June 7, 2015

Thank you for joining us for our amazing Renaissance Feast on Friday evening. It was such incredible pleasure to have a chance to gather to Upper Elementary community together and revel in the pride and accomplishments of the children! I really appreciate the parents who volunteered to help too - thank you!

We have two weeks left of school! This coming week we will stick with our normal routines.  We will continue to have regular lessons in math, language, science and history. Students will also be going through their cubbies and beginning to build a portfolio of this past year.  The portfolio will contain samples of their best work and most memorable experiences from the school year.  The portfolios will go home the last week of school with everything else in their lockers.

This coming week, during class time, students will be creating their final Choice Book Projects as well. They will be invited to choose from among a wide array of projects and share the experience of creating their projects with their classmates. One of the most impressive aspects of this particular group of children is how excited they are to work together and how successful their collaborations have been. We have spent a lot of time this year focusing on communication skills and team-building, and I believe that the students are able to engage such valuable teamwork because of our work in Talk-About, class meetings, lit circles and beyond. When I consider the future selves of my students, I am always thinking about how we can help them to become clear, reliable, creative communicators. As we prepare for the End of the Year Party, I've been in touch with many of my former students and I believe that all of the time we spend on this hard-to-quantify aspect of human development is completely justified!

The final week, we will be sticking with our regular daily schedule while focusing on community wrap-up work, cleaning/organizing the classroom and bringing closure to this school year. It's important for children to participate in these closing activities and begin to transition to summer.  Everyone will be bringing extra clothes, boots, indoor shoes, and other supplies home by Wednesday, June 17th.  With all that out of the way, the students will be able to really relax and enjoy the final 2 days of school. 

On Thursday, June 18th will be our elementary “Spirit” day.  This will be a combined Crazy Hair Day, Mix-It Up Day and Game Day all-in-one! We will also be having an afternoon Talent Show! Upper Elementary students are making a presentation to the Morado students about this event and will be providing a flyer with details.   

Friday, June 19th we will have our field day!  We have planned several fun activities - including dance party, piñata, crafts and more - for the students to celebrate the last day of school.