Newsletter

Friday October 3, 2014

Social Studies-Mrs. Larsen
Connee.Larsen@indianola.k12.ia.us
We are beginning to use our Geography Alive! textbooks starting with
Chapter 2, which will teach us about physical features, climate ones,
vegetation ones, economic activity, an! population !ensity" We#ve
complete! a $cavenger %unt thru the textbook, so we are rea!y to
!ive in" $tu!ents who !i! not score as well as hope! on their &atitu!e
&ongitu!e 'ui or on the Geo()ournal Chapter * Assessment will have the
opportunity to !o retakes this week"
Math-Mrs. Vetter
alisha.vetter@indianola.k12.ia.us
+his week in math we wrappe! up ,nit * of -very!ay
.ath(Collection, /isplay, an! 0nterpretation of /ata" $tu!ents
took the ,nit * Assessment We!nes!ay an! +hurs!ay of this
week" +hey will be getting those back early next week" /ay 2
groups also began ,nit 2 to!ay, which /ay * groups will begin
on .on!ay"
,nit 2 covers 1perations with Whole Numbers an!
/ecimals" +he 2rst three lessons entail writing whole numbers, comparing !ecimals,
an! a!!ing an! subtracting !ecimals" .uch of this shoul! be review for the stu!ents
or take it to the next level"

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Phone !"1-!#$% e&t. $1'(
)ave a su*er weekend+
Li,rary -ews-Mrs..anamaker
/arma..anamaker@indianola.k12.ia.us
+he 3ook 4air is coming! Get rea!y to atten! the mi!!le school book fair" 0t
will be hel! !uring conferences5 November 6, 7, an! 8 in the mi!!le school
library" +here will also be an opportunity to go online an! or!er books as
well" All money bene2ts the mi!!le school library to purchase new
materials" .ore information will be coming in future newsletters"
0rt-Mrs. Smith
lisa.smith@indianola.k12.ia.us

Class website: www.artinspiredbylife.com
This week: students accomplished the following goals:
Students made finishing touches on their still life drawings
Watched the movie about Edgar Degas and talked about the following points:
1. What did Edgar want to capture in his paintings?
2. What made him different from other impressionist painters?
3. What motivated Edgar and how did his model Marie change his life? ow was
Edgar a positive influence on Marie?
4. ow did the group of artists become known as the impressionists? Wh! did this
group choose to paint in a different st!le?

"e#t week: students will be painting the color wheel and then creating an impressionist painting$

See art class website for details on the following poster contests
%eace %oster &optional' Contest posters due (ct$ )
th
*adon &optional' contest posters due (ct +,
th


S-uare + .rt Dates to remember:
(ctober +,th: Custom catalogs will be distributed &students and parents will get
directions how to order products'
"ovember +/th: School will receive products

