Optimist Good Reader Awards

Good evening parents!  We had a great time today receiving our Optimist Good Reader Program awards!  I am so proud of the students who completed this program and I know they are proud of themselves as well. 
Here are some pictures of our awards ceremony:

Optimist member, Mr. Nakato, explaining the importance of reading

Level One Winners

Level Two Winners



Level Three Winners



The following three students were chosen by members of the Optimist Club for having winning bookmarks.  Way to go, girls!

**************************IMPORTANT REMINDERS!*****************************

* Students will have their Structures of Life science test on Thursday.  A study guide was sent home on Monday along with science folders to help students to prepare.  Miss Head has also developed a fun review game to play with the students tomorrow!

**The Unit 8 Fractions math test will be on Friday.  Students will receive a review packet tomorrow to take home for homework.  We will review over the next couple of days in class as well.  Please check in with your child tomorrow evening as he/she works on the review packet to see what areas may need to be reinforced at home.

***Crayfish permission slips were sent home today.  If your child will be taking a crayfish home, please send in a container by Thursday to ensure that no crayfish will be left in the classroom after Friday. 

Have a wonderful Spring Break week! 
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us

A Full Week?

Good evening families!  I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing weekend.  Dan, Hayden, Matilda, and I traveled to the Chicago area this weekend to spend some time with my family, including my 92 year old grandmother.  It is always a bit mind-blowing for me being able to have four generations together under one roof!  We got back tonight and are hoping to actually have five days of school in a row this week! 

Here is a quick curriculum update for the upcoming week:

Reading:  This week's main selection is titled The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison.  We will be using this fantasy story and other titles to help us practice our comprehension skills for the week:  identifying the sequence of events and analyzing/evaluating different pieces. 

Spelling/Phonics/Grammar:  Our words this week either contain the suffix -ly, -ful, or -er.  We will practice identifying the base word and whether or not it needs a spelling change before adding on the suffix.  Our grammar objectives are to appropriately use abbreviations for days of the week, months, and places. 

Math:  We are continuing our fraction unit. This week, we will be spending most of our time identifying and naming equivalent fractions.  Here is a fun website that the kids enjoyed playing in the computer lab last Thursday: 
http://www.factmonster.com/math/knowledgebox/fractioncafe.html

Science:  Our Structures of Life science unit is in full force!  We have been watching and measuring our bush bean plants as they go through their life cycle, tested the strength of our bess beetles (think truck pull in World's Strongest Man competition), and identified the structures and their functions of both bess beetles and crayfish.  Here are some pictures of us working with our creatures during our science investigations:



**We are down to our last box of Kleenex and, unfortunately, are not past cold/flu season.  We are also almost out of our classroom supply of pencils!  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! 

It was absolutely wonderful conferencing with you over the past two weeks!  I feel so lucky to have such an amazing group of students and families to work with this year.  Thank you for all you do! 

Mrs. Johnsen

johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us