This Week's Update

Ok...it's March, and I'm ready for SPRING!!!  I'm impatiently waiting for sunshine and warm breezes :)

We've got lots going on this month, including two field trips.  On Thursday, March 12th, the 4th and 5th graders will be spending the day at Rural Hill in Huntersville.  In the morning we'll be making firecakes and learning what it was like to be a soldier during the Revolutionary War living in the field.  In the afternoon we'll learn about light and heat in the 18th century.  We'll be sending permission slips home early this week with the cost and other important information.

On Tuesday, March 17th, the 5th and 6th graders will attend JA Biztown.  This was a huge favorite with last years' 5th graders, and we're excited about going again!  To prepare for JA Biztown, the 5th graders are learning about economics, including financial literacy (understanding what services banks offer and how we use them), how the economy affects a community, work readiness, and business management.  While we're at JA Biztown, each student will work at their 'job' for the day, get paid in 'Biztown Bucks' and then decide how to spend their 'money'.  After last year's visit, the kids wrote about having a new understanding and respect for just how much their parents do taking care of a job, family, and home.  A permission slip and volunteer information (we'll need some parent volunteers!) will come home this week with costs, etc.

Our literacy focus this month is on nonfiction.  We've been talking about listening to the 'inner conversation' that goes on in our heads when we read, and working on leaving tracks of our thinking by writing our thoughts on post-it notes and in the margins of articles that we read. We're practicing 'stop, think, react' where we stop after each paragraph, think about what we read, and react by jotting down our thoughts.  Then we talk to a partner or small group to see if their understanding was any different than ours (hearing someone else's perspective can broaden our understanding).  This week we'll be focusing on nonfiction features like:  table of contents, photos and captions, headings, subheading, glossary, etc.  We'll do some nonfiction writing as well.

In 4th grade Social Studies we're learning about important events and people in early American history.  We'll be talking about the Monroe Doctrine, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Trail of Tears.  Later this month we'll focus on the Abolition Movement (ending slavery), and the Reform Movement (women's rights).

In 5th grade Social studies we'll spend the first two week of March on preparing for JA Biztown.  The second half of the month will focus on the Civil War.

Have a blessed week!