April News

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all back into the swing of things after our spring holidays.  We have some fun activities planned for the next couple of weeks. 

Freaky Friday:  I hope you all got your Freaky Friday invitations that were sent home on Thursday.  The students are working hard on their Mother's Day writing for you.  I thought that it would be very special if you made your child a card.  Since you are switching places, I thought that it is only fitting that you raise your "cool factor".  If you want to, and I hope you do, write your child a letter or make them a card using the following abbreviations for common lingo used by kids these days.  Bring it with you on Freaky Friday and share it with your child.  Common Cool Language:

AWHFY........Are We Having Fun Yet???????

LOL.............Laugh Out Loud

CSL..............Can't Stop Laughing

GBH...........Great Big Hug

FYF....................From Your Friend

BFF...................Best Friends Forever

KEWL..................Cool

OTT...............Over The Top

ONUD...................Oh No You Didn't

AML......................All My Love

P-ZA..................Pizza

I 1DR.......................I Wonder

WRSPOU...................We Are So Proud of You

IWIWU..................I Wish You Were Here

OTC........................Off The Chain

The date for Freaky Friday is May 9th from 12-1.  I hope you all can come so we can honor all the moms.  Remember you are switching places with your child.  They are not to purchase anything but any way that you can represent your child and them you will be great.  This is suppose to be fun!!!

All of the other stuff:

Math:  We are studying fractions and will use Hersey bars to understand equivalent fractions.  Ask your child about the Monday math lesson and what they learned.  We will continue Chapter 20 on Tuesday and pick it up again on April 30th after the CRCT. 

Spelling:  We will be studying Unit 31 this week.  I have noticed a decline in spelling grades since the break.  Please continue to review spelling words each week.  I was shocked when several students could not write their address.  Please have them review this at home as I continue to incorporate spelling into their everyday writing.

Science:  The science grades were wonderful.  I could tell that each student took studying very seriously.  I thank each of you for your support.  The students did a great job.  We Will continue our study of habits through April.

Social Studies: We will be completing a hands on lesson about economics by producing snakes and donuts with Play Dough.  Each production team will discover the aspects of quality control, supply and demand as well as working as team.  I have this planned for Tuesday afternoon.  Ask your child about Snakes and Donuts, It will be hands-on, fun and a demonstration of economics that they will understand.

Literature Circles: The students are reading in groups and discussing their books.  They have really taken ownership of this aspect of their curriculum.  I can see progress in following a story, visualizing, predicting and comprehension.  This is one of my favorite parts of the day.

Oral Reading: We are about half way through with Marley.  It is about a very wild and crazy yellow lab.   The children really like the hilarious antics of this dog.  A movie is being made about Marley.  I am not sure of the rating but when I find out, it would be a treat to go see it together.  When the students are listening to a read aloud they are forming a picture in their head.  We talk about everybody's picture being different, we predict what we think will happen next and laugh really hard at the funny parts.  Reading aloud helps student hear the fluency rate that is expected.  This is an important part of their curriculum.

Guided Reading:  In small groups, we also read information texts related mostly to social studies.  The students learn to understand the format of an informational text verses a fictional story.  This is an important skill as they are reading texts books and research materials.

Language Skills:  We work daily on grammar and parts of speech.  Presently we are working on inferences in test and how to determine the actual meaning from an inference.  Mountain Language completed every Friday and gives us a comprehensive review of grammar skills.

Dates to Remember:

CRCT: April 23rd-29th. Make ups are on April 30th.  Please make sure that your child is rested and has had a good breakfast on these days.  I do not mean to place too much importance on the testing I just don't want your child to feel unsuccessful about their performance.  Thank you for your support in this matter.

Progress Reports: Will come home on April 30th only for those student who are not making adequate progress.

A few more reminders:

Please check your child's head for lice.  As the weather gets warmer this could be an issue again.  Let me know if you have any concerns.

As always my door is open to you, if you have any questions or concerns please ask.

The secret word is : "equivalent"