Click here for the Gr 5 Photostory Review or – See TeacherEase for this Review Guide

Test dates:
5-116 on Fri. 5/25
5-117 on Fri. 5/25

The 5th graders have been using Photostory3 (a windows program) to make creative video stories about their owl pellet dissections. They added customized motion, panning & zooming effects to suggestion motion, narration and text. This is an extension of their homeroom lesson and provided them  with the opportunity to connect technology with science.

Next week we will be reviewing all of the letters. Please continue to work with your child on letters and sounds throughout the summer.

Our CELEBRATION PICNIC will be on Wednesday, May 30, from 9:30 – 10:30 at Spring Park on Spring Avenue and 53rd Street in La Grange.  Coffee and a few snacks will be provided.  We will sing a few songs and play together one more time, then say good-bye for the summer.  If you have any questions, let me know.  That morning, the full day Preschool classes will be meeting at the park from 8:00 – 9:00, and the Kindergarten classes will have their program in Morrissey Hall at 10:30.  May 30 will be the last day for preschool.  Your child will be dismissed to you at the end of our picnic. 

In the event of rain, please bring your child to our classroom at 8:00. We will sing our songs, pass out certificates, and dismiss.

• Monday, May 21st:   Mass, 9am
• Tuesday, May 22nd:  8th grade awards in the church, 1:30
• Wednesday, May 23rd:  Hot Lunch, Little Joe’s
• Thursday, May 24th:  8th grade clap out and graduation
• Friday, May 25th: Baseball HOT DOG lunch in the courtyard.  Kindergartners do NOT need to bring lunches today!!!!
• Monday, May 28th:  NO SCHOOL
• Wednesday, May 30th:  Kindergarten Celebration, 10:30 in Morrissey Hall; You received your invitation last week.  ALL FAMILIES ARE INVITED TO ATTEND!!! Children are dismissed for the summer immediately following the celebration.

This Week:

We had a great start to our baseball unit.  We made a venn diagram to see if the classes like the Cubs, Sox or BOTH!  Ask your child about the results.  We had a special popcorn treat on Friday and watched some baseball.  We graphed our favorite baseball snack–popcorn, peanuts, cracker jacks, cotton candy, hot dogs or nachos. We wore baseball hats on Wednesday and came up with different ways that we could sort ourselves. We made a list of all that we know about baseball and read several stories about baseball. Baseball fun continues next week!

Next Week:

• Next Friday, May 25th, we will wrap up our baseball unit with a hot dog lunch in the courtyard. All children are encouraged to wear baseball attire–a team shirt, hat, etc. 
• Kindergarten baseball and kickball
• We will be doing assessments next week as we prepare for the second report card to be sent home.
• We will be preparing for the Celebration on Wednesday, May 30th.  Here is what we are asking children to wear:

The theme of the Celebration is KINDERGARTEN ROCKS!  ROCKIN’ CARDINALS! To keep with the theme, the children are asked to wear ROCKSTAR attire.  We would like the children to wear khacki or jean shorts/skirt along with a solid, brightly colored t-shirt.  Several of the children have shirts that say ,’rockstar’ or ‘kindergarten rocks’….that would be PERFECT too! We plan to be doing alot of singing and dancing on stage–things we’ve been doing all year long in our classrooms!
Have a great weekend!!!

Our alphabet work has come to an end as we finished with the letter /z/ this week.  Next week we will be reviewing the alphabet as a whole and spending some additional time with the children who are going into kindergarten.  Please reinforce letter/sound associations during the summer months.

We have two more Masses scheduled for the year.  The first will be this coming Monday and it will be outside, sponsored by our school Student Council. It will be a new experience for all of us.

Our two end-of-the year events are our ONE MILE RUN and our PICNIC.               The run will be on Friday, May 25 at 8:30 A.M. Any parents who are available may come at that time and cheer the children on.  In addition, if you are a runner, feel free to run a couple of laps with your child. 

We will need one case of small (8 oz.) bottles of water and enough popsicles for the class – 20 in all.  If you would like to donate either of these, please send me an e-mail. I will get back to you to let you know what you can bring.

In the event of rain, we will NOT be re-schedulling.

Our CELEBRATION PICNIC will be on Wednesday, May 30, from 8:00 – 9:00 at Spring Park on Spring Avenue and 53rd Street in La Grange.  Please bring a snack and a drink for your family.  Coffee will be provided.  The children will be able to play together for one last time, and then we will sing a few songs and say good-bye for the summer.  If you have any questions, let me know.  That morning, the 1/2 day Preschool classes will be meeting at the park from 9:30 – 10:30, and the Kindergarten classes will have their program in Morrissey Hall at 10:30.  May 30 will be the last day for preschool.  Your child will be dismissed to you at the end of our picnic. 

In the event of rain, please bring your child to our classroom at 8:00. We will sing our songs, pass out certificates, and dismiss.

This has been an amazing and exciting year.

I hope your week end is wonderful as well.

Math – 15.7 wks, texts came home to start preparing for the Ch. 15 test which is on Tuesday.

Science – Monday is “Picture Day”, students may bring in cameras or other devices to take pictures of the chicks.  Students are responsible for their own property.

• We have successfully hatched 6 chicks!  Students have been observing and holding them all week. 
• Monday, May 21st students are permitted to bring cameras or other devices to school in order to take pictures of our chicks.  Students are responsible for their own property. 
• Tuesday, May 22nd is our Ch. 15 Math test
• Ch. 10 English test is on Thursday, May 24th
• Parts of the Chicken test is also on Thursday, May 24th

In Religion, we continue to look at how the church continues Jesus’ work. We will look at prayer next week and saints soon after that.

In Language, we continue to classify sentences. Please have your child practice this skill over the summer, as 3rd grade will be doing this upon their return to school. We’ve been talking about cause and effect some more, in addition to looking at vowel teams.

During Math, our rulers have come to measure length. We’ve talked about how estimating is an important skill, and that it is okay to not be exactly right when estimating.

During Science, we’ve looked at the objects in our solar system and talked about its characteristics.

Social Studies has been interesting, as we are talking about immigrants. Tell your child of family members who were immigrants too.

News & Events:

Homework

Please do not have your child write cursive until we’ve taught the all letters. This way they are writing it correctly from the start. Thank you! 

Additional Homework Information

• Journal Expectations in detail:  As you know, each Monday, Wednesday and Friday the second graders complete a journal entry.  The subject for the journal is given first thing in the morning and typically students have about 20 minutes to complete their journal.  In the past, our journals consisted of 5 sentences.  Now, since we have learned all about stretching our sentences and writing, students are required to write 8 sentence journals.  The first sentence, just like before, is the opening sentence.  This should tell the reader exactly what they will be reading about.  Sentences 2-7 are the body of the journal.  This is where all the juicy details come.  One thing that we try to do in class is write one sentence, and then a detail about it.  Ex. I love my Boston Terrier Bruno so much.  He is a crazy dog that loves to give me kisses when he is excited. Writing a sentence and then detail about it, makes it pretty easy to complete the body.  The final sentence in the 8 sentence journal is the closing.  Again, just like in the past, this sentence’s job is to wrap up the entire journal.  Go back to the opening sentences to help write the closing. Instead of, “That is how I spent my break.” try… “My favorite part of my break was spending time with my family and friends.”
• Practice prayers each night.  Students should be able to make the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. Also they should know The Act of Contrition, in addition to the Ten Commandments.
• Read daily for at least fifteen minutes.

Did you know??

Remember some of our text books are online.  Social Studies is www.pearsonsuccessnet.com.  The Science book can be found at www.thinkcentral.com. Directions to get on both have been sent home.