CLAY ACADEMY

APRIL 2017

Happy Spring to everyone! April is an exciting month. We are going to have warmer weather, but keep an eye on it when dressing your children in the morning. The teachers like to get the kids out of the building for walks and fresh air! We will also begin our state testing for the PARCC.

PARCC testing is done to check on growth of your students’ academic progress in the areas of reading and math. We have students take one test a day over several days. This will begin April 10th. Please make sure that your child gets plenty of sleep and has a good break-fast in the morning.

District 200 is also going to have a new look to their website. I have been taking videos of a variety of activities that students are doing. These videos will go on the Clay website in a loop. Watch for the change and maybe your child on the videos. I have made sure that parent requests to not have their child’s picture made public will be granted for the videos.

Have a wonderful April!

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL, Dawn Cook

Calendar of Events:

4/12/17—Late Start—

School starts 1 hour later

at 9:15 am

4/14/17—No School

Dawn O’Herron, School Nurse

Vision and hearing screening was com-pleted during the

month of March. You will be notified if your child needs to follow up with an exam by an eye doctor or physician.

During the month of April, the 5th grade students will be pre-sented with a lesson on Growth and Development. During this time, we will be discussing the bodily changes that take place during puberty.

It is also time to begin making appointments for physicals for the 2017-18 School Year. Stu-dents entering K, 6, and 9th grade will be required to have new physicals before the start of the year. Immunizations and booster vaccinations are also required.

An eye exam is required by an eye doctor when entering Kin-dergarten.

Dental exams are required for K, 2, and 6th grade. Please make your appointments early for the 2017-18 School Year.

CLAY ACADEMY

Reading/LA Block 1 Congratulations to Anthony on being one of the Young Authors winners here at Clay! Unit 3 of ReadyGen is in full force! We have been read-ing George's Secret Key to the Universe. It has been a great book to read so far. Not only are we reading a great story, we are also learning a lot about space! Reading/LA Block 2 Students are doing a great job reading My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George! I have really enjoyed sharing this book with the class as well as seeing them relate it to their own lives. Along with reading, we have added a new website to our weekly routine called Quill.org. This website focuses on grammar and punctuation. It requires students to read a sen-tence, determine the issue with it, and rewrite it correctly. We’ve only been using it for a few weeks, but I’m hoping to see an improvement in students writing! Life Skills We are back to our life skills curriculum! This final quarter of school we will focus on laundry skills, sewing, and technology. If there is time we will also add in some lessons on hygiene and budgeting.

Brittany Hall Middle School Teacher

Trevor Mack, Middle School

In Science class students have been learning about life at the cellular level. Through the use of microscopes they have discovered the parts of both animal and plant cells. They have even had the opportunity to look at pre-pared slides of cells in different stages of mitosis. In the next chapter, students will move on to learning about heredity and how traits and characteristics get passed down from generation to generation. They will start by learning about the “father of heredity,” Gregor Mendel. The chapter will conclude with a hands-on lab where stu-dents will further their knowledge of heredity and genetic information in general.

Theresa Pedersen— Middle School/High School

High School English Students in high school English 5th period have finished the novel Tears of a Tiger. We have now moved into short stories, working on various literary elements. In the 8th period class, students are very close to the end of the novel I am the Cheese. The plot continues to thicken and students are on the edge of their seats when reading! Middle School ELA Middle School students have been working on short sto-ries learning various literary elements, such as conflict, jargon, foreshadowing and similes. It hasn’t been easy, as I’ve upped the ante, but as long as they continue working hard, they’ll get there!

Mark Tschappat P.E. & HS Health

April showers may bring May flowers, but here at Clay, April brings Ultimate Adventures. High school students will have the opportunity to play Ultimate Frisbee and Team Handball. Both of these not so mainstream sports are making a huge impact on students and adults that do not like the everyday main stream sports.

The Social Work Corner

Beth Sarich- Elementary, Kady Jakubik-Middle School,

Dawn Kraneman- High School

Go Green for Earth Day!

