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.