CTU Strike 2012

As we enter day three of the strike, I would like to thank all of parents who have been extremely supportive of all the teachers!

We are on strike for MANY reasons.  The media is only portraying the strike as a fight for a raise in our salary.  However, it is so much more than that!

We are striking for:
-Class size: The current contract does not have a cap on classroom size, that means a classroom can have up to 55+ students per classroom.  This will prevent teachers from providing the one-on-one attention that some students require.  The union is asking for the new contract to put a limit at 28 students.
-Fair Working Conditions: The students are in classrooms without air conditioning for seven hours a day.  Our kids are complaining about headaches, nausea, and dizziness due to these conditions.  In July, of this year, a Cook County Jail shifted prisoners to a neighboring building when the air conditioning went out.  The prisoners are getting better treatment than our students!
-Supplies: On average, schools do not receive curriculum/textbooks until the 6th week of school.  Within these six weeks, the teachers are creating their own curriculum to bridge the gap between the grade level transition and pushing the kids forward.
-Services: Schools currently do not have full-time counselors, psychologists, social-workers, or nurses.  If your child comes to school and gets an injury on a day that the school nurse is not available, the will receive a band-aid or an ice pack and not the proper treatment.

These are just a few of the major reasons that the teachers are on strike.  We understand that the current circumstances are hurting our students by not having them in school learning right now.  However, we need to stand strong and receive a fair contract to help our students in the long run.  The days that are being missed right now will be made up, either during our break in October, during winter break, or at the end of the school year.  Please remember, we are not on strike because of our salary.  As we are on strike, we are not being paid.  However, we are still at home grading papers and lesson planning after we picket and rally.

We are on strike to fight for our students - your children!

Students were wearing these signs marching with teachers!

On strike on 67th St.

Marquette Students Rock! 

How we are all feeling as we wait for negotiations to end!

End of Week 3!

This week we covered a lot of new information in math!  We continued working with different types of lines, learned characteristics of quadrilaterals, started learning about the SOLVE method, and started our first set of centers!

We used straws and pipe cleaners to create our different two-dimensional quadrilaterals, or quadrangles, and manipulated them to have a better understanding of how the shapes relate to one another and each of their characteristics.  We saw:

A square has four congruent (or equal) sides, four right angles, and opposite sides parallel.
A rhombus has four congruent sides, opposite angles congruent, and opposite sides parallel.
A rectangle has opposite sides congruent, four right angles, and opposite sides parallel.
A parallelogram has opposite sides congruent, opposite angles congruent, and opposite sides parallel.
A trapezoid has one pair of parallel sides.  However the measure of angles and sides all depend on how the trapezoid is drawn.

We learned about parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting lines and found that perpendicular lines could also be intersecting lines.  Parallel lines are just like a set of train tracks.  The two tracks will never cross so that the train can continuously move forward.  Perpendicular lines cross and make a right angle.  Intersecting lines are lines that cross but do not have to form a right angle.  We also learned that these three can be formed with lines, line segments, and rays.

Finally, we covered first two letters of the SOLVE method.  We found that S stands for study the problem and O stands for organize the facts.  These five steps, which we will finish learning next week, helps guide us through solving word problems.

We also took our first NWEA/MAP test this week!  These assessments will continue every Friday for the next three weeks.  This week we took our math assessment, next week we will take the reading assessment, language on 9/14, and finally science on 9/21.

Next week, we will also begin learning about polygons and their characteristics and take our performance task assessment.

If you have not already, please make sure that emergency forms, lunch forms, parent surveys, and media consent forms are turned in to your homeroom teacher next week!

Hope everyone has a nice enjoyable three day weekend!

-Ms.Chan