A big, huge THANK YOU to each and every one of you! I feel privileged to work in this field where I get to spend each and every day with 29 wonderful, bright, clever, and funny scholars. To have a whole week dedicated to making me feel appreciated? Let's just say I was very spoiled, indeed. Students made cards, drew pictures, brought in school supplies, brought in Dutch treats (that may have been my favorite day!) and even wore my favorite color one day....pink! (One child was sure it was Breast Cancer Awareness Day.) I may or may not have made multiple posting on Facebook to the envy of my friends. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness. You made my week!

Also, Happy Mothers Day to all you moms! I hope you're enjoying your special day with your families. I spent Mothers Day with my mom, nieces, sibs and extended family. The baby nieces stole the show. Such great entertainment.

LITERACY- Thank you to all of you who helped your children finish final drafts for Young Authors Day. For those of you still working on drafts, please make sure final copies are edited and error-free. Email them to me, or send in a thumb drive. Try not to send printed copies. We sometimes have to make adjustments in the paragraphing before pasting in our books.

We took our STARS reading test last week, and many students hit their year-end goals several weeks early! Congratulations! Remember, the best way to make progress in reading is to read "just-right" books every night. At this point in the year, we're aiming for 40 minutes- five times a week. Level It is a great app for iPhones (I believe Android has the app as well) to double check the "just-right"ness of each book.

Finally, we have been taking practice tests to prepare for SBA testing later this month. Check the Principal newsletter for info on how to access the practice tests from home.

MATH-We've started our fractions unit. We learned about numerators and denominators, finding fractions on a number line, and unit fractions. As we develop our ideas about fractions, we are going to revisit multiplication. Students are encouraged to continue working on memorizing their multiplication facts.

SCIENCE- We started our earth materials unit. Students are learning about the tools geologists use to make discoveries about rocks and minerals. We observed mock rocks before breaking them apart into minerals.