Week of April 28th

We have exactly one month of school left.   The kids and I both agree that this year just flew by.  There are just a few things left to accomplish, but they are pretty big tasks.  Please encourage your kiddos to keep working hard.

Book Club
We have one chapter left in Sarah Plain and Tall.  The kids have done a great job with their discussions in class.  They have worked hard and stayed on topic the entire time.  Here are the due dates for their assignments on the book.

• Tues 4/29 - Chapter 9 read and vocab completed
• Wed. 4/30 - Question packet (all highlighted items should be completed)
• Mon. 5/5 - Tic tac toe board project (This was sent home on Friday.  We spent a long time talking through how it works on Friday.  I told the kids that there are not a lot of detailed guidelines for the projects on purpose.  I want them to try and think outside of the box that I normally give them.  I expect the projects to be done well and have a lot of thought put into them.  Otherwise, I just want them to show me what they can do.)

Science

Our animal unit is the last science unit of the year.  We are going to be making dioramas and putting together an animal picture book for their final project.  You will receive more information on this next week.  For right now, please respond to my email about digital cameras.  I need to know ASAP so that I can round up enough devices for all 44 kiddos.  

Field Trips

$10 total - this is only for the bus fee.  There are no admission charges for either field trip.  

Monday 5/5 - St. Louis Zoo (bring sack lunch)  I could still use quite a few parents to help the kids get their pictures for the books we are making.  

Monday 5/19 - Forest Park (Amazing Race Day) I need at least 10 parents to help run stations.  So far I have 2.  

I realize many of you can't take off of work for a whole day, but if you are able to come for part of the day I can use that type of help as well (preferably mornings).  Thanks for all you do to help your kids as well as myself.  

Have a great week!

Week of April 21st

There are so many things to be cheerful about this week.  Here's my list in no particular order:

1. Achievement tests are completely finished
2. Warm weather seems to be here to stay
3. Last Sunday was Easter 
4. We had a nice break on Good Friday
5. We are trying something new in Reading!
6. Our floors got cleaned over the weekend
7. My sister will be a guest presenter in our class in a couple of weeks

Hopefully you can find lots of things to be cheery about too.

Reading

I am starting a new reading strategy with the kids called "Book Clubs".  We will start by reading Sarah Plain and Tall as a class.  Your kiddos have been given 3 important things:

• a book
• a question/vocabulary packet
• a packet explaining how to ask questions while reading

All of these items MUST be brought back to school every day.  I will not be giving out extra copies for any of these items.  Please do not take them out of your child's folder and leave them at home.  

Book club is set up like this:

• Each night they will be assigned chapters to read at home.  As they are reading, they should fill out the vocabulary sheets that go with that chapter.  (If 2 chapters are assigned, I will have pre-selected the vocabulary words so that they do not have to do double the work.  
• The next day in class we will reread the chapter together.  
• They will then break into groups and complete a variety of activities based on what they read.  

If they do not complete the reading ahead of time, it will be very difficult for them to participate in class.  

The completed packet will all be due on WED. 4/30

After the book is finished:

Students will receive a list of projects to choose from.  They will get this list next Monday and the project will be due on MON. 5/5.  This is a separate grade from the question/vocab packet.  

Spelling

We will not be doing a regular spelling test for a couple of weeks.  We will be doing activities to work on spelling in class instead.  

Art

I have an art project that I would love to do but I need a lot of help collecting shoe box lids.  I only need the LIDS.  Please send them in if you have them.  

Science

We have started our last science unit on animals.  You will be getting more information in the coming weeks.  

Achievement Test Week/Holy Week

I don't know if you all remember what it was like to take these silly tests when you were in school, but I sort of forgot until this year.  I know that sounds weird.  I'm a teacher and I've been taking or doing tests almost my whole life.  But....until this year I forgot how nerve wracking they can actually be.  Yesterday the kids all walked in to class and I swear I've never seen a group of 22 kids be that quiet voluntarily.  I am doing my best to help calm their nerves and teach them how to relax.  Hopefully it's working.  Thanks to a lovely parent we have been using this website to do breathing exercises, stretches, wiggle breaks, and stress management.  You can check it out and try using it before bed time to help them slow down or get wiggles out on a rainy day.
www.gonoodle.com

Here's a few reminders for the week:

• Please try to be here on time so that we can start testing without interruptions
• No homework this week
• There is Memory this week!! (6th commandment)
• They may chew gum or suck on candy this week.  I have a supply in the classroom if you don't want to send it in with them.  

• No school on Friday
• No chapel on Wednesday.  We will have 2 chapel times on Thursday instead.  

Pictures

Yesterday your kiddos practiced their tech skills AND their teaching skills.  Mrs. Schulz brought her 2nd graders down to learn how to use the chrome books.  Instead of me teaching them, your kiddos each taught a 2nd grader how to use them.  You can check out the picture page to see how they did.  

Week of April 7th

First things first:  You're kiddos have been absolutely wonderful the past week and a half.  It's like they just grew up over a weekend and things are starting to click for them.  Thanks for all that you've been doing at home.

Religion/At home challenge
During 3rd and 4th quarter I have been reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe aloud to the class.  I always use this as a tie in to Religion.  It has so much symbolism in it that helps readers better understand the Bible and the story of Jesus.  We have done a lot of comparison between this book and the Bible.  Next week during holy week we will read the whole account starting at Matthew 26.  This book has brought so many good discussions into our class and I would really encourage you to ask your kids about at home.  It could be a very easy to start talking to them about their faith.  They have so much to say and so many questions at this age.  I have loved getting to know your children and their faith this quarter and I'm sure you will too.

Writing
I am going to spend a lot more time helping your kids evaluate their own writing.  We will be grading our writing using rubrics in class.  This is also what I use to help determine what their grade should be.

Achievement Tests
Next week is achievement testing.  We will be doing activities in class that do not require homework.  I want to help your kiddos do the best they can.  I will be sending out an email with more info about the tests and the week.

Government/Economics Test
Friday  will be our government/economics unit test.  The test format will be multiple choice.
We have done a lot of activities in class to get the kids ready for this. 

Test content:

• Be able to distinguish general responsibilities/roles between the three branches of government
• Be able to distinguish which branch of government a person or group is from
• Be able to distinguish which level of government a person or group is from
• Some government unit vocabulary (definition given, match to person/group)
• Economics: Distinguish between a need and a want
• Economics: Be able to predict an outcome for a situation (supply and demand)

Social Studies

I have sent home the last part of our government unit with your kiddos to finish this weekend.  The google doc with the definitions on it has been shared with all the kids.  I have also put the resource links on my Social Studies page to make it easier to get to.  Have a great weekend!

Grammar Test

As it turns out your kiddos are quite a creative bunch.  We have been working on contractions in class and someone asked me if they could do another powtoons all about contractions.  I am taking their suggestion and giving them a couple of options to be creative instead of doing a paper test.  I sent home instructions today and helped them get started.  This project will be due on Monday and they will present it to the class.  As long as they include all of the required information that I shared on the Google Docs they can be as creative as they want.

There is a paper copy that got sent home AND I shared it with them in Google Docs.  (Contractions Project/Test)  Have Fun!

Week of 3/31

Dear Parents,
I apologize for getting the blog updated so late this week.  It was not at all intentional.  Your kids should have brought home their spelling lists on Monday though, and they have had their memory assignment since Monday as well.  We have worked on both of them in class so they should not be behind too much.  Thanks for your patience.

I do not have a lot of other things to update you on right now.  The main things are:

• Achievement Tests - April 14th - 18th
• No School on Good Friday
• We do have classes on Easter Monday.  

Have a great week!