This week is Literacy Week!  I have always loved reading and look forward to focusing on literacy this week.  I hope to get the students excited about reading and sharing some of their favorite books.

A beautiful tree has been put up on the wall in the front of the school.  Each time a student reads a book, they get to add a leaf to the tree.  Please encourage your children to spend time at home reading good books!  We want our tree to sprout a lot of leaves!

Each of the students should be coming to school this week with a printed picture of the cover of their favorite book, along with a brief summary and what they liked about the book.  If printing a picture is not an option for your family, the student may draw a picture of the cover instead.

On Tuesday we will have an assembly with a local author named Julie Lee.  She shares a message of self-acceptance and mindfulness that I am excited to hear!

Tuesday night is also Literacy Night.  Please come with your family and enjoy fun games and activities, as well as an Usborne book fair.  It is at the school from 5:30-7:00 PM.  Come dressed as your favorite storybook character and have fun celebrating literacy with us!

This doesn’t have anything to do with Literacy Week, but Thursday is March 14th, which is Pi Day!  We have already started preparing by learning about circles.  The students look forward to this day every year because it means we get to eat pie!  If any of you are willing and able, we would be happy to accept donations of a variety of pies on Thursday.

Friday we will have a read-a-thon from 10-11:00 AM.  The students may bring a blanket and one stuffed animal to help them enjoy their reading time.  They should also bring a book from home if we do not have a book in the classroom that they want to read.

Friday is also an early out day.  School will dismiss at 1:00 PM.

Please don’t forget to look over and sign your student’s reflection sheet and return it to school tomorrow.  I really feel strongly that helping students learn to break down their expectations, make a plan, and follow it is vital to their success.  These are life-long skills that will come into play in all areas of their lives.  Your support is an important part of the process.  We’ll keep working on it!

I appreciate the opportunity to spend time with your children every day.  We have our issues, and I am definitely not perfect, but it is wonderful to learn and grow together.  I am constantly reflecting on how things are going and what I can improve within myself to help everyone have the best possible experience while we are at school.  I always have things to work on!  Despite my flaws, I love and appreciate your children and want to do everything I can to help them succeed and be happy.  I know I can speak for Petra and say that she feels the same.

I love the first day of March!  To me it brings hope that Winter will end and Spring will come.  I look forward to seeing blue skies and feeling the warm sun again!

We’ve had a busy and fun week here in our class.  We had some fun Math lessons that got the students excited about Algebra.  We learned about plants that changed the world in our Botany lesson with Ms. Rachael.  We got to explore dinosaur bones and fossils with a fun kit from WSU.  We also learned all about bones and got to see bones from lots of different animals.  The students especially enjoyed this lesson and did not want to stop exploring all of the fun books about animals and the human skeleton.  We studied the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party and started preparing for mock trials concerning those two events.  We had the spelling bee on Tuesday and I’m so proud of our students who worked hard and overcame their fears to represent our class.  They did a great job!  We also had the 6th grade STARBASE graduation.  Our 6th graders had a great experience at STARBASE and learned so much.  I’m excited for our students who will have the opportunity to attend next year.

Please check with your students today to see their expectation sheets and reflections.  These need to be signed and brought back to school on Monday.  Due to the fact that we had a few extra things happening this week, many of the students did not get everything signed off that is usually required during the week.  When filling out their reflections, I asked them to consider whether or not they used their time wisely and if they did the best that they could with the time that they were given.  Some students are struggling to make an appropriate work plan and then follow it.  We will keep practicing and reinforcing these skills.

Thank you to those of you who have been bringing snack for our class!  Mason is signed up to bring snack next week.

Literacy Week is coming up the week of March 11th.  As part of Literacy Week, we are asking every student to bring a picture of the cover of their favorite book.  We will line the halls with the book covers and hope that it inspires students to explore some new books!  Also, we are doing the book swap tables again this year.  There will be tables set up in both kivas where students can swap out a book that they no longer want for something new.  Literacy Night will be on Tuesday, March 12th from 5:30-7:00 PM.  Come dressed as your favorite book character and enjoy a fun night with your family!

The gala fundraiser is coming up on March 23rd!  As part of the event, each class is supposed to put together a basket to be auctioned.  This year, instead of collecting supplies, MAPA will be accepting monetary donations and they purchasing the supplies for the baskets.  If you would like to donate, you can do that here:  https://squareup.com/store/mapa-9/item/basket-donations-for-gala-baskets?t=modal-em

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kirsten