Prokop’s Press                                    May 2, 2008

Dear Parents and Students,

Wow! Where has the year gone? It is hard to believe that we have less than two months of school left. We are going to be extremely busy what with testing, camp, and all the end of the year activities. Here are a few of the things coming up.

Math: We  will continue working through the last chapters in our book. We are in the middle of geometry, and will finish up chapter 12 upon the completion of STAR testing. Students have been assigned a math board game, one they are to create. They have been given the requirements and the rubric explaining what needs to be done, and how I will be grading it. Students can work with a partner or by themselves. We may have the first in class work period the Friday of testing week. They need to bring any supplies on that day to begin work.

Social Studies: Monday, May 15th is the scheduled Egypt test. We will finish up next week with the remainder of the chapter work. We will then move on to Rome.

Science:  We continue our preparation for camp. Students have been assigned the biome they will be creating a mural of.  Research has begun and students are at the planning stage before they begin on the actual mural paper. We are learning about ecosystems, and food chains and webs.

Little Buddies: This week we started the outline and story plan for the special book we are creating for them. These will be stories in which the main character is our buddy including many of the things we learned about, when we interviewed them, such as their family, friends, pets, favorite place, and favorite thing to do in their spare time.

Language Arts: We will be finishing up work on our lit circle books, and then moving on to the novel, The Great Gilly Hopkins. This is a wonderful book about a hardened foster child and the family she grows to love and has to fight to keep. At the conclusion of the book, we will be holding a "mock" trial to make a decision about the final issue of the book. This is a great year end activity the students really enjoy and learn a lot from.

State Testing: CST testing will begin Tues. We will review and continue practice testing on Monday.

Camp Papers and Payment: If completed packet of papers, and final donation are not yet in, please make sure they are in by Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                        Mrs. Prokop