Week of April 29, 2013

Dear Parents:



A blue notice is coming home today with your child regarding our last field trip of the year to the Florida Aquarium. Please be sure to read it carefully and return the bottom portion to school no later than Friday. We will need to know whether your child will need a school lunch that day or will be bringing a completely disposable lunch from home. There is also information regarding chaperones. 

A big thank you to Charlene Hosseini, Mary Hind, and Sharon Cannella for providing several fun activities for our earth day celebration last week! 

As I mentioned last week, our reading, writing, and math are all interwoven around our science study of the ocean and its inhabitants. One of the most exciting parts of this unit are the dissections that the children participate in with upper division science teacher, Lisa Peck. We are so fortunate to have her partner with us to bring these exciting learning opportunities to our first graders. Last week, she brought squids to dissect. In reflecting after the dissection, the children were excited not only about touching and seeing the insides of the squid, but using ink from the ink sac to write with toothpicks!

Writing with ink from the ink sac of the squid!

Tomorrow Mrs. Peck is bringing sea urchins and starfish to dissect with our students. On May 16, she will bring our favorite... dogfish sharks! This is always a highlight in our unit! We can't wait! Let me know if you would like to join us for any of these exciting learning opportunities! This week we will also begin to learn about the mammals of the sea, particularly the whales! We will be reading and researching about these gentle giants of the sea, writing about them, observing them in video, comparing their sizes during math, and exploring many attributes about them. On Thursday, we will experiment to see how their blubber helps them in the cold oceans of the world.


Several of the children have begun bringing in pictures and research they have found on their chosen sea creature. They are excited about this project. While the projects will be completed at school, they are allowed to also do research at home, find pictures, and begin thinking about how they want to construct their project and bring in materials that may help them in constructing their projects. If you have questions, please let me know.

Matthew and Carson research sharks at the computer.

Please remember to read the homework calendar carefully. Each week the new words on your child's ocean word ring will be vocabulary for the main sea creature that focused on that week. This week our vocabulary words will help us as we read and write about whales. Please be sure to practice the words daily with your child, reading them, spelling them, and understanding their meaning. 

This week our word work focus will be on words with the vowel digraphs aw as in claw and ew as in new. Vowel digraphs are combinations of vowels that make a single vowel sound. We'll also continue to review other spelling rules we have learned this year. Remember, as always, the spelling assessment will be on our word work focus of the week as well as our vocabulary words (ocean word ring words). It is always an application assessment.

Avery works on making words during word work time last week.

In math, we will continue to learn about fractions as we compare fractions and introduce the idea that fractional parts of a whole have many names (equivalent fractions). We'll plan to take the unit 8 assessment on Friday so look for it to come home early next week.

There are a lot of dates coming up for some special events, so please note these on your calendars:

Shorecrest's Fifth Annual Daddy-Daughter Dance is just around the corner! This memorable affair ia designed for girls in kindergarten through fourth grade. It offers up a DJ, games, prizes, a photo booth, dancing, a dessert bar, and refreshments for all those who love dressing fancy and hula hooping the night away! It will be held Friday, May 3, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Shorecrest Athletic Center. You can register for this FUNdraiser (all proceeds benefit Shorecrest Parent Association initiatives) online by visiting shorecrestgala.com . Just click on the "Shop Items" link. Admission is $65 for each daddy/daughter pair and $75 for more than one daughter. Check out photos from last year by visiting http://shorecrest4dd.shutterfly.com

Friday, May 10, is our first grade program, "Commotion in the Ocean" and you don't want to miss it! It begins at 8:30 in the Janet Root Theater. The children have made t-shirts to wear along with jean shorts, skirts, or skorts. We are rehearsing hard to make it a great show! Please continue to practice your child's speaking part at home. Another big thank you to Mary Hind, Kim Gross, Sharon Cannella, Charlene Hosseini, and Beth Rauman for helping us design and paint our t-shirts for the program! We are going to look great on stage!

Friday, May 17, is Splash Day during PE! Children will need towels, swimsuits and swim shoes. They will change into these before PE and change back into their spirit clothes after PE.

Our last field trip will be on Tuesday, May 21. We will be going to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Parents are welcomed and encouraged to join us!

Monday, May 27,  is Memorial Day. There will be no school that day.

On Thursday, May 30, we will have our end of the year party beginning at 1:15.  Students again may wear their "Commotion in the Ocean" t-shirts with jean shorts, etc. Parents are welcome to join us as always!

Friday, May 31, is the last day of school. Dismissal will be at noon.

Volunteers this week:

• Wednesday - Library Check-out - 2:10 - Amber Ferrol and Mary Hind
• Thursday - Math Game - 10:30 - Donna Main and Sharon Cannella
• Friday - Art - 9:15 - Kristen Danielson
• Friday - Parent Reader - 2:15 - Sharon Cannella

If you have any questions, just ask!

Have a great week!

Susan