Biographies and Updates

With biographies over we will go back to a more normal schedule. The students did an excellent job on the biographies. Every student in class was ready to present on their scheduled time! The students also did a great job of reading, preparing, and presenting their biographies. Finally, I'd also like to thank the parents for helping the kids get organized, take notes, and find costumes to fit their characters. I know it can be a lot of work preparing for everyone involved. Their grades will be sent out tonight. Thank you for the hard work put in by all!

Here are a couple of notes for the week:
- MAPs testing is this week on Tuesday and Wednesday (May 1 and 2). Tuesday is the reading section, and Wednesday is the math portion. Each test takes about 45-60 minutes.

- In social studies we will begin studying the 50 states. We'll take the pretest today. After that we'll start in the New England States and move our way West. The smaller states are usually the trickiest, so I want to start those first. We'll be studying the states for most of May.

- For language arts this week we are reading Family Traditions. The students will write a few paragraphs about traditions they have in their family. It can be things as simple as going to the beach or fair. It can also be things like special meals, birthday parties, family reunions, or volunteering to help a grandparent. The traditions in the book focus on enjoying simple things.

- We'll also have a challenge spelling list this week, which will consist of several stories from our past reading stories.

- For math we are back to multiplication. We will get to lattice multiplication later this week, which is a fun way to set up a multiplication problem.

- Finally, Don't forget that reading calendars are due tomorrow, Tuesday, May 1st.

Star of the Week

for April 30-May 4

Friday Biographies

Thursday Biographies

Wednesday Biographies

Platteville Children's Choir

The Platteville Children's Choir performed at Iowa-Grant today, and two members of the Van Clan were in the choir. Super job Elly and Lauren! It was cool to see the group come and perform and have a couple of our classmates be part of the show. I tried to take pictures, but they were too dark and didn't turn out.

Tuesday Biographies

Monday Biographies

MAPs Testing Reschedule

MAPs testing will be rescheduled for next week (April 30-May 4). Mrs. Belken, who administers the test, has to be absent during the testing time on Tuesday and Wednesday. This won't be much of a change for our class, other than we'll test a week later than we would have. With biographies this week too, I think having the testing on a different week will eliminate some stress.

Star of the Week

for April 23-27

100% Pure Chocolate

Since we read Cocoa Ice for class this week I had the students try 100% pure chocolate. I have found 85 or 90% before, but never 100%! They started out so excited about getting chocolate too!

Afterward we read another book about the history of chocolate, and how it was slow to spread outside of South America. I think they understand why many people didn't enjoy chocolate before sugar and milk were mixed. Have a great weekend!

Morning Drop Off Note

This is a note I was asked to share with parents. I don't think to many of my students get dropped off in the morning, but I still wanted to be safe. We need your help… Please be sure to drop your child off at the CAFETORIUM door if you are bringing your child to school. At bus time especially in the morning, cars are arriving and buses are on the move. This morning a potential accident was avoided but the seriousness of the situation is upsetting to think about. Just as we use the cafetorium door for pick up after school, the same entrance needs to be used in the morning. Thank you for your help with this important procedure at IGEMS.

Language Arts and Testing

The MAPs testing is being rescheduled for next week, it was originally supposed to this week. The MAPs testing takes two days, one for language arts and the other for math, and both tests are taken on the computer. Our Language Arts unit test is also scheduled for next week. The unit test is quite long and I like to split it up into two or three days. I am going to do some rearranging so students don't have to take both on the same day. I also like to avoid testing on Fridays, as I've found the results aren't always as good.

Because of all the testing we won't have a spelling list next week either.

With that said, here is the modified scheduled for our Unit 5 test and the MAPs testing:
Thursday, April 19 - First part of the language arts unit test
Friday, April 20 - No testing - We will be trying plantains, mangos, and coconuts to go with our Cocoa Ice story though
Monday, April 23 - Second part of the language arts unit test
Tuesday, April 24 - MAPs Testing - Language Arts
Wednesday, April 25 - MAPs Testing - Math
Thursday, April 26 - Finish the last section of the language arts unit test
Friday, April 27 - None

IGEMS Family Reading Fest

Reading Cafe: Feast on Books
Thursday, April 19 from 7:00-8:00 p.m.
- Read a book with your family
- Listen to stories with your family
- Enjoy a skit with your family
- Take a new book home to build your library

Enjoy a smorgasbord of stories and fun!

Spelling Words

The spelling words this week are more challenging than most weeks. They all have words that end with a -tion or -sion ending. We'll spend a little more time practicing them in class before Fridays test.