Getting Together

Whitehead S.W.A.S. NEWSLETTER

April/May 2016

Thank You!

We are so grateful for all the assistance and support that you provide to us (as
teachers) and to your children on a daily basis. SWAS is truly a family, through all
of the ups and downs, and we appreciate the fact that we can all work together for
the benefit of our students.

Math Club

3-4 p.m. in Mrs. Camerons room (#193) on the following dates:

April 25
May 9
May 23
June 6

Book Orders

The next Scholastic Book Orders are due April 22. Orders may be sent into the
teachers or at www.scholastic.com; Teacher code H3D4F.

Music Forms

5th grade students staying in the SWAS program for the 16-17 school year have been
given music forms to take home to choose their preferred placements for next year
(general/choir, strings, or band). White forms must be returned by this Friday,
April 22.

Poetry Picnic

Our (somewhat) annual Mothers Day Poetry Picnic will be held on Wednesday,
May 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Information sheets were sent home along with
response slips. Please make sure we know of the mothers (or grandmothers, etc.)
who will be attending to adequately plan. We will be eating lunch outside and
sharing the students poetry aloud. We certainly hope you can join us.
Couple things to remember:
o Please sign in at the front office before joining us in the grassy area.
o Please bring a blanket and a picnic lunch for you and your child to enjoy
as your child shares with you the wild, wacky, and often whimsical works
that only they could dream up.

Sierra Nevada
Journeys

Our all-day SNJ field trip will be on May 6, 2016. We will leave Jerry Whitehead
around 9:30 a.m. and return around 6:30 p.m. This is an exciting day filled with
adventure and learning.
Please remember that you need to either pick up your child or have given us notice
if they are allowed to walk home.

Pencil donations

Our class goes through a lot of pencils each week. Maybe the students eat them?
If you are so inclined, we would appreciate donations of Ticonderoga #2 pencils to
the class supply.

Birthday
Celebration
Important
SBAC Testing

We will be having our in-class birthday celebration for students with April and May
birthdays on Friday, April 29.
Our schedule is as follows. Students are not to bring anything into the testing
environment other than a physical, paper book. There will be snacks provided
before testing by the JWES PFA.
May 2 ELA 9:00-11:30 (Class Act), 12:15-3:00 (Performance Task)
May 3 ELA 9:00-11:30 (CAT)

Yearbooks

May 10 Math 9:00-11:30 (Class Act), 12:15-3:00 (Performance Task)

May 11 ELA 9:00-11:30 (CAT); Science (5th only) 12:15-2:15 (CAT)
2015-2016 Yearbook forms will be sent home April 18 for 5th graders only. 6th
graders will be given one copy free from the JWES PFA. All orders need to be
submitted by April 29th.

On Wednesday, May 25 at all five locations, Yogurt Beach will giving a portion of
GATE Yogurt
all indicated sales back to the GATE department. Please let the cashiers know you
Beach Fundraiser support GATE to have your purchase go towards SNJ scholarships for our Magnet
students.

Museum of Art
Field Trip
Our Studies so
far

On May 26 we will be taking a field trip to the Nevada Museum of Art. While it
still a ways off, we wanted everyone to keep on their minds and calendars.
Our 5th grade mathematicians are exploring and expanding the understanding of
their world through the study of two and three dimensional geometry. They are
learning about the properties and rules of a wide variety of shapes and solids and
are working toward mastering how to calculate perimeter, area, volume and surface
area.
Our 6th grade mathematicians are wrapping up the study of exponents and
scientific notation and now have a much deeper understanding of very large and
very small numbers. This is a natural transition into introducing radicals. The
students will learn to estimate and evaluate perfect square and cube roots, simplify
square and cube roots, and apply properties of radicals to real world problems.
In science, our scientists have enjoyed digging into the topic of Weather. They
are now working toward answering our essential question: How can we, as a
natural disaster team, use weather patterns and climate change data to inform the
public about atmospheric weather? It is wonderful to see the students work
cooperatively in small groups to creatively find ways to use technology to
demonstrate their understanding of weather and how it impacts our world.
In ELA, we are splitting our attentions among three different areas. Students are
working to prepare for the coming SBAC tests through vocabulary, grammar, and
practice quizzes. They are also writing more poetry in anticipation of the Poetry
Picnic happening just as soon, formulating limericks about Mother and Spring
(dont worry no men from Nantucket will be present). Finally, they have been at
their creative best in journaling about their road trips being taken in Social Studies.
Some of them certainly have the imagery and imagination to make the trips come

alive on the page.

In Social Studies, the students have jumped straight into the Destination America:
Road Trip PBL to finish out the year. We are covering some basic geography (states
and capitals) currently, but they are just as creative with their routes (and certainly
with their vehicles). The first portion of this project will be presented to the class
the week of May 2nd, but the second portion will require some family involvement
further down the line, so keep your schedules open towards the end of the school
year
Ultimately, all of this work will transition us from our current essential question
(How do origins influence relationships?) to a new essential question (How does
change influence relationships?). And, as always, for the entire year, we will be
referring back to our Universal Essential Question: Why are relationships
important for growth?

Upcoming Items

Contact
Information

April 22 Book orders due

April 25 Math Club
April 29 Birthday Celebration for April and May Birthdays
April Yearbook Orders due
May 2-3 - SBAC ELA testing
May 4 Mothers Day Poetry Picnic
May 5 JWES PFA, 4:00 in the Library
May 6 Extended Day SNJ Fieldtrip
May 9 Math Club
May 10-11 - SBAC Math testing
May 11 SBAC Science testing (5th graders only)
May 23 Math Club
May 25 GATE Yogurt Beach Fundraiser
May 26 Nevada Art Museum Fieldtrip
May 31 Band/Orchestra/Choir performance for Parents

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at any time.
Leona Cameron
lcameron@washoeschools.net
Luke Sorensen
lsorensen@washoeschools.net
Whitehead 5/6 SWAS website camsorswas.weebly.com
Whitehead Elementary School
3570 Waterfall Drive, Sparks, NV 89434
Phone:(775) 626-5200 Fax:(775) 626-5202
Principal: Kelly Dominguez

GATE Office
Phone:(775) 682-5549 Fax: (775)682-5546
GATE Director:
Cheryl DiMartino CDiMartino@WashoeSchools.net
GATE Secretary:
Nan Olson NOlson@WashoeSchools.net

o 2009-2010 G.A.T.E.