Reminder:  The Little Lincoln gradebook will be unavailable until July 7th while our technicians transfer everything to the BrainHoney system.  When you log onto the website, you will be redirected to a training video that will help you navigate the new site.  Thanks for your patience during this time!
 
Hooray, you've made it to summer vacation!  Summer is an awesome time to keep reading because there are so many fun places you can read.  My favorite is in a hammock in my backyard with a nice, cool glass of lemonade.  Mmmmm!

Here is a summer reading challenge for you.  Do you think you can read in 100 different ways?
summer-reading-challenge-read-100-books-checklist1.pdf
File Size: 33 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Make your own ice cream!

Beat the heat and have some fun while making ice cream in a bag!  

Ingredients and Materials:
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  • ice cubes
  • 6 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 sandwich sized plastic resealable bags
  • 2 gallon sized plastic resealable bags 


Directions:
  1. Place the cream, vanilla, and sugar in one of the sandwich bags, pressing out as much air as possible while sealing.  Put this bag inside the other sandwich bag in case of leaks.
  2. Fill a gallon sized bag halfway with ice cubes and mix in the salt.
  3. Place the sandwich bag in the middle of the ice and seal the gallon size bag.  Double up the bag in case of leaks.
  4. Shake the bag for 5-10 minutes.  Have fun with it!  Play catch, Hot Potato, or any other throwing game.  When time is up, you'll have a delicious treat!
 
As summer vacation looms, I'm sure both you and your children are ready to be done with school, already!  (I admit, I am, too!  We all need a break.)  

But did you know that kids who don't read during the summer can slide backwards in their reading skills?  Research shows a definitive difference between students who read during the summer and students who don't.  (see image below)
Of course there are many places you can buy or borrow books, but did you know that there are many FREE summer reading programs where kids can actually earn prizes and more free books?  Here are some awesome ones:
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Barnes & Noble Bookstore:  Earn a free book!

Here Is How:

Step 1:  Read any 8 books and record them in the Reading Journal 
(PDF)
.

Step 2:  Bring the completed Reading Journal to your local B&N store.

Step 3:  Choose a FREE BOOK from our selection on the Reading Journal list at the store... Enjoy reading!

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Half Price Books:  Earn a $5 gift card!

  1. Read for at least 15 minutes each day in the months of June and July. (Grown-ups may read aloud to kids who are still learning.)
  2. Add up your minutes and have your parent or guardian initial each week.
  3. Once you’ve read 300 minutes, turn in your completed log to earn HPB Bookworm Bucks for each month.
  4. We’ll award one top reader per age group each month with a TOP READER prize - a $20 HPB Gift Card!*

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Pizza Hut's Book-It! Summer Reading Challenge:  Earn free prizes!

Children must read 5 books to enter to win a prize.  You can submit the form online or download it and mail it in.

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Pottery Barn Kids Summer Reading Challenge:  Earn a free book!

Read 8 books from their recommended reading list by July 31st and earn a free book!  Select Pottery Barn Kids stores also have story time on Tuesday mornings (see your local store for details).

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Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge:  earn prizes!

Log your reading minutes into your online dashboard.  Answer challenge questions and earn rewards!

(This free Scholastic program has a TON of free resources for parents, kids, and teachers!  I highly recommend you check it out.)

And of course, check your local library to see if they offer a summer reading program!  Our Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh has an awesome program where you can earn free books for reading throughout the summer.  (If you live in the area, make sure to stop by the main branch in Oakland on June 8th for their Summer Reading Extravaganza kick-off party!)

Important Dates & Announcements

From July through August, our school will be closed on Fridays.

July 1-4:  School Closed (Independence Day)

August 26, 27:  Meet the Teacher Day (Virtual Classroom)

September 1:  School Closed (Labor Day)

September 2:  First Day of School

We will be changing from Gradebook to BrainHoney on June 22nd.  All grades will be saved, but the actual assignment pages will be deleted.  If you would like to save anything, you must either print out the assignments or save an electronic copy.
 
We recently learned a little bit about the planets and our solar system, and I thought I'd round up a few fun activities for you to try.  
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NASA has a fun website where you can type in your weight and age here on Earth, and then it will calculate how much you would weigh and how old you would be on other planets.  How cool is that?  I wonder which planet we would weigh the most on?

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Create your own planet using shaving cream and paint!

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Download a free copy of this fun lift-the-flap book to help you remember the order of the planets!  

To download, you must be a member of Teachers Pay Teachers.  It is completely free to join!

 
I simply cannot believe that it is already May!  In one short month, our little sweethearts will be ready for third grade.  They are growing up so quickly!

This month's Parents' Corner topic is Ideas for Incorporating Art & Music.  I am a firm believer that the arts are invaluable to cultural education and also improve math and reading learning abilities.  I hope you find some useful information in this month's links!
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This website offers a list to many resources to help kids learn and retain musical elements.

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KinderArt® has Free Art and Craft Lesson Plans and Activities for All Ages - We Make Teaching Art Easier. It has Art lessons by discipline, by age and grade, and special days and seasonal themes. 

