Week of May 6

Preparing for Weeks to Come

Wooo! This week seemed to go really fast. we only have about 24 days in school and we are still working hard. The next week is going to go by just as quick. Yes, we have been discussing a lot about the upcoming tests. The good thing is that I feel like we are prepared. The bad thing is being that this is all new to them, they have a lot of questions. We have a lot of discussions in class, not just about the test but other topics as well. So, hopefully our range of discussions falls over into their thoughts over the next few weeks. The next week we will be working on mostly reading and math. I will  touch on social studies and science through some reading skills. 

Attached is a link for an article that is a good read before testing: Testing Tips for Parents to Help Students with High Stakes Testing

Also, I am sending a list out for you to sign up on for our "Countdown to Testing" treats and our snacks on testing days. They are usually hungry because we stay in testing mode until all classes have finished testing. Our "Countdown to Testing" will include Smarties, Blowpops, Nerds, Nestle Crunch, Starburst, and Razzle candies. Our testing snacks will include chewing gum, mini bottles of water, pretzels, Goldfish, and poptarts. There will be a sign-up sheet coming out shortly. Please if you sign up for the "Countdown to Testing" snacks, send them by this coming Monday. If you sign up for the testing treats, please send them in by Friday. this lets me know what I need to buy over the weekend. 

SIGN-UP for Testing Snacks Link

Reading Counts

Congratulations to Justin J. 

for reaching 250 Reading Counts Points

COMMUNITY NEWS

State Assessments for 3rd-5th Grades

The SC Ready and SC PASS state assessments are scheduled for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.

• ELA - Day 1 (Writing): Tuesday, May 14th
• ELA - Day 2 (Reading): Wednesday, May 15th
• Math: Friday, May 17th
• Science (4th grade only): Tuesday, May 21st
• Social Studies (5th grade only): Tuesday, May 21st

Students will use paper testing booklets for the ELA  Day 1 and Day 2. For Math, Science, and Social Studies, students will have the test administered online.

Parents and students can access the online training tools for all four tests using the following site from the SC Department of Education by going to:  https://wbte.drcedirect.com/SC/portals/sc

Please have your child at school by 8:00AM and prepare your child for testing by:

• Having your child get a good night's sleep.
• Avoiding scheduling appointments for your child on testing days. We cannot guarantee when the test will end, and the tests cannot be suspended to be resumed the next day once a student starts the test.
• Encouraging your child to take his/her time, read all of the passages and questions carefully, use the scratch paper provided, write rough drafts, work out problems, and do his/her personal best.
• Arriving at school on-time. Students who come to school tardy may end up taking their tests in an alternate testing location or on a make-up testing day.
• Having your child eat a light, healthy breakfast.

Summer Camps

Looking for summer camps in the area? Check the Richland Two Pinterest-Camps Board for information on a variety of camps in the area. There are camps for STEM, piano, girls leadership, and so much more.

This board is up-dated regularly so check it for new postings as summer gets closer!

https://www.pinterest.com/richlandtwo/camps/

Week of April 29 - May 3

Revving Our Engines!!

This week has been awesome!! We are revving our engines in preparation for our state tests in 2 weeks. We will be reviewing a lot as well as still learning new concepts! We, also, have less than 30 days left in school. Wow!!

Sneak Peek
Reading - We will be reviewing reading skills and working on a poetry unit.

Math - Finish working on fractions and reviewing previously taught skills

Science - Continue landforms

Social Studies - Finish antebellum unit. Quiz on Wednesday and test will be Tuesday, May 7th.


Congratulations
Lance
Lance is having a poem published in the Country Chronicle. 

Week of April 8th

What an Awesome, Hardworking Week We've Had

This past week has been totally awesome! We have been working hard during our math and reading MAP blitz. A lot of the skills were a review, but we did do some advanced strategies on a lot of them. Make sure they have practice in the basics as well, such as basic multiplication facts. Remind them they need to draw them out if they are unsure. Four digit subtraction can be a beast, especially when you're having to borrow. You would be shocked to see how many of them still get stumped for careless mistakes. If they come home and want to continue practicing, please allow them to work. One of my favorite sayings, "You're going to play the way you practice!" Some of them have already seen this come true. We have done everything from multiplying 4 digit by 1 digit to dividing with 1 divisor and remainders. Like I said, they have been working hard. 

Also, we are a week away from spring break!! WooHoo!!!!! They are so ready for a break, but I just need them to contain it at least until Tuesday. 😁 Remember, Friday is a 1/2 day, so please make sure your child knows how they are getting home.

Thank You

Guess what!! We won the library prize for 100% Superhero shirts. We actually ties with Ms. Rosenberg's class. I brought extra shirts in and gave them to my students who didn't have one and then I passed the extra to Ms. Rosenberg. She was so close, so I said we could both be winners. Thank you to everyone who participated or wanted to and couldn't. We made it happen! Here's our winning photo!!

Donations Needed


We are in need of some things for the class. If you are willing to donate to the class, some things we need are glue sticks, boxes of tissues, pencils, pencil cap erasers, and items for the treat box we do on Fridays. The treat box is how they spend their Class Dojo points. 

Reading

We will be going more in depth with poetry and figurative language. We are tying it in with our review of fast and slow land changes. There will also be some work on reference sources in relation to our study on government. Our test structure unit will continue while we are studying skills from "Penguin Chick". Of course, I had to show the kids excerpts from "Happy Feet", because it goes along so well with the story.

