lincoln log nov 10[2].pub - Cuyahoga Falls City School District

NOVEMBER
2010
From the Principal
They say, “Timing is
everything.” That
truly was the case last
month, when a
neighbor called me
on a Thursday afternoon to tell me about
a group of young people who were traveling through Cuyahoga
Falls by bike, as part
of a 49-state bicycle
marathon. They began their trek in Arcata, California, in
May 2010 and have
already traveled over
6700 miles. Their goal
is to create a mobile
community promoting
healthy lifestyles for a
healthy planet, as well
as showcasing the
practicality and fun of
bicycle travel.
My neighbor had
connected with the
group in Chicago
over the summer, and
had offered to host
them if they made it to
our area. Sure
enough, that day she
got a call to say that
they were in Indiana,
and would like to take
her up on her offer of
clean beds and a
warm shower! They
also asked if there
were any elementary
schools in the area
that would be interested in having them
visit and talk to the
children. Lucky for us,
we were able to make
some quick schedule
changes and bring the
group to Lincoln on
Monday, October 18
to spend some time
with our 3rd, 4th and 5th
graders.
Of all the assemblies
and presentations we
have had over the
years, this was one of
the best experiences
ever. Seeing the three
young men ride up to
the school in the pouring rain with all of
their gear attached to
their bikes was quite a
sight! They talked to
the children about
why they chose such
an arduous challenge,
and how they prepared for their 15month journey. They
told stories about interesting places, people (and animals) they
met along the way,
and shared funny experiences and hardships they endured,
including riding up
the Rocky Mountains
in a raging wind and
rainstorm. They unpacked one of the
bikes to show the children their minimal
gear, and even
played a little music
on a mini-guitar,
which they use for late
night entertainment
(with not a Nintendo
DS in sight).
As you can imagine,
the children were
enthralled with their
presentation and full
of questions about the
journey (including
their goal of eating
pizza in 49 states)!
They received the
message loud and
clear, about setting
high personal goals
and being passionate
about your vision.
They also realized that
these three young
men were not celebrated sports heroes
or rich rock stars, but
ordinary boys who
dreamed an extraordinary dream.
In this age of glitz
and media hype, it
was so refreshing to
meet up with these
young men who truly
care about the environment and the new
generation of young
people who will inherit it. It was exciting
to see how our kids
responded to them
and it validated our
belief that when we
give children the right
role models, they
WILL hear the message. I’m so appreciative that we were able
to bring them to Lincoln, and that our kids
had the chance to
spend some time with
them. It truly was one
of those teachable
moments that make
learning special.
If you would like to
read more about their
adventure, the website is:
www.bike49.org.
Also, check the map
outside of Mrs.
Hansel’s room for updates. We will keep in
touch with them and
track the remainder of
their journey, and you
may enjoy doing that
as well.
Happy Travels!
Mrs. Rose Heintz
November
Events
Progress reports
home
9
Family Bingo
Night, 7-8:30 p.m.
11
Day Conferences,
NO SCHOOL
12
Marco’s Pizza
Night
16
PTA Board
Meeting 7pm
17
Food Drive begins
22
Thanksgiving
Break,
NO SCHOOL
2529
Market Day
Pick-Up, 5-6 p.m.
Dec
1
THE LINCOLN LOG · NOVEMBER 2010
Page 2
After School Buses
If your child rides the
bus home or to a daycare program, PLEASE
understand that we will
put your child on the bus
UNLESS we have a written note from you that
day. (You may give us
one note for the week,
but no farther in advance, since we have no
way of keeping track
beyond that time). We
have over 60 children
riding the buses this
year, and we can’t possibly make last minute
calls home for children
who tell us they are not
supposed to ride that
day. We have had many
tears over this, and often
the children are caught
in the middle when
parents don’t follow
through with this
responsibility.
Playground Security and Safety
In order to secure the
safety of our children
during the lunch recess
time, no visitors will be
allowed on the playground during school
hours. This includes parents or relatives. This is
especially important
during lunch recess
when we have over 200
children out on the playground at one time. Parents may still come and
eat with a child in the
cafeteria (for special
occasions) after checking in with the secretary
in the office, and getting
a visitor badge. However, you will be asked
not to accompany your
child out to the playground.
Conferences Coming on Nov. 12
Another round of parentteacher conferences will
be held during the day
on November 12. If you
were not scheduled for
the October 15th confer-
ences, you will be getting a letter with your
scheduled time for the
November conference.
Please make sure to contact the teacher if you
cannot attend your
scheduled time. The
children will not have
school on that day.
Top Tiger Award
The Cuyahoga Falls
Board of Education recognizes two students
from each school who
have demonstrated excellence in academics,
citizenship, arts, service
or athletics, as the Top
Tigers of the district. The
children are honored at
the district school board
meeting each month.
