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.