Newsletter 9

October 29, 2005

Dear Families,

Here’s what’s going on…..
In reading….
     We continue to work on book choice.  I want them to choose carefully, but I also want them to realize that sometimes it’s not easy to tell if a book is good or not until they try it.  Something that may help you as you choose books to read at home is the list of contenders vying for the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award.  We’ll be reading these at school, and voting on our favorite, and I think you’d enjoy them at home, too.  Many are worth rereading.  The web site is http://www.wlma.org/Association/wccpba.htm
Title
Author

Actual Size
Steve Jenkins
Forest Explorer
Nic Bishop
Agent A to Agent Z
Andy Rash
Gator Gumbo
Candace Fleming
Alice the Fairy
David Shannon
Goldie and the Three Bears
Diane Stanley
Arrowhawk
Lola M. Schaefer
I Wanna Iguana
Karen Kaufman Orloff
Baby Brains
Simon James
Karate Hour
Carol Nevius
Beatrice Doesn't Want To
Laura Numeroff
King of the Cats
Aaron Shepard
Blizzard
Betty Ren Wright
Manana Iguana
Ann Whitford Paul
Catalina Magdalena
Tedd Arnold
Mighty Jackie
Marissa Moss
Crazy Hair Day
Barney Saltzberg
Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth
Alison McGhee
Elves and the Shoemaker
Jim LaMarche
Superdog
Caralyn Buehner

In writing….
One consequence of writing every day is that students start paying more attention to spelling, because all of a sudden it’s important.  We’re working on teaching them strategies: like looking around the room for the word, thinking of a word they know that sounds the same, and stretching out the sounds and trying to match the sounds with letters that could make those sounds.  When you’re helping them write at home, I encourage you to just tell them the correct spelling.  This will help them maintain their focus on the most important thing:  meaning.  This will help them develop a personal “bank” of correctly spelled words they can use when they’re trying to spell a new word.  If you find yourself spelling certain things over and over, like grandma or thank you, I’d suggest writing those down somewhere so the writer has them when needed.
In math….
Bismarck is the capital of North Dakota.  Or is it South Dakota?  But really, who cares?  For most of us, this is just trivia.  It has no personal relevance, so we don’t pay much attention.  The fact is, all knowledge is trivia, unless there is some personal relevance.  There are just too many things to know and learn, and it is actually one important job of the brain to filter out that which is irrelevant.  We want our kids to learn math facts, so we ask: How do we turn them from trivial to important and personally relevant?  I think one great way is with games, which is why we’ve been practicing Cross Out, and which is why it came home this week.  Many students seem to enjoy this game, and my hope is that they’ll teach it to you, and it can be something you play now and then.  If so, great.  If not, there are other ways in—you probably have games right now that incorporate math at some level.  Your child will choose those that have personal relevance and importance.  Play when you get the chance—whether it’s at home, at a restaurant, or driving on a family trip through Bismarck, North Dakota.
Fall Party…
This will begin around 1:45 on October 31.  Students (and anyone else—feel free to bring those siblings) may bring costumes.  We’ll have them change after lunch recess, before the party.  Some may need reminders to wear proper shoes for P.E. that day, too.  Savannah’s mom has graciously volunteered to coordinate this, so I am forwarding offers of help to her.  If you can contribute, please call her.  
Current Chapter Book Read Aloud…
Winnie the Pooh  by A. A. Milne
Wish List…
Wallpaper—We’d like to have wallpaper samples to use for an art project, so if you have access to one of those books we can use, please let me know.
Dice—someone told me that casinos give their dice away free after they’ve used them, so if you or someone you know is in Las Vegas (or another place where they do that) we would really appreciate any they could get for us.  We find many uses for them.
Conferences…
You’ll see on the calendar that these are coming up in November.  I plan to share what I’ve learned about your child, and I’d love to hear anything you’ve noticed, or questions you have.  I’d also love to have the students here during the conferences, so they may take part.  I find it much more powerful to talk with them and to them, rather than about them.  They deserve to celebrate with us, and they deserve to hear what the next steps might be.  I don’t plan on saying anything they can’t hear, so please plan to bring them.  The sign-up sheets for conference times came home in the Thursday folders.
Calendar…

