Happy St. Patrick's Day! This will be the last week the kids are in school for the month of March. Spring break is just around the corner and we still have tons to do. The children will be in class for 3 days this week. Thursday and Friday are non-attendance days for the kids. We will have parent/teacher conferences during these times. Here are some tidbits about the week to come:
* Your child received his/her report cards on Friday. If you would like to send your brown envelope back to school early, please feel free to do so (everything inside the envelope was yours to keep--I just need the envelope!). I can also collect these when we meet for conferences.
* Biography book reports are due the day we return from break, April 2nd. Just a reminder as I know that many are traveling during these upcoming weeks. The kids will need to bring in their completed report and paper bag puppet. We will begin presenting these on that Tuesday. Not everyone will present on that one day, but I will be collecting ALL projects on this date.
* Your child will receive 3 reading logs in his/her mailbox on Monday. This serves for this week, the week of spring break, and the week we return from break (we have that Monday off). Only 2 of the 3 reading logs will be due on April 2nd. The third reading log is so the kids can start recording the minutes they read for the week of April 1st.
* Our Art Institute field trip is on April 5th. Please make sure that you send in the permission form and money by March 20th! The kids will need to bring a sack lunch with them for this field trip. If you choose to have your child order a lunch from school, the school lunch portion of the permission slip must be filled out. They will be given a sandwich sack lunch if you do this.
* In reading we are finishing up our lessons on questioning. We will be using wordless books to help create strong questions about plot. We will also be working with Mrs. Polito on a project that uses the Caldecott winners for children's books. The kids will test out a new app on the ipads as they evaluate the illustrations in the book.
* We continue to work on our response to literature in WEX. The kids created their second moment that shows a specific character trait of James from our book, James and the Giant Peach. This week we will revise our writing, as well as create an interesting lead that will hook our readers. This will allow us to write the polished version of our response when we return from spring break.
* In math we will review equivalent fractions and the rule of finding/creating equivalents (multiply the numerator and denominator by the same number). We will also work with finding a common denominator (with the least common multiple) so that we are prepared to add and subtract fractions with like and unlike denominators. If time allows, we will experiment with changing fractions into decimals. The kids are finding that the need for them to have their basic multiplication facts down is great! Please continue to practice these at home!!!
* In social studies, the kids had time to plan out their own colony. They worked in partnerships and thought about what supplies they needed, who would be invited, what skills were necessary, if a government should be formed, etc. They did a GREAT job discussing and decision making! We are now learning about what happened with three of the first English colonies: Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. The kids are reading and watching short clips about each colony. We are taking notes on factors that contributed to the success or failure of each colony. The kids are even finding that the explorers made some decisions that they never would have made.
* I hope everyone has a happy and healthy spring break. Enjoy the time off and travel safely ---
See you in April! ~ Mrs. Galazka
