I’m not sure about you, but for me, this year has flown by.  I can hardly believe we are down to the final 7 weeks of the school year.  It has been quite a whirlwind in room 24.  I am so excited to see the progress your kids have made this year.  They have grown so much, both academically and emotionally.   I’m so proud of them and how they have all carved their own niche within our classroom.  Students who were quite shy at the beginning of the year have come out of their shells and students who don’t know what a shell is, still don’t know what it means to be shy, but they lend their boisterousness to make our classroom the menagerie that it is.   I love them all.

Because it is the end of the year, that means testing.  Our class begins  testing next Wednesday, April 23rd.  Please be sure your children are accessing the practice tests at home.   Because lower elementary is also testing,  students do not have much computer time in the classroom.  When I say “much”, what I mean is, next to none.  It is important that they become familiar with the ins and outs of the program, so if you have a computer with internet access at home, please allow your children time to access the website.

This week we are wrapping up a unit on Science Fiction literary analysis.  We will be reading a short Ray Bradbury story, then we will watch a short film with the same title.  The students will analyze similarities and differences between the story and the film.  We watched Wall-E last week and did a character study.  I was quite impressed at everything the children got from the movie.  This unit combined science fiction analysis with Earth Day studies so we will also be doing poetry analysis using lyrics from a song.  When given the opportunity, these kids sure know how to dissect literature!

Tomorrow Lifetouch will be here taking Spring photos as a fundraiser for Operation Smile.  All proceeds will go to this amazing organization.  A flyer was sent home with your students today.  These photos are completely optional.  Photos for our 6th grade students will be taken next Tuesday, April 22.  A graduation photo, if you will.

We have the 6th grade field trip coming up April 27-May 2 and we are all so excited.  We also have a combined class fieldtrip, to the Leonardo Museum, May 6.  If you are interested in being a chaperone and would love to spend your day wrangling our amazing students please contact me.  We need 2 chaperones as we will be taking the Frontrunner and Trax to our destination.  More details forthcoming.

Don’t forget book reports are due April 23rd.  Your student was given a paper with the complete criteria for the book report.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Cheers!