THE ROCKET From the Counselor’s Corner: Rocket Pride! by Leah Boon FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS SET READING GOALS, PRACTICE DECIMALS - recordgleaner_20240117_trg-2024-01-17-0-008_art_0.xml
FIFTH GRADERS LEARN ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS, FRACTIONS, CHARACTER TRAIT OF PERSEVERANCE AND MUCH MORE
THE ROCKET for Winter 2024 From the Counselor’s Corner: Rocket Pride! by Leah Boon FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS SET READING GOALS, PRACTICE DECIMALS My name is Leah Boon, and I am the school counselor at Spencer Elementary School, for grades pre-K through fifth grade. I would like to share some information with you regarding the school counseling program and resources available to families. Our classroom lesson topics change monthly, so we have three to four lessons on the given topic. Topics include: listening, anti-bullying, healthy choices, empathy, feelings, kindness, safety, careers and anxiety. These lessons typically include group lessons, games, stories, play and videos. I try my best to deliver this information to students in a fun way. I encourage you to ask your students about guidance time and what we are learning. Our learning topics can bring up good conversation starters for families. Other components of the school counselor role include seeing students one-to-one and or in small groups, and working with families to reduce barriers to education. The school counselors have been noticing a rise in family needs such as housing (homelessness), food, mental health and economic hardship. Our school counseling team works to help reduce these barriers to ensure that our students are attending school on a regular basis, and reduce educational instability and increase support. If you find that your student is struggling, please reach out to their school counselor for help or suggestions. Contact myself for grades pre-K-5, Ms. Attoe for grades 6-8 and Mrs. Brostowitz for grades 9-12. We are available by phone or email most days, and if you cannot reach us, we will connect with you as soon as possible. As always, in an emergency call 911. Another tool that is available to help families is called Wayfinder. Check it out at dhs.wisconsin.gov/wiscway/index.htm. Wisconsin Wayfinder supports families of children with delays, disabilities, special health care needs and mental health conditions. Children’s resource guides are helpers who assist families, caregivers, professionals and organizations in finding a wide array of supports and services available through the Children’s Resource Network. Their services are free and confidential. Overall, I am here to help and welcome any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to contact me via email at lboon@spencer.k12. wi.us, or by phone at 715-659-4642 ext. 1430. With the first half of the school year behind us, we look forward to the second part with our fourth graders, as we have several exciting units and events coming up! In reading, we continue to be goal setters and show great perseverance in our AR (Accelerated Reading) reading challenges! Students have shown great initiative in their reading by setting individual goals, reflecting on their progress and advocating for themselves to be successful within their reading. Additionally, we are busy becoming animal experts by learning about various animals, their habitats and defense mechanisms that allow them to survive. As we get further into the unit, we will take a closer look at the animals that inhabit our school forest through the use of our trail cams. Currently in math, the students are finishing up a unit on fractions and decimals. We’ve learned to use different ways to show fractional amounts such as egg cartons, geoboards and base 10 pieces. We’ve made connections between fractions and decimals by playing different math games to practice our skills. We still have a lot of concepts to work on with addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers, geometry and multi-digit multiplication and division. Looking ahead, the fourth graders will be studying lumberjacks and how this industry impacted the state of Wisconsin. Upon completion of this unit, the fourth graders will build a lumberjack tool and take part in a lumberjack breakfast of flapjacks and sausage, all while dressed as a lumberjack of course! We will also take our annual field trip to Madison on Wednesday, May 15, as a part of our study of government. We are always looking for donations of aluminum cans to help fund this amazing fourth grade trip – our can cage is in the south teachers’ parking lot along Highway C. Thanks for all of your help! EXPERIENCE LEARNING IN SPENCER FIFTH GRADERS LEARN ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS, FRACTIONS, CHARACTER TRAIT OF PERSEVERANCE AND MUCH MORE ~Whitney Eckes, fourth grade teacher LIVING IN THE LIFE OF EQUATIONS Our fifth graders are enjoying the school year, growing friendships and making memories. It is remarkable to see their ongoing persistence towards academic goals. Watching our students grow and mature as the year unfolds is very rewarding. We are so proud of their hard work and perseverance. We are tackling our learning targets in our classes and working very hard. Our English and language arts curriculum has been teaching us many reading skills, as well as teaching us habits of character. We just finished reading “Esperanza Rising,” and then we wrote and performed monologues as if we were one of the characters from the book. To celebrate the end of the unit, we held a fiesta featuring several of the foods mentioned in the book. We also had an opportunity to make a yarn doll like one of the characters made in the book. We are a couple of weeks into our new unit, focusing on athlete leaders of social change. We are using the book “Promises to Keep” to study Jackie Robinson’s impact on history as he broke color barriers in baseball. Our social studies focus has been supported through our English and language arts curriculum, as we have studied how human rights can be taken