Miss Pellin's Post
December 3rd - December 7th

I enjoyed meeting and talking with each of your during the parent/teacher conferences last week. I am looking forward to a great second trimester. There will be some grading changes for the second trimester. The homework will be 5 points instead of 10 points. Each late slip will receive a 1 point deduction from the subject area's grade.

Monday, December 3rd is the last day to place your yearbook orders! Please make your $9.00 checks payable to Lifetouch. The yearbook order forms were sent home with your child last week. If you lose yours just send an envelope with the student’s name, grade level, and my name on the outside (and the check on the inside). In any case, it is important to have my name on the outside of your envelope since Lifetouch cannot match you child with their teacher.

Gifts for our adopted family are due on Wednesday, December 5th. We only have two gifts so far. Many more are needed! There will be no winter holiday party. Instead of having winter holiday parties this year, Prairieview School will be going on a field trip to the Tivoli Theater to see the movie The Polar Express on Friday, December 21st. Thank you to those parents who volunteered to help with the winter holiday party, but this will not be necessary. We will also go on a gym field trip (bowling) on Thursday, December 20th. Please return signed field trip permission slips as soon as possible. Also please return your signed report card envelopes.

This Week at School:

English: We will be working on narrative writing. We will be learning about lead sentences, main ideas, supporting sentences and closing sentences – the main parts of a paragraph and a narrative paper.

Spelling: This week we will be studying spelling “List 14.” We will have a pretest on Monday, December 3rd. The final test will be on Friday, December 7th.

Reading: We will continue to read about Egypt this week. Mummies, pyramids, pharaohs, Cleopatra, and more will be part of our studies!

Math: Miss Pellin’s math class will continue to work on 2 and 3 digit addition, subtraction, and rounding. At the end of the week we will begin multiplication!

Social Studies: This week, we will finish our study of Chapter 2 with a look at our nearby urban community of Chicago! There will be a chapter test on Thursday, December 6th.

Science: We will begin the study of “matter” next week.

Things to Remember:
Monday 12/3: This is the last day to order yearbooks.
Wednesday 12/5: Adopted family gifts are due.
Thursday 12/6: There will be a test in Social Studies on Chapter 2.
Friday 12/7: We will have our reading party at lunch. If you choose to bring a sack

lunch, please do not have peanuts in it!

Thursday 12/20: The non-fiction book report project is due.

This change was due to the field trip on the December 21st.
Friday 12/21: We will be going on a field trip to see the Polar Express!

December Spirit Days:

Dec. 7 - Character Counts Day

Dec. 14 - School Spirit Day

Dec. 21 - Holiday Wear

Contact Information:

Email address: mpellin@ccsd66.org

Voice mail: (630)783-5065

Miss Pellin's Post
November 26th - November 30th

Miss Pellin’s class has worked very hard for the entire first trimester. This effort has resulted in many excellent grades! I am so proud of this class’s achievements! There is no time to rest, however. We start the second trimester on Monday! Study will move from largely review of second grade concepts to the study of new material.

I look forward to visiting with each of you at the Parents/Teacher Conferences on Monday, November 26th; Tuesday, November 27th; and Wednesday, November 28th. The schedule can be found below, if you have any questions please email me at the address below. There is no school on Friday, November 30th.

Let Buona do the cooking on Friday, November 30th and let District 66 reap the rewards! I will send home a flyer on Monday, November 26th explaining the details! Our next Prairieview “Spirit” Day will be on December 7th.

Orders for yearbooks are now being taken. Please make your $9.00 checks payable to Lifetouch. No orders will be accepted after Monday, December 3, 2007. The yearbook order forms were sent home with your child last week. If you have lost your order form just send an envelope with the student’s name, grade level, and my name on the outside (and the check on the inside). In any case, it is important to have my name on the outside of your envelope since Lifetouch cannot match you child with their teacher.

