newsletter

Peregrine Press

December 15-19

 

Schedule

Tuesday:  P.E.

Wednesday:  Art

Thursday Out and About to Goodwill

Friday:  Holiday Celebration

   Last Week:

We had another great week!  Our Out and About took us near B Street Farm where the students worked in groups to create "natural sculptures."  They recently studied the work of an artist named Andy Goldsworthy that created these natural art forms using only the materials that were in the natural place.  Our class created beautiful sculptures using fallen limbs, ivy, morning glory and other plant life.  I again was very impressed with the teamwork and cooperation that took place in the different groups.

On Wednesday we spent some time learning about how to write a friendly letter.  We then used those skills to write letters to our soldiers and to children in the hospital.  We used old cards, fabric and other miscellaneous materials to create cards as well.  This fit nicely with our study of consumerism, and the kids were able to see that you can create beautiful work without buying new materials.

The focus for the consumerism unit this week was "How Green is Our Clothing."  We talked about different methods for growing cotton, and the impact of pesticides on different species.  This sparked a great discussion about the challenges people face with trying to decide what to buy.  Many kids feel that organic food is too expensive so their families can't afford it, but then they feel bad that they are hurting the environment.

 

We continued our work with literacy circles.  I have seen some great leadership come out of this experience!  We also reflected on our goals (we have been doing that every Friday).  A new thing that I am hoping to incorporate every Friday is a weekly summary.  As a class we brainstorm all of the things we did during the week and then each student is responsible for writing a summary about one or two of the topics.  I feel that summarizing is a skill that students need some more practice with.  I also have noticed that many students are mixing up plurals and contractions.  During morning meeting we reviewed the differences between them, as well as when to us "a" and when to use "an" when dealing with a singular noun that starts with a vowel or consonant.

 

This Week:

I have no idea what to expect this week with the weather so we will just have to be flexible and prepared for anything.  If we do have some regular days of school we will be working on our reindeer tales, literacy circles (creative writing activity) and consumerism.  Our trip to Goodwill will only happen if it is safe to do so.  If it is too cold to walk we may try to take the bus, or we might try and reschedule for January.

**I am not sending homework this week, or over Christmas break.

**We are out of erasers so if anyone feels like donating either the eraser tops or the big pink erasers we would really appreciate it. Thanks.

**I will be boxing up the soldier care packages mid-week so any more donations of treats, or money for shipping would be wonderful!

newsletter

Peregrine Press

December 8-12

 

Schedule:

Monday: Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About to Ash Street Field for an Art connection

Wednesday:  P.E.

Thursday: Art

    

Last Week:

Thank you so much for coming to the Celebrations of Learning!  There was a great turn out and I have to say that the hot chocolate and cocoa made the night perfect.  I loved watching the students and families interacting in a social setting where everyone was so happy.  That night really showed me just how great our community is!  I love being a part of it all.

 

We kicked off our consumerism unit with a study of potato chips.  The students learned about how long it takes, and how many different materials are required to create a bag of potato chips.  This process includes "inputs" and "outputs" that your children should be able to explain to you.  We then visited Waste Management where we were able to see how much waste Forest Grove creates.  We learned that 20 loads of semi-trucks take waste to the landfill in McMinnville every day, just from the Forest Grove site.  The trucks can't weigh more than 92,000 pounds (including the weight of the truck itself).  That is so much waste!  I think one of the most favorite parts of the Out and About was when we all got on the giant scale and found that we weigh over 2,000 pounds as a class.  On the way back to school we picked up litter off of the sidewalks to try and help clean up our town.

 

On Wednesday we watched the video title "The Story of Stuff" that I encourage you all to watch.  You can google it and watch it on your computer.  This showed the students the process all goods go through from extraction to production to waste, with a few other steps in between.  This helped the students to see that we consume in a linear cycle that is polluting our earth and is not sustainable.  Thursday the students were assigned a group and a task with very little direction from me that was to simulate the steps in creating any "good or product".  They could earn reward tokens or penalty tokens depending on the actions they took. (Those actions either polluted the environment or helped conserve materials.)  This was not only a great activity for the kids to see how every single thing that they do effects someone or something, this was also a great teambuilding activity.  I saw students working really well together to accomplish the task.