Fourth graders Alyssa
Hovatter and Hunter
Vasiloff have been chosen as the Top Tigers for
the month of October
from Lincoln. Congratulations to these two exceptional students. They will
be recognized at the
Board of Education Meeting in November.
Food Drive
This year we are again
participating in the
Cuyahoga Falls Good
Neighbors Food Drive.
Due to the increased
need, the drive is being
held earlier and will go
from November 22 to
December 2, 2010.
There has been such a
large increase in
families who are being
served by Good
Neighbors that we hope
you will add an extra
donation to your bag
this year.
Families in Need
If you know of a family that is in need of
help over the holidays, please call the
office at 330-9263803. There are
numerous organizations that provide
food and/or gifts
during the months of
November and
December. Your call
will be kept confidential.
THE LINCOLN LOG · NOVEMBER 2010
Page 3
Progress Reports Coming on Nov. 9
Progress reports for the
first grading period will
be going home on November 9. Please remember that if you have
not yet paid your child’s
school fees, you will be
getting a reminder in
the progress report. We
ask that you try and
send the money as soon
as possible. School fees
not paid by the end of
the year result in holding progress reports. If
you are financially un-
able to pay, or qualify
for free lunch, please
call the office at 330-9263803 for a waiver. Help
is available for those
who are in need.
Peacemaker News
Congratulations to the
Peacemakers of the
Month for October. They
are Riley Jensen and
Steven Albright from
Mrs. Hulten’s 1st grade
class. These boys use a
combination of good
humor, quiet reminders,
and unending patience
in helping these first
graders. They are excellent role models for our
first graders.
Safety Patrol News
Congratulations to
Patrick Kinsella (AM)
and Michael DeMoss
(PM) for being chosen
as Gold Badge Patrol
Persons for the Month of
October. Both of these
boys are very dependable and always put the
safety of our students
first.
The new Sergeants for
the month are Jaret
Bable (AM) and Justin
Plucinski (PM). These
two patrolmen have
demonstrated good
leadership skills by being responsible at their
posts while still being
kind and helpful.
Time to Save
Acme Receipts
Don’t forget to save and turn
in those Acme receipts dated
from September 25, 1010 through
February 19, 2011. The funds
we raise from this program
are most appreciated.
Halloween
Success
Thanks to all the room
parents for helping to
make the Halloween parties such a success. We
had a great afternoon,
and even the weather
cooperated. We appreciated everyone’s help
limiting the snacks and
providing some healthier
choices. The early
release time also went
very smoothly, and we
appreciated all your help
in getting your children to
the right places after
school.
Volunteers
Still
Needed
Thank you for
responding to our call
for classroom
volunteers. The
numbers of volunteers
are still down this year,
and we have some
more slots to fill,
particularly in the 4th
and 5th grades. If you
can spare an hour or
two each week, please
call the office at
330-926-3803 and leave
a message with our
Volunteer Coordinator,
Jen McKenna, or
contact her via email at
urendimaleldil1978@
yahoo.com
Spare Pants
Needed!
Our nurse is running
low on extra pants to
loan to students who
may need to change
during the day. She
could use donations of
stretchy or sweat
pants in any size. Unisex colors are especially helpful. If you
can help, please drop
off donations in the
nurse’s office.
THE LINCOLN LOG · NOVEMBER 2010
Page 4
What’s
news!
Holiday Greetings!
November is the time to be thinking about all your holiday food needs, and Market Day has a lot to offer!
Our sale on December 1st gives you the chance to stock up for your upcoming holiday celebrations.
Through Market Day, you can buy a juicy ham or turkey roast, delectable side dishes, or fantastic cookies
and desserts, and all of it is conveniently frozen, ready to pop into the oven and serve! Because of the
Thanksgiving holiday, the cut-off date for orders this month is on Wednesday, November 24th, so order
online soon, or look for an order form to come home with your child.
Remember, if you have ordered $40 or more 2 times between the months of September and November,
and you place another $40 order in December, you will receive a free Market Basket with your December
order delivery!
Our next sale pick-up will be on December 1, 2010, from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. in the school gym. Order
sheets will be due in to the school by the end of the day on Wednesday, November 24, 2010, and all internet orders must be entered no later than 11:00 p.m. that night.
Free items this month include a Margherita Flatbread Pizza with any purchase of $40 or more, and if you
order online and place an order of $80 or more, you will receive a free 1 lb. package of Italian Style Meatballs. Also, remember to check www.marketday.com for specials which are available only online, and
check out the clearance section for extra low prices!
Thanks again for your continuing support of our monthly fundraiser through Market Day. We look forward
to seeing you December 1st!
Sincerely,
Deena Doshak
Brenda Zimmerman
THE LINCOLN LOG · NOVEMBER 2010
Page 5
PTA MESSAGES
From the President
A huge thank you to Katie Mayes for running our fundraiser this year.
We appreciate everyone's support this year.
Thank you to everyone that has signed up to volunteer at Lincoln in
one form or another. We always have room for more volunteers.