Earth Day, occurring on April 22 of this year is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment. It is a great opportunity to get your children involved in an Earth Day activity! From spend-ing time together outdoors to engaging in a charitable activity, we encourage you to get out and enjoy the day!

Family Activities: Let’s all take a day to get off the computers and away from the TV and head outside! Spending time together as a fami-ly, especially outside is good for the body, mind, and spirit! McHenry County Earth Day Celebration: Dates: Saturday, April 22, 2017 Times: 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Location: Prairieview Education Center (located within Silver Creek), 2112 Behan Rd., Crystal Lake, IL Phone: 815-479-5779 - Enjoy live music from Musical Guest, Anna Stange (shows @ 11:30 am and 2:00 pm), guided nature hikes, puppet shows, as well as games and crafts. -Visit with over 20 Environmental Exhibitors. -Refuel yourself with food and beverages from onsite vendors or bring your own "No waste" picnic lunch. -A variety of items will be accepted for recycling during the event including athletic shoes, batteries fluorescent tubes and polystyrene foam. Check www.MCCDistrict.org prior to the event for a complete list of accepted items and any as-sociated drop-off fees. If you can’t make it out, you could also spend the day playing outdoor games like Frisbee, getting out on your bikes or a long walk, or working together in the lawn or garden!

Charitable Activities: When youth engage in charitable activities, the benefits are endless! Volunteering increases connection with the com-munity, promotes positive behaviors, and can increase self-esteem and feelings of empowerment!

Check out: http://www.earthday.org to browse earth day events nearby or http://www.volunteermchenrycounty.org/ at anytime to get involved in your community!

Or simply make a pledge as a family to do something simple for the day (or longer!) like changing your light bulbs, turn-ing off electronic devices, riding your bike or walking when possible, eating more local foods. Showing your kids you care and are willing to make a positive change in your lifestyle will encourage them to do the same!

Whatever you choose to do, Happy Earth Day 2017 from the Clay Academy Social Work Team!!

Earth Science This month in Science we will be looking at air pressure and wind. Students will understand air pressure and learn about pressure centers and wind. Students will also be looking at our regional wind systems and will be able to describe the general movement of weather in the United States. Math Students this month will continue to work with linear functions and systems of equations and inequalities. We will be reviewing functions and systems of equa-tions. We will continue to work on slope-point form, slope-intercept form, slopes of parallel and perpendicu-lar lines, and transforming linear functions. Reading/Language Arts This month we will be finishing our novel titled Rocket Boy and we will be completing a book end project. Stu-dents will select their individual novels this month and complete a series of activities and projects based on their own novel. The students will continue to write in their journals and work on parts of speech and daily oral language to increase overall language skills.

Michael Lewis—Middle/High School

World History: We are currently learning about the Revolution and Enlight-enment period from 1550 - 1800. We will learn and discuss the Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, as well as the American Revolution. Middle School Math: We are currently working on lines and bar graphs as well as learning about points, lines, and planes. The students are doing well with learning this new material. Middle School Science: We have just finished learning about the cell cycle. Now we are moving into our chapter that involves heredity. We will be learning about Gregor Mendel, traits and inheritance and meiosis. Consumer Education: We have just finished our chapter on the grocery cart. We had good discussions on what types of things they will buy at the grocery store when they are on their own and how much those items cost. We will now be moving into our chapter about how you look and feel. We will discuss medicine, doc-tors and medical insurance. World Events: We have learned about rising temperatures reducing rivers, forest fires, predicting avalanches, floods, tsunamis, why songs get stuck in our heads, and Chance the Rapper donat-ing $1 Million dollars to Chicago Public Schools.

Emily Pemrick-High School

In art, we are making different 3-dimensional projects! In all grade lev-els we are working with clay. With ceramics, students are learning how to wedge the clay to get the majority of the air bubbles out so it is not affected in the kiln. We are learning about different techniques and vocabulary like using the score and slip method to attach pieces of clay together, forming pieces with correct thicknesses, and using a variety of clay tools. After the stu-dents form a clay piece, the art is dried out and then fired in our new kiln! We discussed how a kiln works and the process of firing clay pieces to form final ceramics. Students will also be learning about various glazes, how to apply glaze, and how glazes are af-fected in a kiln when fired. We are excited to utilize our new equipment and supplies!

