Can you believe there are 3 weeks left? I can’t. I think the kids are feeling a little “frisky,” if you know what I mean. Lots of reminders of too much talking, loud talking, and not enough listening and working are having to be given. Please have a  discussion with them about how we still have several days of school left and we don’t want these last few weeks to be ones filled with discipline problems. Always be a CHAMP even when it’s difficult because we are so excited about summer.

Speaking of CHAMPs; our CHAMPs Assembly is this Friday at 8:00 in the Elementary Cafeteria. All parents are invited. We will be doing a short skit on Confidence.

This week, reading assessments will continue and we will continue fractions in math. We concluded our author/book study of Doreen Cronin and are now writing our own book about her characters. Our next author to study is Mem Fox. We will be getting new spelling words this Tuesday and have our last spelling test this Friday. Be sure and study the words at home while we study them at school.

We will be having Group Class Pictures tomorrow, Tuesday, May 10th. The deadline to pay is the 13th. I hope you all have a great week!

Mrs. Benson

It’s May and Mother’s Day is coming up. Lots of our writings have been focused around honoring our awesome mothers and we will continue this week with that as our focus in writing. We will also have our spelling test this week on Wednesday. Our end of the year testing will be in the next two weeks in reading. In math this week we will be exploring fractions (1/2, 1/3, and 1/4).

Thanks to all of you that came to the Author’s Tea or Author’s Punch. Ha! The children really enjoyed it and they all worked so hard to get their published work ready for reading. Also, thank you to those who made those students feel special whose parents could not attend. A couple of upcoming events:

May 13  Our Class CHAMPs Assembly

May 27 Last Day of School with Early Release

Have a great week!

Mrs. Benson

Thanks to all who helped put on a super Easter party. The kids had a great time and the weather was perfect. I hope you all had a blessed Easter with family and/or friends. I know I did. Now back to class!

This week we will continue our reading groups working on comprehension and/or fluency to help with meaning and understanding of what is read. Because of a short week last week and some things that needed to be caught up on, our author/book study of Doreen Cronin will begin this week. We will be writing summaries and analyzing characters for better understanding. We are also practicing our reading of our chosen Author’s Tea book. Remember this is Friday at 11:30 in our classroom. We are also writing Shape Poems this week about our moms. In math, we are continuing our study of place value up to 100 and 2 digit addition and subtraction.

Our CHAMPs assembly will be Friday, May 13th in the cafeteria at 8:00. I am in need of 5 train engineer hats. If you have one or more or have access to one please send it. Also, TAKS testing is again this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We will have long days without our regular breaks, so encourage your child to be a CHAMP during this time to help our friends upstairs.

Have a great week,

Mrs. Benson

Easter is upon us and what wonderful weather we have been having to celebrate this wonderful time of year! I hope this weather holds up for us to have a super Easter Party this Thursday. Remember Thursday is not an early release day but we do suspect many students will be leaving early following the party. Just make sure you sign your child out if you check your child out early. Our party will be at 11:30 at the Pavillion. Thanks to Mrs. Ormes for organizing our parties this year and making them such a great success! Remember, NO school on Friday.

A BIG congratulations to our class for selling the most chocolate bunnies! Our class sold $1935 total! Mrs. Koonce has promised us a reward coming up. Another big WOOHOO! to Morgan Benge for selling the 2nd most of the primary school, and to Connor McClurg for selling 2nd most for our class. Good job!

This past week in math we completed our work on 2-3 dimensional shapes and began adding 2 digit numbers (with no regrouping of course). This next week we will continue adding and begin subtracting 2 digit numbers., all the while analyzing place value. We are beginning a book/author study of Doreen Cronin and will be using this in our writing. Our word work will be cycling back to adjectives, verbs, and synonyms and how to use these to make our writing more exciting. There will be no new spelling words this week but there will be a spelling test/dictation on Tuesday.  In reading we are working in our Guided Reading groups and analyzing our books for better comprehension.

Our Author’s Tea is coming up on April 29th at 11:30. You will receive an invitation this week. Of course we want all who can attend to come and enjoy the students’ writings. Each student will read a book he/she has written sometime this year and then they will serve our guests tea and cookies. The program is in our classroom and does not last long.

Thanks for everything you do!

Mrs. Benson

I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break. We got off to a great start last week with our attendance being back to normal. I’m hoping the “Great Sickness” has disappeared and we are all healthy and well.

