It is time for our annual egg drop!  We will be having our egg drop on Friday, March 27th.  I keep forgetting to mention it to the students, so it will be new information for them!  I think that we are going to work on this project in class this year instead of having the students build their contraptions at home.  If you could donate any materials to the cause, I would appreciate it!  Anything that you think could be used to protect an egg as it is dropped from up high.  Some ideas would be toothpicks, string, straws, bubble wrap, balloons, boxes, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, newspapers, etc.  I will provide the raw eggs.  Thanks for you help with this!  The students love it!

Kirsten

The 6th Graders will be going on a field trip to the planetarium on Tuesday, March 24th.  This is a fun trip that reinforces all of the things that we are currently studying in science.  Please ask them for their permission slips and return them as soon as possible.  There is no cost for this field trip.  Students will need to be dropped off and picked up from the Ogden Frontrunner station.  Times and details are on the permission slip.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kirsten

Hello!  I wanted to let you know that I assigned the 4th and 5th grade students a report this week about an ocean animal.  I gave them a packet of papers that explain the assignment and what questions they need to answer.  Hopefully they brought it home.  Many of the students have been excited about this assignment and have been wanting to work on it in class.  This is a home project, however, and we will not take time to work on it at school.  Along with the report, there also needs to be some sort of project about their animal.  They can use their creativity for this and do whatever they would like to show their animal and what they have learned about it.  The due date for this assignment is April 10th.

FYI this assignment was optional for the 6th graders because they will be doing a large state study for geography/history.  Some 6th graders chose to do it, though.  More info on the state study will be coming soon…

I wanted to thank those of you who donated supplies and came in to help with our Pi Day celebration today!  The pies turned out great and the day was a big success.  I couldn’t have done it without you!

I also wanted to thank the drivers who helped out with our State Capitol field trip last week.  It turned out to be a little frustrating because of parking, but  I appreciated your patience and good attitudes.  It was a really fun trip and we had some neat experiences!  Thank you!

Every year, our class has a Pi Day celebration.  It will be this Friday, March 13th.  We will be learning all about Pi with some fun lessons, stories, and activities.  The highlight of the celebration is always eating pies!  This year we will be making our own pies.  I have created a sign up sheet for ingredients if you feel like you can help.  Please sign up here:  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hgrxb  If your child has special dietary restrictions, please let me know so we can make sure they can fully participate.  I would also love to have a couple of parents come and help us make the pies.  We will begin making the pies first thing Friday morning so that they will be ready to eat after lunch.  If you would like to help, please e-mail me at kgonzales@mariamontessoriacademy.org and let me know!  Thanks for all you do!

Kirsten

Hello!

Just letting you know that the new lists on Spelling City have been up since this morning.  Students have 5 assignments plus a spelling test and vocabulary test to complete by Friday.  Many began working on that in class today.

The new areas of focus for IXL this week are as follows:

4th Grade:  A.6, B.9, D.2, D.3

5th Grade:  A.6, B.5, C.1, C.3

6th Grade:  A.3, B.2, C.4, E.1

I am trying to get the students using their planners again.  Many of the students had their planners today, so thank you!  They all wrote in their planners or on a paper what works they did today.  Please sign these and return them to school tomorrow.

Today our class began using Study Guides for the first time.  I gave each student a study guide with their work expectations for the week in morning work cycle as well as for their cultural studies.  Most students really liked the study guides and said that it helped them feel more organized.  A few students struggled with the change, but I am hoping that they will get used to it soon.

Most of you know that our assistant teacher, Ms. Stephanie, left our class to pursue another job opportunity.  I am happy to report that we have found another wonderful assistant teacher named Ms. Erin who will start next week!  Erin spent some time in our class on Friday and the students and I feel that she will be a great addition to our class.  Yeah!

As always, please let me know if you have any concerns or questions!

Kirsten

Hello!

I would like our class to get back to using our student planners.  I ask the students to write in their planners daily, but a majority of the students tell me that they have no idea where their planners are.  Will you please have your children look for their planners and bring them to school tomorrow?  Thanks so much!

Kirsten