Kindergarten News: Wow! Life in the kindergarten room has been busy, busy, busy. We have been learning how to get along with our friends, follow school rules, and listen and follow directions.
We also have been learning our numbers from
1-10, and have been counting to 30, and counting by 10's.
We already learned many letters and sounds. We even started making words with the letters/sounds that we have learned. We can read, "mat, sat, bat, tab, Sam, bam, sit, bit, and Tim"!!
We have been reading books about butterflies. We have a cocoon in our room and a real butterfly!
Thank you parents for making sure your child is ready for learning each day!
I am looking forward to getting to know you and your child this year!!
Cyndi Thompson
Ms. Wells' First Graders have been keeping very busy doing a variety of things. We have been reading stories from our “Literacy Place” book. We have decided that our favorite story so far has been Peanut Butter and Jam. We enjoy “showing off” our reading skills.
During our morning meetings we have been discussing the importance of listening, following directions, asking for help, and avoiding distractions. We are practicing these skills on a daily basis and realize that they are very important in the classroom and at home. We enjoy working at our reading centers and math centers.
In math, we are working on addition skills. Our focus is on the adding zero strategy and the counting-on strategy. We enjoy using manipulatives to help us better understand these strategies.
We are off to a good start and look forward to a year full of new learning.
JoEllen Wells
News from Mrs. Andrews' Class - Welcome to another exciting year of discovery and learning in the first and second grade at Northern Hills Elementary School. We are delighted to have seventeen eager students in our classroom. There are currently seven first grade students and ten second graders.
In reading, we are decoding words and becoming more aware of the sounds our alphabet letters can make. Our second grade students are working on their fluency and comprehension skills. After STAR testing at the beginning of the year, we were placed at the appropriate levels for our Accelerated Reading program. We are always anxious to show our parents the progress we are making by reading our books aloud to them.
Our class took a field trip on September 15th as we walked to the Johnny Carson Theater. We enjoyed a wonderful performance of "The Berenstain Bears On Stage". This program was sponsored by the Norfolk Arts Center and performed by the Omaha Theater Company for Young People. We are grateful for the parents joining us on our first field trip.
In math we have been involved with a variety of graphing activities. We are also focusing on calendar skills as well. The math skills of addition and subtraction are the main objectives we have been learning. During the first few weeks we have become aware of several strategies which are helpful in mastering these basic math facts. We are also practicing our math flash cards daily so we can advance in our computer program, "Math Facts In A Flash."
Please join our class by saving pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. This facility provides lodging for families with children who are hospitalized. Just save those aluminum tabs and send them to school with your Northern Hills student. It is a great way to recycle and yet help others in need.
We are looking forward to another great school year at Northern Hills!
Carol Andrews
News From Mrs. Morgan's Class: The 2nd Graders have had a great start to the new school year. We have been hard at work sharpening our problem solving, addition and subtraction skills in math. Each day we practice increasing tour math facts speed on our "Math Facts in a Flash" program.
In reading, the second graders continue to practice their fluency, comprehension and vocabulary skills. We practice each day on our morning letter and on a poem to help us read with better fluency and to improve our comprehension. The class has also been able to make it through five Magic Treehouse Books! By using our imaginations we have used these books to "travel" to ancient Japan and Egypt, as well as, to the time of the dinosaurs and pirates and finally to old England. The class has also learned about the importance of story elements and how to use them to best understand a story.
On September 15th, our class was able to see a play about the Berenstain Bears. It was so much fun to see a much loved story come to life. The characters were great!
To help celebrate Constitution day, the 2nd graders will be listening to Senator Mike Flood discuss the importance of the Constitution. We will also be “signing" our names to the constitution and having our pictures taken.
The 2nd graders are looking forward to learning more in the months ahead. Please stop in our room to see us in action.
The Terrific Third Graders in Mrs. Drahota’s classroom are enjoying thirty minutes of silent reading right after their lunch break each day. They are diving into some very enjoyable books and testing their comprehensions skills by taking the matching Accelerated Reading quiz on the computer.
During math time, the students learned how to read information presented in bar graphs, pictographs, and line graphs. They also used surveys to collect data to be used in making graphs. Now we are studying the place value of each digit used in numbers up to hundred thousand. Along with the new material, we have been reviewing all our addition and subtraction facts using flashcards and the computer program “Math Facts in a Flash”. The emphasis is on speed and accuracy.
In Science, the students displayed an enormous amount of interest as we studied the life cycle of insects and animals. We are now learning how plants go through life stages too.
