Two weeks ’til Spring Break but still much to do. Room 15 kids are completing their second trimester of US History with History Jeopardy on Wednesday and their history exam on Thursday. This exam covers 1776 to 1845–The American Revolution to Westward Expansion. It also includes review material from the first trimester.  All of this material appears in each student’s history journal, which they should be studying all week.  . . . We’ve completed our second “Book Club” with a culminating book review and comprehension test.  Students who didn’t fare well on the test will have an opportunity to do a make-up assignment, but because report cards are due on the 19th, they’ll need to get their work done quickly. Homework reading through Spring Break will be from material of the student’s choosing. In class we’ll be participating in DARE, learning how to write indirect quotations, reading from Storyworks, balancing our checkbooks, and more. We also hope to resume work on student web-pages. Also stay tuned for more information about our April 30th community service field trip.

This week represents four of the final 12 class days before Spring Break, so we’re keeping things as simple and straight-forward as possible. We’re wrapping up our Book Clubs. Students reading BFG, Blue Dolphins, or James and the Giant Peach were expected to have finished their books by Tuesday, March 2nd. They’ll be working on a culminating project in class and as homework. Students reading Where the Red Fern Grows are expected to be finished by Friday of this week. I know several students are not completing their reading, so parents please check in with them. Also this week we’re working on our third and final play, The Baltimore Plot. Students who performed in last Friday’s plays (Box Brown and Freedom for the First Time) did a great job! We’ll also be preparing for next week’s History Jeopardy and exam by reviewing everything from Columbus to The Oregon Trail.

It’s not surprising 5th graders, being on the verge of adolescence, might begin demonstrating teenage behavior that can dismay and frustrate parents. The research on the subject is vast, but parents can lend themselves a hand with an excellent “manual” by Anthony Wolf, Phd. While this book doesn’t promise to fix the strong-willed child overnight, it gives parents tools to recognize and effectively deal with the behavior. This book was indispensable to me when raising (or attempting to raise) my own boys, and since then I’ve recommended it frequently. So, before your pre-teen gets the better of you, give this book a try. The first half is a bit clinical, and Dr. Wolf doesn’t shy away from reality, but those who read it through to the end and put into place these methods are sure to find it valuable. Click on the cover for more info about the book.

The primary focus in Room 15 this week will be preparation for two Black History Month play performances on Friday. At 10:30, Bailey B. and Clay B. star in The Daring Escape of Henry “Box” Brown, the true story about a man who escaped slavery by mailing himself in a crate to the North. At 11:00,  Kendra B. and Falon S. star in Freedom for the First Time. The play is based on actual slave narratives and depicts the end of the Civil War from the slaves’ perspective. Family members are welcome to attend.

Congratulations to Room 15 kids Maddie, Melissa, Rachel, and Luke for taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the “Life in the Rogue Valley” art show at the Mall. Their work, along with 13 others from our class, shared space in the Mall with student art work from all the Central Point schools.

Congratulations also to Luke (photo right), Melissa, and Falon for winning the classroom bookmark contest. The contest was an element of our first “Book Club” of the year. Students started their second Book Club last week, reading from either Island of the Blue Dolphins, Where the Red Fern Grows, The BFG, or James and the Giant Peach. Students record specific reading tasks in their Vocabulary Journal each night, and they’re required to have a parent signature to get credit, so be sure to be checking those Journals. This week, students have a vocabulary exam on words from their first Book Club. These words are also listed in their Vocab Journals.

Parents, wondering how your child is doing in class? Ask him how much money he has in his classroom checkbook. Because the project rewards quality work and penalizes poor behavior, each student’s bottom line says a lot about his or her work ethic, behavior, and classroom performance. Any student with consistently less than $100 in the checkbook is struggling with attendance, behavior, and/or completing work. Any student who is “flat broke” is likely struggling with all three and is in need of some intervention, both at home and school. The project does a good job of foretelling a child’s future, but fifth grade presents an opportunity to make changes before a high school diploma or a roof over one’s head is at stake.

Another way to evaluate your child’’s classroom performance is on the student web pages. Students post many of their most significant projects, so a student with minimal material is clearly not keeping up. How’s your child doing? Click on numerous pages to get an idea of the expectations, then click on your own child’s page. Students recently posted their “In My Shoes” essay. This multi-paragraph writing task prompted kids to say how their shoes represent who they are. Walk a mile in a child’s shoes by clicking on the Student Web pages tab, above right.