IN LIKE A LION AND OUT LIKE A LAMB!

What's the old saying again? "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb!" I'm not quite sure how to interpret that saying this year but so far we've had a nice week of warmer weather (not so "lion" in nature, except that weird rain/snow stuff on Thursday!)
It's been a short week with the students but a long week with Tri-conferences. Thank you so much for taking the time to come in and celebrate your child's successes and helping to plan for some very realistic and attainable goals for the next half of our year! In the words of Mrs. Zimmerman, "It's important work!"

So here's what we've been up to this week and what is coming up:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Our Literature Circles are finally completed! Thank you so much to our parent volunteers for reading and sharing your thoughts with us. I hope to have one more "round" of literature circles in late May if you are interested in volunteering again (or for the first time!). To finish up this study, the students will be using their knowledge of speech writing and delivery as they plan a speech for the "heroic" character in their book. They must also create an appropriate award to present to them at our RED CARPET CEREMONY! The rough copies of their speeches are due on Monday, March 9th and our RED CARPET HERO CEREMONY will be held on Thursday, March 12th!

We had one of our best T.U.S.C. meetings to date on Wednesday! From laughing over funny books to partaking in the healthy snack of Chef Gaston, our public speaking skills are really starting to shine! Our next two meetings are Monday and Thursday.

Along with our regular E.L.A. program, the students will be helping me to promote Project Love using our experience with Voicethreads once again! If you recall, Project Love is an initiative that helps gather school supply kits for children in Africa who are seriously lacking in sufficient materials to attend school and learn. It's a great opportunity to help others and embed some philanthropic traits in our leaders of tomorrow.

MATHEMATICS:

Our unit on Fractions is off to a yummy start! This week we began looking at the concept of equivalent fractions. After I had read them the "Hershey Fraction" book, the students designed their own chocolate bar covers and used the 12 pieces of a Hershey chocolate bar template to determine several equivalent fractions. Of course, it all ended with a tasty treat to sweeten the deal! Next week, we will continue practicing and working with equivalent fractions.



SCIENCE:

It's been a week of review as we prepare for the big test on Tuesday, March 10th! This past Tuesday, the students were introduced to a study strategy called "Mindmapping" that has the learner creating a visual picture of a concept to help them understand and remember it. The class has also received a review package that they began on Wednesday. The review package and mindmap are both due on Monday so we can correct it before Tuesday's test!

With the first half of our unit complete, we will be moving from Physical Changes to Chemical Changes. More fun and hands-on experiments yet to come!



SOCIAL STUDIES:

OK, OK...it's been another slow week...it's taking awhile for those explorers to get to Canada! (Haha!) I hope to get further into our study next week.



FRENCH:

The students have been learning about how to express different activities they do as a family en francais! Currently they are working on their second page for their "French Family Album" by writing about 2 activities they do with their family. Ask them how to say: "We like to go to the park" en francais!



OTHER:

• Operation Donation is over as of Friday, March 6th! Thank you for your generosity.


• LM's March Newsletter will be coming out next week.

Have a terrific LONG weekend! I'm off to LaRiviere on Saturday for Haleigh's Barclay Ski Race! Wish us warm weather..it's been a cold ski season this year for all of us!

See you Monday!

Mrs. Eby