Week of April 9, 2012

Dear Parents:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter or Passover or just a great weekend with your families! My family (unfortunately, minus my daughter and her family in Texas) traveled to St. Augustine for a cousin's wedding and had a great time with extended family.

Last week we celebrated Colin's 8th birthday! Happy Birthday, Colin!

Today is "Wear Your Hat to School Day" to remind us all of the importance of protection from the sun! We wore them at Town Meeting this morning and will also be wearing them at PE and recess. If your child does not have a hat to wear when outside at school, please send one for them to keep at school.

If you have not sent in a NEW, CLEAN white t-shirt for your child, please do so this week!

Next week is Celebrate the Arts Week! Many wonderful activities are planned. On Wednesday, we will enjoy a storyteller on stage in the LD quad. On Thursday, we'll be entertained by a blue grass band. On Friday we will have sessions with visiting artists in the morning from 8:10 - 10:45 and then student performances at 11:00. After that, we will have a picnic lunch at 12:00. If you have not turned in the form regarding lunch that Friday, please do so! The office has indicated that there has been some confusion over the lunch form for Friday, April 20. The only sack lunches being ordered will be for students. When you check "joining for lunch" on the form, it is for head count purposes only - not lunch. Parents will need to bring their own lunches.

Also, don't forget that the school spring production, The Sound of Music, will be next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. If you have not been to one of these productions, you are missing out! They are amazing! An added bonus this year is that our own classmate, Grace, is a member of the cast! I can't wait to see her perform on stage! Come and support Grace and prepare to be amazed at all the talented students Shorecrest has!

I have posted a number of new photo albums to our class Shutterfly site. Check them out!

In class this week...

Reading Workshop/Language Arts: In reading workshop, we will revisit non-fiction, delving deeper into these texts. Our spelling focus will be reviewing the long vowels i and o. We will be learning when to use the verbs go and went. I need to have everyone returning their word cards on time this Thursday! Please work extra hard with your child in reading and spelling the words.

Writing Workshop: Thank you to those of you that were able to come to our writing celebration on Thursday afternoon. The children loved sharing their stories and revision strategies with you! Thank you for the encouraging comments that you wrote to them. The children were beaming with pride! This week we begin our unit on non-fiction writing and will be writing how-to books.

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 ads or just make up shopping number stories to help them practice counting up to make change. We may also begin to learn about fractions this week! 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)
* Wednesday - Math game - Kimberly Burke (1:15)
* Thursday - Library Check-out - Kimberly Burke - 12:05
* Friday - Parent Reader - Beth Lastinger (2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Celebrate the Arts is next week, April 16 - 20. If you have not turned in the form regarding lunch on Friday, please do so!

First Grade Program: Commotion in the Ocean is Friday, May 131th at 8:30 a.m. Mark your calendars! You don't want to miss the best show at Shorecrest!

Field Trip to Florida Aquarium April 26th - Mark your calendars! Parents are welcome to join us! Don't forget to turn in the forms regarding whether you will be joining us and regarding your child's lunch that day. The forms are due Friday. Please note the discounted admission price for parents if you pay in advance!

Have a great week!
Susan