Lower Elementary Newsletter- March 28, 2014

Dear RiverRun Families,

          This week we continued our studies of the History of Writing.  We have been exploring how early and modern man used ink to draw or write.  We are making ink using dried flower petals turned into a powder using a mortar and pestle (graciously lent to us by the Rieffel family), mineral spirits and linseed oil.  So far it is making more of a stain then ink, but we are learning a lot about color as we experiment with mixing different colored flower petals and various amounts of the spirits and oil. 

          During Writers’ Workshop we worked on developing physical descriptions of characters.  We read Happy Cat, a Henry and Mudge story, and focused on how Cynthia Rylant described the cat in the story and how the description she gave helped us as readers draw an image in our head of the cat. 

          As a class, we studied suffixes.  On the language shelf there are works on suffixes for children of all reading ability.  The elders are working on editing and we continue our novel study discussions.  The elders have also been working on their canvases, a tradition started by Debbie for all third years who will be moving up from the Lower Elementary.

          Some of the children have had lessons on cursive writing, dynamic subtraction (requiring borrowing), and we have just about completed information gathering for the state reports.  By next week we should be editing final drafts.  

Happy Spring!

Amy and Rachel

Dates to Remember:

April 8-We take the public bus to Proctors to see a performance on Henry Hudson

April 14-22 - Spring Recess (note we have Monday and Tuesday the 20^th &21^st           off, different from most public schools)

May 5- Parent Education Night, your children will be teaching you some Montessori Lessons.

June 13 – Lessons on the Lake in Saratoga

Very Early Spring by Katherine Mansfield

The fields are snowbound no longer;
There are little blue lakes and flags of tenderest green.
The snow has been caught up into the sky--
So many white clouds--and the blue of the sky is cold.
Now the sun walks in the forest,
He touches the bows and stems with his golden fingers;
They shiver, and wake from slumber.
Over the barren branches he shakes his yellow curls.
Yet is the forest full of the sound of tears....
A wind dances over the fields.
Shrill and clear the sound of her waking laughter,
Yet the little blue lakes tremble
And the flags of tenderest green bend and quiver.