Peace cannot be achieved through violence;
it can only be attained through understanding.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Welcome April and May and a bit of June! What a wonderful time of year to see all the blooming going on! We will finish our study of landforms and move into the study of rocks, soil and plants. In May, we begin our study of insects which culminates with our insect-palooza celebration in early June. Stay tuned for information about the writing, singing and artwork of this wonderful first grade insect celebration. We will continue to sew as well.

In Math, we will finish our unit, Counting to 100 (counting by twos, fives and tens) and will soon begin a unit called Race to 100, which focuses on place value.

In Wilson and Language Arts, we are learning about closed syllables, closed syllables with blends and compound words. We continue to identify base words and suffixes. In Writer's Workshop this month, the children will be learning about Authors as Mentors. As usual and on an on-going basis, the children practice word work with their Wilson trick words and unit words, log in the books they read individually, buddy read and read and discuss books in small groups.

We are writing our poems for the Dream Flag Project! "Inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes and the tradition of Nepalese Buddhist prayer flags, The Dream Flag Project® is an annual poetry/art/community-connection project for students in Kindergarten to twelfth grade." The poems the children write will be taken to the National Constitution Center and displayed on May 4th, 2013. Please look at www.dreamflags.org for more detailed information.

On April 16th, we have a field trip to Winterthur to see the Enchanted Woods.
On April 22nd, for Earth Day, we will plant wildflowers with The Willistown Conservation Trust.
On May 6th, we have a field trip to the Great Valley Nature Center to kick off our study of insects.

It is amazing how quickly this year has flown and we are in the final months of the school year! I have enjoyed watching all of your beautiful children grow!

In friendship,
Tr. Barbara