This Week at School:

English: We will finish our study of punctuation with a Chapter 5 quiz on Wednesday,November 28th. We will begin a unit on narrative writing. By looking at examples of narrative writing, we will discover that articles have a particular organization or order.

Spelling: This week we will be studying spelling “List 13”. The final test will be on Thursday, November 29th.

Reading: We will start a unit on Egypt. We will begin by reviewing vocabulary words. It is important to recognize the difference between fact and opinion when reading about history.

Math: Miss Pellin’s math class will begin Chapter 3 this week. This chapter begins with addition and subtraction of three and four digit numbers.

Social Studies: We will begin our study of Chapter 2 with a look at rural communities. The unit focuses on the comparison of rural, suburban, and urban communities.

Science: Our exploration of physical sciences will begin in December with a unit on matter.

Things to Remember:

Wednesday 11/28: There will be an English Unit 5 quiz.
Thursday 11/29: There will be a Spelling "List 13" final test. Book orders are due.
Friday 11/30: No school! Please have a safe and fun week-end!

Monday 12/3: Yearbook orders are due. Social Studies Chapter 2 study guides are due.

Wednesday 12/5: Adopted family gifts are due.

Parent/Teacher Conference Schedules:

Monday, November 26th:

3:00-3:15: Darrell

3:15-3:30: Fatima

3:30-3:45: Marissa

3:45-4:00: Olivia

4:00-4:15: Kayla

4:15-4:30: Allison

4:30-4:45: Charlie

4:45-5:00: Gina

Tuesday, November 27th:

3:00-3:15: Gabriella

3:15-3:30: Danielle

3:30-3:45: Sam

3:45-4:00: Claire

4:00-4:15: Zakariya

4:15-4:30: John Luca

4:30-4:45: Nick

Wednesday November 28th:

4:45-5:00: Keyerra

5:00-5:15: Jakub

5:15-5:30: Cannon

5:30-5:45: Jack

5:45-6:00: Kelsey

6:00-6:15: Trent

6:15-6:30: Sarah

6:30-6:45: Kyle

6:45-7:00: Emily

December Spirit Days:

Dec. 7 - Character Counts Day

Dec. 14 - School Spirit Day

Dec. 21 - Holiday Wear

Contact Information:

Email address: mpellin@ccsd66.org

Voice mail: (630)783-5065

Miss Pellin's Post
November 19th - November 23rd

We are learning a lot about making inferences from text and pictures as we read. Everyone did very well on there health test last Thursday! Health Fest was also a success. Thank you to all the parents who sent in the healthy treats! In the future, I will post my blog on Fridays. This will give you the entire week-end to check my blog.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. School will be out beginning Wednesday, November 21st. I look forward to visiting with each of you at the Parents/Teacher Conferences on Monday, November 26th; Tuesday, November 27th; and Wednesday, November 28th. If you have any questions on the schedule email me at the address below.

Monday, November 26th:

3:00-3:15: Darrell
3:15-3:30: Fatima
3:30-3:45: Marissa
3:45-4:00: Olivia
4:00-4:15: Kayla
4:15-4:30: Allison
4:30-4:45: Charlie
4:45-5:00: Gina

Tuesday, November 27th:

3:00-3:15: Gabriella
3:15-3:30: Danielle
3:30-3:45: Sam
3:45-4:00: Claire
4:00-4:15: Zakariya
4:15-4:30: John Luca
4:30-4:45: Nick

Wednesday, November 28th:

4:45-5:00: Keyerra
5:00-5:15: Jakub
5:15-5:30: Cannon
5:30-5:45: Jack
5:45-6:00: Kelsey
6:00-6:15: Trent
6:15-6:30: Sarah
6:30-6:45: Kyle
6:45-7:00: Emily

A Special Holiday Project! Each year Prairieview runs a service project around the holidays. Our efforts will benefit two organizations: a cancer family and a children's shelter. Each classroom at Prairieview has a family or an individual that is in need at this time. In addition to the cancer families, we will also be making donations to LutherBrook, a shelter for less fortunate boys and girls.

