Welcome to March!
We have a lot of great activities coming up this month with Read Across America, the 5th Grade Musical performance, and Book Buffet Book Reports. We will wind down the month with a 1/2 day on March 29 before Spring Break begins.
3/4 – 3/8 Read Across America (see below for additional dates and information)
3/6 Suggested finish date for reading of Book Buffet Book
3/19 5th grade musical show 6:30
3/21 Book Buffet Book Report Due – Return Rubric *date change due to 5th grade performance*
3/29 1/2 day for students dismissal at 11:00
4/1-4/5 Spring Break
Read Across America
In celebration of the conclusion of World According to Humphrey, Read Across America and Dr. Suess’ birthday in March we will be showcasing our Cubs love for reading with some spirit days and activities.
March 4th – Green Eggs and Ham day so Wear the color GREEN.
March 5th – The Cat in the Hat day so wear your favorite hat.
March 6th – Wacky Wednesday day so let’s get silly and wear your clothes backwards, inside out or mismatched
March 7th – Fox in Socks day so wear silly or mismatched socks
March 8th – Sleep Book, so wear appropriate pajamas or comfy clothes.
The students have been working so hard in chorus for their upcoming performance next month.
Book Buffet Book Report
The students are so excited about our book report for the 3rd nine weeks – the return of the great Glen Allen Book Buffet! The Book Buffet book report was assigned on February 6 and is due on Thursday, March 21. Please be sure to go over the book report directions and guidelines with your child to ensure that they are managing their time wisely in reading and completing the book report project. We outlined parameters for good time management and documented it in our book report direction packet in class. This included the following:
- Students should complete the reading of the book this week (on or before March 6).
- Students should begin working on the project on or before March 6 to have it completed and ready to turn in on March 21. *Change of date due to 5th grade performance on March 19.
Please be sure to keep the book report directions and rubric in a safe place. All rubrics must be turned in with the book report on March 21.
Click on this link for the electronic version of the directions and rubric. Book-Buffet Book Report.
We will begin unit 6 of the Greek and Latin Roots this week and test on Friday. This will be a review of units 1 -5. It would be a good idea for students to go onto Spelling City to help them with review of units 1-5.
Spelling City: Please have your child log onto Spelling City each week to 
practice the reading vocabulary. This is such a fun way to increase their knowledge and application of the weekly vocabulary words and to review past lists as well. Look for the link to Spelling City on the right hand side of the blog.
What’s Happening in Reading?
We will continue with our poetry unit and how the author’s choice of vocabulary and use of figurative language is utilized in various types of poetry. Students will also begin writing some of their own poetry. We have some budding poets in the class that wrote some wonderful poems and shared them with the class today!
We are also working hard on fine tuning our comprehension strategies. In particular, we are focusing on looking back within the text for evidence to back up our answers and noting this evidence.
Cubs Read (Glen Allen reading incentive program): Is your child logging his/her GAR minutes on their calendar? Be sure that they pick up a March log to keep track of the minutes they are reading each day. This program is a fun way to reward the reading that your child does each day at home.
Social Studies:
In social studies we wrap up our study of the Northeast Region this week. Students will complete and then present a classwork project with a partner noting the characteristics of the Northeast Region. We will then begin our unit on the Midwest Region. Continue to visit my Portaportal site for some fun games and songs to help reinforce the 50 states and capitals. This is located on the bottom of my email and the right hand side of the blog.