Upcoming Events s2

Upcoming Events:

nd  May 2 Module 6 Math Test th  May 5 Parent Play Day/ Popcorn Friday/Wear Coyote Gear th  May 14 Mother’s Day th  May 15 Apple Valley School Begins: (Please have your child wear their pioneer outfit to school on this day. We will have the Pioneer Living workshop first thing in the morning.) th  May 15 Pioneer Living Workshop th  May 18 Debbie Dimitre-Pioneer Storyteller rd rd  May 23 3 Grade Music Rehearsal th rd  May 24 3 Grade Music Concert at 6:30 th  May 26 Pioneer Graduation/Pioneer Pail Lunch th  May 29 No School-Memorial Day Weekend nd  June 2 Classroom Auction

What we will be doing in class: Apple Valley (May 15th – May 26th): “Apple Valley School” will begin May 15th. Our classroom will resemble a one-room schoolhouse as closely as possible. The boys will sit on one side of the room, while the girls will sit on the other side. The students can earn 5 graduation points a day for dressing in outfits that resemble clothing of pioneer children. Some examples of girls’ clothing are long skirts, aprons, boots, and bonnets. If you ordered the apron and bonnet the girls can just put these items over whatever they are wearing for school that day. Things boys wore include dark pants or jeans, white or plaid shirt, a vest, boots, a bandana, suspenders/overalls and a hat of some sort. Boys do not need all of these clothing items. A bandana and vest or a plaid shirt and jeans would be fine. They can wear their pioneer clothes to school or just slip their outfit over what they are wearing once they arrive at school. We will be using slates to write on, and there will be a spelling bee on Thursday, May 25th. (The list for the Spelling Bee will be in a packet of Challenge Activities that will be sent home on Monday, May 15 th ). Students will be reading more information for this simulation in their Apple Valley Student Guide books. Finally, a former grandparent and teacher, will be teaching the kids how to square dance.

*Please read the page at the end of this newsletter that explains more fully about Apple Valley School and the Challenge Activities.

Pioneer Pail/Sack Lunch: On Friday, May 26 th , we will have a graduation celebration for Apple Valley School. This will be a simple celebration where the students will earn a certificate for completing their pioneer experience. Students should bring a pail, or sack lunch similar to what pioneer children would have eaten for lunch. (Some ideas may include jerky, hard-boiled eggs, veggies, dried fruit, bread/biscuits, etc.) We will eat in our classroom during lunch, enjoying our last pioneer moments together. We also will be doing some pioneer projects, like making butter to eat on homemade cornbread, and playing pioneer games. If you would be willing to make a dozen cornbread muffins for our pioneer lunch, please email me.

Music Concert: We are looking forward to seeing our 3rd graders perform May 24th at 6:30pm. Students should dress in their pioneer clothes for the concert. Also, the kids will be required to meet in the classroom before the performance. All 3rd grade students should report to their classroom between 6:15 and 6:25. The 3rd grade teachers will then bring their students down for the performance at about 6:25. Please keep in mind that the area in front of the first row of chairs will be closed off - no sitting on the floor by younger siblings or crouching adults taking pictures or filming. We will have a 5 minute window before the performance for parents to take pictures. In the past it has been far too crowded and the performers have difficulty moving to their instruments which are placed on the floor. SUPERVISION: All siblings who are attending the concert need to stay with parents and should be supervised at all times. We’d appreciate your help with this matter.

Reading: We are continuing to work on identifying the main idea of the texts we read. Also each guided reading group has a leveled pioneer themed book that they are reading.

Writing: Students are using the information they have learned about the trail and writing in their pioneer diaries from the viewpoint of a pioneer child traveling the trail. I sure hope we all make it to Oregon.

I will be teaching another Lucy Calkins Unit of Study on Adapting and Writing Fairy Tales. This is a fun writing unit and in the past the kids have come up with some creative twisted fairy tales.

Math: Module 7 offers students intensive practice with word problems, as well as hands-on investigation experiences with geometry and perimeter. It begins with solving one- and two-step word problems based on a variety of topics studied throughout the year and including all four operations. The lessons emphasize modeling and reasoning to develop solution paths. Students build on ideas about polygons and their properties, specifically developing and expanding their knowledge of quadrilaterals. They’ll explore the attributes of quadrilaterals and classify examples into various categories, including recognizing the characteristics of polygons. Students will draw polygons based on their attributes. They will also use tangrams and tetrominoes to compose and decompose shapes. They’ll reason about the relationships between shapes and between attributes. Students will tessellate to bridge geometry experience with the study of perimeter. They’ll first decompose a quadrilateral and then rearrange the parts. They’ll use the new shape to tile. Students will then define perimeter in two distinct ways: (1) as the boundary of a planar region and (2) as the length of the boundary curve. Students will also continue to work on number fact fluency.

You can find May’s Bonus Math Packet on my website.

Auction: Have you wanted to clean out your closets, or donate lost and forgotten toys? Now is a great opportunity. I would love anything you are willing to give away.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Time to hit the trail.

Sincerely, Mrs. Jochim Apple Valley School

May 15th we will turn back the hands of time in our classroom to the last half of the 19th century! The children will participate in a simulation called APPLE VALLEY SCHOOL, every day after lunch for two weeks. They will pretend to be students in one of the earliest public schools in our nation. They will personally experience the joys and frustrations of going to a one-room schoolhouse during the rough and tumble pioneer days. They will develop a sense of our early history as they explore this special time in our past.

You can enrich your child’s experience in several ways. First, share your own personal memories of your school days. How have things changed? Are some things still the same? This would be a good time to share old photographs, report cards, and other memorabilia. The students will need to earn 100 graduation points by the end of the two weeks in order to graduate. There are many ways to earn and lose graduation points. We will have two class valedictorians, one boy and one girl who have earned the most graduation points.

On Monday, May 15th, your child will bring home a list of projects about pioneer days called CHALLENGE TASKS. Your child will need to choose four activities from these CHALLENGE TASKS for their nightly homework (math homework will be limited during our two week Apple Valley experience). The CHALLENGE TASKS are of varying degrees of work and difficulty, and are worth graduation points. You might help gather materials and offer suggestions when needed, but don’t do these small projects for your child. Your child can also do additional chores around the house to earn points.

Finally, we’ll be having a pail lunch, spelling bee and graduation as culminating events. As you can see, we really get into this unit and the students love it. Thank you in advance for your support. Sincerely, Miss Tucker (AKA Mrs. Jochim)