May 5th ~ 9th

We only have five weeks left of this school year and they will be very busy!

Thank you to everyone who sent goodies for our farewell party for Mr. Monson. We had a feast and Mr. Monson was very touched by the outpouring of support. He has been a great addition to our classroom and we will sure miss him!

Box tops are due on Wednesday, so if you have any saved up at home, send them to school and I will get them to the office.

We will be taking three Smarter Balanced tests this week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and your child will need headphones at school. Most of the kids have headphones in the classroom, but double check with your child and remind him or her to bring them to school Monday.

6th Graders will register for 7th grade on Wednesday afternoon. The counselors visit Poly Drive and we walk the kids through the process using laptop computers. I will make sure that appropriate registration for enriched classes take place.

The Poly Drive BBQ is this Wednesday from 5-7 and I hope to see you all there for some burgers, hot dogs, and fellowship.

Looking Ahead:
May 12th-16th is Bike/Walk to school week. I bring my bike to school for the week and ride a 3-mile loop with the kids after school. It is fun and a great way to rack up the miles for our classroom! Encourage your child to ride with us after school - rain or shine!

Tuesday May 13th is the Select Choir concert and tour date. If you have additional questions, check with Mrs. Carroll.

Wednesday May 14th is the 6th grade tour of L&C Middle School from 12:30-2:30. We will take a bus to L&C and hear from current students and Mr. Pomroy. Thursday the 15th - from 7:00-8:00 p.m. is the evening open house for parents and students.

Thursday May 15th is Muffins for Moms from 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Friday May 16th is the 6th grade field trip to Zoo Montana. If you would like to chaperon, send a quick email to let me know. It is a fun and relaxed day and we will order pizza delivered to the Zoo for lunch. We will leave Poly Drive at about 10:00 a.m. and return around 2:00 p.m.

Tuesday May 20th is the Band Concert from 10:10-11:00 in the gym.

Thursday May 22nd is the 5th grade field trip to Lake Elmo. This is the culmination of Hooked on Fishing that the kids have participated in throughout the year. Information will be provided by Mrs. Saur and Mrs. Schaff.

Thursday May 29th is the Orchestra Concert from 10:20-11:00

Mrs. Reas has planned Field Day for Friday May 30th. Please make sure your child has tennis shoes for that day.

Wednesday June 4th is the 6th Grade field trip to Lewis & Clark Caverns. We leave Poly Drive at about 7:30 a.m. and return at about 6:00 p.m. If you are interested in joining us that day, send me a quick email. Parents usually carpool to the Caverns, as we do not have extra seats on the bus. We'd love to have you come along if you can make it.

6th Grade Parents ~ Tentatively plan on the 6th grade awards and slide show at 10:30 on the last day of school - June 6th. I will let you know for sure as we get closer. The final graduation walk up the intermediate hall takes place at about 11:50 a.m. on the last day of school. Have your cameras and tissues ready.

Spelling: We will not work with a spelling unit this week due to our Smarter Balanced testing schedule.
Language: We will have written assignments on Tues., Wed., and Thurs. this week.
5th - Root word and Heteronyms worksheets.
6th - Root word, Greek prefixes, and Greek roots worksheets.
Reading: We are beginning a new novel this week for both 5th and 6th graders. The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963, is an historical fiction novel that takes place during the Civil Rights era. We have done some in-class research on the Civil Rights Movement in preparation for this novel.
Math: 5th and 6th graders will review order of operations and exponents as we prepare to work more extensively with expressions and equations.
Social Studies - 6th Grade
We are studying 3 philosophies of ancient China this week.
Science - 6th Grade
We will learn about Newton's 1st law of motion, including force, friction, velocity, inertia, and speed. We will work with an online resource to build background knowledge before designing protective gear and harnesses for raw eggs. We will run tests with our egg "Crash Test Dummies" next Tuesday.

Have a fantastic week!!