Dear Parents & Students,
March brought with it a celebration of reading with our Read-In Day. Students enjoyed books,
magazines and sharing stories with their buddies. We finished our study of Matter and Energy and had
a fabulous lesson on the states of matter by making ice cream with Mr. Fowler (Lila's dad). Thanks so
much Mr. Fowler - a highlight of our month!
Our new theme in Language Arts is Animal Habitats. Our first story was about Puffins and we are
now reading about the unlikely friendship between a seal and a boy. This unit lends itself to a study of
non fiction and how we need to read this type of text differently than fiction stories. We are learning
about text features. To go along with this, we will begin doing current events. Students will complete 4
or 5 of them. Initially, I will provide students with an article and a very formatted form to fill out. Each
form will leave more and more to the students, guiding them less and less until they write a paragraph
summary of the article. More on this will be emailed home.
We are learning about Explorers to our area and the challenges they faced settling our towns. After
spring break we will begin our popular science unit on Crayfish. Are you ready to have a new pet at
home?
I have added tons of pictures so be sure to check out the photo page.
Debbie Palmer
Fun places to see if you have a spare day:
- Riverside's Mission Inn Festival of Lights - worth the drive, but go at
night so you can get the full effect of the beauty. They have horse drawn
carriage rides, an outdoor skating rink, reindeer, and more. Spend a few
hours walking around, taking pictures and enjoying the incredible beauty.
http://www.missioninn.com/festival-of-lights/index.cfm
- Oak Glen - pick apples and press your own cider; corn mazes; apple bakery;
petting zoo - each farm
offers a little different activities so google and look into them.
- If your child enjoyed the planetarium field trip, take a visit to Griffith
Park - planetarium is amazing,
and offers great shows; also a park and zoo, train, etc.
Debbie Palmer