PTA will be hosting Family Bingo night on November 11. This is always
a fun night for parents and kids.
Our next PTA meeting is Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. All members are welcome to
attend.
I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
Tina Boorman
PTA President
[email protected]
Fundraising Update
Thanks to everyone that participated in our October Marco’s Pizza
Night. Ms. Brown’s 2nd grade class had the most orders and won a classroom
pizza party. Congratulations! Our next pizza night is November 16, 2010.
Please remember to give the teacher’s name when ordering. Also, remember
to mention a.m. or p.m. kindergarten.
The PTA Fall fundraiser was a huge success! Thank you to everyone
that participated! The PTA appreciates all of your efforts and support. Stay
tuned for the top seller and top homeroom results. All profits will go to PTA
family nights and supplies for classrooms and teachers. We couldn’t do all
that we are able to do for the children of Lincoln without you. Thank you
again!
Katie Mayes
B I N G
O
LINCOLN ELEMENTARY
PTA
FAMILY BINGO NIGHT
Join us for a fun evening with friends and family to play for a chance
to win a great prize! We will be giving away some fantastic prizes
including many gift certificates from local merchants, as well as our
GRAND PRIZE--A FREE night at the Sheraton!
We will be serving popcorn and drinks!
WHEN: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11
TIME: 7:00 TO 8:30 P.M.
WHERE: LINCOLN ELEMENTARY GYM
CHECK YOUR CHILD’S BACKPACK FOR A FLYER SOON!
ANY QUESTIONS?
PLEASE CONTACT SANDY NOWAK—330-923-8702
November 2010
Building excitement and success for young children
Lincoln Elementary School
Mrs. Rose Heintz, Principal
TOOLS &
T ID B ITS
Sharing = learning
Playdates are the perfect time to work on
early division skills. For example, if
there are six cookies and three children, how many can each child have?
Let your youngster “deal” the cookies
out (with clean hands!), and he’ll see
that 6 ÷ 3 = 2.
Shed like a snake
As snakes get bigger, they shed the
skin they’ve outgrown. Give your
child an idea of what this might feel
like. Have her lay a sleeping bag on
the floor, crawl inside, and zip it up
(leaving her head peeking out so she
can breathe). Then, without using her
hands, she can try to wiggle out.
Book picks
It’s bedtime in New York but not
in the rest of the world. Nine O’Clock
Lullaby (Marilyn Singer) introduces
youngsters to time zones. Each page
provides a glimpse of life in another
country, where people are busy eating, dancing, or working.
Did your child know that an
animal’s color helps it survive? A
Rainbow of Animals (Melissa Stewart)
explains how color is related to where
an animal lives, how it hides from
enemies, and how it communicates. Worth quoting
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein
Just for fun
Q: How many eggs can
you put in an empty
basket?
A: Only one—after
that, the basket isn’t
empty anymore!
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
What’s the pattern?
Working with patterns will
help your youngster learn
about math sequences, make
predictions, and get ready for
higher math skills. Besides,
patterns are fun!
Here are a few ways
to play with patterns.
Make it. Explain that a
pattern is something
that repeats at least
twice. Help your child
draw an “AB” pattern
where two elements alternate (heart, smiley face; heart, smiley
face) or an “AAB” pattern, which has the
first element twice and then the second
element (heart, heart, smiley face; heart,
heart, smiley face). What other patterns
can your child create? (ABA, ABBA)
Grow it. Have your youngster gather
leaves that have fallen to the ground.
Arrange them into a pattern that “grows”
with each repeat. Example: brown, red;
brown, red, orange; brown, red, orange,
yellow. Ask your youngster to create
another growing pattern.
Rock story
Copy it. Have your child and a friend sit
back-to-back, and give them sheets of
paper and the same color crayons. One
child describes the pattern she’s making,
and the other child has to create it (without peeking). Then, they can switch roles.
Say it. Play the “pattern game” while riding in the car or waiting for an appointment. Give a pattern, and ask your child
to continue it as far as she can go. If you
say 2, 4, 6, 8, she might say “10, 12,
14.” Ask her how she knows (“you
added 2 each time”). Then, have her
make up a pattern for you.
Does a rock have a story to tell? Definitely! Let your
child pick out a favorite rock, examine it, and write a
story about it.
He can describe where it “lives” (in your backyard, by a stream) and what it “does” all day (gives
bugs a resting spot, gets wet when it rains). Encourage him to add details describing how his rock looks
and feels (size, shape, color, and texture).
Have him illustrate his story by using watercolors
to paint pictures of his rock. Or he could dip his rock into
poster paint and stamp it onto the paper to make a “rock print.”
Idea: Together, read Everybody Needs a Rock (Byrd Baylor) for advice on how to
pick out the perfect rock!
November 2010 • Page 2
Sense of smell
might walk through a shopping
mall and discover the smell of
coffee, Chinese food, or a shoerepair shop. Outside, your
youngster might notice the
scent of a bush, a dog, or a
light rainfall. Each time one of
you smells something, name it.