Malinda Holmer, Art Teacher

John Oslovich—Middle School

Middle school social studies continues into An-cient Rome as we begin to make comparisons between the Romans and the Greeks. We will find that both empires were intellectuals and were able to use their better judgement to make advancements in science and philosophy. As we continue through the 4th quarter, please continue to turn in box tops and loose change so we can continue to stay ahead of our competi-tion in the Coin Wars and Box Tops battle. Thank you for your continued support of the Clay Academy Activity Fund.

Hopefully this up and down weather will sub-side soon so we can start going outside for recess. Please remember to send your student in weather appropriate clothing. A coat will be required unless it is 60 degrees or above. Our class will be continuing to learn about extreme weather events. They will finish the unit by comparing two texts and writing about which text they think more effectively shows the im-pact of earthquakes on human beings. This will use all of the background information they have learned on Earthquakes as well as some of the foundational skills and vocabulary we have been working on. In math we will be con-tinuing our work on division and moving on to fractions.

Catherine Cantwell Elementary (Grade 3 & 4)

Nicole Wesolowicz ,Floater Teacher, K-8

The elementary students have moved on from social studies. They are now covering science until the end of the school year. The main focus for the students is to understand the scientific method. They are covering several topics within earth, physical, and life science through hands on learning experiences. For example, we are currently studying natural hazards (tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes). The stu-dents are participating in scientific experiments to simulate these natural hazards. They begin by doing pre lab work (forming a question, hypothesis, and procedure to follow). They then perform the experiment, make observations, and record data. Finally, they end with forming a conclusion about their learning. The students have really enjoyed this so far and are grasping the concepts quickly!

Middle School Science

The middle school students are currently learning about cells and the functions that they perform. They just finished up a project about the cell cycle. They were able to draw, label, and describe each of the six stages of the cycle. The stu-dents had a choice to use candy or to draw as they repre-sented the parts of the cell that divide and come together during the cycle. We will be moving on to learning about he-redity, evolution, and classification for the rest of the school year!

Elizabeth Donato—Speech Therapist Communication Skills The month of April brings all types of weather. Talk about rain, clouds, thunder and lightning. Tornado drills take place in schools but be sure to talk about what to do at home if a tornado warning happens. Hopefully warmer weather will be here soon too. Talk about the changes happening outside as flowers and trees begin to bloom and how the squirrels and birds are all around us. The April speech language activity calendar is attached for the younger students.

Primary At Clay (Grades Pre K-1) Cara Krzeski

Hopefully as the snow melts and the weather gets warmer we will go outside for recess more! Please keep sending your child dressed for the temperature. In the classroom, we are continuing Unit 4 in our ReadyGen curriculum. We will be reading The Life Cycle of an Apple Tree and How a Seed Grows. As we read the nonfiction text, we will identify text features. We will also create a class diagram of a plant, identifying the parts and defining them. The students will be writing a book on how a seed becomes a plant. Hopefully we will see a few plants blooming in April! During Math, we will be finishing up double digit addition and subtraction and start-ing measurement and data.

Mary Stewart Elementary Grades 2 & 3

Happy April! Currently I am working on planning our field trip to Old World Wisconsin in May. Please know that students on level red, will not be allowed to attend. Also, I just wanted to remind you that when we have half days, the students do not receive breakfast or lunch so please do send your child with food so they can keep their tummies full and stay on task. Finally, I allow my students to chew sugar free gum, as a sensory input tool. Please send your child with their own supply of sugarless gum to keep here at school. They sure do go through it quickly!

Travis Mohr

Elementary/Middle School P.E.

K-8 Physical Education Our bowling unit is wrapping up for this year and we are looking forward to making our trip to Wayne’s Lanes before spring break. As the weather finally begins to warm up we are also looking forward to getting out of the building again and enjoying the nicer weather. Please make sure your students are dressed appro-priately for the weather, so we can take ad-vantage of the nicer days coming up.