Congratulations to Olivia K. and Elizabeth L., our DARE Essay winners! They’ll be presenting their essays at DARE Graduation. Come join us on Thursday, May 8th at 1:00 p.m. to watch all our drug resistance education program graduates. It’s one of the big events of your child’s elementary education. DARE Day, our annual celebration, is scheduled for May 23rd. More on that to come.

Other important dates to remember include Talent Show tryouts on May 14th, Science Fair on May 16th, our Table Rock hike (with our reading buddies) on May 16th, and our last Adopt-a-Street clean-up of the year on May 20th. We’ll need adult chaperones for the Table Rock hike and the Adopt-a-Street clean-up. Finally, our big Oregon Coast Outdoor Education Excursion is booked for May 29th and 30th. Let me know if you’re interested in joining is as a chaperone.

In class this week students will be testing on their most recent book club selections, taking a math quiz on Friday (on fractions concepts such as greatest common factor), and starting new play groups. I’m trying something different this time. The students will spend this week reviewing numerous plays, including the classic short story, A  Piece of String (pictured). They’ll then select the three they wish to perform and then tryout for specific parts in front of the class. For the academic theory behind using plays to build reading fluency, click here.  Here’s the math homework for this week: Monday, April 28th; Tuesday, April 29th; Wednesday, April 30th; Thursday, May 1st.  Students should also be reading for 30 minutes each evening from a book of choice, recording the title and the minutes read on the Assignment Calendar. Students should also be working on their Science Fair project, and they can be doing extra credit work on IXL, and numerous students have an extra credit math workbook from which to work. They Science Fair project, by the way, is voluntary because it must be completed entirely at home and in all reality requires guidance and assistance from parents. Thanks.

In class this wee