March 30, 2013
Happy Spring! We hope each of you is enjoying the break with your family. We appreciated the chance to meet with parents and students during conference week, and we look forward to our continued collaboration throughout the spring.
We hope you are having fun reading together and sharing family stories. Throughout the winter, we have shared stories about our families with each other, including the information we gathered in interviews with parents and grandparents, stories about our ancestors, and our own baby stories. We look forward to sharing those stories with you as well.
In addition to sharing our family stories, we have been studying the growth and expansion of our country in the 1800s during social studies and reading group lessons. We also read about the prairie and prairie animals, and pulled together concept maps connecting our ideas. We traveled west with the Corps of Discovery.
In April, we will continue our exploration of the growth of our country. We will continue to explore the expansion of human rights, as well as the physical expansion of the country. We will read about and discuss groups of people, such as Abolitionists, suffragists, and other reformers, who worked to bring about social change. We will see how the building of the transcontinental railroad affected pioneers and Native Americans, as well as the environment. We will begin a research report, most likely on Susan B. Anthony to find out how she and other women changed American society. In science we will continue our study of sound. We will spend some time sharing poems, and perhaps try some readers' theater. We will continue our study of and practice of mindfulness activities.
We are excited about our upcoming adventures and look forward to seeing all of you soon.
Mrs. Arabia
Ms. Watkins
Miss Stevenson
Some April Dates to remember:
April is "math month" at Benchmark. See Sunday announcements for information about the penny challenge and David Schwartz's visit to Benchmark.
April 2: back to school
April 8: early dismissal, teacher inservice
April 12: Special Guest Morning at Benchmark