READ-A-THON!!! FAMILY END OF YEAR MEETING!!!

Next week will culminate with our Read A Thon celebration.  This is always one of the best days of the year.  We will have a reading related focus this day with guest readers, buddy reading with our preschool buddies, free reading time and more.  Readers are welcome to bring one comfy thing and reading material.  We will build in time to achieve some of the reading challenges on the Read A Thon envelope.  This is always an enjoyable day of celebration at the end of our most important school fundraiser.  Funds from this fundraiser help with so many impacting events at Grant, especially our 5th grade activities.

The Friday Folder this week has an informational letter to all 5th grade families about End of the Year events and our End of the Year Family Meeting on 3/15 at 3:45.  This meeting is a time for 5th grade families interested in volunteering to help and plan end of the year events.  We are so grateful for those who can help plan a great end to this class' time at Grant.

This was smooth and productive.  We certainly enjoyed the weather.  Students potted some plant cuttings.  As a class, we are still working on focus and minimizing disruptions.  Some students are spending some time out and using Think Sheets to process off task.disruptive choices.  You might see a Think Sheet come home to talk about and please sign to return with any comments or questions.

Readers are making progress on their Ecolit books.  These books all have strong settings.  Our final assignment for the Ecolit books will be an Ecodiorama representing the setting.  This will count as a book share and will be due the Friday before Spring Break.

Writers completed engaging narratives this week.  Skills we focused on were commas, quotations, transitions, and narrative craft.  I am excited to read their finished work!  Next week, our writing time will be devoted to CATTV planning projects and this will be our writing focus for a while.

In math, we spent a good amount of time with fraction multiplication models, especially area models.  Students worked in groups to solve a real life playground planning problem.  Next week, we will begin practice with fraction division, a very challenging topic.  Please know that even though there is not always assigned homework, your child can easily practice math with other resources from the curriculum, such as online resources or extra practice.

Causes of the American Revolution is our current focus in social studies.  Students have completed small note taking assignments for the French and Indian War, British taxes, and the Boston Massacre.  We will cover more causes next week and move through the war and important documents of our new nation by Spring Break.

In science, we are enjoying small ecosystem lessons.  Students are getting deeper into their matter infographic research.  They will all be creating infographic posters about their topic soon.  After ecosytems, we will cover the sun and how it powers earth's systems.

Have a great weekend, especially if you are enjoying the film festival.  Also, sign up for next week's Eco hike for a fun adventure.