The Last Monday

Wow!  It is so hard to believe that today is the last Monday of the school year!  We need to have a productive week in order to  prepare for your visit on Friday. The children were rather restless and quite chatty. Help me get them through this week and we can relax the last two days of school next week!

We are completing our Real-Fantasy-Real stories. This time the children will have additional illustrations including a creative cover. We will share these with you on Friday during our writing celebration.

In Social Studies, the children are to find 5 effects of Hernando Cortes arrival in Mexico in 1519. We read the Chapter in class last week and discussed along the way. Tonight, I would like them to practice their strategic reading skills to find specific information.

We have begun our third grade reflections. Today I asked the children to make a list of all the learning experiences, activities, programs, visitors and events that they could think of. Well, as you can imagine, the list grew and grew. I was pleased to see all that each child could remember. It was interesting though to discover which experiences were the most popular and then how much diversity there is amongst the group according to interests. I will have the children share these with you also on Friday. However, I will need to save them and put them in their reflection folder for next year.

This week for Math homework, I have given each child a letter of the alphabet. They are to write at least 5 math vocabulary words or more that begin with that letter. Then they are find 3 pictures to go with the words that they have chosen. I asked them to use magazines and newspapers and not to draw their own this time. Some children graciously accepted the duty of completing two letters as were were 7 people short of a full alphabet.

The children do have their last reading comprehension activity that is due on Friday. The reading portion this time is very short, but the performance part is very specific and covers many facts. The children must take the facts and place them in the correct category. Another strategic reading  exercise.

We are working on our Sawgrass project. Today, we successfully completed our technology component to the project. Tomorrow, the children will begin organizing their information and begin designing the poster or whatever they have chosen to share their knowledge. We have worked in groups for various things this year, but this is truly a lesson in division of labor and productivity.

There will not be a spelling list or test this week or next.

I will send out an email later on this week to remind you of our events on Friday. We hope you can join us for lunch at 12:10 and then stay with us through the afternoon. However, if this is not an option, our first event begins promptly at 12:45. I believe the I-Movie presentation will be in the room next to Mrs Lippincott's Guidance room called the Children's Studio.