Dear Parents,

A couple of weeks ago, the children wrote letters to the Tampa Bay Rays during Writer's Workshop. Last week, we received a package from the Rays! The children were so excited to find that the Rays had written a reply letter to us! In addition, they sent wrist bands, bookmarks, and bumper stickers! Way to go Rays! Now, hopefully, our letters and good wishes will give them the boost they need!

Last Wednesday we were finally able to have Field Day. What a great day we had! The weather was perfect. Enjoy the pictures of some of the fun and exciting activities the children experienced!

Last Friday, we also celebrated Hannah's 7th birthday. Happy Birthday Hannah!



















It's Celebrate the Arts Week! We have a lot of great activities planned. We started out our morning today in the theater with a preview of the Upper School production, Singin' in the Rain. What amazing talent our upper school students displayed! If you haven't planned to go, you should! Performances will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30. Tickets may be purchased at the school box office beginning this morning. Contact the office for box office times. We then left the theater visited Mr. Runge's Upper Division Art Studio. That was an amazing experience to see artists working at various stages on their canvases. One artist was at the computer working on a movie and several more were working on watercolor! Our Field trip is tomorrow to tour the art showcased at Raymond James. Then in the afternoon we will learn about another artist from our Picture Lady. On Wednesday morning, we will be in the Quad for a performance of Yum Yum Drums. On Thursday, we will go to the music room to enjoy some jazz from visiting musicians and then take a self-guided tour of the art displays in the middle and upper divisions. On Friday, we will have two sessions to learn from visiting artists and then end our celebration of the arts with a performance at 11:00 and a picnic following. Please join us at 11:00 and stay for the picnic! It's going to be a great week!

In class this week...

Reading/Language Arts: Our spelling focus is reviewing the long vowels i and o. In grammar, we will be learning when to use the verbs go and went. Our word wall words are any, front, nothing, ready, and sorry. I need to have everyone returning their word cards on time this Thursday and be able to not only read these words but spell them correctly. Please work extra hard with your child this week! Our anthology story this week is a fantasy story. With comprehension, we will focus on summarizing as we read.

Writing Workshop: We will be completing our revision unit this week.

Math: We will be working on counting up as a strategy for making change. This is tricky. Please work on this with your child at home. Play a shopping game where you are shopping and your child is the store clerk. You can use the grocery store adds or just make up shopping number stories to help them practice counting up to make change. We will also begin to learn about fractions! We will divide objects and shapes into equal parts to build understanding of fractional parts of a whole. We'll also introduce unit fraction notation.

Science/Social Studies: We finish up our Florida unit this week and begin our ocean unit next week!

Volunteers this week:

* Tuesday - Art - Mai Nguyen (12:05)
* Thursday - Library Check-out - Ailsa Hudson and Liz Jack - 2:05
* Friday - Math game cancelled! (9:00)
* Friday - Parent Reader - Jonathan Lewis (2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Water Bottle Fundraiser for Make-a-Wish Foundation and in Honor of Jeff Norton: SADD in the high school is selling reusable water bottles in honor of Mr. Jeff Norton, our former Theater Director, for $5. Mr. Norton always thought we should be more environmentally friendly, and throwing away water bottles was one of his pet peeves. Order forms with more details (including color preference: blue, clear, pink, or green) will be coming home.

Celebrate the Art week is here!

Monday - Preview of Singin in the Rain and tour of UD art studio
Tuesday - Field trip to Raymond James and Picture Lady
Wednesday - Yum Yum Drums
Thursday - Jazz musicians and class tour of art displays
Friday - artist sessions, performance, and picnic

Spirit Day Friday, April 29. Students and teachers may wear green and gold clothing.

First Grade Program: Commotion in the Ocean is Friday, May 13th at 8:30 a.m. Mark your calendars! You don't want to miss the best show at Shorecrest! Your child also needs a new all-white t-shirt by April 18!

Splash Day May 18th with a rain make-up date of May 25th.

Field Trip to Florida Aquarium May 26th - Mark your calendars! Parents are welcome to join us! Information will be coming soon!

Have a great week!
Susan and Beth