Friday, December 01, 2006

We went to the gymnasium and had our hearing and our vision checked. There was a long line. They could only check two people at a time: one on hearing and one on vision. There wasn’t anything for the other people to do while we were waiting.

So, we went back to the classroom and got our calendars, and then went back to the gymnasium and wrote the numerals in on them.

When it was time to get checked, here is what happened: For the eye test, you put a piece of paper over your left or right eye. Then a woman pointed to a letter and you would say it out loud. She did this a few times, and then we had to switch eyes. For the hearing test, she had us put on a pair of headphones. The headphones were weird. They were metal, with one red side and one blue side. Then she pressed a button and it would beep in one ear. You had to put up the hand on the side where you heard the beep. There were about 5 beeps in each ear.

They wrote down how we did, and we took the papers home to show.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Katie lost a tooth.

Noah’s mom brought cupcakes. They looked like a cake on top, but underneath were 28 cupcakes. It said “Happy Birthday, Noah!” on it. They were tender. There were chocolate cupcakes with about two inches of frosting and sprinkles. The frosting was rainbow colored. Some people got writing. They were delicious. They were so yummy that everyone wanted their favorite color. They were blue and yellow and green and red.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

We're thankful (continued):

Taylor T. is thankful for her mom and dad putting dinner on the table.

Jared is thankful for his teacher for helping him in math when he gets mixed up.

Tyler is thankful for his family because they tuck him in at night. He loves them.

Brandon is thankful for his grandma because every time he goes to her house, she lets him pet her pet pig, and his name is Snot because he snots all the time.

Connor is thankful for his teacher because he helps Connor with writing.

John is thankful for his mom and dad for putting dinner on his plate.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

We’re thankful for lots of things:

Noah is thankful for his mom and dad, because when he misses the bus, they drive him to school.

Katie is thankful for her parents because they feed her and take care of her.

Jamie is thankful for her friends because they help her when she gets hurt.

Sydney is thankful for her parents because they give the most important thing about life, and that’s love.

Jordan is thankful for the army because they protect our country.

Mariah is thankful to God for giving America to us. Brycen is thankful for the whole world because it’s very nice to us.

Hannah is thankful for the army because they are trying to save our world. Chris is thankful for police for saving us, and for people giving us food every day.

Mckayla is thankful for the people who grow plants and trees so we can breathe air.

Aubrey is thankful for her grandma helping her when she gets sick.

Ashley is thankful for her parents because they work to put food on the table and give her love. YaXi is thankful for her mommy and daddy because they hug her and kiss her before she goes to bed.

to be continued...

Monday, November 20, 2006

It’s another half day today because we are having conferences. Conferences are when the teacher talks to the parents or guardians to hear about how well you are doing in class. They talk about behavior and school work. The teacher hands out the report card, too. The kids get to share some of their work, too, like science journals, math notebooks, writing journals, published writing, and books they like. It’s a time to celebrate.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Today is another half day. The people that have hot lunch go down right after first recess. The people with cold lunch get their lunches and go down to join them. The hot lunches came in bags. But this time they didn’t cook it. The lunch lady just made it. It was a tuna sandwich with tiny pickle squares in it. They were as tiny as pencil erasers. There was a mini bag of Doritos. There was strawberry applesauce and an M&M cookie. It was delicious.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Levi is moving to his new house. He is moving to a new school, too. He is moving to Seattle. We got him a book. It’s a poem book about animals. It’s called Rumble in the Jungle. It'’s by Giles Andreae. We wrote our names and messages in it so he would remember his class. Tomorrow he is going to visit his new school. We hope he makes lots of new friends. We hope he'’ll come back and visit us. We will really miss him. Goodbye, Levi.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

We went to the book fair. It was fun. We picked out the books that we liked, and then we wrote them down on a piece of paper. Some people had to have two pieces of paper because they wanted a lot of books; some people only needed one piece. Now we’re going to take the lists home. Then we’re going to show it to our dads, or moms, or whoever. Then we’ll ask if someone will buy books for us. We can bring the money back to school tomorrow, or Friday, or next Monday, or next Tuesday if we want to buy the book.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

We did science using water and air yesterday. We used water and we could put vials inside of the water and it would make bubbles come up out of the water. The bubbles in the vial were air. When we put the vial in the basin sideways, then it will make make big bubbles, if you force it in. One thing we did was put a paper towel in the bottom of the vial. We put it into the water and tried to keep the paper towel dry. It is easier to block the opening with your hand than to just plunge it in when you’re trying to keep the paper towel dry. We learned that when you put a towel into a vial and you stick the vial upside down in the water, the towel won’t get wet, even if you move the vial around.

