Lights. Camera. Action!

After ten weeks of planning, writing, filming, and editing, we are ready to share our explorer iMovie projects. I hope that you are able to join us.

They will be shown on Wednesday morning at 8:30 in the Lower Division Studio (the room next to Mrs. Lippincott's classroom).

Splash Day

Splash Day is scheduled for this Friday (5/14).

Waivers were sent home on Friday. Without a signed waiver, children WILL NOT be able to use the big water slide. Please sign and return the waivers by Thursday (5/13).

K Program

We will be attending the Kindergarten dress rehearsal this morning. We are looking forward to seeing the new program. I know that many of the students with siblings in Kindergarten are very excited to see them on stage.

Explorer Video

We need your help! The third grade classes are working on their Explorer Movie projects with Mrs. Baralt in the computer lab, and they will be shooting live footage for their movies this week. As students will shooting in different location of the Lower Division campus, we could use extra adults to help with supervision. If you are interested in helping out, please email me if you are available to help.

Our time slots are Wed 10-11 and Thurs 11:10-12:10.

Kentucky Derby

We have studied a bit about Kentucky this week in our geography lesson, and the Louisville (Ms. La Duke's home town) Kentucky Derby. Due to the Derby this Saturday, the third grade teachers are permitting the children to bring a hat to school on Friday in honor of Derby Day.

*Participation is optional.

*Hats should be decorated or fancy. (Baseball caps need some sort of decoration.)

*Hats will be brought to school and stored in lockers until after the ERB testing is over for the day.

Thank you!

Spirit Day

This is a reminder that tomorrow is Spirit Day.

Celebrate the Arts

This week is "Celebrate the Arts" week.

The festivities kicked off with our field trip this past Friday. This week we have several other events planned. This morning we were treated to a string quartet performance by some USF students. On Friday, there will be a performance at 11. Each grade level will be singing some songs, and there is even a group of teachers that will be performing. After the performance, the entire Lower Division will have a cookout. Please submit your lunch preference form if you have not already done so.

I look forward to seeing all of you on Friday!

Field Trip

As part of the Celebrate the Arts next week, we will be taking an architectural tour of downtown St. Petersburg. We will be going this Friday morning (4/16). We are scheduled to leave campus at 8:45 and return around 10:30.

If anyone is interested in accompanying our class, please let me know via email at nealw@shorecrest.org .

Thank you!

Rays Day

Opening Day for the Tampa Bay Rays is Tuesday, April 6. Students may wear a Rays shirt with their regular uniform pants on that day.

Class Pictures

Just a reminder that Monday is class picture day. The order forms went home this week. Extra copies of the order form are available in the office. The deadline to order pictures is Friday (4/9).

Picture Day

Our class picture is scheduled for Monday, April 5th.

Order forms went home today, and all orders must be submitted before Friday 4/9 in order to avoid a late fee of $5. No orders will be received after 4/30.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Important Dates this week

Just a quick reminder that this week we have both Spirit Day and Field Day.

Spirit Day is Wednesday 3/31 and Field Day is Friday 4/2.

Also, despite the fact that it is scheduled for this Thursday (4/1), the history quiz is not a prank.

The quiz will cover the Early North American Tribes that we have been covering in class. The students will be able to use the culture chart that we have been completing during this unit.

Lower Division blog

Dear Parents,

The Lower School administration uses Online Community to communicate with our families. Dr. Bianco and Mrs. Weinman's letters and Lower Division reminders are posted on a Lower Division blog. This is the school administration's main form of communication, so EVERYONE should subscribe. In order to have access, you will need to subscribe to the Lower Division blog.

Directions:

First log into the Online Community. After logging into the Online Community, go to Community > Groups > Lower Division Group from the green menu bar. First, click on the icon "Join Group." Next, scroll down the page and click on the Subscribe button. This will send you e-mail alerts whenever I write a new blog post.

Field Day

Due to weather, Field Day has been rescheduled for April 2nd.

The team assignments will remain the same.

Update

The math test originally planned for Friday has been pushed back to Monday to allow for more review of the content. An additional practice sheet went home this afternoon.

Grandparents Day

Here is a quick note to clear up any questions about tomorrow...

Grandparents Day is not intended to be a half day. We will continue with our usual plans for the rest of the day, which include PE, Lunch, Library, and Social Studies. Also, there are two tests scheduled for tomorrow morning (Spelling and Math).

I look forward to a great morning tomorrow and hope that this information can help to clear up any confusion.

Spring Conference

February 24th is the date for Spring parent conferences. The scheduled times are posted on the side of the blog. Please post a comment or email me (nealw@shorecrest.org) with your preferred time. I will do my best to accommodate everyone's schedule.

For Friday---Warm up to a good book!

On Friday, I would like to take a break from the regular reading time to "Warm Up to a Good Book." It is seldom that Florida provides the appropriate atmosphere to do this, so I thought I would take advantage of it.

Today in class, the children were asked to bring a book from home to read. It must be a book that will sustain their interest for at least a period of 20-30 minutes. Along with their book of choice, they are not only allowed to bring a thermos of either hot chocolate or cider, but they may wear jeans to school (students are still required to wear a uniform shirt--this is not another Spirit Day.)

I am not sure yet the exact time, but it will be some time in the morning so the thermos will remain warm. This should be great fun!

Happy New Year

I hope that everyone had a nice, relaxing winter break, and is ready to get back into the routine.

Here is the outline for the week:

Math-

5.1 "Place Value through Ten-Thousands"

5.2 "Reading, Writing, and Ordering Numbers"

5.3 "Place Value to MIllions"

5.4 "Application: Using the U.S. Census to compare large numbers"

Language Arts- We will begin reading another class novel, 7x9=Trouble. We will work on Lesson 6 in "Wordly Wise." Vocabulary and Spelling Tests on Friday (1/8).

Science- We will finish Simple Machines and begin Compound Machines.

Social Studies- We will begin our Social Studies text book, A History of US.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me... Welcome Back!

Report Cards

If you have not yet signed and returned the first trimester report card, please do so as soon as possible. If you need another copy of the report card, let me know. Thank you and have a great weekend!