First week of April 💐

     March has come to and end and April is already bringing on the showers! Congratulations to Elli from our classroom, Ella from Mr. Ritter's classroom and Julian from Mr. Criswell's classroom for guessing the most correct outcomes in our March Madness Bracket! Each of these students will get to choose a book of their choice to keep as their own. It was fun to discuss the books with everyone and see the younger grades' interest in the event. I encourage you all to read any of the books that you have not yet had the chance to read! 🏀📚

                         

                           

     I have posted the FINAL spelling and vocabulary lists online! This is our very last week of Journey's textbook so study hard and finish strong! A spelling list is also coming home with each student along with weekly math and a new Scholastic book order. Don't forget to order any school spirit wear you might be wanting by Wednesday, April 4th (ending at midnight). All of the proceeds will go to our all school project Hearts for Haiti recycling center! 💗🌎 Here is the link: https://lincolnelementary2018.itemorder.com/sale

     April is sure to fly by, as we have several things to look forward to! During this first week, we start the week off with a performance by Opera of Iowa during an all school assembly. Monday evening at 6:50 pm I invite you all to join in congratulating our classmate Elli in receiving the Iowa City Community Leadership Award! The ceremony will be held at the beginning of the Iowa City City Council meeting, which begins at 7 pm. The meeting is also broadcast on your local TV station if you would like to watch but cannot make it out.

      As we work through the week, we will be finishing up our study of finding areas of various shapes, investigating living and nonliving items under the microscope lens, complete our novel study, and begin a new writing and social studies project.

     Lastly, Friday the 6th also provides a great chance to get out of the house and have some fun. Fifth grade will be hosting Taco Night in the gym from 5-7 pm. 🌮 There will be walking tacos with all the fixings for $5 each or $7 for two! The money raised from Taco Night will go towards funding School of the Wild field trips. Thanks 5th grade! Once you've grabbed your taco you can join Lego and Movie night from 6-7:45 pm. Its sure to be a fun night had by all!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 🦁

Thank you! Great work! Congratulations!

After the first official day of spring and a fairly sunshine filled week, we have the biggest snow of all! Luckily it seems the snow will be melting quickly and warm weather will be coming back.

I want to thank all the family and friends that came out to Lincoln's Fine Arts Night last Thursday. It was a wonderful evening filled many smiles and great works of art! The sixth graders should be proud of their last performance. 🎶 🎨

This week our major changes have been with our diversity of life science kit. It has kicked off with a great start! We are focusing on how to determine if something is living or nonliving. 🌿🌞🌈💧
So far we have identified characteristics we believe to be identifiers of living things and have used them to help us sort items into three different categories: living, nonliving, and undecided. This list will help us throughout our investigations and is sure to change as we determine more qualifiers and/or remove items from the list.
We have also set a few cuttings into small jars of water to figure out if they are living or not. This includes a carnation, potato, branch with leaves, and philodendron which we provide with air, water, and indirect sunlight.
The students have also created mini-habitats consisting of soil, grass, leaves, berries, and sticks filled with some pond water. We will continue to keep these containers sealed and set aside, checking them occasionally for any changes.
Lastly, we have put together five mystery vials to observe over several days for any signs of life. Some of the students have become confident in their idea of what some vials consist of and whether they are living or nonliving.
Each of these activities has already proven to get the students thinking more in-depth about what it means to be living. Challenge your student to determine if something is living or nonliving and request their thinking as to why. 🔬🌱

🏀📚This past week also took us through two March Madness book face-offs! We have found our final two mach: Hunger Games versus Wonder! It will be an exciting match next week!

Weekly math and spelling lists should have come home yesterday in addition to the spelling and vocab words being posted online. Don't forget current events will also be due on Friday.

I also would like to give a shout out to our very own Elli Hagedorn who has received the City Council Leadership Award! This award is given to select students who show leadership qualities that go above and beyond within school as well as around the community. If you would like to attend the award ceremony, it will be held at the Iowa City City Council Meeting on Monday, April 2nd at 6pm. Congratulation Elli!🎉

I hope you all enjoy your weekend and hang in there while we make our way through this crazy Iowa weather!

🌷 Spring 🍀 Break 🌼

Hello and happy spring break! I hope you all are able to enjoy some quality family and friend time over the coming week! Be sure to rest, relax, and enjoy the weather!

March Madness has come into full swing, with the first official voting results today. The following novels have moved forward and have become our Elite 8: Where the Red Fern Grows, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Ghosts, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Giver, The Lightening Thief, and Wonder. I highly encourage our students to read any of these 8 books that they have not already read over break. We will be voting on our Final Four books the Monday we come back from break so the more you know about the books, the more informed your vote will be!

I have posted the new spelling and vocabulary words in case anyone gets anxious and would like to take an early peek at them over break. Weekly math will come with the students on the Monday back from break in hopes of eliminating and lost packets over break.
After break we will begin our final science kit: Diversity of Life, as well as new reading an writing projects. We will continue working with dividing fractions in math before moving on to our next topic of study.

One last note: if you have a planner but it is not at school yet, please be sure to bring it with you on Monday. We will begin to look at it as a tool and start to compare some aspects of planner usage to what it will look like next year in junior high.

Enjoy spring break! I look forward to hearing all about your favorite things when we get back!

🏀 March Madness! 🏀

We have officially entered March and are eagerly waiting for spring to arrive! The weather is turning, and I hope you all have plenty of time to get outside and enjoy it!

I have posted next week's spelling and vocab lists, and weekly math will be coming home tomorrow.

We have started our health lessons which revolve around basic personal wellness: hygiene, injury, violence, illness, consumerism, and conservation. We finished up working with percentages and are moving on to dividing fractions (remember to use the reciprical, or the multiplicitive inverse). During our writing we have been working on adding detail and using our creative minds to write stories based off of pictures I project for the students. Many seem to enjoy these!

Reading this month is going to be a fun competition mimicking the March Madness basketball tournament. I have created a display in the hallway for 5th and 6th grade to "bet" on. Each student has filled out a bracket, and will vote which books move on to the next "match". We are starting with the "sweet 16", moving through the "elite 8", on to the "final 4", and ending with "the game".
I am excited to be trying this new method of encouraging students to read books that have been popular among their peers so they can debate and persuade others of which book will be the 2018 March Madness Winner!
I will keep adding pictures of the bracket progression so you can inquire about the tournament with your student. Please encourage your student to read any of the following books that they have not already read: Fuzzy Mud, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Hunger Games, Crenshaw, The One and Only Ivan, Harry Potter, Amulet, Ghosts, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Swindle, The Giver, Ghost, Pax, The Lightening Thief, Wonder, and Rules.