MPS & MJS Newsletter

Dear Families,

Wow! Where did October go? We have had a lot of amazing things happening at Medinah Primary and Intermediate Schools this month.

It was so great to see all of you at Parent Teacher Conferences this month. This partnership and your input is so important in ensuring that we create and foster a flourishing learning environment for your child(ren). We look forward to more family opportunities in the coming months.
Throughout this past month, MPS and MIS classrooms are diving deep into the curriculum. They have routines down and are ready and available to learn. We continue to reinforce the SEL skills needed through PBIS and our classroom meetings. It is so exciting to walk into classrooms and see the students interacting and owning their learning.

Our LMTCs are filled with excitement as the students are hearing the book nominations for the Monarch (ages 5-8) and Bluestem (ages 8-11) awards. These are state readers choice awards that expose the students to different genres of literature while having them vote for their favorite. In addition to the school library, the Roselle library is ready to renew and issue library cards for all Medinah students. You can visit the front desk at the library for more information. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to have access to more books and materials to support your child’s learning at home.

Finally, we are looking forward to the Halloween parade and parties next week. Please remember to look at the Halloween procedure flyer for guidance on costumes and times for the parade. Thank you to the PTO for planning the parties and bringing in the Affy Tapples and pretzels.

Erin Berwick, Medinah Primary School
Natalie Czarnecki, Medinah Intermediate School

Tuesday - 11/5

• No School-General Election Day

Friday - 11/8

• Trimester 1 Ends for grades K-5

Monday - 11/11

• Veterans Day - wear red, white & blue, or camouflage

Wednesday - 11/13

• World Kindness Day- Wear Kindness T-shirt of blue or pink
• MIS - 6:30pm Musical - Grade 5

Thursday - 11/14

• MPS & MIS - Picture Retakes

Friday - 11/15

• Report cards come home

Thursday - 11/21

• Early Dismissal -2:00pm. On Early Dismissal Days, please call before 12:30pm for any pick-up changes.

Monday - 11/25

• No School - Institute Day

Tuesday - 11/26-29

• No School - Thanksgiving Break

This month students have been discussing, observing, and comparing different types of trees. As we study trees, we are investigating their characteristics and the role they play in our environment. Children also learned about the creatures that inhabit trees, the foods they produce and who cares for them. Also, because we are at the end of October, students are learning about the different parts of a pumpkin and the life cycle.

Math- Students were sorting and counting leaves by their color, shape, and size. Students were also comparing trees that were big/little and tall/short.

SEL- Students were identifying feelings of happy, sad, scared, and mad when presented with physical and situational clues. They can look at people’s faces and bodies for clues to help us tell how they feel.

Literacy - Students are learning how to recognize and write a few letters in their first name, as well as asking and responding to questions.

Literacy: We are continuing learning and having fun with our Fundations program. Every week two new letters and sounds are introduced and the children are doing a great job learning. We are also reading and discussing stories about feelings and emotions which ties into our Social Studies and SEL themes.

Writing: We are drawing pictures and trying to label them in our writing journals. We are focusing on including characters and a setting in our writing.

Math: We are continuing to work with the numbers 0-10. A focus this month is answering how many questions with up to 10 objects. We are also starting to build the language and foundation for simple addition and subtraction problems.

We enjoyed meeting with all of you this month to discuss your child’s progress in kindergarten. Thank you for your continued support.

Literacy: The first graders just finished an author study on Kevin Henkes and are discovering books with numbers and the differences in fiction and nonfiction texts.

Writing: The students are working on writing three part stories with a beginning, middle, and end.

Math: In math we are working on solving problems that have a missing part. The students are also understanding the relatiionship between addition and subtraction.

Science: Parts of plants and their functions have been our focus for the past few weeks during our science time.

We enjoyed meeting with all the families for Parent-Teacher Conferences.

Thank you for making the time to come meet with us about your child's progress. By working together we can help your child succeed.

Literacy: We are nearing the end of an author study of Tomie dePaola in reading. We have been talking about sequence of events. In writing, students are composing a personal narrative about a special memory.

Science: We are moving from what plants need to talking about animal-plant dependence in science.

Math: We are nearing the end of our first module in math. Our second module will have us adding and subtracting through 200 using a variety of strategies.

Second Step: In Second Step we have been talking about emotions such as feeling proud and disappointed, and how you can help yourself feel better.

Reading: “Ways Characters Shape Stories”—different genres of fiction texts including fables, myths, and fairy tales; identify character traits and how characters’ actions affect the action of a story

Writing: Informational Book—book and online research to develop facts and details about how animals use adaptations for their survival

Math: Place Value Concepts Through Metric Measurement, Rounding to the Nearest Ten and Hundred, Simplifying Strategies to Find Sums and Differences, Two- and Three- Digit Measurement Addition and Subtraction

Science: Social and Group Behavior; Inheritance and Variance of Traits

Social Science: Civics—How do we have a voice in our community? How do people improve their communities?

Thank Yous: A huge thank you to parent volunteers Samatha Allegretti and Shelly Sangha for their incredible work on our October bulletin board! We’d also love to thank all the families that were able to come to PTC this October. Please remember that we’re always here to help!

As always, if there are any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask your child’s teacher!

Fourth graders have been busy and it's hard to believe we are nearing the end of Trimester One already!