away, and what we can do to protect them. In math class, we completed our fraction unit and have been working on place value and decimals. This challenged us, but it was exciting to see student growth as the unit went on. In science we are studying our watery planet Earth and students are enjoying the hands-on learning that comes with experiments. Before break, students had a blast working on gingerbread houses with a working paper circuit. Students enjoyed the eating that came after! We continue to focus on lifelong learning skills, including organization, preparation and character development. Perseverance is our word of the month for January, and our fifth graders continue to amaze us as they persevere with new learning that is challenging. So far this year, we have enjoyed helping our school and community with our annual food drive in November. The students were happy to help out with packing up all of the food donations. We also took a trip to our school forest at the end of October to make and record scientific observations. We were surprised to have snow for this trip, so we look forward to a return to the school forest this spring, where we will hopefully have warmer, snow-free weather. Fifth grade is a great place to be! Exploring the world of equations can appear to be a daunting task for anyone, but especially for eighth grade students! But, over the course of three units that is exactly what our students have been learning. The goal is to realize we use equations daily, and as our familiarity with them increases, so does our understanding. Eighth grade math classes started out by examining linear equations and graphing them. Then we started applying them to real world situations, usually connecting them to money: bank accounts, loans, etc. This helped students see the value of using equations and how they can be useful. The complexity with equations comes in that they can be used in all types of situations, which can be confusing at times. Their learning continued with practice solving equations. Students learned equations can sometimes have many solutions, one solution or no solutions at all. This helped us understand that a graphed line represents solutions to equations. Students analyzed solutions to horizontal and vertical lines and interpreted the meaning of solutions to all types of problems. Currently, students are expanding their work with equations to systems of equations. In a system of equations, we look for a common answer between two situations. For example, if two people were traveling from opposite directions, we could use a system of equations to help us find the time and location for a meeting point. Another example would be looking at the possible earnings for two job opportunities to decide at what point does one job pay more than the other. As stated, the goal is to become familiar and comfortable with working equations to solve problems or help answer questions that students might come across as they become more independent in life, recognizing that living in the life of equations can be useful. ~Heidi Michaelis and Patti Jennings, fifth grade teachers ~Jenny Hafermann, eighth grade math teacher PAID ADVERTISEMENT THE ROCKET for Winter 2024 From the Counselor’s Corner: Rocket Pride! by Leah Boon FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS SET READING GOALS, PRACTICE DECIMALS My name is Leah Boon, and I am the school counselor at Spencer Elementary School, for grades pre-K through fifth grade. I would like to share some information with you regarding the school counseling program and resources available to families. Our classroom lesson topics change monthly, so we have three to four lessons on the given topic. Topics include: listening, anti-bullying, healthy choices, empathy, feelings, kindness, safety, careers and anxiety. These lessons typically include group lessons, games, stories, play and videos. I try my best to deliver this information to students in a fun way. I encourage you to ask your students about guidance time and what we are learning. Our learning topics can bring up good conversation starters for families. Other components of the school counselor role include seeing students one-to-one and or in small groups, and working with families to reduce barriers to education. The school counselors have been noticing a rise in family needs such as housing (homelessness), food, mental health and economic hardship. Our school counseling team works to help reduce these barriers to ensure that our students are attending school on a regular basis, and reduce educational instability and increase support. If you find that your student is struggling, please reach out to their school counselor for help or suggestions. Contact myself for grades pre-K-5, Ms. Attoe for grades 6-8 and Mrs. Brostowitz for grades 9-12. We are available by phone or email most days, and if you cannot reach us, we will connect with you as soon as possible. As always, in an emergency call 911. Another tool that is available to help families is called Wayfinder. Check it out at dhs.wisconsin.gov/wiscway/index.htm. Wisconsin Wayfinder supports families of children with delays, disabilities, special health care needs and mental health conditions. Children’s resource guides are helpers who assist families, caregivers, professionals and organizations in finding a wide array of supports and services available through the Children’s Resource Network. Their services are free and confidential. Overall, I am here to help and welcome any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to contact me via email at lboon@spencer.k12. wi.us, or by phone at 715-659-4642 ext. 1430. With the first half of the school year behind us, we look forward to the second part with our fourth graders, as we have several exciting units and events coming up! In reading, we continue to be goal setters and show great perseverance in our AR (Accelerated Reading) reading challenges! Students have shown great initiative in their reading by setting individual goals, reflecting on their progress and advocating for