Nursing Students

Hi everyone. We are fortunate enough to have Linfield College nursing students work with us again this year. The students have to complete a rotation in a school setting so that they develop skills working with children. They teach us about healthy food choices, hand washing, toothbrushing, etc. They also have a component this year that requires that they complete a home visit with a family and do an assessment and training. Below is the information that they sent to Stephanie. Hopefully, one of our families will be willing to work with the student, Dee, to complete this. Let me know ASAP if you want to participate. Thanks, Beth

The family assessment and health promotion project asks that they interview a family for a 1-2 hour session in which questions about nutrition, physical activity, stress management, family support and resources will be asked. They would ideally meet at the family's home, but this is not imperative. The student will talk with the family about their priorities as to improving their health. With this information the student will design a simple health promotion activity to be presented to the family at a second home visit.

Data obtained in this visit will only be shared with their clinical instructor in a written paper. No information will be shared with any of the staff at Trillium Charter School.

The students need to make contact with the families by next Tuesday, October 21, 2008. I am copying this message to them so that they can relay specifics to their respective teacher preceptors as well, in an effort to hasten the search for families. They understand that the families would need to give consent to Trillium staff prior to being contacted by the students.

I hope that four of your families will be willing to volunteer their time in an effort to assist our students with this interesting project.

The students and myself will be grateful.

--
Billy Menz
K-1-2 Teacher
Trillium Charter School

Week of October 27

HALLOWEEN
Halloween is so exciting for kids and we kind of get into it as well. We will be having a special Halloween in the K-1-2 as it will be "Icky Science Day" which means that costumes should come in a bag to be changed into at 11 am. If the students wear their costumes from the start there can be no guarantee that they won't get messy from the science experiments. Also, we will be having our parade around the block and school at 11:15 so get there in time. It is quite a show. Finally, if students have weapons or sticks or anything that could be used as a weapon we ask you to leave it a home until trick or treating time. It saves everyone a lot of grief. If they do bring it I will take it from them and keep it out of reach. Thanks!

Homework
Work on your research project. It will be important for kids to have the questions on the fact sheet answered by next Monday at the latest. Please staple a copy of information you got from the Internet or if you are researching in a book bring the book for your child. If it is out of the encyclopedia then bring the book and we can copy it at school. Thanks
SHARING: bring your Halloween costume to wear in parade

Theme Unit
You all should have a packet that your child brought home on Friday about their dinosaur that they are going to research. This week we will continue to explore dinos and look into their existence on Earth and how they may have left our planet. Please help your child fill out the fact sheet found in the packet with their dino attached. This project will be much like the National Parks Project of last year. After the Halloween craziness is over we will begin to delve further into the project portion of the research and will need parents to help with any special supplies your child may need to complete their research. We should all realize that this is a process and that this project is a way for students to work towards completion of a learning activity. It will look different for every student and should as we encourage creativity and exploration but your role to help your kids over the next three weeks will also be important for their success. I will keep you informed as we get further into the project.

Homework
Since nobody is actually doing the homework I am putting it on hiatus until after the project is done. We will do the big word as a class and I will be trying to work with the students on certain activities that would be helpful at home but first modeled in the classroom. If you want some homework then I can have one of my volunteers copy off some work for your child.

Nutrition and Snack
Keep up the healthy donations on the snack. Thanks to Nephyr for helping with the buying and to Mickie for picking up the slack while she is in Thailand.

Scholastic Book Orders
Jennifer Sample (Emma's Mom) has organized the book orders for us this year and the deadline for the first order is on Monday. If you have your form and want to order books please drop the orders with the money in an envelope labeled "book order" to the forms box. Jennifer is working to get the orders online so that it is easier for people to order. The more books we order the more books we earn for the classroom so please take this opportunity to get more books for your kids and their classrooms.

Reading Workshop
Our reading workshop is coming along great and kids are starting to understand the rhythm of doing the work of reading. We have been talking about what strong readers do and the kids should be able to tell you some. Ask them.

Pictures
I am trying to get more pictures during the class and post them online. April created an account for this but I must admit that I can't even send my family pictures of Clark and Ellie. It is like I am opposed to the whole thing until I know it won't take up hours of my time. I will be working to get this set up on the blog in the next few weeks so that you can see some of the awesome things the kids are doing in the class.

Week of October 13

Homework
Show three different ways to get to the number 20. Make a picture to show you know it is 20
Big Word: h p e r i t s i c r o
Draw a picture of your bedroom and label things in it.
SHARING:

Theme Unit
Space was a lot of fun and I am hoping that students were energized with the final rocket blast off we had last Wednesday. It was a lot of fun and the kids really got into it. Now we are off to the time of dinosaurs. This will be a unit where we find out what students want to know about these incredible prehistoric creatures. OMSI will be coming on Oct. 21st to teach lessons surrounding dinosaurs with other activities going on in the other rooms. Please encourage your students to bring in any information they have about dinosaurs and share it with the class.

Community Circle
I would like to say that my favorite part of the school day has become our closing circle at the end of the day. Students share some things they liked about their day and some others that they didn't like. It is a wonderful time for everyone to be heard and listened to. It happens at the end of the day and although the Ks have not yet been involved, I am exploring ways to include them in this essential part of a healthy community.

Nutrition and Snack
Thank you to all of you who have donated to the snack fund already. Snack is being eaten very consistently by most of the students and Nephyr is doing a wonderful job of providing healthy and tasty snacks for the kids. Students are being very responsible for their food and are trying to keep the classroom clean. We are still exploring ideas for a snack fundraiser to happen later in the year.

Absences
I do not like being off of school but I am beginning to accept that it may be out of my control more often than I like this year. My wife is a medical student which means she has little leeway in her ability to take time off for family emergencies. This means that when my kids are sick, I will need to stay home. We are working to provide an accurate and dependable list of subs at Trillium, but it is still a work in progress. Please be talking to your students about the importance of being leaders in the classroom on days when I have to be absent. It is stressful to wonder what is happening in the class when I can't be there. The first one was a bad situation, but the kids did a much better job the next time. I hope they can continue to show responsibility on days like this.

Field Trips
We have a field trip up coming on Wednesday of this week. Thanks to Misty for signing up to drive. This will be a driving trip and we need more drivers. Please sign up outside the room. The trip will be to the NW Children's Theater and we will see Hansel and Gretel.

Volunteers
Thanks to all the people who have been helping out this year in the class. I will be holding a volunteer training in the near future for the jobs I would like to see happen in the class. I have been looking through the forms you all filled out and will be talking with you about specific positions that may work for you. Thanks for being involved.

Run for the Arts
Please have all of your run for the arts money returned to my forms box or the office by no later than Wednesday, October 15th.