Happenings during May 1-17th

The last few weeks have been busy with testing.  Last Wednesday was our last state test, we were able to celebrate with cinnamon rolls Thursday!  I was so proud of all the kids for being able to persevere through the tests.  All of them did either an outline or rough draft or both!  I was happy to see them working hard to show off their hard work. :)

Students finished their Revolutionary War Game Boards and presented on Thursday.  They did a great job on them.  Students will be able to play each others this week.  We have also started our economics unit in projects.  We were able to have my dad, Rick Archibald, a retired banker come and talk to the kids about savings, interest and the importance of setting goals.  They began playing a version of The Game of Life last week.  Each tribe pulled a career and chose their housing, car and set a budget.  Each day they pull a fate card, which can add of subtract from their income.  Some cards might say, ¨Your car needs new tires, subtract $800 from account¨" or ¨ Table #4 took you to dinner," or ¨You won $100 from a raffle." We will continue with this the next couple of weeks.

We also started a new writing piece where students brainstormed and will take a topic and use it to write in Real World Writing Purposes: express and reflect, inform and explain, evaluate and judge, inquire and explore, analyze and interpret, take a stand/propose a solution.  We will continue working on this the next couple of weeks, writing a few different pieces.

Students have finished their Revolutionary War books in reading.  Their last meetings were Thursday!  We will discuss connections between books to the Revolutionary War as well as how it deepened their knowledge for their Game boards.

For Your Information: 
The end of year is coming fast.  Students will need to read and work on their math facts this week.

• Permission Slip for Thursdays field trip to Venturacci Ranch are due Monday.  Please send them with your child in your child's Monday folder.  Complete all 3 forms.  Students should wear long pants and bug spray as there are a lot of overgrown weeds.  Additionally, I would appreciate having one parent who can walk with us, or bring their car and drive over there in case of an emergency.  Mrs. Duarte will be driving her car there, so we have one.  Please let me know if you are available. 
• Summer birthdays can be celebrated May 31.  Please let me know if your child has a summer birthday and you would like to send in a treat that day.  
• Plans are underway for some special events in the next few weeks.  Please watch your emails for details.  We are possibly going to be making sock puppets and would appreciate new or gently used socks.  Your help is always appreciated. Thank you!