Gathering Week!

Good Afternoon CFI Families,

This has been a busy week as we have prepared for gathering, gone to the Sandhills library, and continued our work on how to books. Together we shared some of our amazing learning at today’s gathering and we were so excited so many of you were able to attend. Thank you for coming to celebrate with us. I will give a quick recap of what we have been doing in our plants and how to units to expand on what we shared and for those who were unable to attend today.

We have now looked at the life cycle, explored many interesting books about amazing plants, and looked at the parts of a plant. We also looked at how plants adapt to their environment like how the head of a sunflower turns to follow the sun or a cactus has long roots to seek out water and then retains it for slow consumption. We were also amazed to learn about carnivorous plants and many were so excited about them that they wanted to share them at gathering. From the bladderwort to the venus fly trap they were captivated by these interesting plants.

We have planted our own green beans, carrots, and marigolds and are excited to see some of them already sprouting! Here is one of our pods of plants we are growing.

Our how to unit has exploded from examining resources to creating our own this week. Many kids chose to talk about theirs at gathering. Topics included How to Do Magic, How to Play Mini Golf, How to Play Kickball, Baseball, and so many more. Many have created more than one and seem captivated by this genre. I am sure there will be many more examples before the end of the school year due to this excitement.

I am sharing below the author study expert project selections I have thus far. If there is no selection next to your child’s name please email me your choice or send in a note. Otherwise I will help them pick on Monday. There have already been several repeats which is why I asked for a second choice. If you only provided one choice and it was already taken I will be emailing you for a second choice. There were even some whose first and second choices had been picked earlier in the week. This might be the case if you sent in your choice but do not see it below. Notable authors we have studied this year that have not been selected include Helen Lester, Audrey Wood, Laura Numeroff, Arnold Lobel, Oliver Jeffers, and Eric Carle. Here is the list so far. Remember the due date for the at home portion is May 12th.

Aidan-

Alyssa- Geronimo Stilton

Bella-

Charlie- James Dean

Darryl-

Derrick-

Emily- Grace Lin

Ethan- Jeff Kinney

Grace-

Janina- Jan Brett

Jazmine- Ellen Miles

Kara-

Kiana-

Keraj- Mary Pope Osborne

Landon- Dav Pilkey

Naimah-

Oliver-

Rebecca- Dr. Seuss

Santonia- Tracey West

Yagnesh-

Zakiya- Jane O’conner

Next Thursday we will be going to the Cottle Strawberry Farm. We will leave from CFI at 9:00 and return at 1:30. We will eat at their picnic area. Please remember to send in your forms and money.

Monday Fireflies tickets are due so please send in your form if you would like to come. Remember the more the merrier!

The bookfair will be going on this coming week at CFI in the library. Our class will walk through it on Monday and each child will take home their list of interesting books they find. Be on the lookout for this and please come and check it out.

That’s all for now but please take a look at our upcoming dates and thanks for reading!

Upcoming Dates:

May 1st-5th- School Book Fair

May 4th- Field Trip to the Cottle Strawberry Farm

May 7th- CFI Family Day at the Fireflies game

May 12th- Expert Projects Due and School Dance

May 26th- Sandhills Library Trip and Splash Day