Hello Room 109 Families! We had a wonderful week together in Room 109! Our main highlight was our “I Survived the Chicago Fire” Escape Room! We were assembled in teams of 3 to take on the challenge in 60 minutes or less! Our last group finished with seconds to go…So exciting!!🎉 Our challenges were the following: PLOT…Reading 12 cards and deciphering between true/false statements. Then placing these events in order according to how the events happened in our novel to figure out clue #1. CHARACTERS…Matching characters to our novel with descriptions. Then writing each full name and following a code to find one letter per name to solve the clue #2! VOCABULARY…Matching each word with words that describe it! Placing in order to spell a new word to figure out clue #3! The final task each group tackled was…THE SECRET MESSAGE! Using clues along the way and a picture code system each group discovered the very important message about The Chicago Fire…It will take a long time, but the forest will grow back! What a fun and engaging way to use our knowledge!

Ms. Emma’s Visit!🏙

We explored iconic structures today in class with Ms. Emma from the DesPlaines History Museum! We played a game in which we tried to identify buildings from their pictures using a word bank. We recognized some from our visits to Chicago and of course one from the Chicago Fire! Using the inspiration from these amazing structures we moved on to creating our own class skyline! We used different materials such as straws, pipe cleaners, paper, sequins, do-a-dot markers ect. I will post pictures next week when our final product comes together! For now enjoy some 🚧 Under Construction 🚧 pictures! Stay tuned for updates!

Challenge Centers/Choice Time! ❓

Mystery Science 🔍

Why is it so hard for firefighters to put out wildfires? 🔥 Room 109 has been very curious about fire since we began our Chicago Unit. We shared many thoughtful ideas about the above question! We also explored what other questions we had about wildfires and what this topic made us curious about! Our challenge piece was to invent other ways to bring water to a wildfire! Please take a moment with your child and discuss his/her ideas!

Happy 8th Birthday, Sam! We hope all of your wishes come true this year! 🎂

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please check out Ms. Maria’s Home Notes for important information such as this upcoming week, Ms. Demetra’s Class’s Service Project!

*Please have your child practice the words to our program song at home entitled, Little Honda!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play.

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week. It is important for your child to empty this folder on Friday and return it empty on Monday the following week.

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! We have been very busy investigating and reading our novel about the Chicago Fire! We completed our pamphlet project which correlated with our novel, I survived The Great Chicago Fire, 1871! We explored the characters Oscar and Mr. Morrow, The Plot (Beginning, Setting, Main Problem and Conclusion), New Terms such as sear, soot, ricochet, stench, linger and ember, 4 Facts about The Great Fire and compared The Peshtigo fire to The Chicago Fire! We watched an interview with Lauren Tarshis which explained how she created her I Survived series along with her discussing the Chicago Fire with a Firefighter. We also watched a clip on what is considered to be one of the deadliest fires…The Peshtigo Fire in WI which happened on the same date as the Chicago Fire! On Friday this week, we marched our way around the building singing our parade song entitled Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow! Take a moment and have your child sing it for you and ask, “Why was the Peshtigo Fire overlooked?”

Praying Mantis!

Fun News…Our Praying Mantis egg sack arrived this week! We investigated their life cycle as part of our research! We are counting down the days until they hatch! Stay tuned!

Earth Day! 🌎

We took a moment to journal ways to help improve our Earth!

Choice Time 🫶

Cheez-It Perimeter Challenge! 🟧

In honor of my son, Peter’s 20th Birthday today, we celebrated & challenged ourselves to The Cheez-It Perimeter Challenge! Each friend received a small bag of Cheez-It’s (One of Peter’s favorite snacks) and we each built perimeter using clues, then made up our own picture! Some friends are some along the way, some for snack time and some are bringing the bag home!

Investigating the question…Will the Chicago Fire happen again? We brainstormed ideas in our groups based on our thinking! We will be creating a group writing project about this very important question! Take a moment and ask your child what he/she believes!

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please have your child practice the words to our program song at home entitled, Little Honda!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play.

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week. It is important for your child to empty this folder on Friday and return it empty on Monday the following week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato News. Important information is always located in the home note email. Take special note of Ms. Anna & Ms. Soraya’s classes for their service project! 🐝

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! It has been a fabulous week in our room! We completed our individual flags inspired by our study of the Chicago Flag. I love how each symbol tells a story about each of our classmates! Bravo, Room 109!