He may see that you’re more
sensitive to certain smells and
he’s more sensitive to others.
What are your child’s favorite smells? Perhaps cookies baking in the oven or flowers
blooming in the spring?
Smells help us enjoy food, create memories
(remembering the beach when you smell suntan lotion), and keep us safe by letting us
detect smoke or other dangers. Use these ideas
to explore the sense of smell with your child.
Take a smell walk
Go for a walk, and have your child take along a
notebook to record the smells you find. For example, you
M AT H Measure up!
corne r
Measuring is a great
everyday math activity. All you need are
household objects, and soon your
youngster will be measuring everything
around her. Try these two activities:
●●Help your child find items that are a
uniform size (paper clips, new crayons, or
postcards). She can use each type, one at
a time, to measure the length of an item
like a picture frame, a cardboard box, or
the arm of a chair. How many paper clips
long is each one? Then, she can measure
with a different “ruler” and count how
many crayons or postcards an item takes.
She’ll learn that the bigger the unit of
measure, the fewer she’ll need.
●●Have
her learn about measuring area,
too. She should choose two items that
have flat surfaces but are different sizes
(a book, a file folder). Then, she can
cover each one with blocks that are the
same size (placing them close together
with no spaces in between). Have her
count how many are on each surface.
Help her make comparisons by asking
questions like, “Which one has a larger
area (took more blocks)?” and “How
much larger is it?”
O u r
P u rpos e
To provide busy parents with practical ways to
promote their children’s math and science skills.
Resources for Educators,
a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
128 N. Royal Avenue • Front Royal, VA 22630
540-636-4280 • [email protected]
www.rfeonline.com
ISSN 1942-910X
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Have a smelling bee
For this experiment, gather 10
small containers (number them 1–10), 10 cotton balls, and 5
fragrances (examples: perfume, lemon juice, baby powder, cinnamon). Sprinkle each scent onto two cotton balls, and place
a cotton ball in each container. Mix them up, and ask your
child to sniff each one. Can he find the pairs? Can he identify
the smells?
Q Direction words
&
My child doesn’t seem to understand direction
A Q:words
like “over” and “under.” How can I help?
A: The day is filled with opportunities for using words
that describe location. Emphasize the words when you
use them in daily conversation: “Please put your dirty
clothes inside the hamper, not on the floor.” When you’re
outside, say direction words out loud, “Do you see the squirrel going up that
tree?” or “There’s an airplane flying over those buildings.”
Also, play games that involve these concepts. You might build an obstacle
course and give instructions. Examples: “Jump over the pillow.” “Hop around the
table.” “Crawl through the tunnel” (a large cardboard box). Then, let your child
set up a course and give directions to you.
Or use a “shell game” to teach left, right, and center. Turn three cups upside
down, and hide a ball under one of them. Instead of pointing, your child has to
say, “The ball is under the cup on the left.”
SC IE NC E Sprouting seeds
LA B
Your youngster can
and add water to the plate to keep the
watch plants grow from seeds before her
very eyes!
You’ll need: a sponge, radish seeds, a
plate
Here’s how: Have your child
soak a sponge in water and
squeeze out the extra water.
Ask her to carefully place the
seeds into the sponge’s
holes. Next, she should put
the sponge on a plate and
leave it on a counter. Each
day, have her check on
the progress of the seeds
sponge moist.
What happens? After about a week, the
seeds will germinate, or begin to grow.
They split open and reveal the tiny plant
inside. The plant grows roots to reach
down into soil for food and grows
leaves to reach up for sunlight.
Why? Seeds need moisture and air to start growing. When a seed has
these conditions, it will
use its own food supply, break through,
and grow.
Building Understanding and Excitement for Children
November 2010
Lincoln Elementary School
Mrs. Rose Heintz, Principal
i n fo
bits
Cooking with math
This holiday season,
encourage your child to practice
arithmetic skills and help in the
kitchen. Tell him how many people
you are cooking for, and challenge
him to double, triple, or even quadruple a recipe.
Make a hypothesis
When a scientist does an experiment,
she starts by writing a hypothesis—an
“if-then” sentence that predicts what
will happen. Encourage your youngster to practice this important science
skill by making and testing her own
hypothesis. Example: “If I roll a pair of
dice 100 times, then I will get more 7s
than any other number.”
Book picks
When the teacher in Math Curse
(Jon Scieszka) points out that math is
everywhere, a little girl can’t stop
finding problems. She adds words,
subtracts shoes, and even puts math
symbols in her art project.
Read 65 Short Mysteries You Solve
with Science! (Eric Yoder and Natalie
Yoder), and see how many cases you
and your youngster can crack. The
authors explain the science behind
each mystery, from missing candy to
a vanishing sand castle.
Worth quoting
“Try to learn something about everything
and everything about something.”
Thomas Huxley
Just for fun
Q: Why is fog lazy?
