Dates

April 30 to May 4 - Last Week for Checking Out Library Books
May 3 - Kindergarten Field Trip
May 3 -BOGO Book Fair 4-5pm
May 4 - 4th Gr Field Trip
May 4 - BOGO Book Fair 4-5pm
May 4 - Last day students may charge meals - Parent Letter
May 5 - Rummage Sale 8-11am More Info
May 7,8 - 4th Gr MAP Testing
May 8 - 5th Gr MAP Testing
May 8 - Menchie's Fundraiser 4-9pm
May 9 - 4th Gr Field Trip
May 9 - Board of Education Meeting @CMS 7pm
May 10 - 4th Gr MAP Testing
May 10 - 1st Gr Field Trip
May 11 - PTO Friends & Family Breakfast (8 am)
May 11 - Student Library Books DUE
May 15 - 3rd Gr Field Trip
May 17 - Honors Orchestra Field Trip (9:30-11:30 am)
May 22 - 5th Gr Celebration in the Gym at 3pm
May 24 - Last Day / 1/2 Day / Spirit Day (Dismissal at 1pm)

ABCDE Letter Days for the WEEK
(Mon = E) (Tues = A) (Wed = B) (Thurs = C) (Fri = D)

What We're Learning - Snack Size Update

It's so hard to believe there are only a few short weeks left of this school year! We continue to work hard on our learning goals, and there is A LOT to cover before our last day! Because there have not been a ton of changes since my last round of curriculum updates, here's a snapshot of our current learning:

Writing: Students finished up their book reviews and have chosen one to publish. This week students are recording their book reviews! Once they are all recorded, we will have a class viewing party! Watch the Instagram for your child's book review. Everyone is doing such a great job with these!

Tomorrow partners will be assigned for our upcoming non-fiction/research project. The students will work in partners to create a google presentation around a topic of their choice. Thursday and Friday during writing we will review how to look for facts in non-fiction books, how to decide what is important, and how to categorize and organize these facts. Mrs. Wagers is helping set up the templates for the project. This takes a few weeks and the kiddos always learn so much from each other. It's also great practice utilizing our technology.

Math: We continue to work on geometry concepts with 2-D and 3-D shapes. Students are learning to identify, describe attributes, compose and decompose shapes. Next week we will begin working on learning about fractions of a shape.

Reading: This week students are getting their reader's theater scripts. Not sure what reader's theater is? Check out this example:Reader's Theater Example Students will be learning their lines, learning how to take turns reading together, improve their fluency and expression, and create setting backdrops before they perform these for their classmates!

Science: I'm sure you've heard about the newest additions to our classroom this week! Students are studying the forest habitat including moss, a tree seedling, bess beetles, and pill bugs and a freshwater habitat including guppies, snails, and two types of aquatic plants. Students also planted their own seeds. They got to choose between: sunflower, kidney bean, pea plant, or pumpkin. We are watching our seeds grow. We are identifying similarities and differences between living organisms. Students are learning about the NEEDS of living organisms.

Current/Upcoming Essential Questions

Writing:

Unit - Writing Book Reviews :
How can I share my opinion with others?
What can I learn from a review?

Unit - Studying the Craft of Non-Fiction Mentor Authors:

What do writers learn from other writers?

How do writers of nonfiction engage their readers?

Math:

Unit - Geometry:

How do we describe shapes and objects? 

How can geometric figures be constructed? 

Reading:

Unit - Meeting Characters and Learning Lessons:

How do readers keep track of the events in a story?

How do partners share their reading adventures?

How do readers study the characters in books?

What important lessons can I learn from the character and their experiences?

How do readers share their opinions about books?

Unit - Non-Fiction Reading to Become Experts:

Why do readers read nonfiction?

How do readers use nonfiction text features?

How do readers decide what is important in a nonfiction text?

Science:

Unit - Organisms

How can you tell if something is living?

What do living things need in order to stay alive?

How are plants and animals alike and different?

Social Studies:

Unit - Producers and Consumers

How do producers and consumers help our community?

Why are goods and services important to our community?

Important Dates

April 15 - Leader in Me Parents Online Survey DUE
April 16-20 Abilities Awareness Week
April 16 - Project Parkway Mtg at South High (6:30-8pm)
April 17 - PTO Meeting at 7pm
April 18 - Hidden in Plain View at West Middle (6:30-8:30pm)
April 20 - Cardinal Baseball Ticket Orders DUE
April 20 - Earth Day
April 20 - PTO Kickball Event on Blacktop (5:30pm)
April 21 - Spring Beautification (8-11am)
April 21 - All-District Art Show @Queeny Park (10am-4pm)
April 22 - All-District Art Show @Queeny Park (12-4pm)
April 23,24,25 - 3rd Gr MAP Testing
April 25,26 - 5th Gr MAP Testing
April 25 - 2nd Gr Field Trip
April 27 - NO SCHOOL
May 3 - Kindergarten Field Trip
May 4 - 4th Gr Field Trip
May 4 - Last day students may charge meals - Parent Letter
May 5 - Rummage Sale 8-11am More Info
May 7,8 - 4th Gr MAP Testing
May 8 - 5th Gr MAP Testing
May 9 - 4th Gr Field Trip
May 10 - 4th Gr MAP Testing
May 10 - 1st Gr Field Trip

ABCDE Letter Days for the WEEK
(Mon = A) (Tues = B) (Wed = C) (Thurs = D) (Fri = E)

What is LEAD TIME?

