Keep Reading at Home!

Read at Home!

Students should be reading at least 40 word per minute and should know all 225 sight words.  We are doing two more reading tests before the end of the year!  Students have to read at the appropriate level before moving on to second grade...  Please take the time to help them practice their reading skills at home!  

Unfinished Work

Homework notes went home today!  Please be aware that as the school year is winding down, I need to have ALL student work completed and turned in on time.  Each week all homework is due by Friday.  If you are uncertain if something is considered homework or not, follow this rule of thumb:  If it has a check mark, star, sticker, stamp, okay, etc. on it, I have seen it.  Otherwise hand it in and I will take a look at it.  Please make sure you are checking your child's work each day.  It is important that they receive that reinforcement at home as well as at school.  Thanks for your continued help and dedication!

How to Discuss Tragedies with Your Children

Below are some links that will help you discuss the recent violence in Boston with your children.  In class, we have had only one mention of the event and so have discussed the tragedy minimally.

Talking to Chilren about Community Violence:
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/resources_for_families/talking_to_children_about_community_violence is a tip sheet from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry about how to handle discussions with kids about violence in local communities. 

Talking to Your Kids About Natural Disasters, War, and Violence:
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/global-awareness/talking-to-your-kids-about-natural-disasters-war-and-violence is a Scholastic article that offers advice from a child-development expert about how to talk with kids about disturbing news.

Scholastic News Online’s coverage:
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3758048  is an age-appropriate news article about the tragic events in Boston.  

Butterfly Garden Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our field trip to the Botanical Gardens!  We had a blast and we are continuing the fun by "growing" our own butterflies in our classroom!

We had fun in the play area!

We were extra excited about the prehistoric plant garden

Life Cycle of a Plant- the little seed grows up

In the Butterfly Exhibit

Looking at all of the different types of butterflies

There were tons of pretty flowers in the Butterfly Exhibit as well

So many pretty butterflies...  

We had to make sure there were no "hitch-hikers" when we left

Life Cycle of a Plant- learning about different types of seeds

Life Cycle of a Plant- being a seed...  

Life Cycle of a plant- Plants make food from the sun

Thinking Ahead...

It won't be long before school's out and summer is here!  It is not too late to start thinking about how to keep your child's mind busy over the break!

Check out these links below for some ideas and keep checking in!  I will continue to share things as they come up!

Activities to do at home:
http://www.greatschools.org/students/summer-activities/slideshows/4167-summer-learning-first-second-third-grade.gs?page=1

Science:
http://www.greatschools.org/students/summer-activities/slideshows/6935-hands-on-science-activities.gs

Summer Camps:
http://www.greatschools.org/students/summer-activities/1537-recession-summer-camp.gs?cpn=20130407weeklysend

Understanding What Your Child is Doing in Math:
http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/slideshows/6368-different-ways-of-teaching-math.gs?page=1