A: Because
it’s always
lying on the
ground!
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
It’s not equal!
Arranging numbers using greater
than (>) and less than (<) symbols
will help your youngster practice
inequalities—number sentences
where the two sides are not equal.
Your child can think of inequalities
as scales where the two sides don’t
balance. His goal is to add a symbol
that will make the sentence true.
Add a symbol
Ask your child to write <, >, or
= on separate index cards. He’ll use
those cards and a deck of playing cards
(face cards and 10s removed) for this
activity. Have him shuffle the deck,
divide it in half, and place the two piles
facedown. He should draw two cards
from each pile and use them to make
two-digit numbers. If he draws a 5 and a
2 from the left pile and a 3 and a 4 from
the right pile, for example, he would
have 52 and 34. Then, he should select
the proper symbol to form a true math
sentence (52 > 34). Idea: He can compare larger numbers by picking three,
four, five, or six cards from each pile.
Look closely
Use a number line
Making a number line will help your
youngster visualize number relationships. Have him draw a straight line with
an arrow on each end, divide the line
into equal segments, and number the
marks (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.). Give him fractions such as 1–38 , –43 , 3–12 , –18 , and 2–41 to plot
along his number line. Ask him questions that will let him compare the numbers (“What number is less than –43 ?”).
Have him write an inequality giving the
answer ( –18 < –43 ). Then, let him make
another number line with decimals
(4.35, 2.1, 0.6, 3.7, 1.5) and compare
them.
Drawing details in everyday objects can help your youngster make observations —one of the most important skills for science class. Suggest that she grab
an apple, colored pencils, and blank paper and try these steps:
1. Draw the apple, including colors, spots, bruises, and other details. Below the
drawing, write words that describe how the apple looks
(reddish-yellow, round, bruised).
2. Cut the apple in half, and draw the inside. Show the
color of the apple flesh with the skin at the edge. Draw
the core and individual seeds.
3. Label the drawings. Add lines pointing to specific
parts of the diagram, and write the words (skin, flesh,
core, seed).
Idea: Draw and diagram other fruits like bananas or
strawberries. How are they similar or different from apples?
Intermediate Edition
Molecule models
Watch the movement. Mole-
Your child may be surprised that clear
water has something in it — molecules.
Molecules are made when two or more
atoms, the smallest building blocks of
life, join together. With these activities,
she can make a model of one and see
how molecules move.
Create a model. Does your youngster
wonder why water is called H2O? Explain that a
water molecule is made of two hydrogen atoms (H2)
and one oxygen atom (O). Have her create an H2O model
by sticking a toothpick in either side of a grape (the oxygen
atom) and adding a mini marshmallow (hydrogen
atoms) to the other end of each toothpick.
Make a
MATH
corner shape
Your youngster can explore geometry
and build spatial-reasoning skills by
creating and playing with an ancient
Chinese puzzle called a tangram.
●●Build. Using an 8-inch square of construction paper or cardboard and a ruler,
have him draw a diagonal line to make
two triangles. He should divide one triangle in half to
create two
smaller triangles. From the
other large triangle, he
should make
three triangles,
one square, and one parallelogram.
Finally, he can cut out the shapes.
●●Play. First, have him put the shapes
together to form the square he started
with. Then, ask him to create a smaller
square (he can use two smaller triangles).
Which shapes could he use to make a
trapezoid? (a square, small triangle, and
parallelogram, or a small square and a
small triangle) Tip: Let him play tangram
games online (try http://pbskids.org/cyber
chase/games/area/tangram.html).
Ou r
P u r p o s e
To provide busy parents with practical ways to
promote their children’s math and science skills.
Resources for Educators,
a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
128 N. Royal Avenue • Front Royal, VA 22630
540-636-4280 • [email protected]
www.rfeonline.com
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
November 2010 • Page 2
SCIENCE
LAB
cules are constantly moving.
This experiment will show your
child how temperature affects
how fast they move. Let her
fill one glass with cold water
and another glass with the
same amount of hot water.
She can add a drop of food
coloring to each glass at the
same time. She’ll notice that
the food coloring in the warm
water spreads out faster and the
food coloring in the cold water
sinks. Molecules have more energy in warm water—they move
faster and can spread the food coloring more quickly.
Swing speed
A playground swing is a pendulum —
it moves back and forth from a fixed point with help from
gravity. This experiment will show your child how the
length of the chains affects how fast he can swing.
You’ll need: roll of toilet paper, 4-foot length of
string, ruler, scissors, pencil, paper
Here’s how: To make a pendulum, have your youngster tie one end of the string around the roll of toilet
paper. Then, he should stand up, hold the loose end of the string so the roll hangs
parallel to the floor, and push the roll so it starts swinging. He can count how many
times it swings back and forth in 10 seconds. Next, have him cut the string in half
and repeat the experiment.
What happens? With the shorter string, the pendulum swings more times in
10 seconds.
