Summer? Already?

I cannot believe how quickly this school year has flown by! Tomorrow is the last day of school! Here are a few things to remember for tomorrow.

• Students do not need to bring their agendas or backpacks to school
• Dismissal is at 12:30
• Students may bring games to play in class during our party
• Our party will begin at 11:00 and will take us through the end of the day
• Parents all more than welcome to attend

The students brought home their math workbooks today. This will be a great tool to keep ideas fresh throughout the summer. If you missed my earlier post, I linked some great 4th grade workbooks to keep the brains moving over the summer.

Thank you so much for allowing me to teach your children this year. It truly has been a pleasure. Keep in touch over the summer if you need anything. I will periodically check my work email, and the front office always knows how to get a hold of me. Until then, have a great summer, and I will see everyone in August!

End of the Year Party

Thursday, May 26th, 11:00am

*Students may bring in games to play with classmates - no electronics.
*Students are asked to bring $1-2 to help cover the cost of pizza.
*Students may bring in additional snacks to share.
*I will provide drinks, treats, and all paper products.
*Dismissal is at 12:30.

Fables

The students performing fables.

Summer "School"

Parents, the summer is nearly upon us! Keeping that in mind, studies show that children who do not engage in reading, or other academic behaviors, can lose up to a month worth of knowledge (also known as "summer slide.") It is the whole use it or lose it idea. There are a few books you can purchase (or possibly check out of the library) that would help to keep ideas fresh in your child's brain over the summer break. I really like the Spectrum workbooks. Here is a link (via Barnes & Noble) to the math and reading books. You don't have to get the books through Barnes & Noble - I know they are available on amazon, and possibly in Target.

If there is anything specific you think your child should work on over the summer, email me and I can help suggest some resources for you.

Fables

The students are working on fables this week. They have been broken into groups, and will be acting out several fables. If you would like to come watch the students perform in the classroom, please come in at 9:30, on Wednesday morning.

I will also video their performances and can upload them to our class blog. Let me know if you DO NOT want your child to appear on our website.

Thank you!

THANK YOU!!

Friday's International Festival was a success, and I owe it all to the parents and students. The support you showed our class for this event was amazing. I appreciate you all!

Thank you!

Music Concert

Reminder that tomorrow is the 4th grade music concert. Students need to be in the MPR at 6:15, and the show will begin at 6:30. Ms. Flathers asks students wear blue pants/jeans and a solid color t-shirt. The performance should take an hour. I hope to see all our families there!

International Festival

International Festival is fast approaching. In just over a week, the event will take place - Friday, May 6, from 5 to 8. Right now I am still in need of help from 5:30 to 6:00, and anytime after 7:30. I have one parent volunteer for the other times. In order for the evening to be a success, I need help with either stamping the passports or serving the food. The event ends at 8:00 but I would appreciate any help cleaning up.

I have four families making Egyptian food, and three families donating pita chips. I will also be making food, bringing pita chips, and paper products. If anyone else is able to help, I would be very thankful. We have plenty of napkins and silverware. I am hoping to still get cups (for lemonade) and small plates to serve on.

If anyone would like to make one of the recipes I sent home, there are hyperlinks in a previous post that will take you directly to the recipes. If there is something else Egyptian you would like to make/bring, just let me know so I can make a sign for it.

I look forward to seeing everyone enjoy this event!

Reminders

Progress reports went home today
No school tomorrow
Egypt report due 5/2
4th grade music concert, 5/3
No school, 5/4
International Festival, 5/6

**I still need a lot of help for international festival. Please let me know if you can donate a dish or your time. Either would be so appreciated. Thank you.

Box Tops

Thursday will be the last day to turn in box tops to count for our classroom this year. If you have any at home you've been hanging onto, please send them in.

Thank you!

International Festival

International Festival, Friday, May 6

I've attached a few recipes to look over for International Festival. I am going to need a hand preparing and serving food that night. I will be sending home a sign up sheet for anyone who would like to help. I need a couple of food servers and a few passport stampers for that evening. If you have other recipes in mind that you would like to bring, just let me know what they are so I can make a sign for the recipe.

Fig and Date Bread
Cucumber-Feta Salsa with Pita Chips
**store bought pita chips sound so much simpler!
Pineapple Rice Dessert
Lemonade is a popular drink in Egypt. The evening of International Festival is typically a warm one. I will bring in large amounts of lemonade. If anyone has a large drink dispenser we can borrow for the evening, that would be great. Thank you so much for all the support you have shown me this year. I really appreciate it!


I look forward to seeing everyone!

AIMS Progress

The students have completed 3 out of 4 days of AIMS. They are doing such a great job. Everyone is really working hard, and I appreciate it. We will take the final test on Tuesday, April 19th. Thank you for all the support you have shown your student - is very much appreciated!

Euler Path

Here is a website that has interactive Euler Paths. This is not the graphs and maps we discussed, just the actual tracing of lines.

Here is a great video by a teacher that explains the concept of Euler paths. Around the 4 minute mark, he talks about "nodes." Nodes are the verticies of the drawings, the circles that we colored on the vertex maps today.

New math games link! I'm listing it under "PONY POWER" also.

Write down any questions you come up with, and we'll go over it together tomorrow afternoon. Happy learning!! :)

Dates for April and May

AIMS Testing: 4/12, 4/13, 4/14, 4/19
4/21, Book Orders Due
4/22, No School (Good Friday)
5/3, 4th Grade Music Concert
5/4, No School (Staff Development)
5/6, International Festival
5/26, Last Day of School

Book Orders

Book orders went home today. If you would like to order, please send in the form, or order online, before April 21st. Thank you!

International Festival

International Festival has been moved to Friday, May 6th. I am giving the students an additional week to work on their Egypt reports. The Egypt report will not be due until Monday, May 2nd. Let me know if you have any questions!

Music Concert

The 4th and 5th graders will be having a music performance on Tuesday, May 3rd, from 6:30 to 7:30 to show their families what they have learned this year. I am sure there will be more information from Ms. Flathers coming about this event. I just wanted to give our families as much notice as I could so we could all attend!

AIMS Dates

I wanted to let you all know about the upcoming dates for AIMS testing.

Tuesday, April 12 - Science Test
Wednesday, April 13 - Reading and Math
Thursday, April 14 - Reading and Math
Tuesday, April 19 - Reading and Math

Remember how important a good night's sleep and a good breakfast are. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you!

Egypt Report

International Festival is just a month away! It will be held on Friday, April 29, from 5:00 to 8:00. Our class will be representing Egypt for this year's festival. Students have been assigned to create a poster/report about Egypt. Students came home from school today with the outline of the assignments and some research tips. It would be a great idea to recycle the science fair tri-fold board for this assignment. If your student doesn't have their tri-fold board any longer, I can find another for them.

There are ten points each student needs to write about. Each item needs to have a hand written paragraph and an illustration. Illustrations can be hand drawn or printed from the internet.

I emailed a copy of the paper that went home today to all of the parents. Please let me know if you have any questions, or I can help in any way. Happy El-Itnein (Monday in Arabic!) :)

Student-led Conferences

Wednesday, March 30th, 2:30 to 4:00
Thursday, March 31st, 12:30 to 2:00, 4:00 to 8:00

Please plan on attending a conference at any of the times listed above. It should only take 10 to 20 minutes. Let me know if you have any questions regarding the conferences. There is a paper about this being sent home, and emailed, today.

Thank you!