A Letter From Mr. Cieciwa
Dear Rockland Parents and Guardians,
It has been a busy two weeks at Rockland. We have completed the Illinois Assessment of Readiness and the Illinois Science Assessment. Our Raptors put in an amazing effort and we cannot wait to see the results. We also hosted our Kindergarten Orientation Night and had a great turnout with almost every registered family in attendance. Our parents learned all about Rockland while our future kindergarteners got to visit their classrooms, hear a read aloud, and have some play time with their new classmates. We also celebrated our students at the April PBIS Celebration Assembly. We honored our students of the month for showing a growth mindset! Coming up soon, we will have our Famous Author Visit Assemblies sponsored by our amazing RFA and our Spring Musical.
Summer School Registration is Open:
Registration for our summer school has opened this week. Similar to last year, our summer program will focus on academics. Summer school will be hosted at Butterfield this year and paid busing is available as well as Champions Day Care. Registration will close April 29th, so sign up soon. Directions on how to register can be found at this link. Summer School Registration
Kindergarten Registration and Kindergarten Family Orientation:
If you have a child who will be turning 5 by September 1, 2022, make sure to register them for Kindergarten at Rockland. Early registration helps us to plan and staff so there are no last minute changes. Use this link to our district website to register. If you know a family in the neighborhood who will have kindergarten age children please let them know as well.
Kindergarten/New Student Registration
Returning Student Registration:
Please complete registration for the upcoming school year as soon as possible if you are planning to return to a D70 school next year. This information helps us in sectioning and class building. The process begins in the Powerschool parent portal. For more information, use this link: Returning Student Registration
Dates To Remember:
Friday April 22 - Backwards and Inside Out Day
Wednesday April 27 - Spring Musical for 1st and 2nd Grades @ 6:30 pm
Friday April 29 - Author Visit and Fun Hat Day
Week of May 2-6 - Staff Appreciation Week
Tuesday May 3 - Open House and Art Show @ 6:30 pm
Wednesday May 4 - National Bike to School Day and STAR Testing Begins
Sincerely,
Jim Cieciwa
Principal
Supporting Reading and Math at Home
By: Mrs. Wittenberg and Mrs. Williams
READING
Word Solving
When an error is made WAIT to give your child a chance to work on it independently. When you are certain they are going to keep going, stop them by saying something like, “Did that make sense?” or “Make it match.”
Compliment what you notice your child doing well:
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You used the first letter and checked the picture.
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You tried more than one strategy on your own.
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Nice job trying a different vowel sound.
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You made your eyes go through the beginning, middle, and end of that word.
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You noticed and fixed your mistake.
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You found chunks in the word.
Comprehension
Ask questions that invite recall AND thinking, such as, “Why do you think _____ happened?”, “What do you think _____ means?”, or “How is _____ feeling and why?”. Urge rereading to build comprehension as needed.
Compliment what you notice your child doing well:
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You are self-monitoring and working on it when it does not make sense
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Your expression is showing that you understand what you’re reading.
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Wonderful job stopping to think about the text instead of reading to just get to the next page.
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You remember the details beautifully.
Fluency
Model expressive reading and have your child echo read. Encourage “just right” pacing (not too fast, not too slow). Demonstrate how to attend to the punctuation (pausing at the end of sentences, adding expression based on the punctuation mark).
Compliment what you notice your child doing well:
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You sounded just like the character would sound.
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I could hear you take a break after the punctuation marks.
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You are reading in phrases, not word-by-word.
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Your speed is just right - not too fast or too slow.
MATH
Let’s Talk about Subitizing!
Subitizing is the ability to look at a group of objects and recognizing how many there are without counting them one by one. This skill is one of the first building blocks in math because it helps students develop counting and number skills.
How can I promote building subitizing skills at home?
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Look at dominoes- ask your child how many dots they see on a domino and ask how they saw the pattern. You will be amazed at the different ways people see numbers and patterns. You may even see the dots in a different way than your child!
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Use fingers- hold up any value from 1-10 on your fingers quickly for your child to see. Ask them how many fingers you held up and how they decided on their answer
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Pop-its- Students are loving the pop it fidget toy, so why not use it for math? Have your child roll a dice, quickly look at the number of dots and show on the pop it how many dots were on the dice.
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Using household objects- use pencil eraser tops, buttons, pom poms and display a group of that object for your child. Ask them how many they see and how they got their answer.