Investigation of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871! 🔥

We continue to enjoy our class novel, I survived The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. We have been finding many similes and love all the descriptive words which make this novel so interesting to read! We discussed why so much of Chicago burned…Wood! So many things were made from wood back then from homes, sidewalks and fences. We discovered the following structures survived the fire…Chicago Avenue Pumping Station. St. Ignatius College Prep. Police Constable Bellinger’s cottage at 21 Lincoln Place (2121 North Hudson, today). 2323 and 2339 North Cleveland Avenue also survived the blaze. We looked to see what these buildings had in common! Please discuss with your child our findings!

Challenge Centers/Choice Time ❓

Investigating Perimeter! 🔍

Using pattern block shapes, we created pictures of our choice and applied our knowledge about finding perimeter.

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play.

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week. It is important for your child to empty this folder on Friday and return it empty on Monday the following week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato News. Important information is always located in the home note email.

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! WELCOME BACK! I hope you all had an enjoyable break with your families! From our morning meeting sharing time it sounds like everyone had a wonderful time!

Did you watch the solar eclipse? I hope so! What a unique experience for everyone to experience this amazing part of science! Above is a photo from a friend of mine who was able to capture the eclipse using a filter. So cool! During school, we listened to some fun facts and acted out a reader’s theater about the eclipse! The next total solar eclipse is predicted to happen in 2024! Using our mathematical brains our class will be the ages of 27-29 and Ms. Lisa will be 70! WOW!! 😉

Ms. Stephanie’s Visit! 📚

We enjoyed our visit from Ms. Stephanie! She read Avocado Asks by Abe Momoko. A deliciously funny book about identity and being confident in your own skin—featuring the world’s most popular superfood, the avocado! We created our own rock avocados with their own personalities!

Our new unit of study is our own Windy City…Chicago! 🏙

We will be investigating our Chicago Flag, The Great Chicago Fire and Chicago Architecture! We began our adventure with connecting pictures of different sites in Chicago to come up with our unit of study! We brainstormed all the factual information we know about Chicago and presented it to our classmates! We discussed the meaning of a suburb and city…”A suburb is a place where people live just outside of a city or town.” We wrote about a place we would like to visit in Chicago! At the end of our week, we began our novel, I Survived The Great Chicago Fire, 1871 by Lauren Tarshis. We are reading the novel as a group and we all have our own copy to keep! We made predictions about the cover, discussed Historical Fiction, and wrote in our journals about the first character we met, Oscar and will he be able to escape the Great Fire!!

Our Identity Flags! 🫶

Inspired by our investigation with the Chicago Flag we were curious about the symbol meanings on other flags including the Greek Flag! We discovered every symbol has an important meaning to the place it belongs to! From that discussion we are creating our own Identity Flags! We brainstormed what would be important to display on our own individual flags. Some ideas included heritage, food, hobbies, important people to us and much more! Stay tuned for the final flag display by Room 109!

Friendly Reminders…

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play.

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week. It is important for your child to empty this folder on Friday and return it empty on Monday the following week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato News. Important information is always located in the home note email.

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! Thank you all so much for attending your child’s conference! They did an amazing job with their portfolios and explained to you, all that is important to them in our classroom!

Getting Ready!! Portfolio Conferences! 🌟

We spent much a great deal of time reflecting on our important pieces to share for conferences. In preparation, we also chose a friend to practice what we would like to say!

Theater Class Performance…🎭

Choice Time!❓

Happy Birthday Martin! 3/31🎂

Happy early 8th Birthday Martin! We hope you have an amazing day and all of your dreams come true this year! 🍀

The Class Vote Is In!! ⍻

We will be raising Praying Mantis in our classroom to study their metamorphism! Our class did a silent vote between Butterflies, Lady Bugs and Praying Mantis. We will be doing some research to get to know our “Little Friends” before they arrive! Room 109 is quite curious! Here are some of the questions they asked…How big do they grow to be? Why are they called Praying Mantis? Do they bite? What do they look like before they morph? Are they always green? What is their habitat?

Fun Photo Shoot!! 📸

Friendly Reminders…

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play.

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week. It is important for your child to empty this folder on Friday and return it empty on Monday the following week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato News. Important information is always located in the home note email.

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! It has been an awesome week together at Plato! We spent some time investigating Leprechaun Magic and Four-Leaf Clovers! Our Mystery Science Lesson entitled, Why are Four Leaf Clovers so rare? inspired us to go outside and look for our own! Below are some questions that guided us through the lesson…

Why are four-leaf clovers so rare?

What did this lesson make you curious about? What other questions do you have?

Please discuss with your child what he/she discovered about Four Leaf Clovers!🍀Can you find any in your yard?

