Dear Parents,

Well, we are through with this year’s AIMS testing.  It was accomplished with a lot of help from these kids parents and guardians.  Thank you.  My wish is that all students did their best on the AIMS testing to assure that we can get a fair assessment of where they are and how we can use this data gathered to improve our instruction. 

Remaining this school year is always a little let down after AIMS testing.  It is also a time when students may choose to act out a little more.  Please help us help these kids by continuing to impress upon them the excellent behavior that is required of all successful adults within an educational setting.

                                    Round Valley Intermediate School
                                         Weekly Write-up  4/13 – 17/09

Mrs. Hart - In Science this week students designed a blueprint of their bridge on graph paper.  They were assigned to groups and had to decide on which design they were going to "run" with.  Students are responsible for keeping track of a budget.  They have $2,500,000 to start.  They began the process of buying property, paying for the architect, heavy machinery,  and Insurance.  Students must bring in their own toothpicks and Elmers Wood Glue.  We will start construction Monday, April 20.  We had our egg drop Friday!!! Lots of fun.  Good engineering on the students' part.  Bridges will be broke on May 14th, 8:30 am in the north pod.

In Reading this week students played a language adventure game show.  Winners got 10 min. of play time (car lot).  We used class time to study for spelling test....which will be Monday due to the Egg Drop and AIMS reward (movie).  Students got to dabble in painting this week too.  They listened to a story I read and had to depict important events in a  painted mural.   Tall Tale book reports are due April 27.

Ms. Speicher - Language Arts:  We revised the letter to ourselves about 6^th grade expectations/fears and sent them off to the middle school teacher, Mrs. Hill.  We then started researching a state that we will make a travel poster for.  We also enjoyed watching our egg containers meet their destruction on Friday.

Reading:  We edited and wrote the final draft of our story that we are sharing with Beehive Homes next Tuesday.  We also took the time to illustrate our story.

Mrs. Udall - This week in Math we practiced drawing circles using a compass.  We solidified our understanding of what radius, diameter and circumference was.  We created CIRCLE MONSTERS.  Of course this art project had some math requirements.  The monster had to include 5 circles with diameters of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 centimeters.  For each of these circles the students had to list the radius, diameter and circumference for each circle.  After they had the requirements they could "jazz up" their monster into anything they wanted.  Please come to the fifth grade hallway to view our creations.

In Mrs. Udall's reading we used the Internet to help deepen our understanding of Pearl Harbor.  We were able to read chapters 1 and 2.  Our spelling words come from the story.  The words themselves are easy to spell.  It will be the definition that will be hard to remember.  We could use your help in practicing these words each night.  Our spelling test was on Thursday this week because of our Science Egg Drop on Friday.

Mrs. Thompson - Fifth Grade Social Studies

This week we are summarizing the provisions of the Bill of Rights.  Using Smart Board activities, the students learned specifically the important freedoms we have that are protected by the Bill of Rights.  Through cooperative role playing we evaluated the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy.  Finally, we synthesized ways in which rights and responsibilities must work together for a democracy to succeed.

Reading - We are finishing our Science Fiction book reports with a summary.   Discussion concerning The specific elements for the genre features for Science Fiction was discussed, as well as reviewing and completing activities using idioms.

                                                             Fourth Grade

Allred - Language Arts - This week we started our rough copy of poems that each student will put in their poem book.  Also everyday we  are working on editing a paragraph.

Reading - This  week the students had 20 spelling words.  Since they were short words that were contractions we are confident the test grade will be great.  This week we reviewed the skill of sequencing events. For a research skill we worked from our textbook on learning to read an email.


PROCHNOW - READING-This week students read in a Nat'l Geographic Magazine for Kids.  We learned about the ponies that live
on the Assateague and the Chincoteague Islands.   We also read an article of King Tut.  The Reading and Math
A.I.M.S. testing is now completed.  Next week I hope to get back into the 'swing-of things' by using the
reading text and doing a few skills pages.
 

SCIENCE-Students completed the Science A.I.M.S. test this weeK!  What a relief!  We worked in groups to create
posters depicting the pros and cons of forest fires.  We also included a HAIKU poem about wildfires.
      Please remember the Science Fair is on May 12th, 13th, & 14th.  All students
    received a Parent Packet last week.  Everything you need is in this packet.
    If your child needs a new one, they will have to go through their Homeroom
    Teacher.  Don't forget, this is mandatory for a grade...  Thanks!  ~Mrs. Prochnow

Mrs. Quinlan - MATH - We finished up AIMS testing this week and we will be doing some fun units from now until the end of the year.  We started a unit on probability this week by doing a "cube drop experiment".   We will continue with probability next week as well.

READING - This week we worked on dictionary skills and looking up information in encyclopedias.  Next week we will be reading a chapter book as a class called "Owls in the Family."