With our “Texas Our Texas” Readers Theater and Texas history unit concluding before spring break, we have moved onto a new science unit about Pond Life and the lifecycle of the frog.  We will be observing, reading, and learning about this for the next couple weeks. In reading, last week and the coming weeks, we have focused on meaning and comprehension of what we read. This includes, character analysis, problem and solution, main idea, and analyzing details through true & false, fill in the blank, and multiple choice. Last week and the upcoming week in math, we are counting coins; pennies, nickels, dimes and some quarters in collections. This is a VERY hard concept for the students and should be practiced at home regularly. The students will also receive 5 new spelling words again this week.

Some upcoming dates for you are as follows:

April 6 Kindergarten Round-Up     April 21 Easter Party @ 11:30     April 29  Author’s Tea @ 11:30

You will receive more information on these as time gets closer. Thanks for everything and get in touch with me if you need me.

Mrs. Benson

Well, it finally hit me! I got that ugly stomach virus that all the kids have had the last few weeks. I missed most of Friday at school, but I’m sure the kids did fine with their sub. We have practiced on our program the last couple weeks and only have a few days left of practice before the big show. Be sure and have your child practice his/her reading loudly and slowly and with EXPRESSION! The students have worked really hard. I hope to see all of the parents and family there for the program; Thursday evening at 6:00 in the elementary cafeteria. The students will need to be there by 5:45 dressed in their cowboy/cowgirl attire or red, white, or blue. A note will be coming home with graded papers tomorrow with more detail.

In math this week, we will spiral back around to addition/subtraction and their relationship with fact families. In our reading we will continue to read and study Texas history and some fun Texas selections and relate these things we have learned about Texas in our writing.There will be no new spelling words this week. Look for a new list when we return from Spring Break.

Spring Break is the following week. I hope everyone enjoys their break with family. Come back to school ready to start back up with new material. See you Thursday!

Mrs. Benson

We are finally getting “almost” everyone back in class. I hope everyone who is still sick will be back on Monday and we’ll will have 100% perfect attendance.

This past week and this coming week we will continue to work on our “Texas Our Texas” readers’ theater. Please be sure and practice reading with your child to ensure that they can read it fluently and with expression. Again, this program will be March 10 at 6:00.

After completing our chapter on measurement, FINALLY; this week in math we will dive into the next chapter with adding and subtracting doubles. Finding patterns in our math is key to understanding mathematical concepts and applying them. In social studies, of course, we will be studying symbols of Texas and Texas history. We will also use what we are learning about Texas in our writing.

Thanks a lot for working with your child on their reading selection!

Mrs. Benson

Looks like we will be celebrating President’s Day together! Make sure everyone is in school, tomorrow, February 21st. This is our make-up day from the snow day we had a couple weeks ago. I hope that all of those who have been sick are well and back in school.

This week we will continue our study of presidents, past and present. The students have found them very interesting. In math, we are still exploring measurement. This week we will measure area and have our chapter test including all types of measurement.

Beginning this week during our reading time, the students will be given their parts for our Texas Our Texas Readers’ Theater. We will be working on this for the next couple weeks. Their lines will be sent home to practice as well. It does not have to be memorized; they will be reading their parts. We do want them to practice; however, to know it well with expression. Our readers’ theater will be March 10th at 6:30 in our cafeteria. You will get more information later on all the details.

Make sure everyone continues to read every day!

Mrs. Benson

Tomorrow we will celebrate Valentine’s Day at 11:30 in our classroom. I’m sure it will be a great party thanks to all of those who helped. Another important event coming up is our parent/teacher conferences. These will be on Tuesday. School will let out at 11:00 and conferences will begin soon after. Be sure and check the time that you have been scheduled.

Guided reading continues this week with small groups. Watch for the blue folder to come home with their reading book. No new spelling words again this week. Again, due to so much illness the last couple weeks we are still catching up on some of our writing activities. We begin studying presidents this week in honor of President’s Day, which we are NOT out of school any longer on this day. School is in session on the 21st due to snow. We are moving into measurement of capacity and weight this week in math and will be reviewing measurement of length.

Remember our CHAMPs assemblies are always on Fridays so make sure your child is not tardy or they will miss the assembly. Also there will be TAKS practice testing this week. We will have a couple days of silent lunch so that we can help our Intermediate friends. If you come to eat with your child be sure and honor this request. Sometimes these aren’t the best days to eat with a student. Just please be aware. Also, remember lunch will be early on Tuesday.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mrs. Benson