Friday, October 28—Early Release Day
Monday, October 31—Fall party (afternoon)
Friday, November 4—Science Fair, Western Dance
Thursday, November 10—No school
Friday, November 11—No school
November 17-November 22—Early release days; conferences
Wednesday, November 23—Early release day
November 24 & 25—No school
November 29—Noah’s birthday




Sincerely,


Jeff

Conference Request Form

October, 2005

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we near the end of the first report card period, plans are being made for parent-teacher
conferences.  In order to accommodate conferences, children will have early dismissal on each
of the following days:  

     Thursday, November 17          Friday, November 18
     Monday, November 21          Tuesday, November 22

On each of these days, students in will be dismissed at 12:15.  Parent-teacher conferences will be scheduled on these afternoons.  Before establishing our conference schedules, it would be extremely helpful to have an indication of your availability during these dates/times.  Every effort will be
made to schedule your conference at a time you indicate as being available.  Please note that we
will be able to offer a limited number of conferences on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 17.   Please indicate your availability by circling "yes" or "no" for each date below and return this to school
by Tuesday, November 1.   As soon as conferences are scheduled, you will receive notification of
your conference date and time.  

•     Thursday, November 17               YES               NO
•     Friday, November 18               YES               NO
•     Monday, November 21               YES               NO
•     Tuesday, November 22               YES               NO     

Student Name:______________________________     Teacher  :______________________________

Sibling(s) : ______________________________________________________________________________

Other information that would help us in scheduling your conference(s):
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                           


*** Our Annual Bookfair will also happen during conference week…more information to follow…***

Week of Monday, October 24

Monday, October 24, 2005
Jesse is Back in Time for P. E. and Music Fun!

  It’s a good thing Jesse came back today for P.E. and music because if he wasn’t here, then he would have missed all the Halloween fun.  We did a new Halloween song in music called Five Little Jack-O-Lanterns.  

In P.E. Mrs. Smith taught us a game.  All four walls in the gym had Halloween labels, like Bat Cave, Pumpkin Patch, Spider Web, and Trick or Treat.  We had to run to the one she said, when she said it.  And she sometimes tricked us by saying something we didn’t expect.  

We did another Halloween game in P.E.  We pretended that the huge green rectangle was a house, and there were bean bags in there that we pretended were candy.  Four people were it.  The rest of us had to try to get the bean bags, but if the people tagged us when we were running, we had to drop the candy and go on the other side of the green line and try again.  The game was done when the bean bags were all gone.  Tomorrow will be the Spider Obstacle Course.


Tuesday, October 25, 2005
ESCAPE FROM THE SPIDERS!

We went to the spider obstacle course today in the gym.  Mrs. Smith set it up.  Some fifth graders were there to help us.  So was Taylor’s mom.  There were lots of challenges.  Some were easy, and some were harder.  We had to work our way through without touching the spiders, or the webs, or bells, or balloons, or bowling pins, or pumpkins, or ghosts.  There was a table you had to crawl under without touching the bell.  There was a maze to go through.  Then you had to go through the hula hoops, under the jump ropes on our tummies on little square scooters, tiptoe through the pumpkin patch, climb under the net, and walk across the balance beam without touching the spider.  At the end we all got certificates from Mrs. Smith that said “I escaped from the spiders at physical education.”  We felt tired, excited, and happy.


Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Partners
Mrs. Willard-Reid’s class came over to play Cross Out today.  We let them sit in our chairs and we sat on the floor to watch Mr. Kurtz and Mrs. Willard-Reid play the game in front of us.  Then each class lined up, and Mrs. Willard-Reid paired us off so that we could play with someone from across the hall.  Some people were in groups of three.  We started playing and everyone had fun.  Then we cleaned up, and they went back, and we all did math happily ever after.


Friday, October 28, 2005
Half Day

We had a lot of fun on our half day.  A half day is where you spend only half of the day at school.  We’re at school until just a little while after lunch.  Then we leave school and do other things, like play with our friends, visit each other, read, go fishing, and go to daycare.  

At school this morning we made a wall story about our Halloween costumes.  We had to write our names, draw our Halloween costumes, and print what they were.   The most popular costume was a witch.  Seven people picked that costume.  And three people will be zombies.   The other costumes were cheerleader, Indian, Scream, Darth Vader, goblin, knight, gatekeeper, The Thing, dragon ninja, fairy, Belle, and Batman.  Those are great costumes, and it will be FUN on Halloween!