Spring?

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a terrific March break. On Monday, the children all eagerly shared about the adventures they had over the two weeks. It sounds like fun was had by all!

This week we began two new units of study. In social studies we are traveling to the continent of Africa. We are studying about the geography of the continent and it's placement on the world map. We will be focusing most of our attention on the country of Egypt. This week we explored the importance of the Nile river in Egyptian life, both modern and ancient. We learned about ancient Egyptian culture including pharaohs and gods and goddesses. Students have been enjoying drawing the important gods and goddesses and decorating our room with them. We need your help with some upcoming projects. Each child needs an empty checkbox as well as a box of sugar cubes (NOT sugar dots) by the Wednesday, April 6th. Thank you!

We spent the beginning of the week talking about the tragedy in Japan. It is still amazing to me that on our last day of Japan study the country experienced such a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Naturally, the children have had a lot of questions regarding the Japan situation, and are astutely drawing parallels between Japan and Haiti. Mr. Felix has helped to put us in contact with a program through which we can send letters and pictures of love and hope to children affected by the natural disasters in Japan. We will be working on that next week.

In reading, we have started reading Helen Keller by Margaret Davidson. The story of Helen Keller is so powerful! The kids have been fascinated by learning about her childhood and her differences. As part of this study, we will visit the Perkins School for the Blind on April 19th. We can take one chaperone with us! Let me know if you would like to join us. Preference will go to those who have not yet been able to chaperone.

In other news, we are looking forward to Arts & Poetry Night on April 28th. The evening will begin at 6pm in classrooms, where students will read their own poetry. Then everyone will move to the hallways to view art work. Also on May 5th at 6pm we will have our Spring Concert for grades 3 and up. More details to come.

Have a great weekend!

Fondly,

Lee