Looking for additional math resources? The Math Learning Center has wonderful free resources, activities, and even workbooks to strengthen your child’s number sense.
4th Grade News
Can you believe that we have reached the homestretch of our school year! We have been keeping very busy in 4th grade!
State Fair:
During the last month fourth grade has been working on their state fair projects! Each student was assigned a state in the U.S. Through the research process, we learned how to take notes utilizing a note-taking folder to help keep our information organized. After taking a variety of notes, students created a Google Slides presentation to visually represent the features of their state. The final piece of their project was to develop a float that shows various parts of their state. Both the slides and the floats demonstrated each student's creativity and problem solving skills.
Field Trip Fun:
On May 11th, the 4th graders will be going to "The Grove" in Glenview. They will be spending time living like the early pioneers, connecting with what we are learning in our social studies curriculum. Students will experience life in an 1850s log cabin by learning how they built their homes, about the foods they made and ate, and what they did in their free time. We will also explore the job of a blacksmith, making rope, tinning metal, and making candles. We look forward to this memorable exploration to the past!
Have a great weekend!
-The 4th Grade Team
Learning Center News
Hey Hey! Are you spring cleaning? Rockland will take any of your unwanted, complete puzzles so we can use them in the learning center for our stations! Thank you for thinking of us. You can drop them off in the office.
RFA News and Updates
Teacher Appreciate Week
Teacher Appreciation week is approaching (May 2-6th) and we have come up with a way to celebrate the teachers and staff all week long! To do so, we need volunteers to bring in sides, drinks and treats throughout the week.
If you would like to contribute, please use the sign-ups below. Your help is greatly appreciated to make the week a success and show the Rockland staff how much we care.
Monday
www.PerfectPotluck.com/MGPP3364
Tuesday
https://www.PerfectPotluck.com/JEHD4528
Wednesday
https://www.PerfectPotluck.com/OENH3554
Thursday
https://www.PerfectPotluck.com/VZVU5520
Friday
https://www.PerfectPotluck.com/GDDQ8995
Please contact Katie Sanderson at 360-431-0841 or katie.vincent@gmail.com if you have questions.
Book Fair:
We are still in need of some parent volunteers for the book fair which runs May 2nd-6th. We need help setting up help, during classroom previews, shopping times and take down. If you are available at all during the school day or even right after school for setup and take down, please sign up! The time slots are only a couple hours each and you can cater your schedule with your child's.
Sign up here to help! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090d4ca5a723a0fb6-parent
If you have any questions, please reach out to Keri Woodward at: kwoodward83@yahoo.com
Fifth Grade Legacy Gift:
The fifth graders took a vote on what their 2022 Legacy Gift will be for the school and the results are in:
Lowered height basketball hoop for the playground! This gift will allow kids of all ages to play hoops on the playground.
Be on the lookout for one last fundraiser from the 5th graders to make the last bit of money they need to purchase this gift for the school.
Rockland Cares:
Thanks to those who are planning to come clean up Nicholas-Dowden park and the North Shore Bike Path later today in honor of Earth Day!
There are two remaining events this school year, both involving chalk! Join fellow students as they “Chalk the Walk” on Rockland’s sidewalks and blacktop with words of encouragement for two seperate special events in May. Chalk will be provided! Come ready to be creative, colorful and encouraging!
"Chalk the Walk" in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week on May 2 from 2:45-3:15 p.m. at the school blacktop area
"Chalk the Walk" in honor of the Circle of Readers - a 1st grade celebration on May 9 from 5:30-6 p.m. at the school blacktop area
School Supplies:
It’s hard to believe we are already planning for next school year. Teachers have finalized their lists for the next school year and you can now order online. The kits are delivered to the school and will be in your child's classroom waiting for them on the first day. Here’s the link to order. https://1stday.sale/34603
2021-2022 RFA Budget:
Please remember to submit your receipts for reimbursement for any committees you served on that are part of the yearly budget.
Submit them here: https://forms.gle/c4C6xgPwDseKi4um7
2022-2023 RFA Budget:
We are coming down to the end of this year, which means that we need to start planning our events and fundraisers for next year! If you have any suggestions on fundraisers or new event ideas for the coming year, please email them to rfa@d70schools.org ***This is the new email that the entire RFA board will be using.
We want to make sure that next year is our best yet!