Why? The shorter string has less distance to travel to complete one swing. That’s
why your youngster can go faster on swings with shorter chains. Idea: Go to a playground with different-length swings and try it out!
Q Show your work
&
A
Q: My child says she “just knows
the answers” and doesn’t want to
show her work when she does
math problems on homework or tests. Why
does she have to?
A: Teachers usually want students to show each step
between the question and
the answer. This lets the
teacher see how your daughter got the answer, and she
can help your daughter with
parts that are giving her trouble. Even if she gets the right
answer, your youngster might
have done a step incorrectly, and the
misunderstanding could trip her up later.
The process will help your child in
other ways, too. As she writes out her
work, she will often catch mistakes
and be able to correct them—it’s
harder to find mistakes when
she does the math in her head.
Explaining the steps also lets
her practice math computations and formulas. Finally,
teachers sometimes give partial credit for the steps a student gets right, even if her
answer is wrong.
Tips for Reading Success
November 2010
Lincoln Elementary School
Mrs. Rose Heintz, Principal
Read-aloud favorites
■■Turkey for Thanksgiving
Dinner? No Thanks!
What happens after
E. B. White’s Charlotte’s
Web ends? In Alma Flor
Ada’s story, a little spider
is inspired by her great-great-grand­
mother Charlotte, who saved a pig’s
life. When she meets a frightened tur­
key, she decides to rescue him from
becoming Thanksgiving dinner. (Also
available in Spanish.)
■■Odd Velvet
Velvet is different from the other chil­
dren in her class, but she doesn’t
care. Her big glasses, hand-me-down
clothes, and unusual interests set her
apart. Without trying to fit in, Velvet
begins to make friends who appreci­
ate her for who she is. A story about
acceptance by Mary Whitcomb.
■■When Everybody Wore a Hat
Youngsters will get a
glimpse of New York
City life nearly 100
years ago in this autobiography from
children’s author William Steig. In pic­
tures and words, Steig shows today’s
children what it was like to grow up in
a time when horses pulled fire engines
and doctors made house calls.
■■Hello, Harvest Moon
On a beautiful night, a full moon
lights up cornfields and colorful trees.
It’s quiet and peaceful, but a lot hap­
pens: moonflowers bloom, moths
and geese fly, a cat plays. Ralph
Fletcher’s poetic lan­
guage and oil-painting
illustrations capture
the mood of an
autumn night.
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Fluency: The magic link
A fluent reader recognizes
words easily, knows or can fig­
ure out their meaning, and
comprehends what she reads.
Think of fluency as the link
between reading individual
words and understanding a
book — and use these sugges­
tions to help your youngster
become a more fluent reader.
Book preview
Set your child up for success by help­
ing her get to know a book before she
reads it. Have her flip through the pages
and look for words that might trip her
up. Ask her to try sounding them out
and guess what they mean. If she strug­
gles, help her look them up in a dictio­
nary so she won’t get stuck and disrupt
the flow of the book.
Punctuation play
Commas, periods, and other punctua­
tion marks give clues about how a sen­
tence should sound. Let your youngster
write down a paragraph from a book and
use different-colored markers to highlight
the marks. She might use yellow for
commas (slow down), red for periods
(stop), green for exclamation points
(sound excited), and blue for question
marks (make her voice go up). Then, have
her read the paragraph aloud, using the
colors to remind her of the punctuation.
Repeated readings
A new or struggling reader can
become more fluent by rereading famil­
iar books. With each read-through,
your child will recognize more words
instantly — a key to fluency. Tip: Books
that repeat phrases are great for building
fluency. Try Are You My Mother? by P. D.
Eastman or The Napping House by
Audrey Wood.♥
A reading holiday
w November is National Family Literacy Month. Celebrate together with these
reading ideas:
●●Visit
a used-book store, and let each person pick out a book. You’ll build your
family library, and your child can practice choosing her
own reading materials.
●●Read
a book that has been made into a movie.
Watch the movie when you finish. Talk about
how the two are similar and different.
●●Share
reading with others. If you have a young­
ster in day care, ask if you can read to the little
ones. Or if a relative lives in a senior home, offer
to read aloud to residents.♥
November 2010 • Page 2
What should
I write?
Deciding what to write about gives your
youngster a chance to be creative. But it
can also be a challenge. Here are some
fun ways for your child to come up with
story ideas.
Listen to music. Put on a CD or the radio.
Ask your youngster what he thinks a song is about or what it
reminds him of. He can use his thoughts to write a story.
Pretend to be someone else. Your child might imagine that
he is a teacher at his school or an ice cream truck driver. Have
him write a story from that point of view.
Vowel
bingo
This homemade bingo game will help
your youngster learn about vowels.
Together, think of 25 three-letter
words—5 each with a different vowel (a,
e, i, o, u) in the middle. Examples: rap,
met, dim, top, sun. Have your child
write each word on a separate slip of
paper and place the slips in a bowl.
