April 27, 2014

WEEK OF APRIL 28-MAY 2

Dear Parents,
We are done with all the letters of the alphabet!!! The children were excited to know that starting this week we will be reviewing them all. This week we are going to do an author study about Leo Lionni.
Leo Lionni (May 5, 1910 – October 11, 1999) was an author and illustrator of children's books. Born in the Netherlands, he moved to Italy and lived there before moving to the United States in 1939, where he worked as an art director for several advertising agencies, and then for Fortune magazine. He returned to Italy in 1962 and started writing and illustrating children's books. In 1962 his book Inch by Inch was awarded the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.
Some of his stories that we will be looking at are:
Everyone loves Willy the wind-up mouse, while Alexander the real mouse is chased away with brooms and mousetraps. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be loved and cuddled, thinks Alexander, and he wishes he could be a wind-up mouse too. In this gentle fable about a real mouse and a mechanical mouse, Leo Lionni explores the magic of friendship.

When a fierce wind threatens to blow all the little letters out of the alphabet tree, they must band together in words--and then sentences--to create a message that's even stronger than the wind: peace on earth. With their newfound knowledge, there's nothing the letters "can't "do in this gentle parable about the power of the written word.

A young snail dreams of having the biggest house—or shell—in the world. Then one day, his wise father tells him the story of another snail with the same dream. He grew and grew, adding bright colors and beautiful designs, until he found that his house came at a terrible cost. The young snail decides that a small, easy-to-carry shell might be best for a life of adventure and exploration.


If you happen to have any books written by this wonderful author, we would really appreciate if you send them with your child to school.
This week we are going to be wrapping our unit on Space. Last week we talked about Earth and Mars. This week we are going to be talking about Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This unit has been of a lot of interest to the children. They loved learning facts about each of the planets. Ask them questions and you will be surprised of all the things they know of each one of them. Do you know which one is the hottest planet? If you do not know, your child does!!!!


We will be closing our school year with a unit about Children Around the World. We are going to start it next week and we will be talking about France. If you have ANYTHING that relates to this country, we would really like to borrow it from you.



Progress Reports went home last Friday. Please sign them and send them back with your child to school as soon as possible. It is hard to believe that we are approaching the end of the school year!!!


REMINDER TO OUR PARENTS – There WILL be school on Thursday May 1 – The Discovery Idol will take place at 10:30 a.m. This is an early dismissal day (for professional development for teachers). There will be NO SCHOOL on Friday, May 2nd.
The five sight words for this week will continue being: jump, eat, cool, because, please. Please practice these words at home with your child every day.

SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS
SPANISH WEEK – The Spanish department will be hosting a wax museum this Monday, and as a culminating activity will have an assembly at 2:30 p.m. Parents are welcome to attend.
DISCOVERY IDOL – Our annual talent show will take place on Thursday, May 1 at 10:30 a.m.
EARLY DISMISSAL FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT – We want to remind our parents that Thursday is an early dismissal day for students (11:45 a.m.)> Our teachers will be devoting the afternoon for curriculum work.
DPTO NEWS – The DPTO asks our school communitiy to mark their calendars and support the followign events by attending with family and friends:
·         May 10 – Fun Run and Carnival

·         May 17 - Garage Sale

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