Newsletter

Greetings from Mrs. Parsons!
It’s good to be back at school with all of the kids and staff after my vacation to New Zealand and Australia.  My trip was so much fun!  New Zealand is the most unique and beautiful country that I’ve ever seen.  I also spent some time in the Sydney area of Australia and all I can say is “WOW”!  I would highly recommend going to both of these places to anyone.  I took lots of pictures and video and have shared them with the 4^th graders so far.  If you would like to see some pictures, stop by my office for a visit!
It’s hard to believe that we only have 2 months left of school!  The calendars are filling up fast with things left to do before summer break.
One of the most important things we have coming up is the MN State Testing, the MCAs.  These tests are very important to us and we want to make sure that our 3-6 graders are in tip top shape for the testing.  All of the kids will be tested in Reading and Math and the 5^th graders will also be tested in science.  The teachers have been working very hard to prepare our students for these tests!  The reading tests are schedule for April 15 and 16.  Math is scheduled for April 22 and 23.  And 5^th grade science is scheduled for April 29.
We need our families of students that are testing to make sure that the kids have a good breakfast on testing days and that they are getting enough sleep the nights before testing.
Thanks in advance to helping insure that our students are fully prepared for the tests!
Thanks for being a part of our family!
Happy April!
Mrs. Parsons

Kindergarten News:
Kindergarten is happy to welcome Spring.  We are excited for the fun end of the year activities we will be having.  Where has our year gone!
Mary Kay

1^st Grade News:
This month has been really busy in first grade.  We are working hard on our reading and writing.  We are now writing small moment stories.  Our stories are now four to five pages long!  The children love writing and I really enjoy reading their writing.  We are also getting ready to see our tulips bloom this spring.  That will wrap up our plants unit in science.  We are all hoping for warm weather and for the snow to melt!  Happy Spring! 
Mrs. Johnsrud

2nd and 3rd Grade News:
Is spring ever going to come? Maybe it will be here when we get from spring break! We once again had a very busy month. We enjoyed our tour of the Soil & Water Conservation office in Morris. We had fun viewing water samples and discovering all of the creatures living in the water. We are ending our month with a swimming party as our AR reward. The students worked very hard to reach their goals this month. We are looking forward to a full schedule of events in the upcoming 2 months! Please watch the schedule for all of our activities.
Have a wonderful spring break!
Mrs. Giese and class

4^th Grade News:
April is a busy month for our fourth grade class!  Lego Day will be on April 7^th (the day we get back from spring break)!  Students will have the amazing opportunity to build and drive their own car!  That same week Thursday, April 10^th, we have our music concert at 7:00 pm!  I encourage all students to go on studyisland.com or review multiplication facts to prepare for the MCAs.  We will be taking the reading MCAs on April 15-16^th and the math MCAs on April 22-23^rd.  Students in grades 4, 5, and 6 should be working on completing the final component of the writing contest sponsored by the Brang Foundation.  Each student must complete at least one service project form by Thursday, April 24^th.  Remember the top three participants will be rewarded with $100 each!  On April 25^th we will be celebrating Earth Day by traveling to the State Park for the day!
Mrs. Poegel

5^th & 6^th Grade News:
We have been busy practicing for our MCA test.  The kids are really excited to take them.  Maddi Flom, Gavin Jensen, Jada Hoffman, Caitlyn Jenson, Justin Amundson, and Laken Steidler-Thompson are the first members of the GHES Band.  The 5^th/6^th grade Easter Committee planned an Easter Egg Hunt for the Kindergarten class, they also organized a scavenger hunt and party for our class.

Music:

The Spring concert is coming around the corner very fast!!!  The concert is April 10th at 7:00PM at the Starbuck Community Center.  The kids are going to show case some things they have done throughout the year and then we are going to be singing and playing songs about food. It will be a lot of fun!!!  We are going to need lots of help on Wednesday April 9th at 6:30 to haul equipment. Please meet at the school or community center and there should be someone there to direct you.  The more help we have the quicker we get done.  Thank you for all your support throughout the year. I have had an awesome year and I can't believe we are down to the last 2 months of school. It has gone by super fast.  I think I know why it has gone by so fast, as the saying goes, "time flies when you're having fun" and I am having a blast!!!!
Mrs. Opdahl

Dates to Remember:

April 7^th- return to school

             Lego Day          
April 10^th-  Spring Concert
April 11^th-  Lifetouch Pictures

                 Yearbook order form due
April 15^th & 16^th-  MCA reading test 3^rd- 6^th grade
April 18^th-  Prairie Woods Field Trip K-3^rd grade
April 22^nd & 23rd- MCA math testing 3^rd-6^th grade
April 25^th- Earth Day/Arbor Day- all grades at the State Park
April 29^th- MCA science testing 5^th grade
May 8^th-  Zoo trip kindergarten and 1^st grade
May 22^nd-  Kindergarten and 6^th grade graduation at the Starbuck Community Center 7:00pm
May 30^th-  last day of school