Warren L. Miller Elementary October Newsletter Multi-Age Excitement! First Year What an exciting start Kindergarten has had this past month! We learned how to construct our basic shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, and rhombus. Students practiced identifying these shapes as well. Along with shapes, we spent time on all of our colors. Our colors included: red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, pink, black, brown, and white. Students were able to dive into literacy focusing on the different colors. Followed by most books, was a craft to go with the color in the book. At the end of the month we started working on our letters and sight words. So far we have mastered the letters: Mm, Ss, and Rr. We have worked on the sounds of these letters, along with identifying and writing the letters. The sight words we have covered are I, a, and my. Soon we will be masters at the whole alphabet and reading our sight words like pros! Second Year Our second year Multi-Age students are getting right into the swing of things! We have been exploring the life cycles of different living things. We have been able to watch the transformation of caterpillar to butterfly! The students were then able to release the butterflies in the WLM butterfly garden. The second year students are now investigating the life cycle of an apple. We will be cooking with apples, doing some apple art projects, and conducting an acid and base experiment on apples. Our favorite part will be taste testing a variety of apples and graphing our results! We are excited to be taking a field trip to the Three Springs Farm at the end of October as a culminating activity to our apple unit. Keep an eye out for all of the fun apple projects your child will be bringing home! 2​
nd Grade Second grade is off to a fantastic start! The students are adjusting to the daily routines of second grade very well. Reading and Math: We have begun switching classes for reading as well as math. Your child may have a different reading and math teacher than their homeroom teacher. We are currently working hard on story problems. If you would like to help your child with the first trimester expectations you can study the following items with them: ● Telling time to the hour and half hour ● Counting coins ● Recognizing key words in addition and subtraction story problems ● Math facts ● Adding and subtracting without regrouping In reading, we have begun our reading series. Students will take a test on comprehension and spelling each Friday. Please look for their spelling list in their planner. As always, we thank you for your support! If you have questions please feel free to contact the second grade team! 3​
rd Grade Third grade has had a great kick­off to the school year! Now that we are into the swing of things your child should be reading for 20 minutes each night. In addition to reading, each child should be striving to get 10 Reading Counts points for the first 9 weeks of school (marking period ends Oct. 29th). In math, your child has been learning how to round to the nearest ten and the nearest hundred, as well as reviewing place value concepts. In the month of October, they will be learning many different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems within 1,000, which will include money. We thank you for your support! Please contact us if you have any questions. 4​
th Grade The students took their first field trip to the PA Grand Canyon on October 14. The day was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. Students hiked 1 mile along Little 4 Mile Run to the banks of Pine Creek where they enjoyed a well earned lunch. The hike back up the Turkey Trail included many rest stops where the students had to apply their knowledge of weathering and erosion to explain the features they encountered along the trail. Many thanks to our parent chaperones for a great day! Everyone enjoyed a good night’s sleep after the trip. The fourth grade is working hard in math, learning multiplication facts and applying place value knowledge. Learning multi­digit multiplication is next followed by long division. Practicing facts is helpful and offering assistance is much appreciated. 5th Grade ELA classes are applying “Close Reading” skills to examine literary texts such a fables, folktales, and tall tales. Students are learning to understand and analyze the text for character challenges and themes. Students are also learning to write with evidence and explanations as well as to link ideas with transitional words. 6​
th Grade Math Classes are wrapping up their Ratios and Unit Rate Unit. We can now find equivalent ratios in a variety of forms and calculate a percent of a number so we know how much to tip and how much we will save shopping! Next we will be working on our Number System Fluency. This unit will allow us to problem­solve with fractions and decimals. We will also meet the Multiple Monster and the Factor Ninja as we find least common multiples and greatest common factors. Music Notes Our music department entered a contest with Matthews Motor Company to win $500 for a classroom upgrade, and WE WON! Thanks to all who voted online! We’re going to use that money towards getting ukuleles! We’re looking forward to lots of strumming going on at Miller Elementary! Our primary students are working with what makes music ­ melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and the beat! We’ve been making lots of music in many different ways. Ask your student to teach you a song they’ve learned in music class! Our fifth and sixth graders are starting to get ready for our winter concert, which is coming up Wednesday, December 16th at 7pm at the North Penn­Mansfield H.S. auditorium. Mark your calendar and invite family and friends for an evening of great holiday music! Don’t forget to visit the WLM Special Area Teachers BLOG at http://wlmspecials.blogspot.com Library There are fun things to come in Library this October. In Kindergarten nd​
through 2​
we have gone over proper book care and the responsibilities that entails. We have also gone over the parts of a nd​
book. In Kindergarten through 2​
we have also learned the difference rd​
between fiction and nonfiction books. In 3​
grade the students have been learning about how to distinguish between the fiction and th​
nonfiction books based on the call number. In 4​
grade we have been learning about the Dewey Decimal System and how to locate a book th​
th​
in the library based on the 10 classifications. In 5​
and 6​
we have nd ​
th​
been reviewing the Dewey Decimal System. In 2​through 4​
grade we have started some digital citizenship lessons where they have been learning about being safe and responsible online. Throughout nd​
