Kindergarten News
Rocket News – Hard work, fun and friendship, enthusiasm, creativity, communication and cooperation are all the right ingredients for a fantastic school year and that’s exactly what we had!
Our year was full of adventures as we traveled along with Jack and Annie in the exciting Magic Tree House series. We traveled back in time to the land of the dinosaurs, protected our Lord and Lady from the enemies at the castle, saddled up our horses in the old west and walked among giraffes, zebras and lions in the African Savannah. We learn so much when we use our imagination, dramatization skills, and hear rich vocabulary. We are so proud of our kindergartners and all that they have accomplished this year! Have a terrific summer! – Submitted by Mrs. Wolf
1st Grade News
Our trip to the Mosinee Airport and Wildwood Park was awesome! We had the opportunity to learn more about how an airport operates. We saw the terminal, airplane hangars, different kinds of airplanes, gigantic snow plows, fire trucks, and the control tower. Later, we had our lunches at the Wildwood Park in Marshfield, had some time to play, and looked at the animals. It was cool watching the animals! We also took a trip to the school forest to learn about the spring season and spring flowers. On our trip to the public library, we had a chance to learn about the summer programs offered.
The first graders have made amazing progress since the beginning of the school year! Thanks so much to all of our parents who took the extra time to help their child with his/her reading and math this year. Do not forget how important it is to continue to have your child practice these skills over the summer! Visit the Spencer Public Library and help your child find books that he/she can read. Have your child tell what time it is, or count out real money to buy a treat. Use a game board to practice triangle facts. Summer learning can still be fun! Enjoy your summer break!
-Submitted by the first grade teachers, Mrs. Kolstad, Mrs. Pankratz, and Mrs. Zuelke
2nd Grade News
It is hard to believe that this school year is almost over! We just get to know each other and enjoy our daily routines and then it is time to say good bye. It is exciting to see how the students have grown over the school year. They came in as shy first graders and are leaving as confident third graders. Good luck in your future education!
We have enjoyed many projects, such as creating Leprechaun traps. We have read many wonderful books during our Daily 5 time, showing our comprehension of these stories with Accelerated Reading and story map graphic organizers. We got to pilot a new math program that further developed our thinking skills. We are now able to explain our math processing strategies. Throughout the year we graphed our growth with our math facts, celebrating when we made our goals.
This spring we got to take a trip to Nasonville Dairy where we saw the production of cheese. Did you know that 40% of the Feta cheese in the U.S. comes from Nasonville? From there we went to Sternweis farms where we saw the automated farming process. We got to pet the calves and watch the cows go on the “merry go round” to get milked. After enjoying a picnic lunch at the park, we hiked through the school forest and found many spring flowers that are just beginning to bloom.
At the end of May we will walk to the Public Library and find out about their summer reading program. They offer fun activities and speakers. We will also tour Partners Bank to see what happens when we put our money in the bank. We are looking forward to challenging our classmates in activities at the Rocket Olympics. The color walk will be a fun way to spend a spring day with our students.
– Submitted by the second grade teachers, Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Bissonette, Mrs. Guenther
3rd Grade News
Where did the school year go? Warm weather has finally arrived, and the third graders are excited to move on to fourth grade. Once again, we are ending our year with testing, a field trip, and classroom performances. In April, we participated in the Forward Exam, which is designed to assess reading, language arts, and math skills of students throughout Wisconsin. We tried our best to read passages, answer comprehension questions, and solve some challenging problems.
We also took the MAP reading, language arts, and math tests for the third time this year, and we are proud to say that numerous students made significant gains over the course of the year. Students have learned to read and write in cursive, and it is no longer a mysterious code. In math, we learned new methods for solving 2-digit multiplication problems and expanded our knowledge of how to solve problems involving fractions. Students have been participating in the online version of the Accelerated Reader Program, and have made great strides toward meeting their reading goals thus improving their reading abilities. In addition, we used a computer program called Compass, which helped us to reinforce skills and challenged us to move further ahead in math and reading.
In science class, we recently learned about natural disasters and ways to stay healthy. In social studies, we are learning about different cultures, communities, and holidays. In June, we will take a field trip to the Rose Bowl. We are once again looking forward to participating in the Rocket Olympics and the Color Walk. It’s been a fantastic year and we wish our students continued success!
-Submitted by the third grade teachers, Mrs. Reckner, Mrs. Payant
4th Grade News
The fourth grade is winding down from a busy but wonderful year. Our personalized learning communities have grown so much! We’ve been Forward State Testing, MAP testing, and we went to the YMCA for water safety on May 18th. We visited Madison, our Wisconsin capital on May 4 th and had a beautiful day. We toured the State Historical Museum in the morning, the Henry Villas Zoo over lunchtime, and visited the amazing WI capitol building in the afternoon. What a magnificent capitol building Wisconsin has for our citizens and legislators!
We have Rocket Olympics on May 22 nd and the Color Walk on May 25th. These are wonderful experiences for our students to learn outside the classroom and celebrate a year of working hard. They are ready to move on to 5 th grade; well, AFTER a nice long summer break! Remember to use sunscreen, keep reading LOTS, and studying those math facts all summer long! Please keep collecting aluminum cans for next year’s 4 th graders to also go to Madison. Thank you for a wonderful year! Have a safe and blessed summer.
-Submitted by the third grade teachers, Mrs. Eckes, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Fischer/Mrs. Nieman
5th Grade News
Our adventures this year continue to bring us all closer to each other in our 5th grade family. It is so enjoyable to see the relationships blossom between students, and we teachers are enjoying working with them in our learning community. Watching them grow and mature as the year progresses is truly rewarding. The students are learning to reflect more upon their learning, set realistic goals, persevere with learning targets, and display a growth mindset.
It has been our goal to help the kids take charge of and own their learning. Life in the 5th grade has been very busy. May brought us the Rocket Olympics, Color Walk, and the first band concert. The kids had so much fun and learned so much about the outdoors at the Taylor County Youth Expo, which was held in Medford on May 18. Thanks to all the parents who gave of their time to help us chaperone. Your support of our endeavors is always much appreciated. The fifth graders from Spencer represented our Rocket Family with great character. We are tackling our learning targets in our classes with great attitudes.
Math class challenges us with fractions, volume, measurement, order of operations, and geometry. Reading class presents us with many strategies and skills to help us become engaged readers. We encourage the kids to log into Compass Math and Compass Reading over the summer months to help further skill development. This online resource places the students in personalized learning paths derived from results of our MAP scores. The world of grammar takes us on a mission to tackle nouns and verbs and other parts of speech, too. We are learning to write with a purpose of informing our readers.
Science has been fun learning about chemical reactions and creating our own slime! We can’t forget about the time spent with the early explorers and studying the American Revolution, too. It was enjoyable seeing all the “Snapshot of Me” projects which enabled us to learn more about each other. We saw some fantastic projects. Some of our learners are quite savvy with their technological skills and produced awesome slideshows. Recently, we spent time focusing on how to be a safe and respectful digital citizen.
As we finish up our journey with this group of young Rockets, we want them to know that we, as teachers, have learned a lot from them this year. It has been a privilege to take this trip with them! If you haven’t already done so, check out our Spencer Elementary Fifth Grade Facebook page and like us. www.facebook.com/spencerfifthgrade