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Musical activities, tips, and resources will help you develop your child’s musical talents.

Wrapping Up the School Year

Important Dates:

May 26, 2014:  Memorial Day (School Closed)
June 6, 2014:  Last Day of School


We will be moving all of our online courses and gradebooks to BrainHoney at the end of June.  Please make sure you submit all assignments before then!  Also, if there is anything in your gradebook that you would like to save, you will have to either print it out or save it as an electronic document prior to the end of June.
 

Exploring Science & Social Studies

With such a focus on math and reading, do you find yourself sometimes shoving science and social studies to the side?  I know it can be difficult to fit everything in, but kids LOVE science and social studies!  Here are a couple of websites you can use to let them explore topics from the curriculum or of their own choosing.
Interactive Sites for Education
This website is extremely useful for browsing games and resources in any subject.  It has sections for many subtopics in each subject with preview pictures and links so that you can find just what you are looking for.

BrainPop
BrainPop and BrainPop Jr. are fantastic websites for learning about multiple subjects.  Each skill has an engaging video explaining the concept, accompanied by games, activities, quizzes, jokes, and even lesson plans.

**You cannot log into BrainPop directly.  You must access it via NetTrekker, our educational search engine.  Here are the directions:
  1. Go to http://school.nettrekker.com.
  2. Enter your PA Cyber username and password.
  3. Click on the "Featured" Tab.
  4. Choose BrainPop Jr. (for lower elementary grades).
  5. A list of BrainPop links will come up.  You can refine your search using the topics in the left-hand column.
  6. Once you click on a BrainPop link and are in BrainPop, you can navigate or search anywhere within BrainPop.  (You do not have to keep going back to NetTrekker for every search.)

Important April Dates

April 18 - 21:  SCHOOL CLOSED for Spring Break
 

Earth Day

Spring has finally sprung!  I hope you all get the chance to enjoy some nicer weather this week.  I would have loved to go the Pirates' home opener today.  Were any of you lucky enough to go?

In case you didn't know, Earth Day is coming up on April 22nd.  Of course, we should take care of our planet every day, not just on Earth Day, but this is a great opportunity to really focus on being good environmental stewards.  Here are some fun activities you can try:

Recycle Roundup Game

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Clean up the park and brush up on your recycling skills by sorting trash in this National Geographic game.

Recycled Crayons

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Instead of throwing away those old nubs of crayons, melt them down to make new, multi-colored crayons!

Get the directions HERE.

Vegetable Flowers With Homemade Ranch Dip

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Use your favorite veggies to create an Earth Day masterpiece!  
Get the recipe HERE.

Earth Day Books

These books come from PBS Parents' list of Green Reads.
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The Lorax 

by Dr. Seuss

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The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest

by Lynne Cherry

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I Can Save the Earth!: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

by Allison Inches

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The Curious Garden

by Peter Brown

And a song!

 

Read Across America!

Every year, we have a Read Across America Day, and it is usually on Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Did you know that Dr. Seuss has a super fun website called Seussville?  You can find lots of interesting games, activities, and information about Dr. Seuss and the books he wrote.  Check it out!
 

Fun Ways to Practice Reading Skills

This month, we are looking at some fun ways to practice reading skills.  This is especially appropriate given that March 3rd is Read Across America Day!  (You may know that this day is always on Dr. Seuss's birthday, but since that falls on a Sunday this year, most schools are celebrating on Monday.)
Mrs. Bainbridge's Class Website has a fantastic list of fun reading games!  They are categorized by phonemic awareness, alphabetic principles, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
One of my absolute favorite reading websites, Reading Rockets, has a list of 103 fun things to do before/during/after reading.  It includes things like drawing a map of the book's setting and imagining how the story would be different if the main character had been the opposite gender.
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If you are looking for activities for Read Across America Day, the National Educator Association's website has a plethora of free resources.  (I particularly like the 2014 Resource Calendar.)

RAMP

We only have two RAMP sessions left for the year!  Both are at our usual 3pm time on Mondays.

Monday, March 3:  multiplication

Monday, March 10:  poetry

Click HERE to join my RAMP session.

Important Dates

March 17-19:  Math and Reading PSSA testing for all students in grades 3-8

March 31:  Writing PSSA testing for all students in grades 5 and 8

March 31:  End of the 3rd Quarter (You should be finishing up your Spring Box by now)
 
This month's Spirit Day was Superhero Day!  We had a great time dressing up, making masks, and writing and discussing what kind of superpowers we wish we had.  I have such a bunch of creative kids!  They came to the consensus that invisibility and x-ray vision were the best superpowers (mostly because they like to be sneaky, haha).

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the kids' masks are super sparkly.  It is a rare occasion in my class when they get to use glitter, so they took full advantage!

You can download blank mask templates HERE to make your own superhero mask.

Talking about superheroes is a great opportunity to review onomatopoeia (as you can tell from my costume).  There is a fun drawing activity you can download for free from Teachers Pay Teachers HERE.  (Remember, you have to sign up for a free account to be able to download things on the TPT website.)

    If you were a superhero....