th​
October, the 2​
through 6​
grade students will continue to learn st​
about digital citizenship and Kindergarten through 1​
grade will be introduced to it. Something exciting to look forward to in the beginning of November is nd​
th​
the Book Fair! This will be November 2​
through the 6​
, I will be sending out more information about this fun upcoming event in mid­October. Art
Where is the artwork? I wanted to explain why there is no artwork shoved in your child's backpack when they come home from school and you know that they have had art class that day. One of the best things about being a practicing artist is the visual record of your thoughts, energy, personality, style, interests, etc. Looking back through the work I have made and kept reminds me of who I was at one time and definitely tells me how I am different now. So a habit that I try to instill with students is reflecting on their own work and making choices about it! So, we keep ​
portfolios​
in art class. And each year we have an​
annual art show
in the spring​
! It is your child's responsibility to look through their portfolio and find their best piece and finish it if needed. ​
Having the authority to make
​
decisions about what will represent them and their efforts is one of
the most empowering things they experience throughout the year. They are the artist, and they choose their masterpiece! Keeping a portfolio also allows us to collect work over time and notice changes or growth. Each year I ask the students to do a "Baseline" drawing as their very first and very last artworks to go in their portfolio. It is always amazing to see the differences over the period of a year, or perhaps, the prominence of a particular style or way of drawing something. First graders focus on self­portraits as their baseline drawing and we do artworks that include many of their preferences or likes. Second grade studies animals. We discuss how animals are shown in various cultures and with different habitats of the world. Third grade studies landscapes. This allows for understanding spatial concepts. Fourth grade studies abstract art. We also discuss imagination, science fiction and fantasy art. Fifth grade studies figures and observational drawing. Sixth grade does a portrait baseline, and we have typically looked art from ancient to modern through a timeline and at the way people as a culture have depicted themselves. Here are some examples of how the baseline drawings look "before" and "after" at each grade level: ​
1st grade self­portraits 2nd Grade Animals 3rd Grade Landscapes 4th Grade Abstract 5th Grade Figure Drawing 6th Grade Portraiture Physical Education Physical education classes have been focused on fitness. Kindergarten classes have spent the last month learning about spatial awareness. Ask your child to demonstrate personal space for you. We have also spent some time practicing locomotor skills and playing some tagging games. Kindergarten students are especially fond of a game called, “Spiders and Flies!” First and second grade students have been working with the parachute and bowling over the past few weeks. We even played a fitness bowling game called Speed Bowling where teams work together to knock down pins. It is almost time for our first PACER run of the school year in grades 3­6. Some students really get excited for the PACER run and really work hard to try to beat prior scores. PACER stands for Progressive, Aerobic, Cardiovascular, Endurance, Run and is part of our physical fitness testing here at Warren L. Miller. for more information about the PACER run and other physical fitness tests we will be completing this school year visit the Presidential Youth Fitness Program website at: https://www.presidentschallenge.org/challenge/pyfp.shtml​
or ask your child to demonstrate the fitness tests for you! Guidance­The 6th grade safety monitors are in full swing at WL Miller School. We are fortunate to have ten students that have volunteered their time to make our school a safer place to be.They not only assist with the daily monitoring of safety in our school, but they assisted with our Expectation Stations the first week of school and will also be helping in our school store as well. The safety monitors assist in set­ up of the store, break down of the store, monitoring the halls and helping the younger students to shop in the store. The school store is open every other Friday from 8:00­8:30. This is a time when students that have earned Tiger Bucks, for being respectful, responsible and safe, can redeem their earnings and purchase school supplies, books, small snacks, MTO cards and much more. Cool links, upcoming activities and other news
● PTO meetings are held every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. in the
W.L. Miller library.
● October 26th - Inter-State Studio will be here to re-take pictures OR take
pictures if you missed picture day in September.
● Act 80 Day - October 29th, students will be dismissed at 1:00.
● October 29th - WLM Community Health and Wellness Fair 6-8pm - There
will be over 20 organizations participating!
● October 29th - end of the first marking period grades 3-12.
LOST AND FOUND​
- Parents, please have your children check the lost and found for any items that
may belong to them. Parents may also sign in to the office and check the lost in found first thing in
the morning or right after school. The weather has changed and many clothing items show up in the
lost and found at this time of year.
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION
WL Miller will be collecting box tops and labels again this year. Box tops are worth 10 cents each and can be found on
items ranging from General Mills cereals to frozen foods to storage bags. Check out ​
boxtops4education.com​
for a
complete listing. At this time of year, many products include bonus box tops so be sure to cut those out too. Last
school year we earned $1,444 and since WL Miller has participated in the program we have earned $17,320.
Remember, box tops have an expiration date, so be sure to send them in promptly as anything outdated must be
thrown away. Last year we collected 8,868 points in the labels for education program sponsored by Campbell’s.
Many items for the gym have been purchased with this program. Participating products can be seen at LFE.com. Only
the UPC code needs to be submitted for most products. Please send in any labels and box tops you have collected
over the summer. They can be given to your teacher or placed in the Campbell Soup collection bin located in the
office. If you have any questions about these programs, you can check out the web sites, ​
labelsforeducation.com and
btfe.com​
. Or you can call me, Kathy Evans, at 570-549-7321.