Read to Succeed

Students are encouraged to continue reading over the winter break. This would be a great time to complete minutes for the Read to Succeed program if you are participating. Students who complete six hours of reading outside of school and return their completed log to school by February 22, will receive one free ticket for admission to Six Flags. This program is optional. Please contact Mrs. Wilke or Ms. Kuhl if you have any questions.

Watch Out, Mo Willems!

We revisited the book Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems today and watched an interview with Mo Willems. Students learned where he got the inspiration for the text and the illustrations. Next, we STEAMed ahead with another activity involving science, technology, art, engineering, and math. Student teams collaborated to create a "Winter in West Allis" cityscape similar to the one Mo Willems created for Nanette's Baguette. Maybe our creations will one day be put in a museum just like Mo Willems!

Winter Solstice and Sun Bread

Sun, fun, and dough were on the rise in room 302 as we read the book Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven to celebrate the winter solstice. We also read an article about the winter solstice to build our background knowledge and learned that on the day of the winter solstice, the Northern Hemisphere receives the fewest hours of daylight of any day of the year. We finished the day by making paper lanterns to brighten up this "shortest" day of the year.

"Winter's gray chill has set in and everyone misses the sun-
especially the baker."

Light Up the World with Kindness

Room 302 students have been busy lighting up the world with kindness! As we have been reading the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio, we have been focusing on the message of "choosing kind." Each student wrote about how they will demonstrate acts of kindness on their lightbulb to display in the hallway.

"When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind."

-Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

STEM Jobs and Food Science

Have you ever wondered how commercials make food look so perfect?  Just ask one of the students in room 302. Today's mini inquiry focused on the STEM job of food styling.  Students learned a bit about the science and art required to be a successful food stylist.

After learning a bit about what a food stylist is and some tips and tricks that they use, the junior food stylists in room 302 got into collaborative teams to style a holiday cookie platter. When their masterpiece was completed, they used their iPads to photograph them.

In addition to being a food stylist, there are other jobs that require a knowledge and love of both science and food including molecular gastronomer (scientist who studies and analyzes the effects that cooking has on the various ingredients being used) and food flavorist (scientist who focuses on improving product taste and nutrition).

 

How the Cookie Crumbled

Countdown Book 5

How the Cookie Crumbled by Gilbert Ford

Today we sat back, grabbed a cookie, and read a story-or three-about how chocolate chip cookies were invented. Students learned that Ruth Wakefield invented the delicious treat, but no one can agree on how she did it. Students heard three ways the story has been told and then chose which version they believed and supported their choice with reasons. We also discussed the idea that just because a story is told doesn't mean it's true. In addition, students learned the connection between Ruth Wakefield, the Toll House Inn, and Nestle chocolate chips. The next time you are at the grocery store and pick up a bag of Nestle chocolate chips, look at the recipe on the back and ask your student to explain why it is there.

"And that , my friends, is how the cookie crumbled!"

Can an Aardvark Bark? No, but it can . . .

Ask one of the students in room 302 to complete that sentence for you. They should all have the answer after reading book seven of our countdown book reveal, Can an Aardvark Bark? by Melissa Stewart. In addition to reading the book, we also looked at a timeline of the book's creation, studied the text structure of the book, and watched a video of Melissa Stewart explaining how and why she chose the structure of the book.

After learning that interesting information, we enjoyed eating some (chocolate) bark!

What will tomorrow's book be?  Stop back to find out!

Permission Slips

The 4th and 5th graders in room 302 will be brining home a permission slip for our field trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum today (Friday, December 14th). Please return signed permission slips along with the student fee of $7.00 to school by Friday, December 22nd. The trip will take place on January 16th. We will be leaving school at 9:30 and returning at 2:00. Students will need a bag lunch for this trip. More detailed information about bag lunches will be provided soon. We are able to take a limited number of chaperones with us on the trip. Chaperones will be chosen on a first come-first served basis. Please note that all chaperones must have an updated background check completed. There is an $11.00 chaperone fee. Please do not send chaperone money until you have received confirmation that you have been selected as a chaperone. Contact Mrs. Wilke if you have any questions.

National Hot Cocoa Day

A cold and snowy December day is the perfect time to make yourself a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy National Cocoa Day. Each year on December 13, people across the country celebrate their favorite cold weather comfort drink. Room 302 celebrated National Hot Cocoa Day today by reading the book No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart, eating Hot Cocoa Oreos (who knew?!), and taking home their own mug of hot cocoa.  Another yummy day of learning and celebrating!

MAP Update

All of the students in room 302 have completed the winter MAP testing. Thank you to all of the students for their hard work, grit, and perseverance in working through the tests. Thank you to all of the parents for encouraging their student to do their best work and for making sure they were at school each day for these tests.

No Monkeys, No Chocolate

Countdown Day 8!

