Westgate Social Workers Website: www.westgatesocialwork.weebly.com
Calendar, 1-4 News & Updates:
**Due to COVID-19, all schools in IL are closed to students thru the end of the school year. Westgate's last day of student attendance will be Friday, May 29, however, daily optional lessons will still be posted through June 5. Remote learning emails will continue to be sent out daily at 9:00 a.m.
___________________________________________________________ Click below to access the ABC Countdown Calendar for the last 26 days of school, and the padlet link to post pictures to Westgate Community Countdown pictures.
Happy Meteorological Spring!!
March 2, 2020 Calendar: Mon.-Fri., March 2-6, Dr. Seuss Week/Read Across America Month begins Reading for Gold! Each Friday in March students should return a Gold Coin Summary of a book they’re reading at home-see note in Take Home folder Weds., March 4 – Ch. 11 Math TestTues., March 10 – Westgate Spirit Wear Spirit Day Tues., March 17 – No School – Election Day Fri., Mar. 20 – Beach Blanket Reading Party Mar. 23-27 – Spring Break, No School; classes resume on March 30 Reading & Social Studies - During the “Presidents’ Month” we learned about the contributions of many of our country’s past presidents. We took social studies and reading time to view websites and read books about how they displayed leadership skills during their years as president. The students worked with partners to create timelines that highlighted accomplishments of their assigned president. Science - We have continued to take a look at our sky during science, and have been taking data since the beginning of the year on sunrise and sunset times. We graphed the latest information last week in our science notebooks and are excited to see that we are getting extra minutes of daylight with every passing day. That visual really helped students see how many fewer hours of sunlight there are during these winter months. We continue to study the topic of light, and learned what transparent, translucent, and opaque mean by testing how light travels through different materials (paper, foil, foam, felt, etc.) Math - We’ve been working though our Charts and Graphs unit, and students are learning how to interpret the data they read on them. The Iditarod-Pat Moon, a former Iditarod musher, gave an exciting talk to the kids last week and explained all that is involved with running in a 1,000 mile dogsled race across Alaska. We’ll be following the race closely when it begins next weekend. Take a look at pictures on the Pictures Page. Read Across America and Beyond—We’ll experience many kinds of reading activities during March, beginning with Dr. Seuss week this week. We’ll even watch International Space Station astronaut Mark Vande Hei read The Next Time You See a Sunset, by Emily Morgan. 2/13/20
Calendar Thursday/Friday Feb. 13-14: Parent Teacher Conferences-No School Monday, Feb. 17: President’s Day-No School Tuesday, Feb. 18: RMHS Basketball Readers in school and Westgate Night at the RMHS Basketbal game Weds., Feb. 19: Spirit Day-Wear Pajamas Tuesday, Feb. 25: Author Visit Wednesday, Feb. 26: Solid Waste Agency of No. Cook Cty. Earth Preservation presentation to 1stGrade A great big Thank You to our Room Parents, Jenny Kuehm and Melissa Trout, for planning such a fun Valentine’s Day party for the kids. Also, much appreciation to Jennifer Heffernan, Sonja Pappas, and Chrissie Erdmann for joining Jenny & Melissa in running the stations during the party. Look for pictures on our website—I’ll post them at some point during conferences. What have we been studying in 1stGrade lately? Non-Fiction ReadingUnit focusing on Sciencetopic of Sound & Light Biographies-we will research a President Writingstories with Beginning-Middle-End sections; adding feelings Math-completed Measurement/Length unit, moving onto Charts & Graphs New Year Highlights from 1-4
