The start of the last quarter…

Good afternoon,

What a strange reality of knowing we only have 1 more quarter to go before summer vacation!! The end of 3rd quarter was yesterday and report cards will go home this coming Thursday.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. The traps are set to catch the Leprechauns over the weekend and everyone is very excited to see the mess they plan to leave behind Monday morning.

This week we started unit 7 in Superkids this week and we are working on the trickers /ar/, /or,/ and /ear/ which all sound like /er/. Our words are getting harder and harder to spell, and I encourage them to practice these words at home. I sent home the new word list this week in Friday folders.

As you saw on HW this week, we are starting to work with money and we will go onto time soon. Our 12’s test is this coming week, and the following week will be a review of all the addition problems. We will not start subtraction until we come back from break. Again, I very much encourage you to work on subtraction facts with your child now. Subtraction is definitely a harder concept for them to grasp and get in the two-minute time frame.

We finished up ‘Discovering Life’ in science and we started our last unit, ‘Weather.’

**From Ms. Staggs:
PLEASE send in your child’s purple reading folder on their scheduled reading date. Almost half the class did not have theirs brought back this week and it makes it very challenging for her to read with your child and move them forward with their books.

Shutterfly has many new dates: Spring party, Spring testing, end of year events and due dates.

Quarter 4 is for all the “Un-Birthdays” aka…Summer birthday!. If your child has a Summer birthday and would like to celebrate between now and the end of the year, please let me know the day you would like to send in a treat.

Spring Party: 11:00-12:00 or 12:30….depending on the length of games.

There is a sign-up sheet posted on Shutterfly for the Spring party.
If your child would like to participate in the egg hunt, they will need to send in 12 plastic, pre-filled eggs, already SEALED!!! Please, no chocolate….it melts and ants quickly go to the hidden eggs on the playground if they are filled with chocolate. The eggs can be filled with hard candies, toys, coins, erasers…etc. All eggs need to be brought in by Wednesday, March 28th.

Parents who volunteer need to help with games. Please speak with Terry or Loran if you have a game idea you would like to lead. We will not do centers for this party; everything will be done whole group and students are encouraged to work with partners.
We will start with games outside, then do an egg hunt on the playground (during our scheduled recess time), come in and have a few snacks, and evenly distribute the eggs. We will have lunch around 12 (might be after depending on the length of games). You are able to pick up or take your child home after the party.
As a reminder, all kids should be picked up at 1 or shortly after. Anyone left in my room after 1:15 will be taken to the office to await parent pick up.

As mentioned in our conferences:

4th quarter project and book report are based on any book of their choosing. Chapter books are o.k. The project can be a diorama, poster board, or anything they want to create for their character. I will send home the writing paper next week. This project and writing paper are due Monday, May 14th.

4th quarter Footprints are also done at home. It should be done from any book they choose; if it is a chapter book, they can condense 2 or 3 chapters into 1 footprint. They still need to write the footprint in the same format with first, next, then, and last. There are 7 footprints in quarter 4.
I WILL not have a set due date per Footprint, however, I would recommend finishing 1 per week. They can be written on any lined paper. If you need paper, please let me know by putting a note in your child’s Friday folder. I will send the paper home this week if it is asked for.
Any NOT handed in by the due date, Friday, May 18th, will reflect on their report card as an incomplete grade.

Reading independently at home will be very important in quarter 4. In class, we are continuing to discuss plot, setting, problem, and solution. As recommended in our conferences, stopping your child while reading to answer those questions will force them to read for meaning, not just read the words.

Lastly, there has been lots of sloppy and rushed work over the past few weeks. Some students have worked with Mrs. Seigleman and some have worked one on one with me over the weeks. Regardless, if the work is sloppy or messy, I am having them do it over again.

Thank you for all your help with all these little tasks, I know it isn’t easy!!

Secret word to secretly tell me on Monday: Leprechaun