Dear families,

It’s really time to start thinking about writing the word May on our calendar already? I can’t believe this. This year has flown past so quickly and I know the last 20 (I’m not really counting) or so days will be no different. It’s absolutely crazy.

But I suppose you want to know what the kids have been up to this month right? Well, let’s just say a lot of testing.  We started off the month with round two of the ITBS testing, which math, language and reading were the primary focuses . Then we had a lot of frustration with the MCA II test at the end of the month. The students had math and reading components to complete in all the grades. The 5^th graders have one component to go, which is science which will be next week on Tuesday-Thursday (technology dependent).The kids worked very hard on this and remained relatively focused, but even I could tell how much stress they were carrying these weeks. In fact by now they are ready for testing to terminate for the year.

During these weeks, the lessons that were taught were art lessons and stories that allowed the children’s brain to relax a bit. Some of the art lessons that focused on inking and watercolor, discussion about shape and using simple shapes to create a picture, contour drawings without looking at the paper,  perspective drawing showing a scene getting smaller and more blurry as it goes away from the viewer, and creating pop out shape using one focal point.

We were able to break up the testing weeks with a few field trips. Mr. Stolp and I went up to the Audubon Center of the North Woods with the 5^th and 6^th graders from our rooms and several of the students from the 5^th/6^th grade classroom. While there, we studied mammals that are native to MN and got to see an old beaver dam and an old beaver lodge. We also became ornithologists for a time as we had a class about birds, of which we got to use binoculars to help us spot a wide variety of birds at the Audubon Center and guide books to help us identify them. We also had a class on survival, which considering the pouring rain we were dealing with we were able to build a shelter, start a fire, and make ourselves some hot cocoa over the fire. Our final class at the Audubon Center involved some heights. Every student in our group attempted to rock climb, which was a new experience for many, but also brought some new challenge to those that had done it before. Just after we returned the Audubon Center came to our school to do an owl presentation.

While we were at the Audubon Center Mrs. Erickson and Mrs. Scharpe took the 4^th graders and those that stayed back on several walking fieldtrips in town. The students learned that they wouldn’t melt in the rain because it rained all the way to the movie theater, but they had the ponchos that saved them. They then got to spend the afternoon watching The Tooth Fairy. Later that week they enjoyed DEAR time at the public library and were complimented on how well behaved they were. This was followed by a tour of historic Hutchinson. From what I know of the kids at the Audubon Center and those that were back here, they all went home tired.

In addition to this we got some lessons in as well. The 4th graders had lessons on birds in biology, volcanoes and several lessons on erosion in culture, and opposite and adjacent angles in geometry. They have continued their study of the adjective and are amazed at how many different types of adjectives there are in our language. They are also working on perfecting their writing by making better paragraphs and being able to write several paragraphs about the same topic. We also have talked about some editing marks, to help the child understand how they can edit a peer’s work and they can understand what is meant from me on the writing they turn in.

The 5^th graders had lessons on the 5 kingdoms in biology and their characteristics, as well as some information with invertebrates.  The connection between the Timeline of Life and the Timeline of Humans using our materials has been a focus for them in culture. In geometry they have studied the families of triangles and quadrilaterals and have now moved into the polygon work. In grammar, this group has been furthering their knowledge of the verb and a genre study of myths has been in the works.

The 6^th graders finished a unit on birds and have started focusing more on mammals in biology. In culture they have been looking at the abstract properties of our earth including how the earth is positioned in relation to the sun in different seasons, and lines of latitude and longitude and being able to use coordinates on the globe. In geometry and arithmetic, these students have focused on a variety of work using the fraction pieces and getting beyond the box. I’ve heard many aha’s from this group regarding this. In grammar, the students have been connecting their logical analysis work to the work with the grammar symbols and they are seeing many correlations. They’ve also been writing descriptive paragraphs using their sense of smell, taste, and touch. They have also been working on a legacy gift and doing some practicing for the 6^th grade celebration that will be their final tribute to NDMA, but of course both these take time, so we started the efforts early on.

For the other groups in math the most exciting news is that every 4^th grade child has shown me they can do large multiplication problems and know most of their basic multiplication facts and have moved onto their division research. This was exciting for them. Once they have shown me their division research, they go into dividing larger numbers using the stamp game and then the test tube division materials. I have students at a variety of points along that spectrum and I also have a group that has just about been able to make the jump to complete abstraction on long division, which took some time. This particular group was excited because they got to start their work with multiples last week. They know there is a cool material they will be getting to before the school year ends.