What a blessed year it has been! I have learned innumerable lessons from my students this year, and every one of them has been a joy to have in class. Thank you so much for sharing your precious children with me. I will miss them more than I can say! I have already informed my classes that next year, even though they will be mature 5th-graders, they'd better not think they're too cool to stop by and say hi to their 4th-grade teacher. :)

As usual, we're having an action-packed week. On Monday, students visited 5th grade for a sneak preview. Today, we enjoyed a successful Biome Day as we experienced the tundra, the swamp, the rainforest, the desert, and the river. Tomorrow will be quiet and calm, and I plan to use the time to fit in some short, interesting explorations that just haven't quite fit into our curriculum this year but are, nevertheless, useful. Thursday will be a half-day taken up by our awards ceremony and yearbook signing. And on Friday, our last half-day, we will celebrate our year with games and a treat!

I know we are all excited about getting some much-needed rest this summer, but don’t forget that children are most successful in school when they continue learning over the break! This site has 50 fun ideas for reinforcing academic skills over the summer months: http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2012/06/50-ways-to-slow-summer-slide.html.

I want to thank you, families, for giving your children the academic support they need-- but even more importantly, for teaching them to be kind, hard-working, and caring. Please continue doing that good, albeit difficult, work-- it is so needed in our society, and the rewards are so great. I'll be praying that all of you stay safe over the summer and have a successful year in 2013-2014! Stay in touch!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and took the time to honor the sacrifices made by our military. We are looking forward to a busy week!

We will travel to the State Museum tomorrow (Wednesday, May 29) and release our trout at Saluda Shoals State Park on Friday (May 31). For the State Museum, students should wear comfortable walking shoes and bring a light jacket. For Saluda Shoals, students should wear clothes they don't mind getting wet in and bring a towel. A bottle of water and sunscreen would be very helpful, as well, as we will be outdoors the entire time. On both days, students who indicated they would bring lunch from home should remember their lunches. Cameras are welcome, but all other electronic devices are prohibited. Students should bring their backpacks and school supplies on both days, as we will be continuing with academic activities before and after the trip.

When we are not traveling all over the world, we will be back in class, working diligently to finish our Help Wanted posters to show what we've learned about our careers! Students also will be taking their final Treasures Benchmark test in reading to show how they've grown throughout the year.

Finally, I'll be taking suggestions from students about how to celebrate the end of the school year on the last day of school! I am excited to see what they'll come up with!

We just finished our first-ever Poetry Slam, and it was a hit! I was SO proud of ALL of my students for their careful preparation and presence of mind onstage. They delivered quite a show! And I'm also extremely grateful to all of our families who were able to attend. We had an excellent turn-out and lots of encouragement from those who came. Thank you SO much for taking the time to share this special learning experience with us!

Now that we're finished with Poetry Slam, it's time to explore the world of "grown-ups" for a few days ... Ms. Gaillard, Mrs. Thompson, and I are working together to teach our students how to earn money and how to spend it. In my class, each student will chose a career to become an expert on. S/he will learn about the responsibilities involved, the education required, and the salary for the job and be prepared to share that information with the class. In math classes, students will learn about the different expenses that come with adulthood and how to create a budget based on the salary for their job. The students are very excited about this study, and I'm sure they'll be coming home ready to ask you questions and hear your advice!

Our calendar is going to be very busy for the next 3 weeks, so be sure to check the News + Events page and, as always, keep an eye on your child's take-home folder for information and reminders. Let's make this a wonderful week!

Hello, families! I don't know who is more excited to be finished with PASS testing-- the students, or their teachers! It was a long, challenging week, but I am so proud of the hard work that the kids put in. Now, we get to breathe a little easier and enjoy some exciting projects and opportunities during our next four weeks. Keep an eye on the calendar and your child's take-home folder to see what's coming.

This week:
Reading/Writing. We will conclude our poetry unit by finalizing and sharing an original poem, as well as preparing to recite poetry for our first-ever Poetry Slam! We are thrilled to be including you, our families, in this special event and hope that you'll be able to join us next Tuesday, May 21. (See the invitation in your child's take-home folder.)
Language. We are, at long last, reviewing what we've learned about adjectives and pronouns and hopefully testing on these topics by the end of the week.
Social Studies. We are wrapping up our study of the Civil War by sharing our "Civil War Windows" - sketches of what the war looked like from a variety of perspectives. We also will take a test on the war Thursday. 

Next week, we will jump into an interdisciplinary study of careers, money, and philanthropy. More news about that to come!

On a much sadder note-- by now, you have probably heard that our beloved Beth Phillips, Catawba Trail's IT specialist, passed away on Sunday. We will miss her so much and treasure all the encouragement, support, and energy she brought to the Colt family! She was truly an extraordinary woman. You will be the best person for your child to talk to as they work through their feelings about her death, so keep those lines of communication open. We also will have additional counselors on campus this week for students needing extra support. 