During our busy afternoon, the third graders are also practicing writing the cursive lowercase letters, and they are excited about the process. Please ask you child for a demonstration on letters they have already learned. They realize that lots of practice is necessary.
Mrs. Dalkoetter and I want to thank all the parents that took time out of their busy schedules to visit our classrooms during Open House. The students were excited to show off both of their classrooms and some of their activities. If you weren’t able to attend, please stop in any time to visit. You are always welcomed to see your child at work.
Fourth Grade: The painted lady butterflies have hatched and are flying in fourth grade. Our science unit on life cycles has included raising butterflies from larva. We watched the larva get bigger and bigger and finally turn to pupas. The pupas were hung in the butterfly pavilion and this week we have watched while the painted lady butterflies hatched out of the pupa. We have observed the life cycle and are also learning about the difference between moths and butterflies. After writing stories we will release the butterflies into the Northern Hill outdoor classroom. We are learning to read and write big numbers in math. Place value for thousands and millions is being practiced and practiced. Our first district math test will be in October. I would like to remind parents to please purchase the supplies listed on the beginning of the year supply list. We are looking forward to an exciting year of learning together. --Mrs. Wittgow
Mrs. Blakeman's 5th Grade: Hello to all you parents! I am pleased to be a part of your child's educational experience. So far, the students have accomplished much in these four weeks:
Reading: The students have set their AR goals, wrote fables, short stories and short biographicals.
Language: The class has been writing several different kinds of sentences, rules for commas, and writing in their language booklets each day.
Math: Review of facts, working with graphs and decimals.
Science: Studying plants, roots, stems and leaves.
Social Studies: The students have new books - maps, charts, definitions, and early history of the United States.
If you want to visit sometimes, you are certainly welcome! Our door is always open.
Please check your child's assignment book and sign! You will be amazed at what he or she has done in a day's work.
Have a wonderful fall!
Marlene Blakeman
Greetings from Sixth Grade! Our year has gotten off to a quick start. From the first day of school we have been hard at work, learning more and more each day in each of the subjects: In Social Studies we have begun learning some basic information about geography and those people who study it ~ geographers. Science finds us studying some very small items that are very important to all of us ~ cells! From diffusion to photosynthesis, we are learning as much as we can. Order of operations and finding numerical patterns is filling our Math time. It is a challenge, but can be really fun, too. Of course, we are working hard in Reading and Language, too, working on some strategies to help us become better readers and writers.
We are looking forward to a great year. Please stop in any time to see what we're up to next! — Chad Frerichs
New Staff - Hello my name is Erin Forre. I am the new ELL teacher here at Northern Hills. I graduated from Wayne State College last May, with a degree in Elementary Education and English as a Second Language Endorsement. I am very excited to be a part of the Northern Hills Staff and look forward to having a great year.
My husband Dusty and I live outside of Newman Grove. We enjoy the outdoors and spend most of our time with horses. I also enjoy reading, cooking and playing with our cats and dog.
I grew up in Laurel, Nebraska with my parents and two younger sisters. We enjoy spending a lot of time with our families.
Again I am very glad to be here and will enjoy getting a chance to meet many new people as the year passes by.
NOTES FROM THE MUSIC ROOM - Once again the children's singing voices are filling the music room with their wonderful sounds. All classes have been reviewing and learning new patriotic songs as we work on our singing techniques of posture, breathing, vocal registers and pitch matching. We have been learning other new songs that review old and introduce new music concepts and reading skills.
We have a new music series for Kindergarten through the Fourth grade. It has some fun new songs, some interesting project ideas and activities that can be done with computer and our piano keyboards. I'm excited about the materials and the students are enjoying the brand new books.
We have several new members signed up for choir and it's great to have the returning ones come back. We had a large group of sixth graders last year that graduated, so this year will be a building year for us. I'm looking forward to some great singing developing through the year.
Please feel free to visit or to call if you have any questions. --Judy Sovereign
Band and Orchestra News: The band and orchestra students have started the new school year in fantastic fashion. We are busy working out of our method books, so that we may continue to improve on our instruments. Mr. Worden is very excited to report that we have many new fifth grade band students. If there are other students in fifth grade who have not joined the band yet, but wish to be in the band, they should contact Mr. Worden at school. Also parents may call Mr. Worden, and he will give them the specific information that they need to get their student involved in band.
Fourth grade Orchestra will begin very soon. All the fourth grade students will be bringing home a letter very soon that will give the parents and students all the information that they will need to begin an orchestra instrument in fourth grade this year.
We are also excited to tell you that our first performance for all the students will be at the Christmas program in December. That is an exciting time for us, and we hope to see you there. -- Ray Worden
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