 

At Running Club I was really impressed with how many more kids were running.  They also are demonstrating a higher level of success and independence with working on mean, median, mode and range.

 

We started literacy circles this week as well.  I know many of the students are not really excited about the books they are reading, but I am hoping they will get past that because literacy circles are a great opportunity for students to improve their reading fluency, vocabulary development and comprehension.  It is also a great opportunity for students to be leaders and learn to compromise.

 

***On Thursday every student should have brought home a list of things that the soldiers would appreciate in their care packages.  I encourage you if you can, to provide even just one thing off of the list.  My goal is to have those done by this Friday so that they can be sent off in time to arrive before Christmas.

 

This Week:

We will continue or study of consumerism with a focus on how "green" our clothes are.  In order to do a really cool activity though I need a soil sample from everyone and the soil needs to be dried out.  I sent home homework last week for everyone that explained this, but only 2 students bought back the soil.  Please send in a snack bag of soil as soon as possible.

 

We are going to start writing letters and Christmas cards to kids in the hospital to hopefully bring some cheer to their holidays.  Literacy circles will continue as well.  Towards the end of the week my goal is to start a writing activity where the students will get to use their imaginations to write reindeer tales.  Last year we wrote Turkey Tales about how a turkey may or may not have escaped Thanksgiving Dinner and the students really seemed to enjoy that.

 

***Outdoor School money reminder:  The payments are due on the 5^th of each month so if you have not paid for December please get that to Donna in the office ASAP.  Thanks!

 

Upcoming Events

Monday December 15^th:  Buddy Lunch and All School Meeting

Thursday December 18th:  Out and About to Goodwill

Friday December 19th:  Holiday Celebration  (I would like to show a Christmas movie as part of the fun.  If you object to a PG movie please let me know so that I can make an appropriate decision about the movie.  I would also like to do hot chocolate and candy canes if anyone would like to donate either of those items.  I encourage people to bring a mug so that we don't have to waste any paper cups.)

 

newsletter

Peregrine Press

December 1-5

 

Schedule

Monday: Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About to Waste Management

Wednesday: PE; Celebrations of Learning 5-6:30

Thursday: Art

 

Last Week:

Those 2 days were jam packed.  We had another buddy lunch and All School Meeting on Monday.  We also spent a great deal of time working on the class newsletter.  Each student contributed to the newsletter and several student editors typed it all up and designed the layout.  That newsletter will be completed on Monday and will hopefully be sent out by Tuesday.  Tuesday Laura led us in a great teambuilding activity where students created "monsters." Your children can probably explain it J. Tuesday afternoon we worked with literary devices (writing enhancers) such as alliteration and personification to write poems about Thanksgiving or November.

 

This Week:

Celebrations of Learning

Wednesday, December 3rd

-At FGCS

-5:00-6:30

-Bring a mug and a treat if you can.  We will provide hot chocolate and coffee.

For our celebrations of learning I would encourage anyone that can, to please bring in a treat to be shared.  It would be great if we could share some of the food that the students included in their heritage projects.  This night will be an opportunity for students to share their heritage projects, their Outdoor School projects and also kick start our service projects.  The class has voted on two main service projects for the winter.  The first is to adopt a local family to provide gifts for.  This will be through the Family Resource Center.  The second is to assemble care packages for soldiers overseas.  We have several students in our class this year that have family members serving overseas and we really want to show our support.  So, this Wednesday, at the Celebrations of Learning I would love to kick start these projects and get the details out to everyone.

 

For the months of December and January our main theme will be Consumerism.  For this unit students will be learning about product life cycles, persuasive ad techniques, reducing consumption and many other aspects of consumerism.  Our Out and About to Waste Management will be a great way to get the class thinking about how much we "consume" and waste.

