Week of May 14, 2012

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
 

I can't begin to tell you how very proud I am! Your children were absolutely amazing in Commotion in the Ocean on both Thursday and Friday! They brought tears to my eyes and kept me smiling all day Friday! I could not even begin to count the numerous compliments we received from parents, faculty, and students! All of the hard work certainly paid off and they had so much fun! You would think they would have had enough, but at recess Friday afternoon, they wanted to take my CD player and sing and dance on the playground! So cute! We have lots of pictures on our class shutterfly site, thanks to
Susannah Malison! If anyone else has pictures to
share, please do! I will also soon be giving you a link to the
pictures that Mr. Schiaparelli  took.

Don't forget that each day this week that your child brings in a donation for the children of Burkina Faso, he/she may wear a spirit shirt to school that day (with uniform bottoms). A flyer went home last week regarding this. Thank you to those of you who have already contributed! Following is the information again.

Flops and Tops for Burkina
Lower Division Service Project
Benefiting Hope for Burkina, May 8th – May 17th

Help make a child in Burkina Faso smile.
Donate a baseball cap, a pair of flip-flops, Crocs, or sneakers and
wear a spirit shirt and/or hat (with uniform bottoms) to school!

• Donations may be used or new.
• Donate as many shoes/hats as you can spare. 
• Wear your spirit shirt every day you donate!
• Collection bins will be located in each LD hallway.

Burkina Faso

• A West African country located south of the Sahara Desert and north of Ghana.  
• A land-locked country about the size of Colorado (105,900 sq. mi)
• Climate is tropical.
• Burkina has 16.3 million people that make up 60 ethnic groups and 4 primary religions.
• The Burkinabe people speak 6 languages.
• Burkina is one of the poorest countries in the world.

The People of Burkina Faso

• Over half live on less than $1/day.
• Only 41% of school age children are in school and most don’t finish.
• 3 out of 10 children die before they turn 10 years old.
• Malnutrition and water borne illnesses are the nation’s biggest threats. Less than 50% of Burkinabes have access to clean drinkable water.

source: http://hopeforburkina.org

The show may be over, but we still have lots  going on in our class!

Language Arts/Reading Workshop: We will be reviewing the vast sight word vocabulary that we have learned this year (our word wall) and using those words in different activities. We will be using the many reading strategies we've learned as we read. We'll be reading lots of nonfiction as we read to learn! There will be different centers and activities to choose from to continue practice with the many concepts and skills covered this year. Some include contractions, compound words, homophones, verbs, nouns, alphabetical order, etc.



Science: This week we will be learning about some of the other creatures of the sea such as the crab, seahorse, and penguin. In addition, we will spend some time researching the sea creatures for our project. Please continue to help your child gather information at home this week and keep it in the folder they created for their research. That folder should stay in their take home folder so that it is available when researching whether at home or in the classroom this week. All of the research is due no later than Friday. You may use the resources listed in the letter that came home last week to help them.  The graphic organizer is self-explanatory. We have talked in class about what makes a "good fact" - numbers, names, good descriptions, etc.  For instance, "my animal is 25 feet long" rather than "my animal is big" or "my animal lives in the Indian and Pacific Oceans" rather than "my animal lives in the ocean". In addition to the All About book they will be writing during Writing Workshop on the creature, they will be creating some type of graphical or physical project that also presents their research - a poster, diorama, shadow box, sculpture, etc. We have basic supplies like paints and construction paper, but any additional supplies (poster board, boxes, photos, etc.) will need to be brought from home. Construction of this project will be done in class the week of the 21st. Please feel free to print any pictures, maps, webpages that they find useful or can use in their final project. 



Writing Workshop: We continue with our non-fiction writing unit. Our main focus is on informational writing... writing books that teach! Our big focus for the next couple of weeks will be on writing "All About" books on the sea creature each child chose to research. In writing their All About books, the children will be incorporating many features that they have learned about nonfiction writing, such as titles, table of contents, headings, and labeled diagrams. They may also reflect and add their own thoughts about what they are writing about!

Math: We will continue working with fractions this week and two digit adding and subtracting.  We will be taking our Unit 9 assessment early next week.

Volunteers this week:

* Tuesday - Art - Debbie Boensch (12:05)
* Wednesday - Math Game - Kelli Cross or Susannah Malison (1:15)
* Friday - Parent Reader - Marshall or Natalie Ames - 2:15)

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

This will be the last week of the formal homework calendar.








Splash Day this Friday, May 18th.  Please send a towel to school with your child and be sure that he/she either brings an appropriate swimsuit to school to change into or wears the swimsuit to school under the uniform. They will need water shoes to wear as well. The children will change into their regular school uniform after PE. So, if they wear the swimsuit under the uniform that morning, don't forget to please send in underwear to change into as well! And don''t forget socks and tennis shoes to change into! Please also apply sunscreen to your child before coming to school. That will save us time! You may also send a hat with your child if they don't have one at school already.

End-of-the-Year Party - Thursday, May 24th - Students should
wear their "Commotion in the Ocean" t-shirts with jean shorts, etc.


Last Day of School - Wednesday, May 30th -noon dismissal

Have a great week!
Susan