The last three months we have been taking a day to work on developing leadership roles for ALL students. By having Lead Time we are providing time for students to shine as leaders in various roles throughout the building. During this time 3-5 grade students go to work with a "committee" where they are making plans for meeting various needs throughout the building. In grades K-2 we are selecting a focus as a grade level and classes are combining to work on special projects. First grade's focus is "random acts of kindness". In February we created shamrocks to be handed out to random students as they entered the building. Last month students created bookmarks with positive affirmations to be distributed through library books. This month students are creating posters giving ideas of how others can practice random acts of kindness to be hung around the school building.

Library Info

The school year is coming to an end! Mrs. Wagers has informed us that the last week for student check-out is the week of 4/30. Books checked out that week may be kept until the following TUESDAY as per usual but then everything needs to be turned in for the year! Now would be a good time to double check your home shelves (and let's be real look under the couch, haha!) and make sure you don't have any library books that need to be returned. Thanks for your help with this :)

Hat Day

HAT DAY for ABILITIES AWARENESS (4/13)
$1 Donations will be accepted for wearing a hat to school on Friday, April 13th.  100% of these donations will be divided up and given to some of the organizations that we have invited to present during our Abilities Awareness Week (4/16 - 4/20).

We will be donating to:
CHAMP Assistance Dogs
Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments
Disabled Athlete Sports Association (DASA)
Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation
Spirit of Discovery Park - Starting an all-inclusive playground

Dates

April 10 - Student LEAD Time (2:55-3:50pm)
April 10 - Librarian & Bus Driver Appreciation Day
April 11 - Board of Education Meeting @Central Middle (7pm)
April 12 - 4th Gr Music and Strings (+Honors) Concert (6:30pm)
April 13 - Hat Day for Abilities Awareness ($1 Donation)
April 14 - SVE Rummage Sale (8-11am)
April 15 - Leader in Me Parents Online Survey DUE
April 16-20 Abilities Awareness Week
April 16 - Project Parkway Mtg at South High (6:30-8pm)
April 17 - PTO Meeting at 7pm
April 18 - Hidden in Plain View at West Middle (6:30-8:30pm)
April 20 - Earth Day
April 20 - PTO Kickball Event on Blacktop (5:30pm)
April 21 - Spring Beautification (8-11am)
April 21 - All-District Art Show @Queeny Park (10am-4pm)
April 22 - All-District Art Show @Queeny Park (12-4pm)
April 23-27  MAP Testing
April 25 - 2nd Gr Field Trip
April 27 - NO SCHOOL

ABCDE Letter Days for the WEEK
(Mon = A) (Tues = B) (Wed = C) (Thurs = D) (Fri = E)

Science

We have begun our last science unit of the school year - living organisms. In this unit, students explore the similarities and differences between plants and animals.  They observe living organisms and compare and contrast terrestrial and aquatic plants and animals. Next week LIVING plants and animals will be delivered to our classrooms! We will have a variety of freshwater and forest plants and animals. There may be some items needing a home at the conclusion of our unit. If you are interested in letting your child adopt an item let me know. Guppies, snails, and large bess beetles may be available.

Reading

This week we are digging deeper into comprehension concepts in our new unit. This unit will focus on a more intense character study. Whereas previous units relied heavily on the reading process, this unit is designed to help students understand the power of story. It teaches the comprehension skills of empathy, envisionment, and prediction that bolster student engagement with a fiction text. It relies on the knowledge of story elements and on the skills that are foundational for literal and inferential comprehension. This unit supports first grade readers as they track the events of a story to determine importance and retell key details in sequence. It also teaches students to pay close attention to their characters to grow ideas about how they feel and think. In addition this unit supports children as they dig deeper and pull life lessons from their stories. Finally it encourages readers to recommend favorite books and pass along those life lessons. This unit was created to assist students in comprehending increasingly complex texts.Our culminating activity at the end of this unit is the children performing reader's theater!

Essential Questions:

How do readers keep track of the events in a story?
How do partners share their reading adventures?
How do readers study the characters in books?
What important lessons can I learn from the character and their experiences?
How do readers share their opinions about books?

Math

Before break we had wrapped up the measurement portion of Unit 5. Before we left we had learned telling time to the hour and half hour. We are refreshing with those skills this week before we take the Unit 5 assessment.

Our next unit is Geometry. Essential questions for this unit are:

How do we describe shapes and objects?
How can geometric figures be constructed?

Goals for this unit include:

-identify shapes based on their defining attributes. -build shapes with defining attributes. -draw shapes with defining attributes. -sort shapes by their defining attributes. -recognize when an attribute is non-defining. -use two or more 2-D shapes to create new shapes (e.g., put triangles together to make a rhombus or a hexagon). -use two or more 3-D shapes to create new shapes (e.g., combine two right triangular prisms to create a right rectangular prism). -make new shapes from composite shapes. -recognize what shapes are used to make composite shapes. -partition circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares. -describe equal shares as halves, fourths, or quarters. -use the phrases half of, fourth of, or quarter of.

Persuasive Writing

Before spring break students finished up their persuasive books. They learned that in order to convince their readers of something they would need to state their opinion and provide evidence to support it. To name a few of their original titles: Birds Are Amazing, I Want More Wii Games, Animals in Danger, Why Hamsters Are the Best Pet, Why I Should Have a Cat. :0) !!!!

We are now moving into writing reviews. We are beginning with book reviews and may be branching out into other areas such as musical reviews, restaraunt reviews, etc. This week students are being introduced to book reviews, the componenents of a book review, making a list of books they might be interested in reviewing and planning to write a review. To publish these pieces, students will record one another! Think "Reading Rainbow" style. The students are very excited!