1-13-20 Our first full week back from break was busy, and I think we’re now all back in routine! I’d first like to welcome the Bjes family to Westgate! We are excited that Peter Bjes has joined our 1stgrade classroom! Calendar: Tues., Jan. 14 – In-school “field trip” HighTouchHighTech scientists will be presenting a science program to kick off our new unit all about Sound & Light. Thurs., Jan. 16 – Erin’s Law Presentation - The social worker will do a 20-minute presentation on body safety. If you have any questions, please see the information here: https://www.sd25.org/Page/663 Sun., Jan. 19 – Family Glow Party at Westgate 5-7 p.m., Free-DJ, dancing, pizza, and fun for everyone! Mon., Jan. 20 – MLK Jr., Day – No School Weds., Jan. 22 – Chapter 8 Math Test Thurs., Jan. 23 – Westgate Spirit Day-Pajama Day Tues-Thurs., Jan. 28-30 –Book Fair Thurs., Jan. 30 – Leadership Night & Open House 7-8 p.m. We’re ready to hit the ground running now with many new units of study. Following are some of the things we’ll be learning about in January and February. Literacy – Non-Fiction – students will become familiar with the three main types of non-fiction texts; Literary, Biography, and Reference (focusing on Sound and Light) Writing – Telling More – Lessons provide strategies for finding ways to provide more details to our writing pieces. Math Chapter 8 – Addition and Subtraction with 2-digit numbers to 20 Science – Sound and Light Past 1-4 News & Updates:
12-9-19
Tues., 12/10 – Westgate Spirit Day-Career Day Dress Thurs., 12/12 – Chapter 7 Math Test. Look for the chapter wrap-up and review on Weds. Thurs., 12/12 – Return disguised Gingerbread Characters Fri., 12/13 – Return Family Traditions Ornaments Fri., 12/20 – All School Pajama Day! Mon., 12/23-Fri., Jan. 3 – Winter Break Math – In Chapter 7 we’ve been practicing strategies to help us add larger numbers more fluently. A lot of emphasis has been on making groups of 10, then adding the leftover “1s”. We are also working on our math goal to become more automatic with basic addition facts, and appreciate any extra practice you’re able to do at home. Social Studies – As part of 1stGrade standards to investigate cultural comparisons, we’ll be doing a Holidays Around the World unit during these last 2 weeks before break. This will also include taking a look at different traditions of our own families in 1-4. I sent home a sheet of 4 ornaments. Please help your child write down 3 or 4 things your family does during the holiday season. We’ll hang all the ornaments on our Family Traditions Trees in the hallway. Reading — Once we completed our reading unit on fiction literature, we started a new author study. Jan Brett is the featured author and illustrator this time around. The kids are enjoying getting to know her whimsical story characters and identifying all of the fiction story elements they’ve learned about. Please be sure that your child is in the habit of nightly reading at home. This will also help them achieve their reading goal of becoming a better independent reader. Writing – We’ve been writing about things that are familiar and special to us. Topics have included special people and places, and we’ve practiced adding how we feel about things, too. That does it for now! Enjoy the break with your family and friends! I wish everyone a Happy 2020! 11-18-19
Since our last update, we’ve been very busy with Pumpkin Explorations, Conferences, Halloween, Winter Weather, our field trip to The Metropolis, and end-of-trimester progress reports. And now, another week of school before Thanksgiving Break! Here’s what’s coming up… Thurs., 11/21 – Westgate is a host school for the Leader In Me Symposium that will be taking place in Chicago later this week, and we’re excited that visitors will be coming into our classroom to observe a LIM lesson in action! I’m proud of the students in our class, and am confident our visitors will be impressed, as well! Fri., 11/22 – Chapter 5 Math Test on Geometry concepts. Look for the chapter wrap-up and review on Weds. & Thurs. Math– Our classroom Math goal is to try to become more fluent with our basic addition facts. You’ll notice extra math fact sheets come home for extra practice. Time your child for a minute each time, and they’ll eventually get better at recalling these facts. During the Thanksgiving break, playing simple adding (math war) games at home with cards, dominoes, and dice can help the children recall facts more automatically. Reading—Our classroom reading goal is to become better independent readers. We’ve been reading different versions of familiar tales lately. If you have any at home, be sure to pull them out and read them with your child. They can also always go onto Raz-Kids or Epic to do some independent reading and/or listening to stories at their level. This week we’ll read about the first Thanksgiving as well as a variety of contemporary fiction Thanksgiving stories. I wish all of you and your families the Happiest Thanksgiving! I thank you for entrusting me with your children every day. I truly enjoy their unique, individual little personalities. Together, we are one dynamic group of leaders who have built a wonderful classroom community. Enjoy the break with your family and friends! 10-8-19
