Week of February 19-23

This week was another successful week in Room 5! The kids sounded like they had fun 4 day events from the long weekend and were ready to share Tuesday.  :) We celebrated a few birthdays this week also!  Taylynn, George Washington and our aide, Mrs. Tognazinni!

In writing, we finished our energy conservation Informational writing essays and started an assessment where they pull information about George Washington and write an essay.  These will be finished on Monday.  Students energy papers are up in the hall at school if you are around- stop by and read some of them!  The kids worked hard and it shows!

Students have been reading up a storm with their Book Club books and for our 40 book challenge!  I am so impressed with many students.  They are asking me almost daily what book they could read for poetry or autobiographies, the list goes on.  I love it!  Keep them reading!  Please remind your child of the importance of being prepared for their meetings and giving insightful comments to deepen their understanding of their novel as well as strategies we are working on.

We have been gaining knowledge in projects about space, most specifically stars.  We have watched some videos, done some research, made fairy glow jars (Thanks you so much to Mrs. Hernandez for the jars) to represent stars in the sky and used flashlights to determine why some stars appear brighter than others.   We will continue next week with some knowledge assimilation as well as a few activities, then go to the planetarium on Friday.  Thank you to those of you who sent in flashlights!  The kids loved using them.  If possible, we will be using them again on either Wednesday or Thursday so if you would like, please send them in again.  I am also grateful for the shoe boxes!  We just need 1-2 more if someone has any laying around, we would appreciate one!

Important Reminders: 

• Your child brought home two papers this past week, please make sure if you did not already return them to send them on Monday.  One was permission for the Human Growth and Development class and the other was for Fleischmann Planetarium.  We will meet at the school at 8:15 am Friday morning and return at approximately 1:30 pm.  Please remember to bring a sack lunch and $5.00 for the entry fee. 
• We will be doing some more assessments these next couple of weeks so, if possible, make sure your kids are well rested and healthy!  
• In a few weeks, we will be starting the science unit on matter, where students will decide which type of experiment they will do.  I am wondering if anyone has a battery type model/kit they would be willing to let us use for this?  Last year, one of the students had one so I thought I would put it out there and check!  Or anything else to help students...  (We do have some products at school)