Done.

MSA is over. Done. Finished.

And the children were troopers! I am so proud of and pleased with their efforts.

This morning we completed the math portion of MSA, read Matilda and began making cards for Mrs. McAlister and Mrs. Watkins in honor of Secretary's Day...stop worrying...we are ahead of the game....Secretary's Day isn't until 4/23. Making cards seemed to be a fun activity that used our time wisely...

This afternoon we continued with our study of poetry. We talked about "free verse" poetry today (no rules). I shared with the children some wonderful thoughts from the book Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher, a respected source for teaching children to write. These ideas include; think of a poem as a snapshot not a video, use fragments not sentences, think of a poem as an x-ray, convey feelings through images. Then the children wrote a free verse poem on a subject of their choice. Those who wanted, shared their poetry.

We ended the day with a science lesson. I handed out science journals and the children recorded their observations of a dry vegetable seed in them. Then they had a chance to decorate their journals.