We’ve been very busy in our classroom…here are some of the highlights! Science-Watching the Sky Students have been learning about the day and night sky, and have been tracking the amount of daylight each day. We’ve noticed that we’re losing a few minutes of sunlight every day. They’ve made predictions that this trend won’t continue and that eventually we’ll start gaining daylight time. Stay tuned! To tack onto this unit of study, Mr. Irmen, who works for United, came into our classroom and shared many interesting concepts and pictures with the kids about airplanes (how big, heavy objects like that are designed to be able to fly, what a pilot’s instrument panel looks like, etc.) and he brought in a model of an airplane and parts of a plane for the kids to see and touch. We all thought it was very cool and appreciate the time he spent with us! Take a look at some of the pictures on the Science page of our classroom website. http://1-4wenzel.weebly.com Reading-We finished the launching unit where students learned about the expectations during reading workshop and it also provides a preview of all of the types of literature they’ll be learning about in 1stgrade. We started the next unit on Fiction, and we’re also taking time to complete an author study on Eric Carle. Writing- We also just finished our first unit in Writing where we took a lot of time to talk about basic conventions of writing a complete sentence, using the margin of the paper to align sentences, remembering to start sentences with capital letters and end with some form of punctuation. Students enjoyed sharing their ideas about things they like, how they can help, and favorite things to do with friends. I’m excited to share their journals with you during conferences! Prior to starting the next unit, we’ll take some time out to write some fun Fall and Halloween stories. Math-We’ve completed the first 3 chapters on counting, comparing, and adding numbers to 10. Chapter 4 will present a bigger challenge as we introduce subtraction. Keep a look out for practice sheets that may come home in Take Home folders. These practice sheets are really just for the kids to do a little extra practice out of school and help keep you aware of the concepts being taught in class. Extra Fun: We received a bag full of flying stuffed animals as a result of our class doing so well with the Orange Ruler Fund Raiser! We can’t wait to have our Flying Animals Party!! Upcoming Dates: Mon., Oct. 14 – Columbus Day-No School for students; staff only Mon., Oct. 21 – Pumpkin Investigations Thanks so much to everyone who signed up to donate pumpkins or their time for our Pumpkin Investigations! Please send in or drop off pumpkins by the end of the day on Friday, Oct. 18, and be sure to have my name on them since many pumpkins happen to come into the office this time of the year. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DA9A72FA7FA7-pumpkin Thurs., Oct. 31 – Halloween Parade & Party Our Room Parents sent out a signupgenius for help with activities being planned for Halloween! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0B4AADAD2BA2F49-halloween Want to come in and be a Mystery Readerin our classroom? Sign up below: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DA9A72FA7FA7-mystery Prior to your reading date, please email me ( [email protected]) 3 clues about yourself that I can share with the kids prior to your visit. They love to guess who might be coming in to read to them. Classroom Website: http://1-4wenzel.weebly.com 9-30-19
Weds., Oct. 2 – International Walk to School Day Be sure to meet up at one of the 6 designated corners to walk to school together as a community! Mon., Oct. 21 – Pumpkin Investigations As part of our Science Unit on Collecting and Examining Life we’ll be taking a very close look at pumpkins and could use your help by way of supplies and/or overseeing the investigations. Use this SignUpGenius link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DA9A72FA7FA7-pumpkin to help out—thanks!! Thurs., Oct. 31 – Halloween Parade & Party Please keep an eye out for a message from our Room Parents to see how you might be able to help out with activities being planned for Halloween! Our classroom website link has been fixed—check it out! You’ll see some of the things we’ve been busy doing during September. http://1-4wenzel.weebly.com There’s also a link to sign up if you’d like to be a guest Mystery Reader. See more information below. Want to come in and be a Mystery Reader in our classroom? There’s a SignUpGenius link for that, too! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DA9A72FA7FA7-mystery Prior to your reading date, please email me 3 clues about yourself that I can share with the kids prior to your visit. They love to guess who might be coming in to read to them. [email protected] 9-23-19