This year our class has a very special family. Our family includes:

~Jason(cancer patient) -7 years old –male
~Mom
~Dad

Sadly, Jason has cancer. Not only does this family struggle with the stress of treatments and illness, but they are less fortunate than us financially, too. In order to make this a special holiday, we have “adopted” them. If you could send in a NEW, not used, present for one or more of the family members that would be greatly appreciated.

Directions:
*Please wrap the gifts if they are not food items.
*LABEL the item with what it is with a post it note.
*Label who it is for

Some ideas for NEW (not used) gifts include, but are not limited to:

Jason: (age7) age appropriate games/toys, books, crafts, winter hat/gloves, sports gear, etc.

Mom: bath and body, perfume, jewelry, candles, kitchen accessories, picture frames/albums, gift certificates, gift baskets, slippers, etc.

Dad: tools, sports gear, tasty treats (not home baked), kitchen accessories, gift certificates, gift baskets, slippers, etc.

Gift certificates to consider:
Jewel, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, K-Mart, Sears, JC Penney’s, Carson Pierre Scott, Chili’s, TGIFridays, Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, ETC.

Our classes gifts will be delivered before Christmas along with a freshly cut tree donated by Strong Landscaping.

Gift for LutherBrook: We are accepting Cash or Target gift cards in any denomination. This goes towards gifts on the children's wish list and toward a special holiday party! This is greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your support!

***ALL DONATIONS NEED TO BE BROUGHT TO SCHOOL ON OR BEFORE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5th!

This Week at School:

English: As a review of DOL, we will be working on Chapter 5 in our English book. This chapter reviews what we have learned on punctuation.

Spelling: There will be no spelling list for this short week.

Reading: We will continue to work on making inferences from story text and pictures. Students will be reading stories and making inferences about the characters feelings based on the text.

Math: Miss Pellin’s math class will conclude our study of T Charts with a quiz on Tuesday, November 20th.

Things to Remember:

Tuesday 11/20: There will be a “T” chart quiz for my math class.
Wednesday-Friday 11/21-23: Thanksgiving Holiday, have a great turkey day!
Nov. 26, 27, and 28: Parent/Teacher Conferences

December Spirit Days:

Dec. 7 - Character Counts Day
Dec. 14 - School Spirit Day
Dec. 21 - Holiday Wear



Contact Information:
Email address: mpellin@ccsd66.org
Voice mail: (630)783-5065

Miss Pellin's Post

November 12th - November 16th

Last week: I enjoyed everyone’s travel brochures. I think I will spend my next vacation in El Paso. I was pleased with the classes work on “nouns.” We also enjoyed making “synonym” rolls last week.

Most of you have already signed up for Parent/Teacher Conferences on Monday, November 26th, Tuesday, November 27th and Wednesday, November 28th. Check for a reminder of your conference time in your child’s binder. Please send back the bottom half of the sheet with your child confirming that this time is acceptable as soon as possible. Please join the teachers Friday, November 16th in wearing your favorite sports team wear.

This Week at School:

Science: This week we will concentrate on Social Studies.

English: This week we will be wrapping up Daily Oral Language. We will have a DOL quiz on using quotations correctly of Friday, November 16th. As a review of DOL we will be working on Chapter 5 in our English book which emphasizes punctuation. Look for a DOL study guide on Monday, November 12th.

Social Studies: This week we will concentrate on Social Studies. Students will learn about the culture, geography, and history of several communities in the United States. Then we will contrast these communities with both our own and with Timbuktu. There will be a Chapter 1 test on Friday, November 16th.

Spelling: The spelling list this week includes several Word Wall contractions.

Reading: We have been reading the story Mulan. A key learning goal for this book is to understand the vocabulary words in the story. There will be an open book comprehension and vocabulary check on Monday, November 12th. For the rest of the week, we will focus on the reading strategy inferencing.