Happy PASS week, everyone! The students started off strong with their Reading test today, and I am so proud of their hard work and focus! Wednesday, they’ll take Math; Thursday is Science; and Friday is Social Studies. In the afternoons, we will continue to review skills for upcoming tests. Please make sure your child is present on time each day, well-rested and ready to do his or her best!

I am thrilled that we have an entire month of school after PASS testing, because that leaves us plenty of time to continue learning! Next week, we will wrap up our studies of poetry and the Civil War. Following that, fourth grade will launch into an inter-disciplinary study of careers, money, and charitable giving. The kids won’t want to miss it!

We also have 3 exciting events coming up on our calendar: our trip to the State Museum on May 29, the trout release on May 31, and Biome Day on June 4. Keep an eye on your child’s take-home folder for more information about these trips. Permission and money ($4) for the State Museum trip are due this Friday, May 10. We will send home permission forms for the trout release, which will occur at Saluda Shoals Park, within the next day or two. Thank you for your support!

Every time I look at my calendar, I do a double-take. "No WAY is April 2013 already over!" I think to myself. And yet I've checked my phone, my computer, Ms. Gaillard's calendar, a couple of sundials ... they all say the same thing! This year is FLYING by. I'm starting to feel a little sad already, thinking about how I'll miss my kids, so I've decided we're going to stay extra-busy this week so no one has time to feel blue! Here's what we have in store:

Reading + Writing: We are exploring poetry and drama this week! As a class, we're learning about the components of a poem and how to interpret figurative language in poetry. We're also trying our hand at writing poems that go along with the ones we're studying. We're ALSO working individually on memorizing poems to recite. And we are ALSO, if you can believe it, performing short plays in our guided reading groups! We have a lot on our plates, but hopefully that means there's something for everyone to enjoy.

Word Study: We are exploring multiple-meaning words whose definitions change when you accent them differently (e.g., preSENT v. PREsent).

Social Studies: We are examining the role of abolitionists in ending slavery, as well as the causes, course, and consequences of the Civil War. 

It's going to be a weird but wonderful week! We have a Half Day on Tuesday so that we teachers can collaborate on lesson design, and we're traveling to City Roots on Wednesday. Students who made the Honor Roll will celebrate with hats and pizza on Thursday, and the Relay for Life Bake Sale is on Friday!

With all of that going on, it's easy to get distracted-- but we have some very important work to do this week, so we are going to stay focused! Thank you for all you do to help your child come to school ready to learn every day and to study and complete homework each night.

Here's what we're working on:

Reading and Writing: We will begin a brief study of analyzing and creating poetry this Thursday. I have gotten engrossed in a LOT of poems while planning this unit, and I can't wait to share them with the kids! It will also be exciting for them to see "Super-Writer's" tricks being put to use in real contexts.
Word Study: We are exploring one more round of Latin roots: VIS (see), AUD (hear), and DIC (speak/tell).

Social Studies: The students created some AWESOME review games to wrap up our study of Westward Expansion, and I know their hard work will pay off on Tuesday's test! After we return from City Roots, we will jump into our final unit of the year: the dreaded Civil War.

We have been hard at work since Spring Break, and I am excited about all the learning that is happening! We have had some especially deep and challenging discussions in Social Studies as we've investigated how westward expansion affected Native Americans and African-Americans. This week is sure to bring lots of growth with it, as well.

Welcome back, everyone! I hope everyone had a restful, enjoyable Spring Break. We all need that time to recharge and make the most of the lovely spring weather. I'm very grateful for the week off, but I'm also happy to be back with my sweet students! We only have ONE QUARTER of the year left-- it is going to fly by! Here are the adventures in store for us this week ...

Spring is here! Spring is here! … Okay, it doesn’t really feel like that outside, but, still – SPRING IS HERE! All of us in the H5 family are excited about warmer temperatures, fresh flowers, special events, and, of course, Spring Break. This is one of my favorite times of year, and I am so glad to share it with your children this year!

We have plenty of learning to do between now and Spring Break. I’m looking forward to exploring the following topics this week:

Reading and Social Studies. We are combining these two subjects for our Westward Expansion unit to maximize our learning! We’re reading several different texts, to learn why American pioneers moved west and how their movements affected the rest of the nation. As we read, we’re taking notes based on how the author structured the text—main idea/details, cause and effect, sequence, or compare/contrast. I’m especially excited about helping the students use primary documents to investigate the sad story of the Indian Removal Act, and using a computer simulation to find out what it was like to move west on the Oregon Trail!

Writing. We’re taking it somewhat easy this week to give the kids (and Ms. Matthews!) time to recover from PASS Writing. Each day, we are learning about and trying an element of figurative language used by our hero, Super-Writer! This will prepare us to read and write poetry after Spring Break.

Language. We’re venturing into the confusing, yet practical, world of pronouns!

Word Study. Most students are studying words with the Greek roots TELE, PHON, PHOTO, and GRAPH.