 

Upcoming Events

December 9^th: Out and About to Ash Street Field

December 19^th:  Classroom Holiday Celebration

newsletter

Peregrine Press

December 1-5

 

Schedule

Monday: Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About to Waste Management

Wednesday: PE; Celebrations of Learning 5-6:30

Thursday: Art

 

Last Week:

Those 2 days were jam packed.  We had another buddy lunch and All School Meeting on Monday.  We also spent a great deal of time working on the class newsletter.  Each student contributed to the newsletter and several student editors typed it all up and designed the layout.  That newsletter will be completed on Monday and will hopefully be sent out by Tuesday.  Tuesday Laura led us in a great teambuilding activity where students created "monsters." Your children can probably explain it J. Tuesday afternoon we worked with literary devices (writing enhancers) such as alliteration and personification to write poems about Thanksgiving or November.

 

This Week:

Celebrations of Learning

Wednesday, December 3rd

-At FGCS

-5:00-6:30

-Bring a mug and a treat if you can.  We will provide hot chocolate and coffee.

For our celebrations of learning I would encourage anyone that can, to please bring in a treat to be shared.  It would be great if we could share some of the food that the students included in their heritage projects.  This night will be an opportunity for students to share their heritage projects, their Outdoor School projects and also kick start our service projects.  The class has voted on two main service projects for the winter.  The first is to adopt a local family to provide gifts for.  This will be through the Family Resource Center.  The second is to assemble care packages for soldiers overseas.  We have several students in our class this year that have family members serving overseas and we really want to show our support.  So, this Wednesday, at the Celebrations of Learning I would love to kick start these projects and get the details out to everyone.

 

For the months of December and January our main theme will be Consumerism.  For this unit students will be learning about product life cycles, persuasive ad techniques, reducing consumption and many other aspects of consumerism.  Our Out and About to Waste Management will be a great way to get the class thinking about how much we "consume" and waste.

 

Upcoming Events

December 9^th: Out and About to Ash Street Field

December 19^th:  Classroom Holiday Celebration

Peregrine Press

December 1-5

 

Schedule

Monday: Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About to Waste Management

Wednesday: PE; Celebrations of Learning 5-6:30

Thursday: Art

 

Last Week:

Those 2 days were jam packed.  We had another buddy lunch and All School Meeting on Monday.  We also spent a great deal of time working on the class newsletter.  Each student contributed to the newsletter and several student editors typed it all up and designed the layout.  That newsletter will be completed on Monday and will hopefully be sent out by Tuesday.  Tuesday Laura led us in a great teambuilding activity where students created "monsters." Your children can probably explain it J. Tuesday afternoon we worked with literary devices (writing enhancers) such as alliteration and personification to write poems about Thanksgiving or November.

 

This Week:

Celebrations of Learning

Wednesday, December 3rd

-At FGCS

-5:00-6:30

-Bring a mug and a treat if you can.  We will provide hot chocolate and coffee.

For our celebrations of learning I would encourage anyone that can, to please bring in a treat to be shared.  It would be great if we could share some of the food that the students included in their heritage projects.  This night will be an opportunity for students to share their heritage projects, their Outdoor School projects and also kick start our service projects.  The class has voted on two main service projects for the winter.  The first is to adopt a local family to provide gifts for.  This will be through the Family Resource Center.  The second is to assemble care packages for soldiers overseas.  We have several students in our class this year that have family members serving overseas and we really want to show our support.  So, this Wednesday, at the Celebrations of Learning I would love to kick start these projects and get the details out to everyone.

 

For the months of December and January our main theme will be Consumerism.  For this unit students will be learning about product life cycles, persuasive ad techniques, reducing consumption and many other aspects of consumerism.  Our Out and About to Waste Management will be a great way to get the class thinking about how much we "consume" and waste.

 

Upcoming Events

December 9^th: Out and About to Ash Street Field

December 19^th:  Classroom Holiday Celebration

newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 24 and 25

 

Schedule

Monday:  Buddy Lunch with Sherry's Class and John's Class; All School Meeting

Tuesday:  Team Building with Laura

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: No School-Enjoy Your Thanksgiving!

