Week of Feb 25

Hello everyone,

First of all, I wanted to let everyone know that I will be absent from class a significant amount of time over the next two weeks. I will be absent the following days due to family obligations and a workshop. BILLY OUT:

Thursday, Feb 28 Friday, Feb 29 Monday, Mar 3 Wednesday, Mar 5

I would appreciate if you talk to your children about the importance of being responsible when a sub is there and that school goes on very similar to when I am there. Carrie Mae will be my sub and I will advise her to take up issues with ya'll. I will be working with my students on sub behavior this week since our last sub experience was something we would all like to forget.

Homework
Sound: Cr as in creak
Turn in Wednesday
Number: 100
Turn in Thursday
Big Word: O C D E Y C M R A
Turn in Friday
Theme: Students can continue to work on their publishing party stories at home. It is great to work on final drafts or illustrations at home.
Turn in anytime
Wacky Wednesday: Funny hat day
Turn in Friday
Sharing: Favorite Book
Sharing is on Friday at 9:00

Field Trips and Swimming
WE ARE GOING SWIMMING TODAY, MONDAY FEB 25 AT 1230. Hopefully everyone shows up to drive. Please leave carseats for the drivers.
Here are our field trips for the rest of the year.
Feb 25 Swimming @Mt. Scott
Mar 7
Mar 21 Buddie Trip to Audobahn Society
Apr
Apr
May
May
June

Report Cards go out today. Please read them over with your students and if you have any questions you can ask me or ask to have a meeting. Conferences are a good time to discuss issues involving report cards

Buddies
We have been working with our Middle School Buddies more often and we are planning some Friday trips with them soon. We will be going to the Audobahn Sanctuary on Friday, March 21st. We are also trying to combine on an Auction piece for the May 10 Trillium Auction. So far we only have the idea of chess boards and pieces. If anyone has a great idea for a large group to do for the auction, please let me know.

Theme Unit
We have left the Everglades which was a very successful unit. The kids really got into building the Pinelands part of the ecosystem. We talked about the ecosystem and how delicate it can be and what happens to it when even one producer or consumer is removed. I think most of our students were very aware of how these things can affect the entire balance.

We are now moving on to Washington D.C. and studying the democracy of our country. We will be holding an election in our class for a new mascot. Students will be nominating mascots and working on campaigns to elect them. It should be a lot of fun.

Publishing Party
We are all working very hard to get our stories done for the Publishing Party on Mar. 7th. The Ks will start tomorrow. Students have chosen to work on stories for the event and will have a choice as to whether they want to be in it. On the 7th, everyone who has published can attend the event with others who have published. In order to be "published" you should go through the process of writing. Generating and organizing ideas, writing a draft, edit and revise, create a final piece of work.

The Ks will be starting their stories this week and will probably need help with the writing part of their stories. If they choose to publish then they will need some assistance with reading at the event. All parents are invited to attend and we will have some special snacks and treats for the kids who publish their work.

Conferences
I will be scheduling conferences for the week before Spring Break. Please try to sign up at a time when I have indicated, but feel free to talk to me if none of those times work. If need be I will overflow into the Monday of Spring Break since we will be working hard on the Project Fair that week.

Project Night
Project Night is Thursday, March 20th. This is a big event for Trillium where students get to see each other's work and where students get to display a lot of the work they have been doing. This will be the focus of our time over the next few weeks and students will start "expert" classes next week. I will be teaching an architecture class about the Bridges of Portland.