Our countdown to vacation book reveal continued today with the unwrapping and shared reading of the book No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart. Everyone loves chocolate, right? But how many people actually know where chocolate comes from? How it’s made? Or that monkeys do their part to help this delicious sweet exist? The inquisitive students in room 302 should be able to answer all of those questions now. In addition to learning the science of the role that monkeys play in the making of chocolate, students also studied the text genre and structure, noticing the three layers of text in the book and the important role the two little bookworms on each spread play. In addition, they discovered just what a growth mindset Melissa Stewart, the author, has. By studying a timeline of the creation of the book from the moment of inspiration to publication, students discovered that Melissa spent ten years working on this book! Her book was rejected by publishers many times, but she never gave up. Today's snack was bananas for everyone (the chocolate came later in the day!).

Stay tuned for tomorrow's book reveal!

7 ATE 9 (or did he?)

Will Private "I" be able to put 2 and 2 together to solve the case?  Should 6 really be afraid of 7? Did 7 eat 9?  Will Private "I" find 8 at the corner of 4th and 2nd?  And how about the root of 9's problem?  Who will eat the "pi" at Cafe Uno? Is 6 the next to be subtracted? Will the numbers add up? The mathematicians in room 302 should be able to answer all those questions for you after reading the book 7 ATE 9 by Tara Lazar today. As part of our countdown to winter break, the lesson began with the much anticipated unwrapping of the book. Students listened intently as the book was read aloud and identified the math concepts that were addressed in the story.  After all of our hard work following the case, we had to "Take 5" and enjoy a tasty chocolate treat!

Who knew that counting could be so mysterious and so fun!

Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out the next book in our countdown!

Work Hard and Play Hard

After another MAP testing session this morning, room 302 celebrated their hard work on the test by dabbing and dancing.

We know ways to play because it helps us learn!

Brain Breaks

We took multiple brain breaks between testing sessions today.

Countdown to Vacation

Room 302 students are excited to unwrap a new picture book each day until Winter Break begins. Today's book was Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems. After reading the book, we had a discussion about responsibility, making choices, and learning from our mistakes. Students also learned a bit about how Mo Willems created the illustrations for the book. Today's snack was baguettes, of course!

MAP Testing

Room 302 will be taking the math and reading portions of the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) test the week of December 10th. These are computerized adaptive tests. Mrs. Wilke and Ms. Kuhl will use the results to make informed decisions to promote your student's academic growth. The students will have the opportunities to show their grit and perseverance as they work to complete the tests in multiple sessions throughout the week. Please encourage your student to do their best work. Contact Mrs. Wilke or Ms. Kuhl if you have questions about these tests or any questions related to your student's progress.

Media Literacy and Text Structure

After reviewing the five text structures that were previously introduced and what we have already learned about media literacy, students watched a short video clip about the Phoenix Zoo. Their task was to determine the "text" structure of the video. After determining that it was a problem and solution structure, students found that it was easy to determine what was most important in the video-the problem and the solution. The rest of the information was supporting details.

PTA Update for December 4th

Hello – This is Erin Sanderson with your weekly PTA update.

Marcus Movie tickets should have been picked up today between 3:30 – 5:30pm. If you did not pick them up, please stop in the office to grab them ASAP! Thank you to everyone who participated in this fundraiser!

Our next event is our “Tis the Season” event this Friday, December 8th from 6:30 – 8:30 in the gym. Join us for crafts, light snacks, a holiday cook off, and maybe even a visit from a special guest! You can decorate a cookie and do 2 holiday crafts for $2 per child. 1 free hot chocolate to PTA members; or $.50/cup. If you plan on participating in the cook off, please return your slip by tomorrow, December 5th so we reserve space. We look forward to seeing you there! We are also in desperate need of volunteers for this event to run smoothly. Please sign up at: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4CABAD2EA4F85-tis and consider donating an hour of your time. Every little bit helps. We can’t do these events without volunteers!

PTA will once again be hosting “Santa’s Workshop” on Wednesday, December 20th This is a holiday shopping experience aimed at allowing students to purchase items for friends or family – most items for $1 each! This year we are asking families to limit their child to $10 so there are enough items for EVERYONE to shop! Last year over 1500 items were purchased by Wilson students at this event! This is such a special opportunity for students to make gift purchases. To show our appreciation, PTA is gifting each student $1 towards a purchase. Even if they don’t plan to buy anything else, they can still choose 1-$1 item! This event takes a great deal of coordination as well as daytime volunteers. Please see the attached sign up genius and consider helping us make this a great day for the kids. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4CABAD2EA4F85-santas


That’s it for now!

National Cookie Day

Happy National Cookie Day! Room 302 started the day reading an article about the history of cookies.  In math, we completed the Cookie Tower Challenge and then used the data we collected to explore mean, median, and mode. We finished off the day with a birthday treat and cookies!