May 9, 2014

Hello Turquesa Parents,

Thank you for all of the Teacher Appreciation love this week! The new staff lounge, the coffee cart, the amazing lunch, and the wonderful gifts that came in so many forms ... wonderful!  We have just launched our study of Ancient Rome! This will carry us through the rest of the school year, and lay the foundation for next year's history/cultural study (Fall of Rome through the Renaissance).

Ancient Rome started to come alive for us this week, especially when I introduced our new independent history project! The project is a collaborative partnership between two students that incorporates shared research, a division of tasks, shared organization and planning, both shared work and separate tasks, and a joint presentation. Key aspects involve:

• Research and information collecting about an aspect of ancient Rome that has proven to be lasting and innovative.
• Project topics include: Arches, Mosaics, Aqueducts, Sanitation, Roads & Bridges
• Research should be investigative, focusing on
  •  its importance to the ancient Romans,
  • how it was constructed,
  • what were its benefits,
  • why was it important to the Romans, 
  • how was it used
• A PowerPoint slide show presentation that teaches others about the topic
• A presentation to a gathering of students that includes the PowerPoint, with prepared and practiced remarks

In other news, if you haven't ordered your Scholastic Summer Express workbook yet, I strongly suggest that you do! These are great books for helping your child to store this year's learning in their long-term memory and practice what they know. Please email the office ([email protected]) to let Ms. Allison know that you are interested. We will be ordering the books on Wednesday, so don't wait!

We have a couple of important dates for this coming weeks that I hope you can get onto your calendar.

• Tuesday, May 20 - Lower El Passion Project Reception (Come and enjoy the hard work of our younger compatriots!) - 6-8 pm
• Thursday, May 22 - Field Trip to the Arboretum (We need drivers! Join us for science and a picnic in a wonderful spot.)
• Wednesday, May 28 - Last Library Trip
• Saturday, June 14 - End of the Year Party with a children's concert (10-12 at Rosa Parks Elementary, Redmond Ridge)
• Monday, June 16 - Upper El Ancient Roman Feast (This is a fun annual event for Turquesa - we spend all day cooking from ancient Roman recipes and present a complete dinner to our families!) - 6 - 8 pm

We did not do a FLASH lesson this week, and I am going to amend the original schedule. I'll let you know what to expect.

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Weekend to you!