It's hard to believe that it's that time again for a weekly update but here were are!  These weeks are flying by.  We don't have much time left and still have so much to get accomplished.  Please try to stay on a normal schedule up until the very end of the school year.  We will be maintaining a regular schedule in class until the last day.  It works best for students if their home schedule maintains as well.  :)  

With that being said, I do hope that you have all had some time to get out and enjoy!  Thursday we were able to finish up a tad early to get some running and playing and laughing in outside.  It's so great when we get to step back and smell the roses, and I don't know about the kids, but I had just as much fun playing with them! 

Language Arts- 
This week we spent a lot of time focused on a non-fiction article to get us ready for the last week of our journey (next week).  We used a Kids Discover magazine article to join in on the migration made by thousands of pioneers as they headed west.  The reasons for travel were many.... for farmland, freedom, health and wealth.   Our pre-reading strategy was on making prediction on what would be accurate from the article that we would read.  Students had to guess if the land that the pioneers settled on was completely empty and free for the taking or not.  They also had to guess if Native Americans rarely attacked them in the west, or if traveling in a wagon train provided protection against robbers and helped during breakdowns.  We learned many fascinating things about the pioneers and their wagons.  We also learned why their wagons were called ships.  Ask your student to tell you!!

Next week will be our final week on the trail.  Students may dress up ANY days next week to earn extra points for the last bit of the journey.  We will also be working on our final writing projects to go along with the unit.  We can't wait to share them with you. 

Spelling-  We tested on unit 19 this week and also corrected those tests.  We will continue to see how far we can get until the end of the school year, so please keep practicing those core 3rd grade words and your student's words to learn!

Math- We have been working on time again this whole week.  We've learned some great new games, had some awesome competitions {Mrs. Bentin & Mrs. Steier are still the reigning champs..... :)! } and we have also learned some great tricks for making sure we are telling time accurately.  We ended this week focused on quarter hours and half past.  This is a very challenging and difficult concept for students.  If you're looking for things to work on through the summer, buying a watch for your student and practicing this skill would be great!

Field Trips-  Our first trip this month is on Friday the 17th.  We will go to Seno Woodland in Burlington to get an experience about pioneers.  Then Friday the 31st we will take a trip into Lake Geneva and tour some of the historic sites around the city as well as go on a boat tour.  Both trips are rain or shine!  :)  We are super excited to have these great opportunities at the end of the year!

AR-  Students should be around 81% today for their AR goals.  Even if students have reached their goals I have encouraged them to make a small goal for the end of the year.  Maybe it's to read a chapter book that they wouldn't have normally picked, or read a few non-fiction books about something that they are interested in.  Talk to your child about setting goals for the remainder of the year so we can end strong!

PTO Silent Auction/End of the Year Community Picnic- As we prepare for the final days, Star Center's Annual Community Picnic is a great event that we are all looking forward too.  Each year the PTO put on a silent auction with many different goodies.  Classrooms are encouraged to put together different themed baskets to go on auction.  We are going to be working with Mrs. Steier's class to put together an ~Arts & Crafts~ basket for the auction.  We will be accepting donations until the end of the month for the basket.  Anything art related like..... crayons, silly scissors, beads, do-it-yourself art kits, paints, brushes, chalk, markers, art glue, paper, stickers, etc. are welcome!  Thank you to those who have already donated. Our basket is really coming together!  I have also had a few students bring in some money for me to go buy things for the basket.  I am fine with doing so if you don't have the time to go out and get something.  I will wait until the end to see what our basket is lacking!

Have a fantastic weekend!

~Ana

Happy Friday :)  

Here's what our pioneers have been up to this week....

Pioneers-  We have safely crossed the Cheyenne River. Students have decided on one of three trails to take right now.  Our next goal is to get to Devil's Flat.  All have survived the flooded river, but many wagons were lost along the way.  It's so nice of other pioneers to share supplies with those who have lost everything.  One wagon train has taken Massacre Canyon Trail and the other two wagon trains have taken the Long trail.  It is still uncertain what fates we will have on this part of our journey.  What we have heard from scouts is not promising.  We will keep you posted.  When we reach Devil's Flat there will be a whole new set of obstacles   Here we will encounter extreme heat, lack of water and food.  Pioneers are going to face their live stock becoming sick and even dying. They will have a tough decision to make on how to proceed. 

