more news for this week...

IMPORTANT DATES
•    Monday, June 11th: Devotion Carnival, after school.
•    Monday, June 18th: Last Day of School.  School ends at 12 pm, Lunch will be not be served.

LUNCH ON JUNE 14TH
There will be a special lunch in the cafeteria on Thursday, June 14th. It will be sub Sandwiches or Salads. In order for the cafeteria to have enough of each type, we will be taking orders on Wednesday, June 13th. Please discuss these choices with your child so he or she can order on Wednesday. The choices are:
•    Italian Sub
•    Ham and Cheese  Sub with lettuce and tomato
•    Turkey Sub with lettuce and tomato
•    Chicken Caesar Salad
•    Greek Salad
Bagels and PBJ will also be available. The sub or salad lunch is the special and is the same cost as a regular school lunch.

FAMILY BREAKFAST   
Thank you for your enthusiasm and support at our family breakfast! The kids were so excited and proud to show off all of their great work and first grade progress this morning! Thank you also for all of the delicious food and necessary paper goods that you shared. Our breakfast was a huge success because of your help.

END OF SCHOOL YEAR
Please let us know if your family will be traveling or if your child will be missing any of the last days of school. We want to send home all of your child’s supplies and work, and ensure that everyone gets a chance to say goodbye to friends.

MATH
We will practice thinking about equal signs as a balance to solve non traditional math equations ( for example: 1 + 4 = 2 + 3, or  10 = 9 -1).

* Thank you for your understanding and questions about last week’s super challenge. It was just that: a Super Super Challenge. It was the Problem of the week, which is a bi-weekly math problem posted by the math department and open to all Devotion students in all grades. It was sent in homework to give a super challenge and a big thinking question for students who want more challenge that our regular math homework or even the challenge homework. Just thinking about that problem was a success! And it was interesting to see the variety of strategies for approaching the problem, or approaching a part of the problem. Hopefully, it did not cause too much stress and/ or concern about the level of math expected in first grade.

SCIENCE
We did a science exploration to examine 4 different types of insect mouth parts. We used common objects and tools to replicate these mouth parts and then tried them out. We learned about Chompers or Tearers (like a beetle), Needle Mouths (like a mosquito or flea), Sponge Mouths (like flies), and Proboscis (like a butterfly). We will continue to discuss other insect adaptations.

*Children have been asking about the beetles and where they will live over the summer. Some children have said that their parents would love to have beetles as pets. (I know this might not be true). I have not announced this to the class, so no ideas have been planted for children to ask you. However, we have a large amount of beetles, and they could make lovely pets. If you would like some pet darlking beetles for your home (to keep, no need to return them), please let me know; I am happy to share them. They are quite easy to take care of: they live in a dry oatmeal base and enjoy being fed potatoes, apples, or carrots every few days. They prefer indirect light and are incapable of crawling up the side of the container, so they cannot escape our open container!

SUMMER READING AND SUMMER MATH
Next week, Ms. McDonnell and Ms. Boss will be talking with our class about summer reading and summer math, respectively.  These activities are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.  They are created to be easy to transport on vacations and fun. These activities are meant to continue the momentum of first grade, keep students thinking and engaged over the summer, and ensure that students are ready to roll in second grade. Both activities are flexible in terms of the activities and time involved. There are small prize incentives for returning completed work in September. If you have questions, please contact Ms. McDonnell, Ms. Boss, or myself. The documents will also be posted on the Devotion PTO website.

ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
•    What types of insect mouths did we learn about? How did we demonstrate the different mouth types?
•    What was your favorite part of our breakfast?
•    What are you looking for in a friend?  Can you name 3 people that you would make a good friend for?
•    What are some things you wrote in your letter to your next teacher? What is important for your next teacher to know about you and how you learn best?