Important Dates
•Oct. 6 — Jersey Mike’s Restaurant Night—all day!
•Oct. 7 — 1st Trimester Progress Reports come home
•Oct. 10-14 —Minimum Days—Parent-Teacher Conferences (12:30pm release)
•Oct. 11 — Coffee with Dena 8:20am
•Oct. 11 — PFA meeting 3pm, Library
•Oct. 12 — Intro to 7 Habits Parent Training 8:30am AND 6:30pm
•Oct. 17 — SCOPE mtg 2:45pm rm 26
•Oct. 18 — Coffee with Dena 8:20am
Restaurant Night
The next Restaurant Night Fundraiser will be this Thursday, Oct. 6th at Jersey Mike’s (located at 3825 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd, Westlake Village). You can eat there all day and if you bring the flyer, 15% of the proceeds will go to help support our specialists (Art, Music, etc). Please come out to eat that night and support our school!!!
Teacher News
Annie and the Old One
We have read the story, Annie and the Old One, by Patricia Miles Martin, about a Navajo girl who doesn’t want her grandmother to die. The grandmother says she will “soon be a part of the earth” and helps the little girl understand the inevitability of death and the ultimate connectedness with the whole universe. Sadly and coincidentally, our bearded dragon CJ died this week and will be buried to “become one with the earth” in Hailey McCool’s grandmother’s garden.
On a happier note, we have been watching our new creatures, the crayfish, and making scientific observations. For example, one crayfish in Ms. Wendy’s room is red and turning black in color because it is “molting,” which means its outer shell will be coming off soon. We have been writing facts about these animals and other things as well.
We are also learning to write “personal narratives,” which involves writing about our own experiences, as opposed to copying down or writing about facts we have learned. It’s interesting for us to learn the difference between these two types of writing.
Very soon, there will be information about our planning for Fall Festival—look for this info to come!
Reminder
If you haven’t done so already, please return the GREEN FORM to schedule a Parent-Teacher conference with your teacher during the week of conferences: October 10-14.
SAVE PAPER PLEASE!
In an effort to conserve paper and make less copies, the teachers will be sending home the Spelling Menu and Reading Response ideas on colored cardstock for you to keep at home and reuse each week. Please find a safe place to keep this sheet. We may also send home other things (ex: math games ideas) from time to time, on colored cardstock, and please know to keep anything sent home on colored cardstock in a safe place to use over and over. We are in the process of figuring out how to send home other sheets for you to keep at home and reuse. Look for more information to come on how you can do your part to help cut down on our use of photocopies for the homework!
ALSO, is anyone able to make copies for our classroom (either thru their work or at home)• We need to send home the spelling list sheets every week so that our children can work on their individualized spelling words, but we want to try to cut down on copying/paper use. If you think you might be able to help, please contact either one of Ms. Jennifer’s room parents:
Paula pmluvspooh@aol.com
Lisa lisa_huang@patagonia.com
WHO Are Our Room Parents•
Ms. Wendy’s Class
Ursula Nanson ursula.dakotas@gmail.com
Laurie Kearney mnlmom@earthlink.net
Ms. Jennifer’s Class
Lisa Huang lisa_huang@patagonia.com
Paula Migliaccio pmluvspooh@aol.com
Cool Tools Box
“Cool Tools” are strategies to help children make good choices socially. This week’s Cool Tools Tip is:
“Compromise”=we can both get something out of it, & “win-win.” We have heard “The Zax” by Dr. Seuss & how when you do not budge at all, you both go nowhere. Also, we learn from sharing our experiences-as in the story of the blind men & the elephant-one felt the trunk, one felt just the head, etc.-when all put together, they understood the “whole” & knew it was an elephant!
What is RAZ-Kids?
RAZ-Kids is an interactive online (internet) reading site, on which your child can read a book, answer questions, and even record himself or herself reading! You may remember this at-home reading program from previous school years—it’s a way for kids to improve their reading and comprehension skills by going online to read books! It will help your child learn to read better, and he/she will have enormous fun in the process! It’s easy to get started, just go on to the website www.raz-kids.com, use the username and password provided by the teacher, and watch your child’s reading skills improve, one session at a time!
If you need help or have any questions, please contact your teacher about this important online reading program.