Then, help
her make
bingo cards.
Draw lines to
divide sheets of
paper into five rows
and columns, and put a
vowel at the top of each column. Pull
one word at a time and write it under
the correct vowel. Note: Put the words
on different spots on the cards so each
one is different.
To play, a caller picks a slip and reads
the word aloud. Each player covers that
word with a coin. Ask your youngster
to listen closely so she’ll hear the vowel
sound. The first player to get five words
in a row calls, “Bingo!” Idea: For extra
practice, trade cards and play again.♥
O u r
P u rpo s e
To provide busy parents with practical ways
to promote their children’s reading, writing,
and language skills.
Resources for Educators,
a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
128 N. Royal Avenue • Front Royal, VA 22630
540-636-4280 • [email protected]
www.rfeonline.com
ISSN 1540-5648
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Read a book. Your youngster can turn
his favorite part of a book into a com­
pletely different tale. For instance,
after reading The Rainbow Fish by
Marcus Pfister, he might write a story
about a colorful bird who lives in the
rain forest.
Talk to a friend. He can call a class­
mate to brainstorm story topics—
putting their heads together may lead
to a great idea.
Look at art. A painting can inspire an interesting story. Visit
a gallery, go to www.nga.gov/kids, or get an art book such as
Museum ABC (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Suggest that
your child choose a picture and pretend it’s the illustration
for his story as he writes.♥
Better conversations
My daughter got a nice report card,
but her oral language grade was a little
low. Celina talks constantly at home, so I was surprised.
When I asked her teacher, I learned a lot about the skills
her grade was based on.
Mrs. Ross explained that Celina has a good vocabu­
lary and participates in class discussions. But like many
children, she is still learning to listen to what others say, take turns talking,
and stay on topic.
I asked how we could help Celina at home. The teacher suggested that we encour­
age Celina to practice listening and taking turns during our regular family talks. She
said she gives students gentle reminders — she taps her ear for “listen” and holds up
her index finger for “wait your turn.” I have been trying these ideas, and they seem
to be working. I’m hoping Celina’s oral language grade will go up next quarter—and
I think all of us are enjoying our family conversations more!♥
Parts of speech
Help your child learn about different
parts of speech with these games that
you can play at home or on the go.
●●Some words label people, places, and
things — they are called nouns. Use this
activity to teach your youngster to be
specific with nouns. Look around you
and say a general word for each category
you see (woman, room, tool).
Ask your child to think of
three words that are more
exact (doctor, office, stethoscope). Play again with
new words.
●●Tell your youngster that
authors pick action words
(verbs) carefully to make their
writing exciting. Observe the
people around you, and take turns say­
ing a word that describes their actions.
At a bank, for example, you might watch
people write, wait, count, talk, type, sit,
and even fidget.
●●Descriptive words (adjectives) make
writing more colorful. Have your young­
ster pick any object he sees and add a
word that describes it
(green curtain). You
repeat his word and
add your own (soft
green curtain).
Continue adding
descriptive words
until you run out of
ideas. Then, choose a
new item to describe.♥
November 2010
Lincoln Elementary School
Mrs. Rose Heintz, Principal
■■Smart Dog
Sherlock is a talking,
computerusing dog on the
run from scientists who want
to study his
brain. Amy is a
fifth-grader struggling with a school
bully. The two join forces to solve
their problems in this humorous fantasy by Vivian Vande Velde.
■■The Time Machine
What will life be like in the future? In
H. G. Wells’s science fiction classic,
a man travels in a time machine. He
discovers a society without disease,
poverty, or war—but the people have
also lost the special qualities that
make each one unique. (Also available
in Spanish.)
■■Almost Astronauts
In the 1960s, you
had to be a man to
become an astronaut. That didn’t
stop the “Mercury
13” women from
trying. Tanya Lee
Stone’s true story tells of the struggle
that led to American women going
into space nearly 20 years later.
■■Big Nate:
In a Class by Himself
Nate has a lot of confidence. After all,
his fortune cookie said that he will
“surpass all others.” But every time he
tries to outdo his classmates, something goes hilariously wrong. Will his
day get better, or
is he doomed to
detention? Find
out in this book
by Lincoln Peirce.
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Nonfiction fun
Juggling, trains, knights … if your
youngster wants to read about a particular topic, he can find a nonfiction
book about it. And when he reads nonfiction for fun, he’s building skills that
will help him understand textbooks
and do school assignments. Here are
ideas for sparking his interest.
Follow directions. How-to books let
your youngster practice reading and
following instructions while he
learns something new. Encourage
him to read all the steps carefully
before he starts a task — and then follow
them as he goes along. For example, he
might build something (a bird feeder, a
mini-greenhouse) after reading Steven
Caney’s Ultimate Building Book. Or he
could try juggling — look for Juggling for
the Complete Klutz by John Cassidy and
B. C. Rimbeaux.
Research a topic. Encourage your child
to become the family expert on a topic,
and he’ll build research skills that can
help with essays and reports. Have him
choose a subject that interests him
(trains, pyramids), and let family
members submit questions to him. He
can search for the answers in nonfiction
books or encyclopedias or on Web sites.
