Whats Up? *Rules/Respect *Rights/Responsibilities *Listening/Following Directions

1. Our Class NewsNo.29 4/9-4/13 Spelling Words cowboy horses corral winter always cactus garden tender fifteen basket welcome lasso market until Monday BONUS WORDS: ranchers profit market stray tending Whats Up? *Rules/Respect *Rights/Responsibilities *Listening/Following Directions *Procedures/Routines *Problem Solving Skills *Manners/Courtesy *Cursive *Prefixes/Suffixes *Main idea/supporting details *Cause/Effect *Drawing conclusions *Adjectives *Sequencing/time order clues *Fact/Opinion *Writing summaries *Writing/Organizing descriptive paragraphs *Writing/organizing informational paragraphs *Multiplication *Division *Elapsed Time *Counting Money *Discrete Math/Number combinations *Logical problem solving/critical thinking *Geography/mapping skills *Rocks/Fossils and.... *AIMS Preparation! Vocabulary Words corral ranchers bandana stray tending profit What’s coming! 4/9-13…..BOGO Book Fair, Media Center 7:30am-3:00pm 4/10….PTO Chili’s Night PTO Meeting, 5:390m 4/13….Jamba Juice; Spirit Day (mix and match shoe day) 4/16-20…AIMS TESTING WEEK, all week 4/17…..PTO Panda’s Night 4/19…..Midterm of 4th quarter 4/20…..AIMS Celebration 4/23…..Midterms come home today ! Keep Reading!

2. A note from me… We had a great trip last Thursday to the MAC farm down in Maricopa. A big thanks once again to our chaperones Ms. Dobyns, Mr. Frost, and Mr. Jacobs for coming with us. We learned about plants, Arizona farming, water conservation, and the process vegetables go through from field to store. The highlight of the trip for most of our students was the tractor ride out into the fields to harvest radishes. It was a great opportunity for our little “city slickers!” You should have heard the “ooohs and aahhs” as they dug radishes from the ground and proudly showed them off. Some of your children are quite the little entrepreneurs. Several of them were telling me on the bus they were going to sell them and use their proceeds to buy new Wi games. They were a little disappointed though when they asked me how much they could get for each radish, and some mental math quickly told them they would not quite make the amount needed for the desired game. A great little econ lesson right before their eyes.  The book fair is underway and runs throughout the week in the Media Center. This is always a great opportunity to stock up on books for your home library as well as summer reading that is age-appropriate and at your child’s reading level. You can’t beat the price…..buy one, get one FREE! Your participation in our school book fair also helps provide much needed books for the Falcon Hill Media Center. Stop by this week and see what is on the shelves! AIMS testing begins next week. This is where your child has the opportunity to “show what they know.” This week we will be engaged in some final review of material as well as good testing strategies. How can you help? Students who struggle the most on testing days are the ones who didn’t get enough sleep or have a good, nutritious breakfast. You can encourage good study habits and challenge critical thinking skills with your child all the time, but particularly this week and next. Listen to them read aloud and ask them questions about the selection. Have them discuss ideas with you and voice opinions to stimulate their thought process.If your child struggles in a particular area, provide some extra practice to reinforce the skill, but avoid drilling them in areas there they excel. Take advantage of the online practice tests to do together with your child, and review the practice material they will be doing for homework this week. The very best test takers are confident, committed, and calm. Your positive attitude about the experience will go a long way in transferring over to your child. Practice is the mystery word this week. Once again, the link to AIMS practice tests are on our school website: http://www.mpsaz.org/falconhill From there you can click on the link for AIMS practice tests. Dr. Taylor David will be visiting our class this week to explain to the students the importance of doing their very best on these tests. If a student is found to be goofing off, wasting time, zipping through the material without careful attention, not showing work on mathematical sections, not thoroughly checking their work, etc., the parent will receive a phone call that day to inform them of the situation. This is a serious matter and should be treated as such for your child to exhibit their very best. Information will be coming home this week about snacks for testing week and good testing strategies. Studies have shown that chewing mint flavored gum can help students thinking skills, so I will be providing gum for students who return the permission slip, indicating your approval. We want to make this experience a positive one, so we do some extra special things during the week! “Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. It just means you should try harder.”~~~Anonymous