Room 109’s New Design! 🌟

Ms. Lisa switched some items around in our classroom to create a larger space to learn and play! We did a scavenger hunt to see where everything is located! We shared our reflections on if we did/or didn’t like the new set-up and everyone loves it! Below are some of our reasons! Ask your child what has changed in our room!

Choice Time❓

WANTED!!! ☆

There was a leprechaun on the loose and he is causing all kinds of mischief! We brainstormed good descriptive words and similes that describe our leprechaun so it will help others identify him!

Happy Birthday Vasiliki! 🎂

Happy 8th Birthday! We hope all of your wishes come true this year!

Greek Program Practice! 👯

Way to go Room 109! You will rock the performance tomorrow!

Dream Catchers!🌚

Our class discovered the importance of dream catchers to the Native Americans, their original customs and many different versions! We created ours by using paper plates, hole punchers, paint, glitter, string, beads and feathers! Sweet dreams Room 109! May your dream catchers catch the bad and let through the good!

Friendly Reminders…

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play. Coats, gloves & hats are necessary to have at school due to the weather. Boots & snow pants too! ☃ Once the weather stays consistently warmer, Room 109 will bring home all their snow gear! Our plan is to send it home before spring break.

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week. It is important for your child to empty this folder on Friday and return it empty on Monday the following week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato News. Important information is always located in the home note email. Please take note of the Greek Independence Program tomorrow, 3/15. Please have your child there by 9:45 sharp! There is no school after the performance on that day. If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out!

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! We had a wonderful week together! Thank you to all who participated in St. Baldricks! Our commitment to service at Plato is one of our greatest priorities! So much positive energy as we cheered on our class shavees, Aaron, Billy, Loki and Will! It was so much fun cheering you all on!

Eagle Song Novel 📚

We finished our novel Eagle Song! Our focus was the main character, Danny and how he changed throughout the novel. We loved reading our novel together highlighting and discussing certain quotes and similes!

Challenge Centers & Choice Time! ❓

Mindset Math! Taking a Fractional Walk ⅙

Our class discovered how to connect fractions to distance and the number line by finding as many different rectangles as they can with a perimeter of 17 units. Here are some of our guiding questions: What rectangles did you find? What made finding these rectangles challenging? What patterns do you notice in the perimeters that require fractional side lengths? What other patterns do you see? Can we find all the rectangles for a given perimeter? Why or Why not? How are fractions connected to length?

How Close to 100? 🎲

Through this game we are learning how to build flexibility with multiplication through this area game. We discussed the following questions once we were finished. How did you figure out how close to 100 you got? What are some strategies that your developed for playing the game? How did you decided where to place your rectangles? What made it hard to get to 100?

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses…🐎

We read this beautiful picture book by Paul Goble. This is the story of a Native-American girl who shares a special bond with horses and seems to understand them in a deeper way than most people. Finding comfort in their companionship in a way that she does not with her fellow villagers, she eventually becomes one and is wild and free. Here are some questions that guided our thoughts…Is this a good title? Why? What is the most important event? What is your favorite part of the story? What image comes to mind? Room 109 also examined the art with the following questions…What shapes or images repeat? Do the horses look similar? What about other images?

We enjoyed working with the oil pastels and putting our personalities into our drawings! We took time to reflect on our art which included writing about the following questions: Describe your process, materials and tools. How did you create this artwork? What do you like about your artwork? Is there anything you would change? What did you learn?

Ms. Stephanie’s Visit 🌟

Ms. Stephanie read Sulwe to our class. Sulwe just wants to be beautiful and bright, like her mother and sister. Then a magical journey in the night sky opens her eyes and changes everything. In this stunning debut picture book, actress Lupita Nyong’o creates a whimsical and heartwarming story to inspire children to see their own unique beauty. Room 109 discussed the ways they are bright like a star! Please take a moment to listen to their thoughts on this. 🌟 They created their own stars!

Friendly Reminders…🤩

*Please fill out the class permission form from Ms. Maria for our field-trip on 3/14 to see Pigeon at the Metropolis Theater in Arlington Heights! Thank you!

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play. Coats, gloves & hats are necessary to have at school due to the weather. Boots & snow pants too! ☃ Once the weather stays consistently warmer, Room 109 will bring home all their snow gear!

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato News. Important information is always located in the home note email. Please take note of the Greek Independence Program on 3/15. There is no school after the performance on that day. If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out!

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! We have had a great week together! We have been busily working on our chapter book Eagle Song! We love reading along with one another and highlighting similes throughout our novel! We continue to explore the text, discuss, write and illustrate our thoughts, opinions and how we personally relate to the characters! We took some time to analyze important quotes as well!

