Savanna 3-30-12

Dear Parents:

         We have certainly packed a lot into this last week of the Third Quarter. Class pictures, book fair, Young Author’s Night and the Wax Museum, just to name a few.  In the classroom we enjoyed listening to all the Wax Museum presentations during our dress rehearsal, completed our third quarter math assessment, created our fraction packs and reviewed and tested out our unit on Mali.  A very busy week indeed!

         I would like to thank everyone who was able to come visit the Wax Museum on Wednesday.  The children worked hard this past month on this project and took their roles quite seriously.  The children’s presentations on Wednesday were a culmination of all their hard work, and a delight to watch. I think we may even have a few budding actresses and actors in our midst!

As I noted above, we have completed the third quarter and we are in our last months of school. We will continue our learning through the end of the year, and ask for your continued support.

I hope everyone enjoys their Spring Break.

                                                                        Sincerely

                                                                        Mrs. DiNardo

Upcoming Events

3/30- End of 3^rd Quarter

4/2-4/6- Spring Break

4/9- Teacher Work Day-No School for Students

4/10- School Re-opens

4/25- Report Cards Issued

Savanna 3-16-12

Dear Parents:

         WOW!!!! Spring has certainly sprung!! What a beautiful week we have had this week.  The children have truly enjoyed being able to spend recess and PE soaking up the fresh air and sunshine.  Let’s hope it remains sunny for weekend.

         The major focus of our week has been on our Wax Museum notes.  I am pleased to say all the children were able to finish reading their books and note packets by Wednesday.  We were able to spend class time taking the notes and turning them into stories.  These stories will now become the basis for the presentation note cards.  While some of these cards will be done in class, the children will have to make sure all cards are completed by Wednesday, March 21^st.  We have continued our study of Mali in Social Studies and solids, liquids and gas in Science.  It is my hope to wrap up both of these units prior to Spring Break.    Please check your child’s assignment notebook for test dates.

We were able to get outside and plant or AFAC garden today.   Our class has planted lettuces for this project.  We will be monitoring the plant’s progress and hopefully will be able to have our first harvest of these early crops right after Spring Break. We will also be planting potatoes and some herbs to be donated to the AFAC food bank.

As you know our class will be going to the White House on Thursday, March 22^nd.  There is an additional flyer about this special field trip in the Friday Folder.  Please take a few minutes and review this flyer as it goes into further detail about the trip. 

I hope everyone enjoys the lovely weather this weekend. 

                                     

Upcoming Events

         3/22- Trip to the White House- 9:15-12:00

3/26- Class Pictures- More Information to follow

3/26-30- Book Fair- More Information to follow

3/28- Wax Museum Presentation- 11:00-12:00

3/28- Young Author’s Night 6:30-8:00 pm

3/30- End of 3^rd Quarter

4/2-4/6- Spring Break

4/9- Teacher Work Day-No School for Students

4/10- School Re-opens

         

Wax Museum Note Cards

Good Afternoon-

Just wanted to let you know we had a good work session today going over our Wax Museum "stories."  These were taken from the notes contained in the Wax Museum Packets.  The purpose was to get the children organizing their notes into a chronological order of events.  We also began writing the note cards today.  As you will see your child has brought home a zip lock bag with their title page and first page completed.  You will see we are limiting the cards to one to two facts per card.  This will help your child when they are practicing and performing.  Please know I am giving class time tomorrow to continue to work on note cards as well.

The homework for this evening is to either do another couple (1-2) cards or to write reading responses.  If your child wishes to do some note cards, please limit it to a couple.  

I hope this helps to bring you up-to-date on where we are with regards to the Wax Museum.

Mrs. D.

White House Visit

Good Afternoon-

It looks like everything is falling into place for our visit to the White House later the month.  We will have final confirmation by the beginning of next week.  I did share with the kids today that it looked like we will be able to go.  I will be back in touch with the final arrangements once they are shared with me.

Have a nice weekend.

Mrs. D.

Housekeeping Notes

I hope this may help with any additional questions about the Wax Museum and Reading Journals.

Wax Museum-

1.     All the children have their biographies picked out and are in the process of reading their books.

2.     The Wax Museum Packet was handed out this week and is intended for the children to use it as a way to keep their notes organized as they are reading. 

3.     The children should have finished the “Overview”, the “Background” and “Questioning” pages of this document.  These are all pre-reading activities that have been discussed in class.

4.     Next steps are to work on the “Notes” pages while reading.  The children have been told to bullet their notes, record the page the information can be found on and put a post-it note in their text to help them refer back if needed. 

5.     The deadline for completing the book, and packet is Wednesday March 14^th.

6.     Please have your child bring their biography book and packet to school each day, as I want to give time in class to keep up with this assignment.

7.     Important dates to remember:

a.     Wednesday March 14^th- Book and packet are complete

b.     Wednesday March 21st- Initial note cards are finished and ready for review.

c.      Monday March 26^th- Final Note Cards are due.  Costumes and props are also due in school. 

d.     Tuesday March 27^th- Dress Rehearsal in class

e.     Wednesday March 28^th- Wax Museum Presentation

Reading Journals

1.     Each week the children are responsible for two entries in their journals.

2.     As the children are reading their biographies, their journals can be about these books.

3.     The journals should remain in school unless the children are taking them home to work on their entry.  If taken home, the journal should be returned to school the next day.

4.     New prompts will be given to the children within the next two weeks.

Savanna 3-9-12

Dear Parents:

         We have been fairly busy in class over the past couple of weeks.  As you know, we are studying the ancient civilization of Mali in Social Studies. This is primarily an economics unit, however it is also a good venue to spiral back and review maps, environment and natural resources. In Science we are learning more about matter and will shortly be moving into learning about simple machines.  In Language Arts our focus is currently on how to read a biography and determine the important information.  The children have been taking their information and writing short pieces.  This has been good practice for both their Reading Response Journals and their Wax Museum project.  Health has had the children learning about diseases, and how we can reduce the spread of infectious diseases.   

         Thank you for all your help in securing books for the Wax Museum project.  I also want to thank those children who were flexible and changed people when duplicates occurred. At this point your child has their book and should be reading and taking notes in their work packet.  In class I have been checking in with the children each morning to answer procedural questions about note taking and the work packet.  We will talk about note cards next week in class. 

         Enjoy the weekend.

Mrs. D.

Important Dates

3/13- Dessart Night

3/26-30- Book Fair- More Information to follow

3/28- Wax Museum Presentation- 11:00-12:00

3/28- Young Author’s Night

3/30- End of 3^rd Quarter

4/2-4/6- Spring Break

4/9- Teacher Work Day-No School for Students

4/10- School Re-opens