Math: Miss Pellin’s math class will continue to learn about T Charts. These “Make-A-Table” problem solving strategies help students to graphically solve story problems.

Things to Remember:

Monday 11/12: There will be a Spelling “list #11” pretest. There is an ISAT Lesson 2 reading quiz. Students can use their Illinois reading workbook to study.
Wednesday 11/14: Your Social Studies Chapter 1 study guide is due.

Friday 11/16: There will be a Social Studies Chapter 1 Test. There will be a final Spelling “list #11” test and all worksheets are due. We will have a DOL quiz today. Where your favorite sports team jersey today!

* November/December Spirit Days

Nov. 16 - Favorite Sports Team Wear

Dec. 7 - Character Counts Day

Dec. 14 - School Spirit Day

Dec. 21 - Holiday Wear

Contact Information:

Email address: mpellin@ccsd66.org

Voice mail: (630)783-5065

Miss Pellin's Post

November 5th - November 9th

The class enjoyed a “boo”tiful week. Luckily I found my courage just in time for the Halloween festivities. There were ghosts and goblins everywhere! The class also enjoyed our field trip to Robert Crown. The activities there reinforced the healthy habits that we have been learning during our health unit.

The Prairieview roller skating party is Tuesday, November 6th from 4 p.m. - 6:45 p.m.. Remember to return your permission slip if you plan to attend. Friday, November 9th is “Spirit Day” at Prairieview. Please join the teachers and wear school colors!

This Week at School:

Science: This week we will finish our chapter on human health. We will have a chapter test on Thursday, November 8th. We will celebrate what we have learned at Healthfest 2007 on Friday, November 9th. Please send some healthy snacks with your child on Friday to help with the festivities.

English: We are finishing our study of plural and possessive nouns. All students should be able to recognize nouns are the subjects of sentences. They need to be able to identify proper nouns. The chapter test will be on Wednesday, November 7th. Unit 3 will begin with a study of verbs.

Spelling: We return to the “normal” spelling schedule. This week we will work on “List 10” beginning with a pretest on Monday, November 5th. Many of these words have double endings. The final test will be on Friday, November 9th.

Social Studies: We continue to study communities. This week student travel brochures will be due on Tuesday, November 6th. I am looking forward to traveling around the country with the class.

Reading: Reading for factual content requires careful attention to the text being read; repetitive reading of the material to find each detail, and a moment of reflection to consider the information being read. This is a difficult, but important life skill. Please practice with your child on material that they enjoy. Our next independent reading party will be Friday, November 9th. If your child qualifies please send a sack lunch without peanuts for our classsroom party. This week we will start reading Mulan. Students will learn new vocabulary and will be working on the inference reading strategy.

Math: Miss Pellin’s math class will be taking the Chaper 1 test on Monday, November 5th. On Tuesday we will begin Make-a-Table problem solving. Tables are one strategy for solving math story problems. We will be learning the strategy by solving problems together in class. This type of strategy is one area of emphasis on the coming ISAT tests. Look for a packet and a letter of explanation in your students to be left at home folder.

Things to Remember:

Monday 11/5: Lesson 10 spelling pretest.

Tuesday 11/6: The Prairieview Skating Party will be from 4 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. Make sure your permission slip is in! Information can be obtained from jlattime@ccsd66.org.

Wednesday 11/7: There will be an english chapter test on nouns.

Thursday 11/8: There will be a science chapter test on human health.

Friday 11/9: School Spirit Day join the teachers and wear your Prairieview colors. We will have our independent reading party for those students who qualify. Bring a lunch for a great time! There will be a lesson 10 spelling test. All spelling worksheets are due. Healthfest 2007 will be held in our classroom!

* November/December Spirit Days

Nov. 16 - Favorite Sports Team Wear

Dec. 7 - Character Counts Day

Dec. 14 - School Spirit Day

Dec. 21 - Holiday Wear

Contact Information:

Email address: mpellin@ccsd66.org

Voice mail: (630)783-5065