Homework-December 10

Homework is the same as last week for the most part.

Continue to work on spelling student names and use them in a story or sentences.
Fill out your food chart and bring it in by Friday.
Bring in a baby picture by Wednesday! I will be creating a board so we can guess who is who.
No Sharing on Friday!

Also, in the future, and this week, all necessary sheets will be located in the middle tray on top of the entryway shelf. The food chart and a class list are there this week. Also, you can turn homework into the top tray of the stack of three trays.

Thanks!

Spirit week was rockin'!

We started a new read aloud and all the kids are totally into it. We are reading The Indian in the Cupboard. Some of the kids have seen the movie, (Uggh, Hollywood) but it has not detracted us. It is also my first time reading the book which makes the whole experience really exciting. We will be doing more activities around the book in an effort to help students learn to respond to books.

Jonathon (Claire's dad) came in this week and did a cool project with the kids and crystals. Luckily, he didn't taste borox like me when the Ks and I did our crystal experiment. The older kids really enjoyed making the crystals. Thanks Jonathon!

Phina rocked Science Friday and did a wonderful demonstration of how gravity works and how weight does not necessarily mean that something will fall faster to the ground. Almost everyone was involved in the lesson and only one person, Sebastian, made an accurate hypothesis about which object would fall to the ground first. She also showed how wind resistance can slow an object down.

POETRY is the name of our game these days with writing. We have been reading Shel Silverstein in class and discussing different forms of poetry. We are trying to create a book of poetry and have a reading before break. The reading will likely be the 20th or 21st at a place yet to be determined. If you have any poetry at home please choose to read it a home too an encourage your student to write a poem about a topic they enjoy.

Many kids were excited this week when we reinstituted quiet reading time in the class. Sometimes there is so much going on at Trillium that students never really get a chance to just chill with a book. I think that we all enjoyed the time and it will continue.

Students are also busily working to prepare for Performance Night this Friday. We can't wait to see all them in action. Seating will start at 6:15 so that we can get started right at 6:30.

By the way, thanks for all the encouragement with the gender switch day. It was surprisingly nice to wear a dress. Although the cat calls got a little old.

I will try to have more pictures and would love to get more student writing on the blog. I need parent helpers to transcribe student stories and writing if anyone has the time.

Finally, if anyone has some old records laying around their house we could really use them this week by Wednesday. They will be used for an art project this week. Also, I am going to put a bin out for caps. Later in the year I want to do a cap art project and it would be nice to have a variety by the time that comes. It will be near the front of the room this week.

Thanks for being so supportive and helpful. Your kids are awesome!

December 3

Here is some news for the week.

We will be going to the Belmont Fire Station on Tuesday for a field trip. Drivers so far are me, Courtney, Shanna, and Martin. If you are able to drive please sign up tomorrow on the list. We will be leaving at 10 and hopefully, if the weather is acceptable we will picnic at Laurelhurst Park. If not we will just come back to school for lunch. Bring a sack lunch!

Phina is signed up for Science Friday this week and I hear that we are going to be doing something related to gravity. Can't wait Phina.

The Scholastic Book orders have been a little confusing so far but no more. There is a Scholastic box on the entryway shelf where people can drop off orders in the envelope for orders. Also, we will try to use this box for order pickup depending on the volume of orders received.

On Sunday the Magnus family will be hosting us for our 2nd Class Potluck of the year.
The event will also be designed as a winter clothes swap so bring your old kids clothes so that other families can use and abuse them. Bring a dish, drinks or snacks if you are able. I know it is far away for many families, but our SE crew has to deal with that issue constantly. There house is really cool and spacious and down the block from Lents Park. It should be a good time. Lets go see how it is on the other side of Burnside.
EVENT INFO: Sunday, 12/9, 11:30 to 1:30
Claire's House
5323 SE 89th

Please remember to mark your calendar for Friday, December 14th at 6:30. We will be holding our annual Performance Night in the Multipurpose Room. There will be singing, dancing and two plays performed by K.1.2 students. It is always an entertaining event and the kids love it. That said, if anyone knows how to sew yellow jacket costumes, please let me know.

Homework for December 3-7

1) Fill out a food label chart of ten foods you enjoy eating.
2) Write 5 sentences about 10 different people in class.
3)Find out the value of your name using the following pattern.
a=1, b=2, c=3.....z=26
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Sharing Topic: A picture of you as a baby. (We will guess who is who)
Phonics: Bring in pictures or words of things that start with S
Spelling: Practice spelling student names.