themselves to be successful within their reading. Additionally, we are busy becoming animal experts by learning about various animals, their habitats and defense mechanisms that allow them to survive. As we get further into the unit, we will take a closer look at the animals that inhabit our school forest through the use of our trail cams. Currently in math, the students are finishing up a unit on fractions and decimals. We’ve learned to use different ways to show fractional amounts such as egg cartons, geoboards and base 10 pieces. We’ve made connections between fractions and decimals by playing different math games to practice our skills. We still have a lot of concepts to work on with addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers, geometry and multi-digit multiplication and division. Looking ahead, the fourth graders will be studying lumberjacks and how this industry impacted the state of Wisconsin. Upon completion of this unit, the fourth graders will build a lumberjack tool and take part in a lumberjack breakfast of flapjacks and sausage, all while dressed as a lumberjack of course! We will also take our annual field trip to Madison on Wednesday, May 15, as a part of our study of government. We are always looking for donations of aluminum cans to help fund this amazing fourth grade trip – our can cage is in the south teachers’ parking lot along Highway C. Thanks for all of your help! EXPERIENCE LEARNING IN SPENCER FIFTH GRADERS LEARN ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS, FRACTIONS, CHARACTER TRAIT OF PERSEVERANCE AND MUCH MORE ~Whitney Eckes, fourth grade teacher LIVING IN THE LIFE OF EQUATIONS Our fifth graders are enjoying the school year, growing friendships and making memories. It is remarkable to see their ongoing persistence towards academic goals. Watching our students grow and mature as the year unfolds is very rewarding. We are so proud of their hard work and perseverance. We are tackling our learning targets in our classes and working very hard. Our English and language arts curriculum has been teaching us many reading skills, as well as teaching us habits of character. We just finished reading “Esperanza Rising,” and then we wrote and performed monologues as if we were one of the characters from the book. To celebrate the end of the unit, we held a fiesta featuring several of the foods mentioned in the book. We also had an opportunity to make a yarn doll like one of the characters made in the book. We are a couple of weeks into our new unit, focusing on athlete leaders of social change. We are using the book “Promises to Keep” to study Jackie Robinson’s impact on history as he broke color barriers in baseball. Our social studies focus has been supported through our English and language arts curriculum, as we have studied how human rights can be taken away, and what we can do to protect them. In math class, we completed our fraction unit and have been working on place value and decimals. This challenged us, but it was exciting to see student growth as the unit went on. In science we are studying our watery planet Earth and students are enjoying the hands-on learning that comes with experiments. Before break, students had a blast working on gingerbread houses with a working paper circuit. Students enjoyed the eating that came after! We continue to focus on lifelong learning skills, including organization, preparation and character development. Perseverance is our word of the month for January, and our fifth graders continue to amaze us as they persevere with new learning that is challenging. So far this year, we have enjoyed helping our school and community with our annual food drive in November. The students were happy to help out with packing up all of the food donations. We also took a trip to our school forest at the end of October to make and record scientific observations. We were surprised to have snow for this trip, so we look forward to a return to the school forest this spring, where we will hopefully have warmer, snow-free weather. Fifth grade is a great place to be! Exploring the world of equations can appear to be a daunting task for anyone, but especially for eighth grade students! But, over the course of three units that is exactly what our students have been learning. The goal is to realize we use equations daily, and as our familiarity with them increases, so does our understanding. Eighth grade math classes started out by examining linear equations and graphing them. Then we started applying them to real world situations, usually connecting them to money: bank accounts, loans, etc. This helped students see the value of using equations and how they can be useful. The complexity with equations comes in that they can be used in all types of situations, which can be confusing at times. Their learning continued with practice solving equations. Students learned equations can sometimes have many solutions, one solution or no solutions at all. This helped us understand that a graphed line represents solutions to equations. Students analyzed solutions to horizontal and vertical lines and interpreted the meaning of solutions to all types of problems. Currently, students are expanding their work with equations to systems of equations. In a system of equations, we look for a common answer between two situations. For example, if two people were traveling from opposite directions, we could use a system of equations to help us find the time and location for a meeting point. Another example would be looking at the possible earnings for two job opportunities to decide at what point does one job pay more than the other. As stated, the goal is to become familiar and comfortable with working equations to solve problems or help answer questions that students might come across as they become more independent in life, recognizing that living in the life of equations can be useful. ~Heidi Michaelis and Patti Jennings, fifth grade teachers ~Jenny Hafermann, eighth grade math teacher PAID ADVERTISEMENT
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