An Amazing Week!

 Last week our 4th and 5th graders completed the Math RICAS testing....PHEW!! They worked hard, showing great effort and never gave up.  We are so proud of all the effort they put into this. 

The students took their time and focused on getting to the finish line.

Wax Museum in Progress for the 4th Graders

 

 

 

 The 4th graders are getting ready for their wax museum.  There is still much to do, but they are up  to the challenge.  Poster boards are being created, speeches are being memorized and they are writing up biographies of famous Rhode Islanders.  They are really doing a nice job.  I am so excited to see they come to life on May 10th.

We are also continuing with our Poetry unit.  The children are creating all sorts of poems and will be compiling a poetry book.  We will also be holding a Poetry Slam, where the children will choose one of the poems that they wrote and share it out to their classmates.

On Friday we said good-bye to our student teacher, Ms. Lopez.  She spent her last semester with us in preparation of becoming an educator.  We wish her all the best in her endeavor.  The children wanted to do something special for her and they performed some special talents on Friday afternoon.

 

Our 5th Grade Stars

On Thursday night the 5th graders came to life in our Annual Wax Museum.  They put on quite an event and made us all so proud.  The teachers and families were blown away by the spectacular presentations; speeches, and costumes.  Many compliments were given and we are all  so proud of them.

 We had  Celebrities, like Ellen Degeneres and Diana Ross. We also had members of  the Royal family like Kate Middleton and Princess Diana.

Audrey Hepburn was in our presence along with many sports figures like, the legendary Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, Christiano Rinaldo and David Beckham.

Other sports figures included, David Ortiz, Drew Brees, Mia Hamm and Robert Gronkowski.  Our list continues with Carrie Fisher and Nikki Haley.  The actual Nikki Haley tweeted out on her  twitter account.  We were so proud.

That night also consisted of historians such as Anne Frank and Susan B. Anthony.   JK. Rowling was also among the famous people.  Grace Kelly elegantly spoke to us as well as, Jacqueline Kennedy.  The sports figures continued with Serena Williams and JJ Watt.

 There were many presidential  figures among us.  George Bush and John F. Kennedy to mention a few.  The G.O.A.T ( Tom Brady), Lisa Leslie, Derek Jeter, Lebron James, Simone Biles and Michelle Kwan were all part of the night.

 Our presidential figures continued with Barack and Michelle Obama to Wow us.  Gabby Douglas and Steph Curry were among the great figures.  Martin Luther King Jr. impressed us with his speech and author Stephen King made an appearance.

 The night also included Shirley Temple, Meghan Markle and Shawn Johnson.  Amelia Earhardt flew in along with hockey great Wayne Gretsky.  Finally, our current leader made a debut at the Stephen Olney School Wax Museum.  What a night!!  Truly a great one.  The students shined brightly!!

 

Spring Break

Last week was a packed week with so many activities and testing continued.  The 4th graders finished up the ELA session of RICAS.  They did a fantastic job with taking their time, planning out their writing and giving it their all!  

 

We held a special spirit week to benefit Pennies for Patients.  Some of the days included: Sports Day, Twinning Day, Superhero Day and Class Color Day.  The children enjoyed the week.  Thank you to all the students and parents who donated.

 April is Poetry Month and we have begun our Poetry Unit.  It all began with Our Garden of Poems.  Each day we are discussing a new type of poem and the children get a chance to create their own.

Our bulletin board is coming along very nicely.  So far the children have created Haiku and Acrostic poems. 

 

Everyday, no matter what is going on in the classroom, we always make time to read aloud.  Last week we had the children read a book to the class.  Each book we read gets added to our #bookaday display.  It is coming along nicely and hope to have 180 up by the end of the school year.  Many of the books open up for  some great discussions about life lessons and activities to work on.  The exposure to reading is so beneficial at any age.  This is one of my favorite parts of the day.

The children have begun work on their Wax Museum.  We watched various videos about what to include on the poster board.  They have worked on speeches as well, and the research is now being turned into a report.  Lots of things are happening in the 4th grade and the year is flying by.

 

Fifth Grade News

Our 5th graders are also continuing their work on the Live Wax Museum.  The night  is rapidly approaching,  where they will transform into the person they researched.  They have been working hard and preparing to show off all their hard work.  We will be practicing after we get back from Spring Break.  

Many of our 5th graders have also passed many of the focus areas in Summit.  This is an accomplishment they should be very proud of.  They are working hard and show us that they are ready for middle school next year.

I hope that everyone enjoys their vacation week and gets ready to end the year with a bang!!! It's hard to believe that the school year is coming to a close.  The children have been doing a fantastic job and deserve the break.  When we return next week, there will be practice runs for the Wax Museum and more of the RICAS testing.  Enjoy the week off boys and girls, you all deserve it!!!

Blooming Flowers are all around

This week, 4th and 5th graders, began RICAS testing.  It seemed as if they were using the various testing strategies that were taught, took their time, answered questions and overall worked productively.  We are so proud of them. 

 I read The Anti-Test Anxiety Society to my 4th graders.   We discussed how they should take their time, and not stress. They seemed to have come in and take the assessment without too much nervousness and worry.  They took session 1 of the ELA section and will take session 2 on Tuesday.

                                                    Practice! Practice! Practice!           

 

Monday was spent doing more review and we even scored some writing samples.  The students seemed prepared and ready to tackle it on Friday.  We are using R.A.C.E. to respond to text.  

 

Here the students are taking brain breaks and doing some stretching exercises.  They practiced some yoga moves and got a little break from sitting for a long period of time. 

Thursday was a fun day.  We took a tour of the RI State House.  It was a great day and the children were able to participate in a mock trial.  The students were able to give reasons why a particular bill should or should not pass.  They enjoyed speaking into the microphone and being acknowledged. 

 

Representative Arthur Corvese allowed us to go into the House of Representatives so that the children could participate, he even provided us with pizza afterwards.  The children seemed to have enjoyed it and learned more about their state.

Friday, was the icing on the cake.  The Faculty and Patriot Pals did an awesome job playing basketball.  All the proceeds went to She's the First.  A special thank you goes out to Special Olympics for sponsoring this great event.  Our teachers did a fantastic job in keeping up with the students.  In the end the students won the game and everyone had a blast!!!

More testing going on this upcoming week.  It is also Spirit Week to benefit Pennies for Patients.  With all of this going on, learning is still at the heart of each day.  The children have made such progress and continue to make us proud. 

We at SOS are blossoming into beautiful flowers!!