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Mrs. Orr's Classroom News March 15, 2001 Dear Moms and Dads, On Monday I told the children that it would be nice to have a five day week. I guess I should not have said anything! However, I did use part of the day to write an agricultural grant to support our garden. Keep your fingers crossed that we receive the grant. It involves working with a local farmer as a partner in our garden adventure. Barb and Kendall Maynard have agreed to be our partner. When we arrived back at school last week from vacation, we were astonished to see how tall our tomato plants have become. I think the growth is going into the height rather than the fruit. We have seen flowers since February 8th on some of the plants. The children have completed their individual books about a character named Monster. We will share them with each other and our learning partners next Tuesday. The books will arrive home next week. They are treasures! Please be sure to check your child's back pack for his/her report card tomorrow. I look forward to seeing most of you next week for our parent/teacher conference. We have started the extension of our famous American unit. We generated a list of what we think we know about famous Americans and what we would like to find out about them. I am going to read a book about Harriet Tubman to the children next week. I will read a few biographies to the whole group followed by their independent choice of a famous American to study in a few weeks. Each child will create an oral presentation and prepare a project to show special characteristics or accomplishments of the famous person. This is similar to the presentation the children did about a Native American tribe. I am rereading each of the Red Clover Books to the children to refresh their memories about the story events in preparation for the voting which will take place during April. Each child will get a chance to "score" each book using a rubric I developed. He/she will score the story and the illustrations. The collections of reviews and scoring rubrics will be compiled into a book that will arrive home for your enjoyment and information. Here are some questions to ask your child this week: 1) What flower in the classroom blossomed again?(amaryllis) 2) What is happening the the story called The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks? 3) How tall are some of the tomato plants? 4) What book are you reading in your literature group circle? 5) What is your favorite Red Clover Book? Why is it your favorite? 6) Who is sitting at your table with you this month? 7) What did you do in studio art today? Enjoy your sharing time with your child. I am certainly enjoying the smiles and accomplishments your children are making in school! This is a great time of year to sit down with the children and show them the level of work they were doing in September compared to now! I look forward to sharing many pieces of your child's work with you next week. Sincerely, Kathi