MCGHEE'S MESSAGES
March 28-Apri 1
IMPORTANT DATES AND INFORMATION
April 11-15 Bookfair
April 14 5:45 2nd grade Fine Arts Fling and Sing, this will be a show and share time for the 2nd graders to show you all the great things they learn and do in fine arts. Our class will be singing a song about the phases of the moon with Mrs. Clark.
April 21 Poem in Your Pocket Day (we will be having a 60's style poetry fest in our classroom, complete with bongo drums, an open mic and cafe snacks, start looking for a poem for them to bring in their pocket and read at our "Beatnik Cafe")
April 21 Earth Day
April 22 School holiday (bad weather make up day)-no school
April 29 Dia de Los Ninos Day--all students will dress up in a favorite storybook character costume (start planning now) The 2nd grade teachers have BIG plans for that day!
MAY 4 Bike to School Day
May 6 Cafeteria Worker Day!
May 11 Nurses Day
May 20 Field Day
May 24 Speeding to Read field trip and award ceremony
May 30 Memorial Day-no school
June 1 End of year party
June 2 Last Day of School!
WOW! A big thank you to our amazing PTA! The Starfest raised so much money and it was organized so well. The on-line auction was a huge success too! We are all so very blessed to be part of this amazing OSE family. Thank you for all you do!
Another big thank you to Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Johnson for braving the rugged plains of reality and doing lunch and recess duty for me! We were being trained on a phonics program that 1st grade is using and we will be using next year. Actually, kinder, first and second will all be using it next year. Phonics fills in the gaps of reading and spelling for so many kids. The kids that naturally pick up on language patterns and dont require the direct instruction benefit too because it solidifies and reinforces the patterens they figure out on their own. All of those little brothers and sisters will be benefitting from this program.
I am so excited to share that our wonderful OT Kim Marshall is going to personally come to OUR classroom and do cursive handwriting lessons. We have no real program at all for teaching handwriting and it is truly becoming a lost form of communication. My daughter's 21 (almost 22) year old boyfriend admitted that he cannot read cursive. I guess when we are old we can use it as a secret code to talk about our kids! But, seriously, I am dedicated to getting them some exposure and help with their handwriting. Feel free to print out free worksheets at home, pick up a workbook or just practice on notebook paper. Our 4th grade teachers will thank you!
Have a great week!
April McGhee
WHAT WE'VE BEEN LEARNING
Langauge Arts-We read a book called Salt in His Shoes about Michael Jordan when he was a young boy. Our purpose was to look for the lesson or moral in a story. The kids also read an informational book about him and they even drew him. We also read the story Super Storms which was a nonfiction story that helped reinforce our science lessons. They did some writing about both Michael Jordan and storms.
Science- We are finishing up our unit on weather. The kids are learning about climates around the world and how where a place is on earth impacts its climate. Our chicken eggs are doing great! We should have little chicks end of this week, beginning of the next. So exciting! Our next unit is over plants.