April is national poetry month and to celebrate we are reading Lion of the Sky by Laura Purdie Salas. This is a fun book with haikus for each season. But even more fun, each haiku is a riddle, or a riddle-ku. It's been fun reading these out loud and asking students to guess what they are. The illustrations by Merce Lopez are unique and beautiful too. For example, "Coloful flowers - we sprout on stems of people, bloom only in rain." Can ...
School News
Week of April 5
This week we are reading our last Beehive Book nominee in the picture book category, Bear Came Along, by Richard T. Morris, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Bear finds a river, but doesn't realize he's on an adventure until lots of animals join him for the ride. Soon they realize they are all in it together! ...
Week of March 22
The Beehive Book awards contest is coming to an end! We've read all but one of the picture books together and many students have read book nominees on their own. I'll be entering in our votes this week and then we'll eagerly await the results! In the meantime, I'm going to have each class vote for their favorite book so students get one more chance to tell me what they really liked. Stay tuned! ...
Week of March 15
This may look like an Elephant and Piggie book, but it's really a good-natured parody of Mo Willems' popular series. Harold the elephant and Hog the pig decide they could have a lot of fun pretending to be Elephant and Piggie. But they soon find out even though they look like the famous duo, they aren't well matched. Award-winning author and illustrator Dan Santat has a lot of fun comparing his Harold and Hog with Elephant and Piggie...and ...
Preparing for Quarter 4!
Learning Preference Forms It is time to declare your learning preferences for the last quarter of the school year! Please click the link to indicate whether your child will be participating in In-Person or Distance Learning for the fourth quarter. (The quarter begins on April 5 and ends on June 3.) Please consider your choice carefully, as your child is expected to remain in the chosen learning modality throughout the entire quarter. We ...
Week of March 8
This week we are reading a very funny Beehive book by Ross Burach about how hard it is to wait. This caterpillar doesn't realize how long it takes to become a butterfly, let alone how to form a chrysalis or what to do once he's trapped inside! In fact, he's so impatient, he breaks out a little too early, only to realize he hasn't metamorphosized at all. With no change and no wings, he falls flat on the ground. But with a deep breath and more ...
Week of March 1
This week we are reading Oliver - The Second-largest Living Thing on Earth by Josh Crute, illustrated by John Taesoo Kim. Oliver is second only to Sherman, the largest living thing on Earth. Sherman gets his own sign. People come from all over the world to see him, but Oliver doesn't get that kind of attention. He feels lonely being second-best. And then one day, Oliver notices the trees who are 3rd, 4th and 5th largest. They don't get their ...
Week of Feb. 22
This delightful book by Israeli author and illustrator Einat Tsarfati is our Beehive selection this week. A curious girl invites readers to see which neighbors are behind the 6 doors on 7 floors of her apartment building. Each door is unique, like the people behind it, including an old explorer, art collectors, musicians, and circus performers. Even her own seemingly boring family has a secret life we discover at the end. This book if full of ...
Week of Feb. 15
This week we have a funny sequel to We Don't Eat our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins. Penelope Rex really wants to show off her rock n' roll style in the school talent show. But no one sees her for anything but a dinosaur. And while she really does love to eat ponies, she's better now at NOT eating her classmates. Will they see her for who she really is? This is a fun book with Ryan Higgins' signature humor! ...
Enrollment For Next Year (2021-2022)
Last week, we sent home a red and blue note with each student. Please be sure to return the red note to school if you have students who will not be returning to Upland Terrace this fall. We would love for all our students to stay with us here at Upland, but we do understand that family plans change. This important information is helpful for us as we plan staffing for next year. The sooner we can have this information, the better. The blue ...
