West Park Photo Club

West Park Photo Club

Mr. McHenry has a new set of recruits. They will be trained in the basics of photography. This crew of would be photographers will be given different tasks on a weekly basis. They will become familiar with terms like aperature, shutter speed, light source, reflector, etc. They will also cover some of the major events around West Park. If you see someone with a camera be sure to flash your smile!

Rm. 215 Ms. Polansky's Third Grade class is working hard!

This quarter the third graders are working very hard in reading, writing, math and science.

The students are starting the second reading theme, "Smart Solutions". We will read five stories that deal with solving problems in a smart way. The students have also begun the Writing Workshop. They had a great time decorating their journals and  love being "writers". In math the class is learning to find area using square centimeters. The students will begin a four day math lab on finding the area of water after it has spread on paper towel. Room 215 is also learning about earth materials. The class will do several science experiments which will allow them to compare and contrast rocks, and discover what minerals make up rocks.  

We just took our first field trip to the Art Institute. The kids had a wonderful time, thanks Ms. Povsner! We will be going to see a Christmas Play on December 17th and the third graders will be participating in the winter assembly on December 18th. 

Meeting the author, Lucia Gonzalez at the Chicago Public Library

Rooms 203 (2nd/3rd) and 211 (3rd) went on a walking field trip to the local public library branch and met the author, Lucia Gonzalez. She retold her Hispanic folk tales to the students and they really enjoyed listening to her stories. Copies of her books are available at the local library and in our school library. She donated 9 copies of her newest book, The Storyteller's Candle (La Velita de los Cuentos). 

Art

http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=809

This is the link to the West Park Academy online art gallery. Right now there are works published by 1st grade students from room 202. Enjoy!!!

What's happening in 7th & 8th grade Literature

The upper grade students (7th & 8th grades) are currently reading the novel, The Diary of Anne Frank. They are also learning about the Holocaust & World War II in History. In addition, the students are responding to Anne's diary entries by writing in their Literature response journals. For example: students responded to: What do you consider to be your most vital belongings that you would bring with you if you were to go into hiding for an unknown length of time?

In the Library Media Center

Students in grades 5-8 have CPS e-mail addresses and this week they are learning how to access and use the e-mail system.