Swanger's Creation Station

Last week of school information

During the last week of school, NO LUNCH CHARGES will be allowed.  If your child is purchasing a school lunch, he/she MUST bring money each day to cover the cost of lunch.  I think it's okay to bring money to cover the week, but that will need to be confirmed.


It is so hard to believe that the end of this school year is near.  The last day of school is Friday, May 23rd.  Your child will NOT be allowed to bring any items to school nor take any items home on that day.  Please have your child bring an extra bag to school on Thursday, May 22nd in preparation for carrying home all of his/her school supplies from throughout the year.




On Wednesday, May 21st we will have our end of the year celebration.  The children will perform the narrative plays they have been producing.  We will also have some snacks and I will give the children an end of the year memento at this time.  All parents/guardians are more than welcome to join us.  I'm not sure how long this will exactly last, but I'm scheduling 8:30-10:30.  We will begin the celebration with the plays.  We hope to see you there :)

Vulcan Field Trip

We will be going on the Vulcan Field Trip on May 7th.  Please have your child wear his/her lime green field trip t-shirt on this day.  All field trip forms and money need to be turned in by Thursday, April 24th at the lastest!

Relay for Life

Relay for Life is collecting money again this year.  This money goes toward Cancer research and support.  Our school is very big on this cause, because of our very own Mrs. Hammond and 2 cancer surviving students in our school.  We are asking for each to bring in at least $1!  Have them donate this money from their very own allowance, so they feel a true sense of what it means to give.  This money is being collected every day until May 2nd! 

CRCT

The CRCT will begin Wednesday, April 23rd and last until Tuesday, April 29th.  The test will begin promptly at 8:00!  I strongly encourage your child to be at school by 7:30. This will allow him/her to have time to get into the classroom, unpack, sharpen pencils, go to the restroom, and relax before the testing begins.  Please make sure your child is at school on time and has a healthy breakfast and healthy snack.  The children have worked really hard preparing for this test and I believe in their ability to do their best!

Presentations

It's a zoo in here!  The children will be presenting their Power Points on their zoo animals and animal alliteration poems on Tuesday, April 15th (9:00-10:30). Feel free to stop by and join us for the presentations.  The children have worked really hard on researching their animals and creating these Power Points.  Additionally, each child created an alliteration poem about their zoo animal.  It should be fun and informative!  If you would like your child's Power Point saved on a CD or flash drive, feel free to bring one in for me to make the copy for you!

Resources for research

You may use the following resources for Mr. LeMay's lesson this week:

This is a great site for finding the state animals. It also has links to info on most of the animals

http://www.stateanimals.com/

I would like to emphasize this website from the zoo information. It has a list they can look up that contains information about all the state animals for the states I’ve picked. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals.html

Download Guidefor4-2.ppt

Spring Carnival Basket

Parents, you should have received nearly a month ago (in your child's binder) a note from our room mom, Ms. Sheridan, about the spring carnival. Every class will be donating a basket filled with different themed goodies. Our theme this year is "Gardening". Any gardening item will do (gardening gloves, tools, seeds, bulbs, books,...) and would be greatly appreciated. Please send in any items with your child by April 10th. 

Thank you for your continued support!

Zoo Information

Below you will find a list of teacher approved website links to use while researching your animal.  Every child will have a zoo animal to research.  The zoo animals will be assigned on Monday, March 10th.  The children will  be researching for the next 2 weeks, in preparation for the overnight trip to the zoo.  Please make sure you checked your child's Homework Folder on Friday the 7th.  Zoo information went home that day.  Please return those forms ASAP and let me know if you have any questions or concerns about necessary items that MUST be brought and items to be LEFT at home.

Thursday, March 20 -students board buses at 4:45 p.m. for overnight field trip to Zoo Atlanta, we will return to Big Shanty at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 21 (we can not refund Zoo fees or add students or adults at this time since the final count and nonrefundable payment has been made to Zoo Atlanta)

Zoo Research Links

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/

~ Average reader friendly. Well organized to find

information

 

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rnfrst_animal_page.htm

~ Rainforest animals. Well organized for average readers.

 

http://www.zooatlanta.org/animals_information.htm

~ Zoo Atlanta

site. Average reader friendly.

 

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WorldTour/

~Smithsonian World Zoo. Need to really read and search to

information, but great information for average to

high reader

 

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/

 ~ Smithsonian World Zoo. Animal cams and information.

 

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/default.cfm

~ Another way into the Smithsonian World Zoo.

 

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/

~ Well organized and kid friendly-average reader friendly

site.

 

 

http://dromus.nhm.uga.edu/~GMNH/gawildlife/index.php?page=information/regions

~ Click on animal category at top and then find the animal

name. Click on its Latin name beside it. Great

information. Average-high reader.

 

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/index.htm

~ High reader friendly to search for information

 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/animal.html

~ Limited animals listed. Easy to read information

 

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/atoz/atoz.html

~ Click on the green category that your animal is. Then, find your specific animal and click on that link.

 

http://animal.discovery.com/

~ On the top of the page are several categories in yellow

boxes. Put your mouse over “Wild Animals” and choose a

category.

 

http://www.phoenixzoo.org/learn/animals/

~ The

Phoenix

Zoo. Average reader to find info.

 

http://home.cfl.rr.com/gatorhole/

~ Information on alligators

CRCT

The CRCT will be here before we know it!  Let's work together to prepare your child for this state-wide assessment.  During Spring Break, your child will have a packet to work on.  So be on the lookout for that!  Also, you will find some great resource links below for information on the CRCT and practice tests.

Information and study guides ~ The main page informs you about the CRCT.  On the right side, the blue box of "Study Guides" has practice tests for all subject areas, answers, and explanation of answers

Georgia Online Assessment ~ Practice tests that the 3rd grade teachers created for all subject areas.  You must use the login and password that was sent home in January.

Georgia Department of Education ~ information on Georgia curriculum and testing

Congratulations

We would like to congratulate everyone who entered a piece of writing into the Writing Fair.  I am so proud of everyone who spent the time and energy publishing a piece to enter.  We were fortunate to have 2 students from our class picked as winners of the fair.  Mason won 2nd place and Kamree won Honorable Mention.  Each grade level had winners that placed 1st -3rd and Honorable Mentions. These students will have their writing published in the school anthology (a collection of stories).  Congratulations!