Good news! Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow which means an early spring! Although the groundhog doesn’t have the best track record – he was correct only 40% of the time in the past decade – I’m still pinning my hopes on him. We could certainly use an early spring after the crazy temperatures we’ve had this past week.
Making up for the days missed last week could mean a busier week this week. In ELA, we will finish our Civil Rights unit while we continue to work on the important skill of responding to reading using text evidence. Reading and responses to “Jackie Robinson: Justice at Last,” will be assigned on Tuesday and due by the end of the week. All students took a spelling inventory last Tuesday and some will be moving into a new spelling group after this week. For now, however, spelling tests will continue on Tuesday for the Yellow Submarine, Banana Smores, Australian Hawks, Squishy Bananas, and Disney groups.
In social studies, we will continue with our group presentations on the National Parks. Then we will move on to United States geography. Many of us – myself included – are very excited for this upcoming unit!
Beginning on Monday, our homeroom will look a little different. Our Instructional Assistant, Mrs. Baynes, has decided to pursue another path in the field of education and will no longer be at PCCS. We thank her for all she brought to our classroom, and we wish her the best in her new venture. We are in the process of looking for a new Instructional Assistant, and I will share any additional information with you as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, please reach out with any questions or concerns you may have. I will do everything I can to make this transition as easy as possible for our class
Last Friday we enjoyed a presentation from the Benkadi Project. As you may already know, PCCS is an active supporter of this organization, and last year we raised money to purchase water filters for the people of Guinea, West Africa. During the presentation we learned more about these water filters, as well as the life and culture of West Africa. Some students even had an opportunity to make some music! Please see the pictures attached below.
And finally, a quick note about Valentine’s Day. Although there will still be love in our hearts on February 14th, we do not pass out individual Valentine cards in the Carson building, nor will we have a Valentine’s Day party. Instead, we usually plan a fun Spring Break party to be held the Friday before Spring Break, which is March 22nd this year. If your child would still like to celebrate Valentine’s Day with classmates, we encourage anyone interested to make a Valentine’s card for the class that will be displayed in the room. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.