Newsletter April 30 - May 4

Wow!  What a year it's been!  I can't believe that we are already to the last unit.  It's been a great year!  I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed having each of your children in my class.  They are all such bright, funny kids and we've had a great time.  I feel so blessed to be able to work at such a wonderful place.

I'd like to commend the students on their work during the World Wars unit.  Their insight into our discussions during both conceptual and reading was wonderful.  The field trip was a great time as well - I was really impressed to see the students so interested in the exhibits.  I'm so proud of all of them!

Thanks to all of you for everything you did to make this unit so great!  The students had such a great time during the Blitzkrieg simulation on Friday.  I really appreciate your help with all of our activities!

News to Know

• Luke Antinnes is this week's snack helper.  Will Brett will be next week's helper.
• If you haven't sent in your Star Wars party form, we will still take them on Monday.
• Please send $1 and a plain white t-shirt by Wednesday.  We will be tie-dying!  This day will also be a free dress day.  Please make sure your child wears clothes that can be stained.
• We will have field day on Friday, May 4th.  Students may wear their BDS jerseys or t-shirts.  We will meet at the Bellegrass fields at 8:30.

Language Arts

We will begin reading our next book this week.  I cannot wait to share this one with the kids.  We will also have a pronouns test on Wednesday.  I will send home a study guide on Tuesday.  We will take the spelling pretest on Wednesday and the posttest on Thursday due to field day.

Math

We will review division on Monday and take a test on Tuesday.  Please review long division with and without remainders with your child.  This is a new concept for the students and they need lots of practice.  On Wednesday, we will begin our topic on time and temperature.  Please encourage your child to practice telling time at home.  Students also need to work on concepts of elapsed time.

Conceptual

I won't say too much about conceptual just yet, but we've got an awesome week planned.  We won't only be be learning history, we'll be experiencing it!

Science

We'll be discussing living things and classification this week.  We will be taking a test at some point.  I will send home a study guide the day before.

Newsletter April 23 - 27

Hi parents!  I hope you are all enjoying this chilly weekend weather!  We have a great week planned for our last week of the world wars.

News to Know

• Emmy is this week's snack helper.  Luke Antinnes will be next week's helper.
• McCall needs a ride for the field trip on Wednesday.  If you can take her, please let me know!
• We will be meeting at the WWII Museum in New Orleans on Wednesday at 10:30 AM.
• On either Thursday or Friday (I'll let you know ASAP) we will be doing a Blitzkrieg simulation activity.  Students should bring a swimsuit to change into - 1-piece or tankini and shorts for girls, trunks and shirts for boys.  We also need water guns (all sizes), water balloons, and water tubes.  Anything you can send will be most appreciated!  I know this activity will be one of the kids' favorites of the year.

Language Arts
We finished Number the Stars last week.  I really enjoyed reading this book with the students - they had some great insights that led to some wonderful discussions.  This week, we will be reading some WWII picture books and doing some activities with the text.  Books include: Baseball Saved Us, Yertle the Turtle, Terrible Things, The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants, Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot, and The Yellow Star.  We will also be creating our own World War II picture book with Mr. Trent's class.

Math
We will begin Topic 19 on Monday.  This topic covers simple long division, with 1-digit dividends.  We are scheduled to finish the topic on Friday and I will send home a study guide this week, but we will not take the test until next Tuesday.

Conceptual
We will discuss propaganda, wartime entertainment, the Blitzkrieg style of fighting, and the end of WWII.  We will be creating our own propaganda, staging a radio show, and simulating the Blitzkrieg.  It promises to be a fun week!

Science
We will team up with Mr. Trent's class to continue our unit on living things.  I will be sending home grades for students' cell models / presentations.  The kids did a great job!

Newsletter April 16-20

Hi parents!  I hope that everyone has had a great weekend!  We have a fantastic week planned.

News to Know

• Will Rester is this week's snack helper.  Emmy will be next week's helper.
• Students may wear their jerseys to school on Tuesdays.
• Please return lunch forms and field trip permission forms as soon as possible.

