Hi there. Hope you had a long, restful weekend.

We started a new unit today at CC meeting. It is called "Finish Up Strong!" Can you guess why???? Yep, we have 23 days of school left and I need the kids to be giving me their BEST for all 23! (22 now). This is the toughest part of the year, but also the most fun. We have so many fun activities planned before we say goodbye. Kids that fail to finish up strong, will be sad, sad, sadly watching from the sidelines. If you thought my bar was raised high before, it just got a little higher, especially in behaviors. This group can do it though!!!! :0)

Our MT state reports are coming along. We worked on them again today. Kids are getting pretty good at googling and siting their sites on a bibliography. They also now understand why they need to do that. :0) Reports are due on Friday. If kids are behind, they are welcome to come in the morning any day except Tuesday to get caught up. They may also work/research at home. They may not bring the packet home, but can write down the topics of research and then fill in their findings at school.

I passed back the states and capital's test today. All but three passed. Those that did not, may retest on this Friday. They needed a 70% to pass. Great job kiddos!!!!!! Even I only got a 93% Those darn NE states are too little and challenging. :0)

I also passed out Midterms today. Grades look strong for 4th quarter thus far. However, if your child has a missing assignment it dropped their grade a lot. They still have time to turn it in before report cards. Please sign the midterm slot in the planner to tell me you saw it tonight. Kids will earn $100.

Sitton tests need to continue to be a two day max thing. I am sad to say that I still have kids on test 2, 3, and 4. Kids should be on at least test 6 by now. It is extremely difficult to see kids fail over and over and over again. Please work with your kids on these words at home. The homophones are killing them. Kids have learned, learned, and learned some more the difference between there, their, and they're. They need to think about the context before choosing instead of guessing. These are every day words that they will need to know in every day language and writing. They are not a list of random spelling words. If you are not seeing the tests coming home be asking why! They only have less than three weeks left to pass all ten tests.

Have a great night!