Hi 1stGrade Families! I didn’t realize the link to our classroom website wasn’t working from Westgate’s Staff Directory, so while I wait for it to get fixed, I thought I’d share it here electronically: http://1-4wenzel.weebly.com Feel free to explore the various pages for pictures of different things we’ve been doing. There’s also a link to sign up if you’d like to be a guest Mystery Reader. See more information below. Want to come in and be a Mystery Reader in our classroom? The kids and I would love it! Typically, the best time would be on Fridays at 3:15, but I can work with you to schedule a different time if needed. Please use the Mystery Reader signupgenius link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DA9A72FA7FA7-mystery on our classroom website to schedule a time! Also, please give me 3 clues about yourself that I can share with the kids prior to your visit. They love to guess who might be coming in to read to them. To see pictures and other classroom happenings, visit our website: http://1-4wenzel.weebly.com 9-16-19
Calendar Dates: Scholastic Book Orders due Tues., Sept. 17 Book orderscan be paid for by check or conveniently placed online: Here is our Class Code for online ordering! F87YM Use this link to get started: https://orders.scholastic.com/F87YM Orange Ruler Fun Run – Thurs., Sept. 19 Chapter 2 Math Test will be at the end of this week—look for the review in Take Home Folders on Wednesday. The Family Community Projects were outstanding! We’ll use SeeSawto share some of the places students visited, so look for that later this week. Remember to encourage your child to read books from their bags 1-2 times a week. You can also log onto Raz-Kids and let your child read books online as an option for their nightly reading. I have updated reading levels based on assessments completed last week. JARS!! We’ll be making a Halloween Lantern Craft with our 5thGrade class buddies the first week of October. Please send in a clean small glass jar that has a mouth large enough to slip a tea light into. (I showed the kids an example—it was about 5 inches tall. Jelly jars work well.) Anything close to that will work. 9-7-19
Calendar Dates: Family Community Project due this week Weds., Sept. 11 – Picture Day! Scholastic Book Orders due Tues., Sept. 17 Orange Ruler Fun Run – Thurs., Sept. 19 Book Bagscame home today! Please encourage your child to read books from the bag 1-2 times a week. Remember that you can log onto Raz-Kids and let your child read books online as an option for their nightly reading. We’ve been enjoying listening to the student’s family community projects. Thanks for helping them complete this fun activity. There is still time to send yours in if you haven’t done so already. Book orderscan be paid for by check-lease send in with your child, or conveniently placed online: Here is our Class Code for online ordering! F87YM Use this link to get started: https://orders.scholastic.com/F87YM We’ll use SeeSawto share some of our classroom activities—be sure to log on using the letters sent home last week. |
Want to come into class and be a Mystery Reader? It's easy--just click on the signup genius link below for a Friday afternoon slot or contact me to set a date that works for you. Our Read Aloud time is typically on Fridays for the last 15 minutes of the day at 3:15, but I'm happy to schedule a more convenient time for you if needed-just email me! Friday 3:15 Sign Up-click on the button below! 2019-2020 SPIRIT DAYS SCHEDULE:
Nov. 14 - College Day (Wear your favorite college wear or colors) Dec. 10 - Career Day (Dress as what you want to be when you grow up) Jan. 23 - Pajama Day Feb. 19 - Sports Day (Wear your favorite sports team's gear.) Mar. 10 - Westgate Spirit Wear Day Apr. 22 - Movie Day (Show a movie or video in class.) May 15 - Extra Recess Day |