Week of May 25th

The students all did a great job at the music performance last night.  We have very creative students here! 

There are a few upcoming events I would like to emphasize. 

Grandparents and Special Friends Day is this Thursday from 1:30-3:00.  We will have an art show and other activities for the event. 

There will be no school on Friday, May 27th and Monday, May 30th.  Enjoy the long weekend!

Friday, June 3rd is Beach Day!  We will be going to Dash Point State Park all day.  Students should be prepared for all kinds of weather.  Please make sure they have on sunscreen before coming to school that day.  They will be able to wade in the water, so appropriate clothes AND shoes are necessary.  Please send your student will an extra set of clothes and shoes, a towel, and a snack.  The PBC will be providing a sub sandwich for the students for lunch.  Parents are needed for the trip.  You can follow the bus or meet us there.  Please let me know if you are available to go. 

Monday, June 6th is our Publisher's Picnic.  The students have worked hard this year in writing, so we are showing it off on this day.  Please bring a lunch for you and your student and a blanket to sit on.  We will sit outside (hopefully) and allow the students to share all of their hard work with you.  Lunch will begin at 12:30.  The students will be going to recess at 12:00 if you would like to join them early for this.  

Thursday, June 9th is our Field Day.  We believe we will be taking the children to the Norpoint Center's new play ground and water park.  I have some parent volunteers for the event, but if you would also like to help, please let me know.  We will have more details about the day soon. 

Friday, June 10th is our last day of school.  For our party, we will have a kids vs parents match of Jeopardy.  This will take place at 11:15.  We hope you can join us for this fun event! 

The students have been working hard and have had a great week.  Check out these pictures of the last few days with our Artist in Residence, Joanie Joachim, who did lots of great projects with us.  These will be in our art show and will be coming home in the next week or two. 

May 18th

Upcoming Events:

May 26-Grandparents and Special Friends Day 1:30-3:00

May 27-May 30-No School

June 3-Beach Day

June 6 (tentatively)-Publishers' Picnic

June 9-Field Day

June 10-Last Day of School, noon dismissal

A Horse's Tale has us visiting Mason City and the Grand Coulee Dam in the 1930s.  Next we will head to Puyallup and the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s.  This should make for an engaging conversation.  The kids are working really hard on synonyms and antonyms with the word of the day. 


In math, we have begun working on two and three digit numbers multiplied by a one digit number.  The children learned the partial products method, which leads nicely into multiplying binomials in algebra (how many of you remember FOIL?).  Basically, they will look at a problem like 46 x 6, write 46 in expanded notation (40 + 6), then multiply each of those parts by 6 and add the answers together.  The kids are quite excited about this, so be sure to ask your Beacon about it.  We will learn the traditional method for multiplying in the next week. 


In writing, the students are peer and teacher conferencing with their persuasion paper.  They had to write a 5 paragraph paper on why others should move to Washington state.  There are some very good arguments for it.  We will be typing these in the next week. 


Has your student told you about their biome in science yet?  Be sure to ask.  They are creating and mapping their biome, making sure the scale of things is appropriate.  We will be ready to unveil them the last week of school.


In social studies, the kids are making up questions for Jeopardy.  It will be done on the computer, so it has taken some figuring on how to make it work.  Once the questions (or should I say answers) are written out, it will look fabulous.  The kids are very excited about it. 


Check out these pictures from our pajama day.  It was a great day to lounge around and read on our new bean bag chairs (thank you to everyone who donated them)!

Week of May 11th

Upcoming Events:

May 12-Field Trip to the Washington State History Museum - Wear Seabury shirt and bring a cold lunch!

May 13-Pajama and Pancake Day

May 26-Grandparents and Special Friends Day

May 27-May 30-No School

June 3-Beach Day

June 6 (tentatively)-Publishers' Picnic

June 9-Field Day

June 10-Last Day of School, noon dismissal

Our Horse's Tale book continued into the 1910s and 20s this past week. The students visited Roslyn and Darrington, WA.  they did some comparisons of different eras, as well as comparing towns.  The students are enjoying reading this great book.
 
In math, we began a unit on multiplication of larger numbers.  The students have been multiplying multiples of 10 and estimating products of larger numbers.  We want to make sure they can understand whether their answer makes sense by estimating answers first.  In the next week, the students will be learning a few different ways to multiply multi-digit numbers.
 
Our writers' workshop time finds us trying to persuade someone to move to Washington.  The students are writing a 5 paragraph paper, complete with opening, 3 supporting, and concluding paragraphs, topic sentences, good details, and concluding sentences.  I think these papers would convince me! 
 
In science, the children began working on their murals for their biome.  They must show plants, animals, the climate, and human impact on their biome mural.  We are also talking about how to make things in the appropriate scale.  It is hard for the kids to understand that if your grass is 1 foot tall, the bison wouldn't be less than that! 
 
Social Studies continues with research for the Jeopardy game.  Our field trip to the Washington State History Museum will tie in nicely with our study.  Students will explore the museum and write notes of questions to include in our game. 
 
This week and next, we have Joanie Joachim working with the students as our Artist in Residence.  The students are working on making sculptures.  Our first project was to use a birdhouse, clay pot, stick, and other materials to create a fun and funky sculpture.  Enjoy these pictures from this week and be sure to check back for more pictures next week.

Week of May 4th

Upcoming Events:

May 12-Field Trip to the Washington State History Museum

May 13-Pajama and Pancake Day

May 26-Grandparents and Special Friends Day

May 27-May 30-No School

June 3-Beach Day

June 6 (tentatively)-Publishers' Picnic

June 9-Field Day

June 10-Last Day of School, noon dismissal

As you can see, there are many things happening in the last 5 1/2 weeks of school.  There are some fabulous things happening in the classroom as well.  

In language arts, students are really enjoying The Horse's Tale.  They are enjoying reading about different times and locations.  They must mark the location of each chapter on a map, so they eagerly jump up from reading to do that. They also love creating their Venn diagrams.  One of the things I am enjoying is watching the kids when they encounter a word that is unfamiliar to them.  This book has a glossary in the back, so they look any unfamiliar words, discussing with each other the meaning.  What responsible students!

In math, we are testing on decimals on Thursday and will begin a chapter on multiplying multi-digit numbers next.  I will be presenting the students with the opportunity to "invent" their own method for multiplying, and we will find a strategy that works best for each student.  They are eager to multiply larger numbers!

Much to the disappointment of the students, we have concluded our month of poetry.  They were eager learners of all kinds of poems and created some fantastic work.  We will conclude our year with a persuasive paper.  The students will be writing a multiple paragraph argument about why others should move to Washington State.  We will begin brainstorming on Friday and begin the writing on Monday.  Please note on the calendar that I have tentatively scheduled the Publishers' Picnic for June 6th.  This is a great opportunity for you and others to join your Beacon for a picnic lunch and a look at all of the writing your student has done this year. 

Has your student told you about their jar ecosystem?  Students are watching water levels, aquatic plants, and seeds sprouting in their jars with their partners.  It is interesting to hear them make some conclusions about why certain things are happening and how everything works together in that ecosystem.  Students are also researching their biomes, as next week we will begin to recreate that biome.  Students will be able to show the web of life from their ecosystem and how human impact effects it. 

In Social Studies, students are finishing up their information packets so they can begin creating questions for our Jeopardy game.  Care to play kids vs parents???  Stay tuned for details! 

Thank you to all families for making this a great Teacher Appreciation Week.  All of the plants, flowers, goodies, classroom enhancements, brunch items, etc. are very appreciated. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms.  Have a wonderful week!