Happy Friday!

We have had an an amazing week!  Make sure to checkout Twitter or the sidebar on the blog for pictures from the week!

Art Walk & Museum Field Trip

What an amazing field trip that we had on Tuesday!  This field trip was planned by Mrs. Clark (RBE's art teacher) and paid for by CPS's Fine Art Department-we are so lucky that the arts are so supported by CPS!!  The morning started off at the Court House and then we traveled down 8th Street looking at the art work.  If you haven't had a chance to look at all the art work - take this walk with your child and have him/her be the travel guide!  We ended on MU campus and took in some iconic sites and art.  We ate lunch on the Quad and then we sketched what we saw.  Our last stop was the Museum of Art and Archaeology at MU North.

Runge Field Trip

Our next field trip is to Runge on May 10.  Funding for this field trip is through Missouri Department of Conservation grant that RBE writes each year.  We are preparing for this field trip by our final science unit on plants and animals.

There is permission slip coming home in your child's Friday Folder today.  You can click here to view the permission slip and timeline.  Please review, fill out and return this permission slip by Monday, April 29.  We are also going to have a new addition of enjoying Central Dairy ice cream at the end of the field trip!  A small ice cream cost $2.00 and we are asking for this money when you return your child's permission slip.

RBE Eat Out at Panera

Don't have a plan for dinner on Tuesday?  Let us help you out!  Come eat at Panera from 4:00-8:00 pm!  If you are eating at Panera make sure to show the flyer below.  You can also order online for rapid pickup, but make sure that you use the code "PRFUND".  Come and enjoy dinner at Panera!

Upcoming Events

• April 23: RBE Family Eat-Out Fundraiser at Panera
• May 10: Runge Field Trip (Permission Slip coming home today)
• Sack lunch needed
• We will get ice cream at the end of the field trip, so $2 will be needed. We will ask for this to be sent in with the permission slip that will come home in a few weeks.
• May 15: Field Day
• May 17: Family Lunch Bunch
• 11:00 - eat lunch with child in pavilion
• 11:30 - recess with child on playground
• 11:45 - writing celebration in the classroom
• May 17: Crazy Hair Day
• May 23: Variety Dhow
• May 27: No school- Memorial Day
• May 28: Last day of school
• Dismissal at 12:10

Lots of Learning!

Math

• We finished up our geometry unit yesterday and took our post-test.  We learned about 2-D shape characteristics (triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon and octagon) and also 3-D shapes.  Your child should know how to draw arrays and write a number model that represents the array.  This test will be coming home on Monday after your child has a chance to look over it.  Please review with your child, sign and return next week.
• Today, we started Unit 9.  This unit is a review of many math concepts that we have taught throughout the year and going more in depth with partitioning shapes.  Coming home in your child's Friday Folder is the Parent Letter and HomeLinks for this unit.  
• We had a conversation today about halves, thirds, and fourths.  We learned that when partitioning the parts must be equal.

Writing

• This week we went back to our Which is Better writing.  On Monday, we wrote our conclusion paragraph that included our opinion on which of the researched items we thought was better, we would want to meet or which would win in a battle.  Then, we came up with creative headings for all of our paragraphs, and decided which text feature is best for each paragraph.
• Next week, we will edit our Which is Better writing and then start publishing!!

Reading

• This week, we worked on making connections.  Connections are important to make as readers.  By making connections we are able to understand more of how the character feels or what the character is going through.  We can make text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections. 
• Next week, we will be discussing dramas.  Students will need to be able to identify the characters, setting, acts and scenes in plays.  We will also be discussing the dialogue in drama and what the purpose of it is.

Fundations

• This week, we learned about when to use "oi" versus "oy".  The students took an end of the unit Fundations test today and these will be coming home with your child next week.  We talked about the importance of using our resources (Monster book - spelling options & trick word section) to make sure that words are spelled correctly.
• Next week, we will be learning about the vowel teams that make up the long o sound (oa, oe & ow).  

Science

• Our last science unit of the year is organism needs.  We will be talking about what animals and plants need.  We will be learning about how animals help plants reproduce.  
• We started an experiment last week on putting marigolds in different conditions to see what happens to the plants.  Today, we observed the plants and discovered that water is more important to plants that are in the sun than plants that have no light.  We will continue to be observing our plants for 2 more weeks.
• We have been learning about food chains.  All food chains start with the sun because the sun gives energy to the producers (plants), a primary consumer eats the plants and then a secondary consumer eats the primary consumer.  We will also be learning about decomposers and scavengers next week.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and please let me know if you have any questions! :)