Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Week of September 17-21, 2007

This week was a busy week for our 7th graders! Monday was Lakeview's Open House and it was a great pleasure meeting all of you parents, some for the first time! Your willingness to participate in involve yourselves in your child's education is truly appreciated. Wednesday, the students took the OLSAT during their 4th hour classes. I look forward to seeing their abilities as soon as their scores return.

This week began my phonics program which involves various strategies, such as Wilson and other multi-sensory techniques. The students are doing really well so far! I look forward their improvement in encoding, decoding, and fluency.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Week of September 10-14, 2007

In reading class this week, I continued to read Hatchet to the boys. Hatchet is a story about a 13 year old boy who survives a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness. The boys really seem to enjoy the story. Each day they are asked to work on their comprehension skills through small group discussions. The kids seem to relate to the boy in the story and enjoy coming up with ways he is going to survive. Students have been asked to list 3 summary facts and 2 interesting things on note cards at the conclusion of readings each day. They are also working on making predictions. Next week we will have them write a letter home to mom from the perspective of the main character in the story. I have been really pleased with the amount of effort that the boys have been putting into class. Make sure to give them a pat on the back!
In Language Arts class, the students have been reviewing nouns, prefixes, and suffixes. We have covered common, proper, concrete, and abstract nouns in the singular and plural forms. They have been taking great notes, and participating during class. Next week we will have our first test over the different types of nouns. We will also have workbook exercises for homework throughout the week. Have a safe and enjoyable weekend!

-Mr. Nutt



Week of September 17, 2007

  • Tuesday: Early dismissal
  • Wednesday: OLSAT during 4th hour for 7th graders ONLY

Have a GREAT weekend!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Welcome Mr. Nutt, New Student Teacher

This year we have a student teacher in our classroom, Mr. Michael Nutt, from Eastern Illinois University. In the following note, Mr. Nutt introduces himself and details his goals for our students.

Hello Parents!

My name is Mike Nutt and I will be working with your child for the next month under the guidance and supervision of Ivy Whelan. I am a student from Eastern Illinois University with a major in Special Education. I have been fortunate enough to be placed here at Lakeview for my student teaching experience and look forward to contributing to your child's learning process. Over the next month, I will guide the kids through a variety of skills in the area of Reading and Language Arts. I hope to help them improve their skills in these areas. We will continue to work on spelling, vocabulary, and grammar, and also introduce a novel unit on a book titled Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. If you have any questions for me regarding your child, please feel free to email myself or Mrs. Whelan. My email address is mnutt@ccsd66.org and iwhelan@ccsd66.org. I look forward to working with your child and anticipate a fantastic year!