Greetings Spanish Lime Families,
The end of the school year is upon us and there is so much still happening! Cultural Immersion/Art Show, field trips, graduation, end of year party, and more!
For the past two weeks we have been studying all about Australia. Starting the unit study with our own “great lesson” rendition of the story of Australia! This story started only 50,000 years ago, as the Spanish Limes know, this is only very short period in the earths whole life. The Aboriginal people first arrived in Australia. They may have traveled from Asia across land bridges that were exposed when sea levels were lower but Aborigines had learned to live in the harsh conditions of the outback. Only 400 years ago, Dutch explorers first landed in Australia and finally the British began to settle 100 years after. Many of the settlers were criminals sent to live in Australia as punishment. Shortly after, gold was discovered and the word spread as new immigrants rushed to find riches. In 1901 the six colonies joined to form the British commonwealth. That is why on the Australian flag we see the British flag located in the canton and the commonwealth star below along with the southern cross stars in the field. The Story of Australia continued to move towards biomes and habitation. Australia is a very unique continent filled with vas species and landforms. The students have been conducting their own research on animals/plants/culture and are working on making their visual aids to display their comprehension of the unit study. Their projects are made with 90% of recycled materials!
We look forward to seeing everyone next Friday, May 12th from 5pm-7pm. All classes will be open to tour, projects will be taken home the following Monday, May 15th. On the front lawn our classes art pieces will be displayed and are welcomed to go home that night. Around 6pm there will be an auction for large classroom art pieces. For those that want to participate and possibly win in other ways, save your dollars because there will be a 50/50 raffle at the door to raise funds for the renovations of the primary playground.
Each student has been working exceptionally hard in their projects and are looking forward to sharing it with you! I am very proud of all their efforts, creativity and enthusiasm throughout this unit.
Thursday, May 18th at the Studios of Key West. The Kindergarten and Lower Elementary students have been invited to a Circus Performance! Volunteers welcome, permission slips to come.
For the remainder of the school year we will be focusing on science; from physics, to chemistry and wrapping up with biology. Children’s natural curiosity drives them to find out why something happens, to investigate a situation, to examine the results and answer the questions they have. The Spanish Limes will be developing skills that encourage communication, observations, estimation, measurement, cause and effect, investigations and evaluations through this unit study.
This will be the last newsletter of the 2016-2017 school year but not the last time you will hear from me. This has been one of the most exciting and special school years for myself. Furthering my education as a student and continuing to grow and evolve as a teacher has been most rewarding. I hope that we are all life long learners and continue to instill these habits and values in our own children and generations to come. Thank you all for your continued support and dedication to the classroom and school.
Much Love,
Ms. Sally
