February Update:

It looks like we have a mixed response for what afternoon to have homework help so I may change or rotate the days each week or so. This week we will meet to work on homework and math on Thursday, 2/5. Your child can stay from 2:30 to 4:00. Please send a snack for your child. Let me know: if you plan on your child staying, who will be picking them up at 4:00 and if there are any special circumstances. Regarding plans for the following week, I have a rescheduled meeting Monday after school, so I will most likely have homework help Thursday, 2/12. Maybe we can have a Monday after that!

Students have asked about having another service afternoon and I have an opportunity for them on Saturday mornings if any family is interested. The Garden club will be working on our playground gardens and the new pollinator garden at the front of the school on Saturdays at 10am. This is a great way to serve the school and learn a lot about gardening. I went this past Saturday and dug bulbs for us to transplant. I was able to watch a 4th grader in Peggy’s room get a lesson on pruning fruit trees that was really informative. The child was immediately able to talk about water sprouts and fruit sprouts and where was the best place to cut to help the tree produce fruit. Joan, the garden leader, is trying to have experts at the garden to continue to teach all of us how to care for our school gardens. If Saturdays don’t work, I would love a volunteer to help plant bulbs with the kids while I stay in the room doing what I have to do. Last year some parents took 4-5 kids out at a time to plant. We worked on measurement concepts so that we could determine how many bulbs to plant in a row, as well as how deep to plant the bulbs. I would prep the kids for this before they go outside, so let me know if you are available in the mornings before 11 or between 1:25 and 2:30.

Class pictures are this Wednesday morning! We are also going to learn how to create an online timeline Wednesday afternoon with Mr. Emry. The kids will be able to decide what points in early American history that they would like to include on the timeline, as well as what pictures, videos and captions to embed in the timeline. We will keep this timeline active throughout the year to help students gain historical perspective. We will also practice giving credit to sources we use.

This Thursday is an early release unless the district changes this due to missing this afternoon. Your children will be dismissed from school at noon. This Friday is a teacher workday.

Feb. 18th will be the Center for Diversity Ed’s Good Fortune program. We will learn about various New Year celebrations around the world. Many of these celebrations center around the moon. So students will also be working on a moon journal as understanding the moon’s phases is part of our science curriculum. Cross your fingers as the 4th grade teachers applied for a TAPAS grant to continue our annual basketry project. This year the culminating project will be a mobile of the earth, sun and moon to be hung in a common place in our existing school and then in the new school. If we get the grant, students will learn from basketry artists, Carla and Greg, how to make a trivet and a basket. We also tie this into NC culture and arts study by talking about how baskets have been created and used by various groups throughout history.

Something else we will start soon is cursive writing practice during the school day. This should be a review of the cursive instruction students received last year. Research indicates that cursive writing can help students who struggle with reading as well as spelling, so I would like to make sure students have the ability to pick what works best for them.

Last thing, please let me know if anyone is available on weekends to help with the chickens. You get free eggs!!

You can sign up at:

https://docs.google.com/a/acsgmail.net/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnDgQOH1VqvxdEJhdUJnbEJZNUJaYnNkUGt6ZDdRWVE&usp=drive_web#gid=0


Thanks,

Kate