Language Arts

We will finish reading Number the Stars this week and take a comprehension test on Friday.  The students have really enjoyed this book and I'm so proud of their amazing insights.  We will wrap up our topic on pronouns this week and will take a test sometime next week.  We will do vocabulary this week and will take a test on Friday.

Math

We are going to skip a couple of topics and do 2- and 3-digit multiplication this week.  We are going to go ahead and do multiplication and division before we get too close to the end of the year and spring fever sets it!  The students have already had some practice with 2- and 3-digit multiplication, so we will move through this topic quickly and take a test on Friday.

Conceptual

We will begin the week by discussing the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression.  We will then move into the beginnings of WWII and the Holocaust.  We have some fun activities planned for Thursday involving some of the fighting styles of WWII.

Science

We will be teaming up with Mr. Trent's class to discuss living things.  I'm so proud of the kids for their hard work on their cell models.  They look amazing!  

Newsletter: April 10 - 13

Hi parents!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Last week got off to a great start!  The hallway looks fantastic and the information is so great!  Thank you to everyone...you did a fantastic job!

We had a great week of conceptual as well.  The students are really getting interested in WWI.  The trenches activity worked out really well on Friday.  Thanks to everyone who sent balls!

News to Know

• Quinn is this week's snack helper.  Will Rester will be next week's helper.
• Friday will be a free dress day.  Students will be painting for art with Belle, so they should wear clothes that can be messed up.
• We will be going to the WWII Museum in New Orleans on Wednesday, April 25.  Forms will be going home on Tuesday.
• Students may now wear jerseys each Tuesday with appropriate bottoms of their choice!  Remember to wear sneakers on this day as well, as the PE class is getting ready for the Presidential Fitness Test.

Language Arts

We will continue reading Number the Stars.  I am enjoying hearing all the students' wonderful insights to this book.  We will have a spelling test this week.  We will continue learning about pronouns and homophones/homographs.  We will also post to our blogs this week.

Math

We will wrap up Topic 15: Metric Measurement on Wednesday and will take the test on Thursday.  Study guides will go home on Wednesday.

Conceptual

We will learn about the weapons of WWI, America's entry into the war, and the lasting effects of the war this week.  We will also be discussing women's suffrage and prohibition.

Science

We will be teaming up with Mr. Trent's class to learn all about life and cells.

Newsletter April 2 - 5

Hello!  I hope that you are all having a wonderful weekend and are't being pranked too much by your children!

Friday was such a great wrap up to the Civil War unit.  The kids had a great time at both the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum and Beauvoir.  It was so interesting to see some of the things we've been talking about.  Also, guides at both locations commented on how well-behaved our students are.  I couldn't be prouder of them.  Thanks to Mr. Trent and everyone who helped out for making the Civil War unit so fantastic.

We start a new unit tomorrow and I cannot wait to get started.  It is one of my favorite topics in history and I am excited to share it with the students.

News to Know

• Courtney is this week's snack helper.  Quinn will be next week's helper.
• We are out Friday and next Monday for the Easter holiday.  Happy Easter!
• On Thursday, we will be doing a conceptual activity that will require dodge balls.  If you can send Nerf balls or any other squishy balls, it would be much appreciated.  The air-filled play balls found at Walmart and most dollar stores are perfect.  These balls can be returned, but if you are willing to donate them, they would be perfect for some of the games the kids play at recess.

Language Arts

We will begin reading our book this week.  As our book is so short this unit, we will not be reading for homework on Tuesday nights.  We will read in class and still have centers on Wednesdays.  The students will also still have short, weekly quizzes on the reading.  We will have spelling this week - the pretest will be on Wednesday and the retest will be on Thursday.  We will review the material covered so far on pronouns and then continue with possessive pronouns and contractions.  We will play some online word games and post to our blogs.

Math

On Monday, we will take the Customary Measurement test as a class.  Students do not need to study as we will work the problems together.  We will then begin Topic 15: Metric Measurement.  We will be learning about centimeters, decimeters, meters, kilometers, milliliters, and liters.  Please encourage your child to look for metric measurements in their daily lives.

Conceptual

We will begin learning all about our unit this week!

Science

We will discuss and experiment with Newton's Laws of Motion.