Mark Your Calendars !

Here's what's happening this month:


On Thursday, April 10th, acclaimed children's author, Brenda Z. Guiberson, will be our "Artist in Residence". She will be presenting an interactive slide show and then will teach an intensive Writer's Workshop for the Navigators and Explorers. Parents are invited to attend if they wish.


Here's a bit of a bio on Ms. Guiberson from her website: http://www.brendazguiberson.com


"Brenda has been writing and illustrating children's books for over 15 years. Though she did not imagine becoming an author as a child, she did relish the idea of studying animals and exploring remote jungles.
Her fascination with science as a student now shines through as young readers explore everything from chattering rainforests to the inside of a cactus to the solitude of a lighthouse. Brenda's books combine the beauty of language and art with valuable lessons important to our connection not only with each other but the world around us."

Scholastic Book Fair: This Thursday-Saturday will be our annual Spring Scholastic Book Fair. If you so desire, you may have your Explorer bring money into school to purchase his/her wish list items. The book fair will be open after school on both Thursday and Friday and then during the day on Saturday.

From April 21-25, Explorers will be taking their standardized ITBS tests. Testing will begin promptly at 8:30 and will end around 11:00 each day. Please make sure that your child has a good night's sleep and has a great, nutritious breakfast each morning. Many thanks in advance.

In the afternoon of April 23rd, we are so pleased to announce that we will be having a Lewis and Clark Living History persona, Garry Bush, who will be presenting his first person program as Toussaint Charbonneau, Sacagawea's husband, from the Lewis and Clark expedition. Mr. Bush, in 2004, completed the National Park Service’s Camp of Instruction at Fort Clatsop and is certified as a First-Person Living History Presenter.

Mr. Bush has presented Toussaint Charbonneau and Jean Baptiste “Pomp” Charbonneau along the Missouri River from Fort Mandan to the Rocky Mtns., across the Lolo Trail, down the Snake and Columbia Rivers to Fort Clatsop. From large theaters and the National Park Service’s Tent of Many Voices, to “one on one” presentations in front of all age groups, the "Charbonneau family” has been well represented along the Lewis & Clark Trail. Acclaimed as one of the best “first person interpreters” in the nation, Garry brings history alive for his audiences.

The Explorers will be attending his presentation from 12:30 until 1:30. Parents and grandparents are encouraged to attend if they so choose.Here's a bit of a preview:

Garry has said the following: "I will be bringing over 40 animal furs / 15 of which L&C were the first to document -all to be touched by the kids * -replicas of the trade goods associated with the 1800-1830's (to be handled) * -Soiux buffalo spirit skull 1806 / Full buffalo robe * -Huge 2 yr old grizzly (just the fur) / wolf skin * -The kids will be speaking Plains Indian Sign language by the time they leave. I promise you the kids will be talking about Charbonneau for days after he has left."

It should be a memorable presentation.

Just a quick note that on May 2nd we will have our annual Grandparents Day which this year will also be our Young Authors' Day presentation. There will be more on this later.

I hope this helps you to be able to mark the above dates on your calendar. As I hear about more, I will let you know.








HOMEWORK UPDATE:

Wordly Wise is due this Friday. Students received over an hour of instruction on the Wordly Wise yesterday with individualized instruction on the answers in each section. Additional class time will be allocated on Wednesday and Thursday for the class to complete it. There should not be any need for any last minute jitters to complete this packet on time.
Spelling words were handed out today. The Spelling test will be on Tuesday of next week.