifying the plants in

the garden. We hope to discover different kinds of butterflies and which plants they like best.

Math

The students have gained a better understanding of place value. We will continue to focus on placevalue, the order of two-digit numbers to 100, ordinal numbers, and repeating and growing patterns. Wewill then begin our next unit on geometry and fractions and focus on identifying, classifying, anddescribing plane shapes. The students will continue to practice problem solving skills and addition andsubtraction facts.

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Grade 3

Language Arts

Students are enjoying reading their chapter books. They are working on applying the skills of prediction,understanding cause and effect, identifying

problem and solution, and understandingcharacter analysis and inference.

As it turns out, third grade is a veryimaginative group, and they are writingamazing fictional narratives. Students arelearning to organize their writing into alogical sequence with a beginning thatgrabs the reader and an ending that leavesthe reader satisfied. We will be movingfrom fictional narratives where the author istelling a personal story to story writing thatcan be told from another point of view. This

group loves writing fiction!

Social Studies

Third grade really enjoyed locating the major cities and other points of interest on the AAA map. Theythen transferred that information to their own state map. Our next activity will be to locate springs inFlorida and answer questions utilizing their understanding of cardinal directions and the location of majorcities in Florida. They will also be learning how springs are formed. This is in preparation for ourDecember field trip to Crystal Springs Preserve.

Science

Students are very excited about their firstproject. I cant wait to see their finishedproduct. Our plant and flower unit will comefull circle as we complete our study with theflowers production of seed and then seedtravel.Our garden is providing so much enjoyment.We have lunch next to the garden and observethe changes and growth daily. Passersbyalways comment on how beautiful it is. Wehave to agree!

Math

We were very impressed with the students performance on their addition chapter test.They will be using those same skills and quick recall to solve subtraction problems. We areworking very hard to encourage students to use strategies rather than rely on counting when adding andsubtracting.The subtraction lessons include subtraction without and with regrouping from the tens to the thousandsplace. They also include the very challenging lessons of subtraction across zero.

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Grade 4

Language Arts

The November book projects have beenassigned. The students will organize their

story elements on a turkeys tail feathers. I ampleased with the way these creative projectsare encouraging the students to read. Readinggroups are a highlight of the day. KateDiCamillos literature is chock full of interestingvocabulary and meaningful plots that challengeus as readers and inspire us as writers. Thestudents are in the final editing stages of theirshort stories, Veterans Day writing projectsand free verse poems. Our next writingendeavors are persuasive essays and diamantepoems. In grammar, we will begin our unit onthe study of all types of verbs.

Social Studies

We will begin our next chapter that focuses on the American people. We will discuss culture, patriotism,and immigration.

Science

Our focus this quarter is on Animal Studies. We havebegun to conduct research on the habitats of aquatic,

land, and amphibian animals. We plan to set up aclassroom habitat for our first animal of study,guppies! Prepare yourselves; the persuasive essaysthe students work on in writing may just convince youthat a guppy makes the perfect pet.

Math

We have begun Algebra! The students are like little detectives solving for n. They have such a greatattitude, and I am very proud of their enthusiasm and dedication. We are continuing our Mad Minutequizzes on Fridays. Have they told you that the first student to correctly answer 30 facts in a minute willshare a Sonic snack with me after school?

Helping Hands Food Drive

The Giraffe Club is collecting different foods for Helping Hands, a local food bank.

November 3 6 Cans of fruit and vegetablesNovember 9 13 Dry cereals and soupsNovember 16 20 Cake mixes, frosting, and pasta

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Library Spotlight

Jane Wood, a Florida author, will be visiting in January. If youwish to order her books and have them autographed, pleasereturn the order form in the Friday Folders before theThanksgiving Break.

Did You Know.

Our Lower Division has a team of cheerleaders who are justawesome! They performed at the pep rally and had everyonecheering.

Halloween is always a fun-filled day of celebration at Academy atthe Lakes. The day starts with the traditional parade of costumesfollowed by trick-or-treating through the classrooms on bothWendlek and McCormick Campuses. Fourth grade enjoys thetraditional Monster Mash haunted house that is completely createdby the hard-working fourth grade parents. All other classescelebrate in their classrooms in a variety of ways, including thecarving of pumpkins. The day before the parade is the annualPumpkin Decorating Contest. Each year we are amazed by thenumber of extremely creative entries! This year was no exception!

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Upcoming Events..

November 7, 2009Dillards Fashion Show 2:00 p.m. at Wiregrass

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November 9, 2009JK Parent Conference Day

November 10, 2009SK Parent Conference DayGrade 1 to Homosassa Springs regular uniforms 8:45 a.m. 2:00 p.m.

November 11, 2009 All School Assembly for Veterans Day 10:30 11:15 a.m. in McCormick Gym dress uniforms

November 12, 2009Grade 1 Parent Conference Day

November 13, 2009Grade 2 Parent Conference DayGrade 4 to Plant Museum dress uniforms 9:30 a.m. 1:15 p.m.

November 14, 2009Wildcat Jamboree McCormick Campus 11:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m.

November 16, 2009Grade 3 Parent Conference Day

November 17, 2009Grade 4 Parent Conference DayJK in-house science field trip regular uniforms - 10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m.

November 18, 2009SK hosts assembly 2:30 p.m.

November 19, 2009Sonic Family Night 5:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.Grade 2 to the Pioneer Museum dress uniforms 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

November 20, 2009No classes Professional Day

Miss Sandy Bakes MissTwilas Birthday Cake

Our one and only Miss Twilacelebrated her birthday recently.Miss Sandy surprised us all bybaking a very professional cake!Not only was it beautiful, it wasabsolutely delicious.