Week of October 22

Homework

Spelling Words: read, green, when, your, think, has, off, then, how, walk, again, could
Challenge Words: immigration, Ellis Island, refugee, country, state, city, New York

*Bring in pictures of things that start with the letter H.
*Answer ancestor questions with your parents. (to be written in class)
*Figure out how many days until your birthday. Use a calendar to help you and remember that most months have 30 or 31 days. Show how you figured out your answer on a piece of paper using pictures, numbers or words.

Classroom Updates

Class Meeting has been really developing and Django moderated the last meeting where we passed a proposal to make the loft a quiet space for activities and reading. Many of the students also attended the first Lower School Meeting of the year. Some of our students brought a proposal to the committee and the proposal was heard loud and clear by the teachers. The proposal never made it to the meeting because teachers felt it was a safety issue and needed to be addressed without student oversight. Thanks to Mason, Stella, and Django (and the class contributions) the outside boat will be bolted down to make it more safe for kid play.
Pokemon Club is meeting on Thursdays during recess and is going well. Pokemon had infiltrated the classroom for a short period of time but since the boundary was set that club meets on Thursday, the students have been responsive and responsible about the issue.

Immigration

We have been studying immigration and what that meant for people in the late 1800s. We have been discussing what immigration means and the different types of immigrants that have come to our country for the varying reasons. We have discussed slavery, religious freedom and this week we will be talking about a different kind of immigrant: the refugee.
Students are also working in small groups to develop a “storyline” of an immigrant family in New York. Groups are creating individual characters and houses to show where they would live and how it would look to be in an immigrant family. There is one group acting as a Native American family. We have talked about how they were not immigrants to our land.

Thank Yous, snack, sleepover, etc.

It seems I always have so many thank yous but they just keep coming. The Jorgensons have helped out our classroom with providing an Internet ready room, calculators and hand held pencil sharpeners (whew.) Misty, Nikos and Ellie braved the sleepover and survived the restless legs and wild dance party. It was a blast to see kids being kids even if it drives their parents to the edge. We love our kids! Nephyr and Aaron are also continuing to provide very healthy options for our kids at lunch and the community is really helping out with the snack donations. Thanks a lot! The kids and their bodies love the snacks.

Field Trips and Halloween

We will be starting to turn our attention to the Midwest and farms. This week we are heading to the Pumpkin Patch. This will be just like in years past and is a fun annual outing. On Halloween, we are doing something a little different. We will be attempting to avoid the sugar craziness and will visit a farm in Corbett. This trip will introduce students to the real underworkings of a farm and square dancing is planned. It should be fun. When we return to school the students will finish the day by writing and sharing spooky Halloween stories.

White Take Home Folders

Some of you have noticed the white take home folders on the entryway shelf. These may be used more frequently in the future but for now they are simply a vehicle for me to send work home and for students and parents to keep track of the books students are reading. The folders will probably only come home every three weeks to correlate with the theme units. When it is sent home, please bring it back empty the next day. Thanks!

Parent Conferences

These are coming up and will be scheduled for the week before Thanksgiving break. Just giving you guys a heads up!