Newletter 5

2006-2007…Room 302—Newsletter 5…http://room302.blogspot.com

November 8, 2006

Dear Families,

We have busy times ahead, including conferences, holidays, and our holiday program. It should be lots of fun.

Party

Our Halloween party was great. There were six stations, and the children spent about 10 minutes at each. Without fail, the students were interested and engaged at all times. My thanks to everyone who was able to contribute and help make this another meaningful and worthwhile use of our school day.

conferences

Speaking of meaningful experiences, conference time is upon us. I plan to have the children present. I plan about 20 minutes for us to talk. For some, 20 minutes is plenty of time. For others, it might not be enough. Either way, I ask your help in making sure the conferences start at the appropriate time and do not run long. Our staff has worked to coordinate schedules so that sibling times are back to back, and if we get off schedule, the impact could affect many others. A sheet came home today, Wednesday, with your scheduled conference time. Please send it back to let me know the time works for you. As I said, these have been coordinated throughout our school, so if changes need to happen, we need to know fast. If I don’t see the confirmation slip back, I assume the time works.

In the interest of making the experience meaningful for you, I’m asking that you plan on starting with any specific questions that you have. My hope is that you won’t walk away with concerns or questions unanswered.

Why bring kids?

I want the students at the conferences. The topic of the conference will be them. The point of the conference is to celebrate their work, their progress, their accomplishments. They did all the work—how can we celebrate without them?

If you have an overriding need to speak to me about something that is inappropriate for the child to witness or overhear, perhaps we set up a different time to talk. If there are other conflicts that cannot be helped, so be it. It might not work for everyone.

Our day, each day…..

I thought that having a sense of our day might help before you come in, so here’s a basic layout:

Read Aloud / word work: I like to start our day with a story. Word Work includes “spelling”.

Writers’ Workshop: They usually write in journals. Once a week they do special project.

Bathroom/Recess

Readers’ Workshop: Students usually choose their own reading material. They each have a book box or bag containing things they want to read.

Lunch and recess

Math: Each student has a math workbook and a math notebook.

Science: we have just started science journals, which may be of interest

Jobs / clean up / pack up

Shared Writing

Chapter Book

Chapter Book

Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe.

We’re also reading Junie B., First Grader: BOO…and I Mean It! by Barbara Park

Field Trip

We’re signed up to go to the Seattle Children’s Theater to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice by OyamO. We’re going with the other second grade class,. I think we’re about full on the chaperone list, but if you still want to go, I can put you on a waiting list, in case we end up with extra room. Some people have sent permission slips back; many have not. If you’re confirmed chaperone, please make a note of it and include an extra $10.50.

Blog

The main thing I use the web log (blog) for is to relate what happens in our school day, so we try to do it at the end of the day. Lately, our afternoons have been quite full. As a result, we do not always get time to do our daily news. I do think it’s a valuable use of our time, though, so I’ll continue to play with the schedule. I have recently updated the blog with what we’ve done so far, and I’ll try to be more timely about posting in the future. Thanks to those that have been asking about it.

Calendar

Thursday, November 9—no school	Monday, November 20—conferences, early release, 12:15
Friday, November 10—no school	Tuesday, November 21—conferences, early release, 12:15
Wednesday, November 15—Library	Wednesday, November 22—early release, 12:15
Thursday, November 16—conferences, early release, 12:15	Thursday, November 23—no school
Friday, November 17—Levi’s last day	Friday, November 24—no school
Friday, November 17—conferences, early release, 12:15

Sincerely,

Jeff