Math

In math, we will finish our unit on fractions and continue reviewing perimeter of complex figures. Actually, since we will be getting ready for SC Ready, we will be reviewing a lot of skills we have already covered. As you check your child's homework for completion, you will see that it doesn't take them long to complete and some of the lessons can be combined. This is because I have already covered quite a few skills during our Math 4 Today lessons. These will also continue next week.

Topic A, Lessons 1-4 Newsletter

Topic A Quiz, Wednesday, April 10th

Topic B, Lessons 5-9 Newsletter

Topic B Quiz, Friday, April 12th (tentatively scheduled)
Topic C, Lessons 10-13 Newsletter

Science

We will continue working on fast and slow land changes while incorporating different landforms. Some of our readings about these natural disasters and landforms will be in poetry form. As you can tell, that will be incorporating reading skills into our science. I don't plan on having a regular test, but they will receive a test grade from the poetry they will be creating about these changes and landforms.

Social Studies

In social studies, we will be wrapping up our unit on government and moving into the Antebellum time period. there will be no test for the government section either, but they will have a one pager that will count as a test grade. They will have their regular notes and some additional readings for the Antebellum period.

State Museum Field Study

First, let me thank my wonderful chaperones who helped Friday with our field study at the state museum: Ms. Anthony, Ms. Barker, Mrs. Bell, and Ms. Wright (and I didn't get to get a picture of my beautiful chaperones).  The kids had an awesome time and we were all thoroughly exhausted when we returned to school. Hopefully, as they toured the museum, they were able to relate some of the artifacts to what we have studied. If not, I'm sure they learned some interesting facts about South Carolina history. I'm sharing the pictures from my phone and I will add more as they are sent to me. As you can tell, no graded papers came home but they will come home next Friday. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Community News

3rd Quarter Honor Roll Recognition

Students will be recognized for achieving 3rd quarter honor roll on the morning show at Upper Campus. The morning show begins at 8:00am.

-Monday, April 22nd for 5th grade

-Tuesday, April the 23rd for 4th grade
-Wednesday, April the 24th for 3rd grade

Upper Campus Career Day

As your child’s new Career Development Facilitator at Lake Carolina Elementary Upper, one of my first projects in empowering your student’s World-Class Knowledge for Career and College readiness is hosting a Career Day. Mrs. Skinner, School Counselor and I will be partnering together to create a Day in which your child will be exposed to as many of the National Career Cluster Frameworks as possible.

  

            Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources ⚈ Architecture & Construction

Arts, A/V Technology & Communications⚈Business Management & Administration

Education & Training ⚈ Finance ⚈Government & Public Administration

Health Sciences ⚈ Hospitality & Tourism ⚈ Human Services

Information Technology⚈ Law Public Safety ⚈ Corrections & Security⚈Manufacturing

Lake Carolina Elementary Upper Career Day

Thursday, May 23rd

8:30-11:30am

In order for this to be a successful event for our Gators, we would like to invite all parents, grandparents and friends to participate and speak about their career. Whatever cluster your career falls into, we would love to have you as our guest!

If you are interested in volunteering as a speaker, please click HERE NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, APRIL 26TH. You will be contacted to confirm your participation and will be provided with more event details.

Thank you in advance for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your career with our students! I look forward to meeting everyone in the Lake Carolina Elementary Upper Community!
Sincerely,

Mrs. Dana Aldighieri, Career Specialist
daldighieri@richland2.org 

Mrs. Jessica Skinner, School Counselor 

jskinner@richland2.org

Week of March 24

Parents and family members,

This week we have had an awesome and productive week this week. The kids worked really hard and I am so proud of them, I'm sure it's reflected in the grades they brought home today. Please check folders for graded papers and permission slips for the field trip that will be taking place this coming Friday (March 29th). I will be contacting parents who volunteered to chaperone. Thank you so much!! There will be 2 chaperones on the bus and others will have to drive themselves. Remember, if you are chaperoning you will be responsible for 2-3 children other than your own. We will begin loading the buses at 9:15 and will arrive at the museum by 10. We will tour the museum first and then have lunch from 11:30-12. At 12:45, we will load the buses to return to school by 1:30. I am so excited and so are the kids. If your student is bringing a lunch from home, please send it to school in a disposable bag with their name and teacher name written on it. I am asking that they wear a LCE t-shirt, so that they can easily be identified. They will also have a wristband on with identifying information on it for safety precautions. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Reading

Focus: main idea and details, poetry, and figurative language 
Review: theme, sequence, idioms, compare and contrast, homophones

Penguin Chicks Test on Thursday, March 28th
Vocabulary: fierce, echoes, shuffles, huddle, down, down, junior

Use these skills and key words for these skills during writing.
We will continue practicing on writing this week as well as text structures. There are 6 of text structures and they have a chart glued into their reading notebooks of them.

 Math

From this ......

         to this

Module 4 
   Module 4, Topic B Newsletter
Module 4, Topic C Newsletter
Quiz on lessons 5-11 on Thursday, March 28th
Module 4, Topic D Newsletter
Module 4 Test on Wednesday, April 3rd

Students will be working on area and perimeter. Please make sure to refer to notebooks and problem set/homework sheets. This will give the students the most bang for their buck for preparation of the test. We will also be working on fractions during our morning work time.

 Science

Continue working on fast and slow land changes through weathering, erosion, and deposition. Some of the key words that will be included are: deposition, erosion, earthquake, glacier, landforms, landslide,  sand dunes, floods, droughts, volcano, and weathering.

Social Studies

Government - why laws are important, Bill of Rights, 3 Branches of Government, and SC Government