Important dates for May:

May 1 - 12: NWEA Testing

May 16: Middle School play, "Robin Hood," 6:30 pm PAC Building

May 18: Last Day of School!

May 21: First Day of Summer Camp!  Hope to see you there1

May 21: First Day of Summer Camp! Hope to see you there!

Our end-of-year party this year is an old fashioned Ice Cream Social.  It is Friday, May 18, from 2 pm - 3 pm, on the concrete pad outside of Mrs. Rivera's classroom.  In case of rain it will be held in Cedar and Magnolia classrooms. Please check the sign-up sheet in the Academy Office for items to bring. Parents are welcome!

IXL: IXL is a website students may use to practice math skills.  Please encourage your child to continue practicing over the summer so valuable skills do not get rusty!  The website is below:  

www.ixl.com/signin/shreiner 

We do not have any more spelling words!  We are done for the school year - hard to believe!  We do not have spelling next week as we finished our fifth unit of Imagine It at the end of the week of April 30th.  There also will not be any spelling  the last week of school.

Parents, one last item:  please check your child's mailbox in the Academy Office every day.  Important notices from the school, including progress reports and report cards are placed there.  Thank you!

The summer reading list and book report projects go home this week! Remember, the book reports will be due the first week of school.  Also, in order to keep your child's grammar and math skills up-to-date, we recommend using one of two summer skills books:  The Summer Bridge Book or Summer Express.  Both may be ordered through amazon.com, or may be purchased at The School Box.  More specifics will be included in the Summer Reading packet.

Thank you so much for a fabulous year!  It has been a privilege to teach your children.  I hope everyone has a wonderful summer.

Assignment Files

3959068_172631_Cedar class newsletter 5-14-12.pdf

Great job on the chapter 19 test! For our last week, we will concentrate on improving our multiplication skills with games and fun activities.  We will also practice reading a variety of graphs.  There will be no homework this week!

We will continue working on our problem solving skills.  The problem solving steps are below. Please refer to the sheet sent home for additional guidance.  Of course, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the homework. 

1. Understand the problem:  Have your child read the problem at least twice.  If you are not sure if he/she understands the problem, have them restate it in their own words.

2. Underline the important information:  Have them underline clue words and phrases, such as "in all", "altogether", "how many more", "how many less", etc. Make sure he/she underlines important numbers and directions which would help him/her solve the problem

3. Pick a strategy: Your child will need to decide the best way to solve the problem, such as draw a picture, act it out, guess and check, make a table or list, etc.

4. Solve the problem

5. Check the answer:  Can the answer be checked using the inverse operation, or perhaps working backwards? 

Please practice with IXL as often as possible!  Let me know if you need your child's login and password again!  www.ixl.com/signin/shreiner

Math Websites for multiplication:

http://multiplication.com/basics/teach1.htm 

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/weblessons/animallegs/legs002.htm  http://www.multiplication.com/games  http://multiplication.com/flashgames/QuickFlash2.htm 

Assignment Files

Each day we will read a different short story for reading comprehension and do a variety of reading comprehension activities.  Our first story is titled "Penguins," then we will read "The Chimpanzees Friend," and we will conclude with "The Wise Old Woman."  If we have time we will read "The Messiest Room in Town."  There is no reading comprehension homework this week!

Assignment Files

We will work on a variety of grammar skills with a fun in-class project titled "School Memories."  This is a fun review of capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure and other writing skills.  There is no grammar homework this week!

Assignment Files

Due to play practice, we were unable to complete our Ancient China unit.  So, we will complete it this week with an overview of Confucius, the Ancient Chinese Philosopher and a continuation of the Chinese New Year.

On Monday, May 11 the children will present their "My State" projects.

The web sites below will apply during the entire unit.  Please view them with your child.  

http://pbskids.org/sagwa/games/tangrams/index.html

http://www.quia.com/rr/37736.html

http://pbskids.org/sagwa/games/lantern/index_lantern.html

http://presentations.pppst.com/mulan.ppt

http://china.mrdonn.org/stories.html

http://china.mrdonn.org/silkroad.html

http://ancienthistory.mrdonn.org/Confucius.html

My State Project:

Web sites for the "My State" project:

http://www.infoplease.com/states.html

http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/states.html

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listthe50sju.html

http://www.factmonster.com/us.html

Assignment Files

3949041_172631_Biography Book Report Directions.docx

3949041_172634_Making A Poster Rubric.docx