Science 1 Mrs. Sim*son
2orisa.Sim*son@indianola.k12.ia.us
+he $cience classes have recently been assesse! over the Water Cycle 9rocesses
an! Water Cycle :ocabulary" +he Water Cycle 9rocesses assessment is recor!e! in
0n2nite Campus as ;Water Cycle 9osttest< an! has *= points possible" +here was
also a pretest for this assessment that was recor!e! in the non(gra!e! portion of
0n2nite Campus earlier this year" >ou may want to look an! see how much growth
your chil! has ma!e" %owever, you will nee! to note that the pretest was only worth
7 points" +he scores for the :ocabulary assessments have also been recor!e! in
0n2nite Campus"
9lease note that any stu!ent that is not pro2cient ?score! below @=AB on either
assessment is required to 2ll out a Concept Cecovery 9lan an! retest after
preparation" +he retesting !ays are on the Concept Cecovery 9lan paperwork" A
parentDguar!ian#s signature is reEuire! on this paperwork in or!er for the stu!ent to
get an opportunity to retake any assessment"
+his week we have starte! our measurement an! !ata unit with an intro!uction to
graphing worksheet" +he next time they ha! $cience, stu!ents were given !ata
regar!ing the Water Cycle Assessment results to graph" We starte! with a matrix
an! together we constructe! a line graph an! a bar graph" +he stu!ents were then
assigne! a worksheet with Euestions that aske! them to analye the !ata from the
graphs"
Ms. Loneman 1 Lan3ua3e 0rts
This week included a mixture of vocabulary practice and writing work. Students were
introduced to the lesson 12 vocabulary and they practiced defining and providing
examples and non!examples for each of the ten vocabulary words. The students
were also introduced to their next writing assignment which is a personal narrative.
"ach student has a personal narrative packet which contains all the directions rubric
examples pre!writing and rough draft. # copy of the directions and rubric can be found on my
website.
$ext week will also include a mixture of writing and reading work. %or writing students
will type their rough drafts edit&revise their work and a partner's work and then type their final
copy. #gain if students are in class and use class time wisely they should be able to complete
their typing at school.
Students will also be introduced to the main selection next week as they begin listening
to and reading (#irborn.) The target skill for this lesson is (story structure) so students will
continue practicing completing story maps to demonstrate their understanding of story elements
*conflict resolution theme characters setting etc.+.
0mportant Dates:
,ctober 3
rd
-hand!written rough draft due
,ctober .
th
-typed rough draft due
,ctober 1/
th
-final copy due
,ctober 10
th
-tentative date for lesson 12 vocabulary and comprehension assessments
1"ote regarding language arts folder:
1'd like to ask for your help again in making sure that students are only cleaning out their folders
with me in language arts class. This helps to prevent necessary notes and work from
accidentally getting thrown away. 2e clean out our folders as a whole class at the end of every
2!3 week lesson during which 1 tell students which work needs to go home be kept or can be
recycled. Thank you3
#s always please contact me at any time with comments 4uestions or concerns.
Email: melissa$loneman2indianola$k+3$ia$us
%hone: 4)+54,67 e#t$ 6+68
Twitter: 2msloneman &twitter$com9msloneman'
Website: msloneman$weebl!$com
ave a great weekend:
Box Tops
Send to school anytime+ Collection tu,s are located in
Lan3ua3e Arts rooms
and main office.
Language Arts with Mr. Kotz
Hello all! Your student should have just finished their first rough draft of personal
narrative. We be continuing these drafts in the computer labs throughout all of next
week. We will also be progressing through our main selection over the course of
the week and into the week of the 12
th
.
ur reading lesson is still the following!
Lesson 12:
Main Selection: Airborn
Big Idea: "ometimes #ou need to give it all #ou$ve got.
Essential uestions: How does a sk# setting shape a stor#$s events%
!arget S"ill: "tor# "tructure !arget Strateg#: &nfer'(redict
$luenc#: )xpression
%oca&ular# Strategies: (refixes! en*+ ad*
!arget 'oca&ular#: jostled+ careening+ relishing+ falter+ supple+ taut+ frail+ engulf+ fra#ed+ undulating
,his lesson will take approximatel# three weeks to complete. ,he pacing of each activit# and
assessment ma# var#+ depending on our dail# progress.
Known (ue (ates:
)cto&er *
rd
+ ,arrati'e handwritten -aragra-h
)cto&er .
th
/end of class0 + ,arrati'e t#-ed rough draft
)cto&er 11
th
+ ,arrati'e final draft due.
$urther ,otes:
Your child has received a cop# of the rubric for the narrative project. (lease feel free to look over
it with them and guide them as the# complete their homework.
Please feel free to use this link of our text book to have your students our main selection outside of
class:
http!''www*k-.thinkcentral.com'content'hsp'reading'journe#s'na'gr-'ese./0123405-2522.'launch.html6
7s alwa#s+ please feel free to contact me if #ou have 8uestions or concerns.
9onathan.kot:;indianola.k12.ia.us
313*/-1*/352 ext. 5111