Thank you for your continued support this year! I loved having each and every one of your children in Room 29 this year. I will surely miss them all:)
As this is the last update of the year, please make note of important events this last week. Some days are free dress and others are dress uniform.
LAST WEEK
MONDAY: Students will be completing a post-writing assessment, heading to 6th grade for Bump Up Day to learn more about middle school, and creating summer/math plans.
TUESDY: Students will compare their pre & post writing assessment and see their growth, complete their final Achieve article of the year, and send off the 8th graders at the assembly.
WEDNESDAY: All things cleaning! Students may wear free dress if they have donated to Charity Water. We will also celebrate mass at 8:30am as a class. Please join us!
THURSDAY: Field Day (9-12:30pm) @Sandel Park. ALL students need a lunch & can wear free dress.
FRIDAY: Last day of 5th grade! Mass @9am. Dress Uniform. Report Cards Go Home.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
(book blurbs from amazon and Good Reads)
New in a series this summer: Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas Positively Izzy (sequel to Invisible Emmie and Babysitters Club # 6)
WishTree – Katherine Applegate [Fantasy, Community]
If you liked The One and Only Ivan, this is a great new novel by the same author. “Warm and thoughtful, this story is told from the perspective of an ancient oak tree who has seen it all. Bestselling author Katherine Applegate gets readers rooting for the old tree, along with the people and animals who come to depend on it. The shorter length and strong plot are appealing for middle grade readers who are growing into novels with less illustrated narrative and more complex subject matter.” – Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
Welcome to Wonderland: Home sweet Motel – Chris Grabenstein [Mystery, Fiction, Humor]From the bestselling author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library and co-author with James Patterson of I Funny, House of Robots, and Treasure Hunters, comes a hilarious illustrated series about all the wacky things that happen when you live in a motel! Eleven-year-old P. T. Wilkie may be the greatest storyteller alive. But he knows one thing for a fact: the Wonderland Motel is the best place a kid could ever live! All-you-can-eat poolside ice cream! A snack machine in the living room! A frog slide! A giant rampaging alligator! (Okay, that last one may or may not be made up.) There’s only one thing the Wonderland doesn’t have, though—customers. And if the Wonderland doesn’t get them soon, P.T. and his friend Gloria may have to say goodbye to their beloved motel forever.
FunJungle series – Stuart Gibbs [Humor, Mystery]
Stuart Gibbs does it again! If you’re a fan of his other series, Spy School, this is the one for you. Twelve-year-old Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Fitzroy has murder on his hands and trouble on his tail. He believes that Henry, the hippopotamus at the brand-new FunJungle, has been murdered. The zoo’s top brass claim the hippo went belly up the natural way, but Teddy and his feisty friend Summer McCraken have other ideas. Could the culprit be FunJungle’s animal-hating head of operations? Or is it FunJungle’s owner—Summer’s dad—a man who is much more concerned about money than animal welfare? The deeper Teddy and Summer dig, the more danger they’re in—because when it comes to hippo homicide, the truth can’t be caged!
Cleopatra in Space – Mike Maihack (Graphic Novel, Fantasy]
A funny, action-packed graphic novel featuring a young Cleopatra — yes, THAT Cleopatra — who’s transported to the future and learns it’s up to her to save the galaxy!
Ms. Bixby’s Last Day – John David Anderson [Realistic Fiction]
For fans of sad and touching books like Out of My Mind or Wonder, this one is for you! Everyone knows there are different kinds of teachers. The boring ones, the mean ones, the ones who try too hard, the ones who stopped trying long ago. The ones you’ll never remember, and the ones you want to forget. Ms. Bixby is none of these. Topher, Brand, and Steve know this better than anyone. And so when Ms. Bixby unexpectedly announces that she won’t be able to finish the school year, they come up with a risky plan, more of a quest, really, to give Ms. Bixby the last day she deserves. Through the three very different stories they tell, we begin to understand what Ms. Bixby means to each of them—and what the three of them mean to each other.
The Magic Misfits – Neil Patrick Harris [Fantasy]
When street magician Carter runs away, he never expects to find friends and magic in a sleepy New England town. But like any good trick, things change instantly as greedy B.B. Bosso and his crew of crooked carnies arrive to steal anything and everything they can get their sticky fingers on.
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground – Rita Williams Garcia [Realistic Fiction, Family]
From beloved Newbery Honor winner and three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia comes a powerful and heartfelt novel about loss, family, and love that will appeal to fans of Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander. Clayton feels most alive when he’s with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen—he can’t wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton’s mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that’s no way to live.
Orphan Island – Laurel Snyder [Fantasy, Adventure]. For fans of The Giver, this is a completely one-of-a-kind novel about nine children who live on a mysterious island. On the island, everything is perfect. The sun rises in a sky filled with dancing shapes; the wind, water, and trees shelter and protect those who live there; when the nine children go to sleep in their cabins, it is with full stomachs and joy in their hearts. Only one thing ever changes: One day, each year, when a boat appears from the mist upon the ocean carrying one young child to join them it takes the eldest one away, never to be seen again.
The Wild Robot – Peter Brown [Fantasy, Adventure]
Can a robot survive in the wilderness? When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is–but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a fierce storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island’s unwelcoming animal inhabitants.
Short – Holly Goldberg Sloan [Realistic Fiction]
In this heartwarming and funny middle-grade novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s, Julia grows into herself while playing a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she’ll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn’t ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way.
Wish – Barbara O’Connor [Realistic Fiction]
When 11 year old Charlie is sent to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to live with family she barely knows, it seems unlikely that her secret wish will ever come true. That is, until she meets Wishbone, a skinny stray dog who captures her heart, and Howard, a neighbor boy who proves surprising in lots of ways. Suddenly Charlie is in serious danger of discovering that what she thought she wanted may not be what she needs at all.
The Jumbies – Tracey Baptise [Scary, Fantasy]
For fans of Took: A Ghost Story. Corinne La Mer claims she isn’t afraid of anything. Not scorpions, not the boys who tease her, and certainly not jumbies. They’re just tricksters made up by parents to frighten their children. Then one night Corinne chases an agouti all the way into the forbidden forest, and shining yellow eyes follow her to the edge of the trees. They couldn’t belong to a jumbie. Or could they?
Enjoy the weekend!
-Mrs. Ahern