Reading: Unit 2: Character’s Actions and Reactions: Explain Key Details and Summarize; Describe a Character in Depth; Comparing Fairy Tales and Fables; Make Connections Between a Story and a Visual Presentation

Math: Module 2 Place Value Concepts for Multiplication and Division: Compose and Decompose Units of 10. Multiplication of Tens and Ones by a One-Digit number, Division of Tens and Ones by a One-Digit Number, Problem Solving with Measurement and Factors and Multiples. Writing: Informative writing describing the behavior and appearance of chipmunks.

Social Studies: Map Skills: Using a Key and Legend, Using a Compass Rose to locate Places on a Grid, Parts of a Globe, Hemispheres, Latitude and Longitude, and Map Scale.

Thank you to those that attended parent teacher conferences. We enjoyed meeting with you and appreciate the conversations and discussions that were had as we work together as partners in your child’s education.

Reading: Unit 2 - “Developing Characters’ Relationships” - identify key events and summarize, compare and contrast characters, explore dialect, analyze multimedia, discuss mood and tone

Math: Module 2 - Addition and Subtraction with Fractions

Writing: RACES Writing Strategy (Restate the question, Answer the question, Cite evidence, Explain your evidence, Sum it all up)

Science: Matter is Everywhere

Our MPS book fair was a success! We sold almost $6,000 worth of books to families and students. A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by and bought books for students and their classroom teachers. I enjoyed meeting everyone and can't wait to see you again soon. We are still looking for parent volunteers for library checkout, so please reach out if you are interested.

Kindergarten- Parts of a book

1st grade- Features of fiction books versus non-fiction books

2nd grade- Text features in non-fiction books

All grades- We are reading Illinois Monarch Award nominees, as well as books that align with holidays and special months, such as Hispanic Heritage Month and Halloween. We use Chromebooks during most classes to explore "digital choice boards" that align with what we are learning that day. Students have also started Typing Club to practice their keyboarding skills. These options are available on the MPS Symbaloo if you would like to use them at home.

October is such an exciting time in the LMTC! The leaves are falling just as fast as the many new books we have are “falling” off the shelves. No surprise here, but our new Goosebumps Graphic Novels are quite the scream this season.

Bluestem has officially begun. All grade levels have been introduced to the novels and are so excited to begin reading towards their goal of finishing all 20 Bluestem Books before February. Students who read at least 6 will be invited to our End of the Year Celebration. Students who read more than 6 will be eligible for extra prizes.

The LMTC is again hosting their Book Character Pumpkin Contest. Last year’s entries were fantastic. It will definitely be hard to top them. The creativity and imagination of our students and their families is “unbooolievable”.

The One Book, One School program has begun. Every classroom teacher is reading aloud the Bluestem Book, Air to their classes. They are also participating in whole school trivia and goal setting activities to mirror events in the story. We are excited to be using this novel with the students as it is a wonderful way to teach empathy and acceptance of others. Be on the lookout soon for the other exciting events we have planned for this program.

Kindergarten
-Explored fast and slow music through singing and movement
-Began to compare high and low sounds

1st Grade
-Labeled the beat in music and showed it in a variety of ways (movement, instruments, etc.)
-Practiced identifying high and low pitches that are only a minor third away from each other

2nd Grade
-Created, dictated, and performed rhythm patterns containing quarter rests
-Discovered a pitch lower than mi

3rd Grade
-Performed and created rhythms that contain sixteenth notes
-Discovered that there is a pitch LOWER than do

4th Grade
-Discovered a new rhythm that is the opposite of ti-tika, currently called “lemonade”
-Read, wrote, and improvised melodies with low la

5th Grade
-Focused on understanding the difference between major and minor tonalities in music, and worked to identify them aurally
-Continued preparing for our November performance

Kindergarten: used oil pastels for our planets and collaged them together to make our space landscapes, used bingo daubers to create black cats, used crayons to make shadows on our ghosts drawings

1st grade: created pumpkin patches that show one-point perspective, used texture plates and inspiration from “Where the Wild Things Are” to create our own texture creatures.

2nd grade: created landscapes that showed one point-perspective and vanishing point, identified types of textile art and created turtle weavings for our April art show, created paintings inspired by the book “Crab Cakes” by Andrea Tsurumi for our April art show

3rd grade: used ball-point pens to create texture for our texture animals, used the resist watercolor technique to create seahorse painting for our April art show

4th grade: explored value (tints and shades) with paint mixing for our ice cream cones, created gradients and gray scale lighthouses for our April art show, created circle towns with one-point perspective

5th grade: identified and created self-portraits inspired by lego figures, created a range of values (tints and shades) to create underwater silhouettes for our April art show

The past month has been nothing short of fun and games. Over at the primary building, students have been playing a variety of games to develop their locomotor skills, including “Jump the River” and various teamwork activities. They are continuously learning new games and engaging in fun activities, such as our game “Grab It,” which focuses on reaction time.

Over at Intermediate, students had a month filled with fitness testing and began our first unit of the year, soccer. They have learned the rules and positions on the soccer field and had opportunities to practice essential skills such as dribbling, passing, and shooting. As we move into the next month, we will be starting a new unit.

With the changing temperatures and fall-like weather upon us, it is important to remember to send your student to school in temperature appropriate clothing. The buildings are also having temperature changes, so it is important to send your student to school with a sweatshirt or light jacket for the fluctuating temperatures. In addition to the weather changing, please remember to keep your student home from school if they have a fever of 100 degrees or higher, vomiting or have a skin rash of unknown cause. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our health office team and we would be happy to assist.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our district nurse, Renee Wesley at rewesley@medinah11.org or our Health office assistant, Ewelina Korzeniewski at ewkorzeniewski@medinah11.org.