Explore “extras.” Your child will get used
to textbook features like glossaries, charts,
and maps by seeing them regularly in
other nonfiction books. Help him find
books with a variety of elements—he
might try a DK Eyewitness book such as
Knight or Forensic Science. Ask him how
the graphics add to the text. For instance,
a timeline might help him put the historical events a book describes in context.
Write about a hobby
Hobbies offer plenty of opportunities for your
child to stretch his writing muscles. Suggest
these three ways:
●●Perhaps your youngster enjoys painting pottery or decorating cakes. She can photograph
her finished products and write descriptions of them. Encourage her to be specific
(include materials, colors) so she’ll learn to use details in her writing.
●●Suggest that your child create a monthly newsletter for family and friends about
her favorite sports teams. She can practice summarizing by writing a few sentences about each game she watches.
●●A youngster who loves the outdoors might keep a nature journal. She’ll learn to
record observations as she tracks seasonal changes (“Our tree is completely red
now”) or notes animal behavior (“The geese flew in a V shape”).
Reading Connection Intermediate Edition
November 2010 • Page 2
Online reading
and writing
might read about a mysterious space
object and then send in her ideas for
what it could be.
Stories. Let your youngster download audiobooks to enjoy on a
computer or an MP3 player.
(Check your public library’s Web
site or www.childrensbooksonline
.org.) Encourage her to follow
along in the print version as she
listens — she’ll learn new words by
hearing and seeing them. Idea: Suggest that your child write her own
story and record it as a podcast. She
can create MP3 files for free at http://
audacity.sourceforge.net.
Computers and MP3 players are tools that
children love—and they can motivate your
youngster to read and write. Try these tips.
Magazines. Many online magazines encourage
kids to read articles and write responses. This
can teach your child to use information from
her reading to support what she writes. For
example, at www.odysseymagazine.com, she
Improv night
Turn the whole family
into storytellers with this
activity that will build your
child’s language skills.
Ask your youngster to write imaginary
story characters (duck, superhero) on
10 slips of paper and place them into a
bag. Have her fill a second bag with 10
settings (restaurant, playground) and a
third bag with problems that characters
might face (flat tire, don’t know the
language).
To play, have
your child draw
a slip from
each bag and
begin telling
a story
using the
ideas. For example,
if she picks “duck,” “restaurant,” and
“don’t know the language,” she might
say, “Gee, I’m hungry, but I can’t read
this menu.” Then, other family members
add to the story. You might respond,
“I’m sorry. Let me get someone who
speaks duck.” The goal of improv is to
be funny and keep the action moving
smoothly. So everyone has to listen carefully to what others say and play along
based on what pops into their minds.
When you’re finished with one scene,
draw new slips and play again.
O u r
P u rpo s e
To provide busy parents with practical ways
to promote their children’s reading, writing,
and language skills.
Resources for Educators,
a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
128 N. Royal Avenue • Front Royal, VA 22630
540-636-4280 • [email protected]
www.rfeonline.com
ISSN 1540-5583
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Graphic novels
My son Thomas used to
avoid reading. But then his
cousin came for a sleepover and brought
a graphic-novel version of The Boxcar
Children.
I’d never seen a graphic novel before. It
looked kind of like a comic book, with drawings and balloons for the characters’ lines. Thomas really enjoyed it, so I asked his
teacher if graphic novels counted as “real” books. Mr. Brooks told me that all reading
is good practice.
Since then, Thomas has collected an entire shelf of graphic novels. All of that
practice seems to have made him more comfortable with reading, because lately he
has been reading more regular books, too. In fact, he liked the graphic-novel version
of The Call of the Wild so much that he went to the library and checked out the original version to read!
SOFTWARE
■■Bonnie’s Bookstore
Click on letter tiles to form
words in this storybook-themed game.
Your child can choose to race the clock
or play with a limited number of turns.
Bonus tiles, “writer’s blocks,” and
three levels of play add to the fun.
PopCap Games
■■I Spy Fantasy
Solve riddles and search
for hidden items on an
alien planet, in an
under­water cavern, and
in a sandcastle. This game, like the
“I Spy” book series, will build your
youngster’s observation skills and
boost her memory and thinking.
Scholastic
WEB SITES
■■WayBack
This Web site takes
readers on a trip through history. Your
youngster will find articles about U.S.
presidents, the first airplanes, and
civil rights activists. Children are also
encouraged to enjoy offline activities
such as exploring your family history
and planning a reunion.
http://pbskids.org/wayback
■■National Geographic Kids
Visitors to this National Geographic
Web site can read news and see photographs of animals, people, and places
around the globe. Articles cover cultures, conservation, space exploration,
scientific discoveries, and more.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com