** I have managed to upload pictures from the second day of pioneer projects! Thanks for your patience.  Check them out! :)

Writing-  We have focused a lot of time on writing with details in the past weeks.  Students have been making diary entries on their journey so far.  We have talked about the importance to express our thoughts and feelings through sharing details to paint a pictures for our readers.  Our final projects for this unit will be a persuasive letter to 'family' back home.  We will tell them whether or not we want them to make the same trip we did and back it up with details.  

Spelling-  We have been working again with contractions and homophones.  This has been a big part of our spelling curriculum the past few units.  We will review contractions this next week again.  We have made it through almost 20 units in our spelling series.  Please make sure students are going back to practice words that they must learn from the earlier units.  All words to learn are written in the front part of their agendas for a quick and easy way to locate them.  :)

AR Reading-  Today students should be around 70% of their AR goal.  The year is winding down fast, let's make sure we keep up with our routine of reading each night for 20 minutes.  We have really built up our stamina at school and students are now silent reading for 40 minutes each day!!!!  :)  

Math-  We have continued to work on telling time this week.  Students have worked with elapsed time, telling time to the nearest minute, quarter hour, and half hour.  This will continue as a review to sharpen our skills. Remember to keep practicing flash cards. This is not necessary every night, however knowing these facts automatically will really give students a great quick start for 4th grade!!!

Technology-  We are creating pictures right now on the computer of our pioneer journey.  We will then make a movie out of them!  Students are doing a great job capturing what they have gone through on the trail. 

Field Trips-  We will go to Seno Woodland next Friday, May 17th in the afternoon for a pioneer adventure.  This trip will be a great way to end our pioneer unit.  Students will have the opportunity to be involved in many hands on stations.  We are asking students to bring a water bottle with them along the trip.  It can get warm where we will be.  They are also allowed to wear a hat of some sorts to keep the sun out of the their face.  It is strongly recommended that you put sun screen on your kiddo before they get to school that morning too!  We will be outside!

You will also get a permission slip today for our final field trip of the school year.  We end the year with a History of Lake Geneva unit in our language arts classes.  Students will explore the history of Lake through non-fiction literature.  Our culminating activity will be to take a walking tour of Lake Geneva as well as a lake tour with Geneva Lake Cruise line.  The cost for this trip will be $2.00 a student.  We will be going on Friday, May 31.  We will go Rain or Shine!!!  So please watch the weather and prepare for sunscreen applications or raincoats for the day of!! :)  We are super excited to offer this opportunity to your students and are very lucky that the Star Center PTO and the Joint 1 school budget has helped us keep the cost of this trip so low!  if you have any questions, please let me know. 

I think that is all for now, however I'm sure I'm missing something.... these weeks are just going so fast!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Ana~

Happy Monday-  Here is what we were up to last week! 

Language Arts- 
Pioneers- Last week in pioneers we had many delays.  The trail is starting to get rough and we are almost at another crucial point in our journey.  Once we hit Fr. Choice, we have a very big decision to make involving our wagon trains.  There are 3 different trails that we can travel on, and none of them are 100% safe.  Projects were due on Friday of last week and we had some great ones that were shared.  Thank you for your continued effort and support with this unit at home.  We have certainly learned a lot.  We have just a few more weeks left. 

Spelling-  Our focus in word work over the past week was on homophones and contractions.  Students have had a lot of work with both and are now experts.  Ask them the difference.... they should know.  Also ask them the difference between its and it's. 

AR Reading-  Students should be at 62% today.

Reading/Writing strategies- Students have been working with timelines for their reading strategy and putting events in chronological order.  They have also been working on writing about events in the same way.

Math-  We started a review until on telling time.  Some students are receiving some enrichment if they have been able to show mastery of third grade skills.  They are working on elapsed time, and learning various strategies to help them with harder problems.  Some students are reviewing time to the nearest hour, half hour, and quarter hour.  We will continue this through the week.    

I will update pioneer project pictures later today. 
Enjoy!
Ana~