Dentist Visit 🦷🪥

Plato Academy had a special visit from Dr. Grandinetti & Team from First Class Smiles in DesPlaines! We loved seeing the life size tooth! The presentation was interactive with our students here as they discussed the importance of keeping our teeth clean and healthy! As a special gift to help each student take care of his/her teeth they each received a tooth brushing kit and booklet!

Our Class Totem Pole🪶

Through our Native American Research we discovered the importance of Totem Poles. They represent the history, culture and ancestry of a tribe. Our Totem Pole represents Room 109. Each student in our classroom chose an animal they connect with in a unique way! 

Choice Time/Challenge Centers❓

Friendly Reminders…🤩

*Please fill out the class permission form from Ms. Maria for our field-trip on 3/14 to see Pigeon at the Metropolis Theater in Arlington Heights! Thank you!

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play. Coats, gloves & hats are necessary to have at school due to the weather. Boots & snow pants too! ☃ Once the weather stays consistently warmer, Room 109 will bring home all their snow gear!

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato. Important information is always located in the home note email.

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! Although this week was shorter we were as busy as bees! 🙂 Which brings me to sharing one of our first discoveries which are Similes! Room 109 investigated a few of these and understood it is a comparison using the words “like” or “as”. We created our own with partners! We then applied our knowledge to find text examples in our current novel, Eagle Song! We discussed one of the reasons a writer may use these phrases is to add a little “spice” to writing to create something more enjoyable to read!

Native American Presentations!

Wow Room 109! Way to 🌟SHINE BRIGHT🌟today! You continue to amaze me with your positive attitude, work ethic and smiling faces! I am so proud of how you have grown! You learned to give constructive feedback and accept it with grace, focused on eye-contact and speaking clearly to your audience, anticipating questions which you prepared for and most importantly having FUN!! Please share your wonderful experiences today with your families! 🤩 I hope you feel as proud of your work as I do!

Library Mentors! 💕

Room 109 helped Ms. Melissa’s class acclimate to the DesPlaines Library! We partnered together to help answer questions and give a tour of where books are, where safe places are on the floor and how to check out books! Way to go Room 109! You are expert helpers! 🫶

Choice Time!🥳

Friendly Reminders…🤩

*Please fill out the class permission form from Ms. Maria for our field-trip on 3/14 to see Pigeon at the Metropolis Theater in Arlington Heights! Thank you!

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play. Coats, gloves & hats are necessary to have at school due to the weather. Boots & snow pants too! ☃ Once the weather stays consistently warmer, Room 109 will bring home all their snow gear!

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato. Important information is always located in the home note email.

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕

Hello Room 109 Families! It’s been a LOVEly week together here at Plato! We had a fun time together on Valentine’s Day! Our special day was filled with fun games such as Valentine’s Bingo, creating fortune tellers and our Valentine Holders! We also engaged in games such as Zap! Musical Hearts and Balloon Pop Challenge! And of course delivering our special Valentine’s to our friends! One of our favorite parts was the heart shaped pizza the PTO provided! Thank you! 💖

Collaborative Art/Math activity with Ms. Beth’s Class!🫶

We collaborated with Ms. Beth’s class with a unique Valentine’s Day project! We created a Valentine Masterpiece using vertical and horizontal lines without intersecting the lines. We chose 2 warm colors and 2 cool colors to create our pictures!

Choice Time/Challenge Centers!❓

Native American Research! 🪶

Our projects are coming along and we are having so much fun collaborating with classmates! They are still under construction but soon will be complete! Enjoy the pictures below of your child creating!

Friendly Reminders…🤩

*No School on Monday, February 19th in observance of Presidents Day! We will see Room 109 on Tuesday at Plato!

*A reminder that all lunches/snacks need to be nut free. Thank you for your cooperation!

*Please continue to send a healthy snack & water bottle with your child as we don’t have snacks to give if a child forgets. As the weather changes please have your child dress appropriately for outside play. Coats, gloves & hats are necessary to have at school due to the weather. Boots & snow pants too! ☃

*Please label clothing that is sent to school.*

*Green folders are our designated “Take Home” folder. Be sure to check this folder for important notes and/or work from your child! Please have your child empty the folder each week.

*Please take a moment to read Ms. Maria’s Plato. Important information is always located in the home note email.

*Please encourage your child to spend 15-20 minutes reading, playing card games, writing/illustrating in a journal etc.

As always, please reach out via email if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Love,

Ms. Lisa 💕