13 more days...13 more days...and 1 personal day left!!! =)

Hopefully I don't sound too excited about that last personal day that I have to use ;)  I am definitely feeling the end of the school year much more than in years past.  My kids are wonderful, but they are challenging, and while I like a challenge as much as the next person, I am ready for a break- a LONG break! As our year is winding down we have about a zillion different things to finish up.  Our school-wide Pride Night is coming up, so we have many projects that we are completing in time for next Thursday evening to share with our families.  Mixed in with that we are still completing our unit of study on space. and tomorrow we are going to be making phases of the moon flip books after our Memorial Day program.
     I haven't quite decided if we're going to use black construction paper and white crayons to draw each of the phases, and include descriptions of each on the inside, or if I want to use a handout I came across online.  It has great images of the lunar phases from the Lunar and Planetary Institute.  You can check it out here.  I love that it's satellite images rather than just a drawing, so I am sure that I will use it somehow.  I also think that this one is interesting because it's animated, and I know that my students will enjoy it...so many choices!
     Also I wanted to pass along some information I received in an email this afternoon from one of my favorite places on earth- Barnes & Noble.  I could literally spend an entire day in that place and not tire of it, as I'm sure so could many of you!  They have a wonderful summer reading program where students read 8 books off of their summer reading list, record the title, author, and who they would recommend the book to and why, and they can choose a free book!  Who doesn't like free?  Who doesn't like getting books into children's hands?  I thought that I would pass this information along in case someone else would like to pass it along for their students.  (Just so you know my intent isn't to advertise for Barnes and Noble, I just adore them!)

You can click here to go to their site.  They have included the letter home about the reading incentive, as well as the log for students to track their reading on.  Happy Summer Reading!
~Heather~