MR. SASSARINI - READING
This week we began reading Castle in the Attic.
SOCIAL STUDIES - This week we began a new lesson on Industries in Arizona Territory.

Mrs. Allen-- This week in P.E. the students participated in an activity called "Fording the Stream."   Each class is divided into teams of 5-6 players.  Each team  receives one piece of equipment which includes: a desk, a chair, a scooter, a jump rope and a large mat. On signal, each team must maneuver each piece of equipment and each team member from one "bank" to the other without any part of their body touching the floor. If a player touches the floor, their team receives a five second freezing penalty and they cannot move forward. The first team to get all of the equipment and team members to the finish line wins the game. This activity is challenging and involves much teamwork and ingenuity.

                                   MUSIC NOTES - Week of APRIL 13 - 27

Mrs. Scheier - 3rd grade music students are working hard on memorizing parts and songs for their upcoming grade level program – April 29.  Performances at school at 8:30 and 10:00 and 7:00 at night at the RVHS auditorium.  We had auditions for recorder band this week, and rehearsed the bells and solo singers during recess.

4th grade students \are learning folk songs from the southern states.  We learned song and dance to Paw Paw Patch.  Then worked on Recorder Karate.  Classes are making good progress toward the completion of this unit.

5th grade students  are learning the music element of syncopation.  We are experimenting with voices, instruments and song.  We are adding the component of expression to our performances.  We are also completing Recorder Karate Level 3.  ELL  are still studying about toxic elements in the environment.  We are learning to use adjectives in our descriptive writing.  Our reading and spelling is improving and we are proud of our progress.

All students are cooperative and wanting to learn.  They are a joy to work with.

                        RVIS COMPUTER NEWS                       April 17, 2009

3rd Graders – Students are close to completing a Newspaper project in a word processing program. Students are finishing writing 3 stories or articles about themselves and their family and friends. Students then draw pictures to add to their newspaper after the writing portion is completed.

4th Graders – Students are finishing an Arizona Social Studies project in conjunction with Mr. Sassarinin’s Social Studies Class. Students have chosen a topic related to Arizona history, geography, people and places. This project requires three paragraphs about their subject with information the students located on the Internet. One photograph and one map will be incorporated into this report.

5th Graders - Students are finishing a Biographical Tri-Fold Brochure on the Revolutionary War in conjunction with Mrs. Thompson’s Social Studies Class. Students have chosen a famous individual involved in the Revolutionary War and are completing this biographical project. Students have found facts and images on the Internet about their famous person to put into their project.

Parent supervision is always recommended when your child is on the computer.

Weekly Write Up - April 17, 2009

Seehusen & Wiltbank  SPED. . . . 3, 4, 5

All students in Mrs. Seehusen and Mrs. Wiltbank’s classes spent Monday brushing up on Math and Reading skills in preparation for AIMS testing that was administered this week.  Students took one portion each of Reading and Math on Tuesday, and the 4^th graders took a Science Field Test on Thursday.  Make-ups were completed by Thursday afternoon.

All students participated well on their tests, and Mrs. Seehusen and Mrs. Wiltbank, along with the substitutes that helped administered the tests, were pleased with their performance!

Friday was an exciting day, with the 5^th grade students doing their annual egg drop.  Mrs. McCall’s class had a pancake breakfast.  Student’s in Mrs. Wiltbank’s class got to watch a movie on the Smart Board!

Mrs. Wiltbank and Mrs. Seehusen both spent time this week in IEP Meetings, reviewing and writing new ones for the new IEP Year, as well as participating in some transition meetings of 2^nd graders coming to 3^rd, and 5^th graders going into 6^th.  We have some of these meetings scheduled for this coming week as well. 

           YES, AIMS TESTING ON TUESDAY IS ALL FINISHED FOR THIS YEAR!!

RVIS Gifted Students

         RVIS gifted students on their field trip to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque, NM on April 25, 2008. Students toured the museum, interacted with snakes in the Naturalist Center, studied the stars and constellations in the planetarium and learned a variety of things about the Earth. Dinosaurs, Geology, Tree-ring dating were just some of the topics in the many exhibitions.

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You can access your child's grades through a log-on from our district web-site www.elks.net  I encourage you to use this to monitor progress of your child.

We do have a traffic congestion problem that we need to tackle.  It seems with the number of vehicles coming and going through our parking lot, congestion - thus safety becomes an issue.  One way to solve this problem would be to leave the automobiles out of the parking area, park on the street. If you want to meet your child, please feel free to walk into the school area to greet them after school.  By doing this, students running into the parking lot to meet parents awaiting their children to get into the car will have an adult with them as they cross into traffic.  Also, our handicap area has become congested.  We do have students boarding this bus and ask that you are aware of the handicap parking area.  With some help and an understanding of the need for safety - coupled with our desire to make safety the most important part of picking up children, we will handle this issue just fine