Post #34

The girls enjoyed their 100 Compliment Celebration on Wednesday. We made unicorn bark coated pretzels. Yumm!

The Fuzzbert Empire is at a whole new level as of this week. Mrs. Hamilton-Dixon loaned us some Little Bits and the girls are innovating and collaborating in incredible ways! I love Little Bits home page:

Math problem solving was mouth-watering and filled with soccer tricks. These two EdPuzzles gave the girls plenty of fraction practice. The girls are adding, subtracting, reducing, and comparing fractions with confidence. They will take the unit assessment on Wednesday afternoon. Math wasn't all fractions- the girls practiced rounding large numbers as they solved riddles and learned more states and capitals. A few girls are on their way to Mathematical Jail for receiving multiple speeding tickets. Trust me-this is a jail everyone wants to visit. The jail was Madigan's idea and creation. Many girls accepted the weekly math challenge this week. I'm glad that they are pushing themselves as the year winds down.

The fun of the 1920's has come to an end and the girls are now being dragged down by the Great Depression of the 1930's. They imagined life as a ten year old and wrote heartfelt journal entries about their dire situation. Next week they will experience the Dust Bowl.

The girls do such a great job celebrating each others' writing and offering feedback. They completed a special writing project that will come home next week. Here's their clever and collaborative 3WT!

A Few Notes.....

* Special Week Sign-up Anne will be our next Special Week girl (week of 5/15)

* Carpool Helper Calendar-Catherine will represent our class next week. 

* Homework-Homework is posted for family planning- it's spring, girls are busy, please encourage them to plan ahead.

* Middle School Orientation is on Wednesday after chapel until 12:30.

* Book Fair is on May 17th (our class goes at 3:10).

* Letter about the graduation ceremony is in your daughter's work folder. Here's a digital copy.

* Robotics applications (for those interested) are due on 5/19.

Required Summer Reading for rising fifth graders:

The rising fives will all read Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia.  

Then, they will choose (at least) one of the following to read: 

The Secret Horses of Briar Hill by Megan Shepherd

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Savvy by Ingrid Law

Wildings by Eleanor Glewwe

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

Many girls have started their required summer reading and were asking if they needed to summarize, take notes, etc. We checked with Taryn Chesshire (5th grade English teacher) and here's her response:

What we'll do is use them as common texts next year when we introduce the elements of literature, before we start reading a (very exciting, engaging) novel together as a class. The only thing I would recommend is that they look back over the novels toward the end of the summer to refresh on the details. 

Girls- Your mystery blog question... When is your math test? Post your answer here.