2/29/15 - 3/4/15

We've had a great week this week!  We were able to do a practice PARCC test which was helpful to everyone.  Our district was able to see if our internet worked, teachers were able to set up testing sessions, and our students were able to take a practice test.  It was very helpful for them to learn how to use the tools and see what the tests will look like.  You should have received a parent letter about motivational slips for your child at the PARCC test.  Please fill these slips out and return them to us in a sealed envelope.

Don't forget we have No School on Tuesday, March 15th.  This is a Teacher Inservice Day and the primary election.

Please don't forget to take our 5 essentials survey.  Our district looks at the results and so do the Whittier Staff.  Please share how you feel about our school.  The survey is focused on Whittier's educational practices and our overall school climate.  Parents can access the survey from home at the following site:  https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/

Thank you,
Leslie and David

Reading: This week we continued reading Number the Stars and also read The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco. The Butterfly is very similar to Number the Stars in that they are both about the Holocaust and have similar characters. We have had some great discussions in class about the similarities and differences between the characters in both stories. We have also talked a lot about rising action in Number the Stars and how the plot becomes more suspenseful as the story continues during the rising action.  Ask your child what they think has been the most suspenseful part of Number the Stars.

Centers: This week we worked on determining action and linking verbs, read a really interesting article on the climate change and its impact on the arctic in Scholastic News, practiced our typing skills, and summarized the first parts of The One and Only Ivan. We talked about the differences between action and linking verbs. Action verbs are actions the subject of a sentence is doing and linking verbs connect a subject to a description. Is, am, and are, are all great examples that students mentioned! Ask your child for an example of a sentence that uses a linking verb.

Writing:  This week we kicked off a new project, but we have put it on hold for the moment. As mentioned in an email to the 303 families, we will stop the project for now and come back to it after spring break. Nothing needs to be done now for this project! Instead we started using this time to do activities associated with The One and Only Ivan as well as other writing activities.  Ask your child to show you their journal response on The One and Only Ivan.

Math: This week we continued to work on fractions. We went over our midterm tests and self corrected.  We will be using the time during reteach and enrich to review fractions for the next two weeks.  After our midterm, we went on to learn how to add/subtract/multiply fractions with whole numbers.  We also learned how to multiply numbers with different denominators.

On Thursday we signed up for the Kahn Academy Learn Storm Challenge.  Students will earn us points every time they go on Kahn Academy.  We will be doing this once a week for homework but they can sign on as often as they would like!

Ask your student if they can add 3/5 + 5/10

Social Studies:  This week we finished our Northeast presentations and moved on in our region research to the Midwest.  Everyone was very excited to learn about our own region.  We will be researching it for the next few weeks and then will make a group google presentation for this region.  Ask your student who they are researching the Midwest with!

Science:  Our students are now learning about magnetism from Mrs. Darley.  Ask your child what they learned this week!

Miscellaneous Information

• The survey is focused on Whittier's educational practices and our overall school climate.  Parents can access the survey from home at the following site: https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/

• Wonderful Whittier Families:
  I am in need of some gently used clothing for the Whittier health office:  
  • Sizes 2T, 4T, and 6T boys and girls pants
  • Sizes 4, 6, and 8 boys and girls pants

  Thank you for your assistance!

  Anne Guerrier

  Whittier School Nurse\
• Oak Park Education Foundation: Staszak Annual Gala on 4/16; Peter Sagal, host of NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" newsquiz, will be our host! Always looking for volunteers to help with this important event, if you or someone you know loves to plan a party -- or if you have an angle on potentially awesome auction donors -- please email opefgala@gmail.com (which will reach Gala co-chairs Kandy Shapiro and Carrie Cotter)