Science and our class play - This week we started listening to the music for our play, Vacation to Mars. We are just becoming familiar with the songs at this point, but soon students will have their own copy of the script. As you might guess, the content area is science, specifically, our solar system. Considering that we started our school year with the solar eclipse, followed by a total lunar eclipse in January, this seems like the perfect play for us. While the play itself is fiction, there are a lot of factual information tucked in. Today in class, students worked with partners to look at chapters 4 and 5 in our science textbook. They brought home their science textbook today with the assignment to read up on something that interests them in either chapter. Students are not required to read it all, nor are they being tested on this material. We talked about doing background research so that we better understand our subject matter.
Your child will be bringing home the script before we have cast the play. While it's natural for kids to start to think about parts they might like to play, please discourage them from settling on a specific part. I've found over my many years of doing class plays that it works best for us to learn all the songs first, then start reading through the play trying out many different parts. Later on (and definitely after spring break) students will have the opportunity to give me a list of parts they would like to be. In the end, everyone will be happy with their role, in large part because this is an ensemble piece, with every part having a time to shine in the spotlight.
A number of students continue to have difficulty tying their shoes. Please note that I've got a few shoe-tying videos on our links page.
Minimum Day tomorrow --- dismissal at 11:55am, and it's supposed to be raining. PLEASE pick up your child no later than 12noon. Thanks!