 

**I forgot to bring my camera home to upload the most recent pictures so I will post some pictures on the blog on Monday.

 

Last Week:

We started out last week with a visit to Pacific University where we enjoyed some different cultural food and musical entertainment.  The event was called FAME and stood for Food, Arts, Music and Entertainment.  The kids had an opportunity to taste some baklava, spam, vegan squash soup and many other cultural foods.  This tied in nicely with our study of heritage and it also gave the students an opportunity to be brave and try something new!

On Tuesday we spent almost the whole day focused on Outdoor School.  First we brainstormed as much as we could about all the things we learned and participated in while at outdoor school.  The students then used the brainstormed list to write a paragraph about each field study so they could share what they learned.  The end product also allowed for illustrations and creativity.  I was really impressed with how well the students did with this project.  They stayed focused and appeared to have a great time doing it.  Their paragraphs express a great deal of understanding of the different concepts we studied at outdoor school.

Wednesday the kids took turns sharing parts of their heritage projects.  It was really fun to see the excitement in their eyes when they shared something about their family.  First thing Thursday morning we left for Cornelius Elementary School.  When we arrived the kids were initially very nervous and hesitant to meet their buddies, but after a few minutes of sharing they loosened up.  There was time to play games and have a little bit of recess with them as well which seemed like a nice icebreaker for them.  Overall I think it was a rally nice experience for all the kids.

Friday Laura Harley (Out and About Coordinator) subbed for me because Thursday night I got very sick with some sort of flu.  She reported to me that the class was well behaved and respectful, which is not surprising because they are a great group of kids!  They did their usual spelling tests, goal reflections and then they joined Gretchen's class for Running Club.

 

This Week:

This coming week is going to be very short.  Monday we will have Buddy Lunch with Sherry's Class and John's Class then we will go to the All School Meeting.  The theme for this meeting is "thankful" so students can dress in attire that represents what they are "thankful" for.  I did not get a chance to tell the class about this because I was gone on Friday so please relay that message to your kids.  It may be a difficult "dress up" day, but I am sure these creative kids will find a way to represent what they are thankful for.  They do not have to dress up if they don't want to.  It is completely optional.  Tuesday we will do some teambuilding with Laura and do some reflecting on what we are thankful for.

 

**I am not sending any homework this week (Unless you were one of the students that did not turn in the outdoor school homework, or turned it in incomplete).  Those students do need to get that homework turned into my by Tuesday.  I would like the kids to have quality family time as much as possible this week. 

 

Upcoming Events:

December 3^rd: Celebrations of Learning and Hot Chocolate Social

(This will be a night to celebrate the heritage projects and see pictures from outdoor school.)  Please bring your own mug for a nice hot drink.

 

newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 17-21

 

Schedule

Monday:  Cultural Celebration at Pacific University 1:00-2:00

Tuesday: No Out and About

Wednesday:  P.E.

Thursday:  Out and About to Cornelius Elementary School to share our Heritage Projects (We will be riding the Tri-Met bus.); Art

Friday: Running Club

 

Last Week

What a week!  I am still trying to recover and rest up from the very intense week of Outdoor School.  I hope that all of your children are bathed and rested and ready for a regular week of school.  I am sure that you are hearing many of the songs and riddles that the students were taught and I hope that they have all shared the wonderful and interesting things that they learned while at camp. 

 

The day we arrived was by far the wettest and most miserable day but I was incredibly impressed with the focus and positive attitudes that the students maintained through it all.  Unfortunately the beach field study on that first day was cut short due to the weather, but the students were still able to learn about dune grass and the Snowy Plover, mole crabs, tides and tide-pool critters.  Wednesday we hiked up to the high meadow and learned about the forest on the way up.  We learned about compaction, tree parts, photosynthesis, and beaver adaptations  (and a few other things along the way).  Thursday our field study took us to the estuary.  We learned about the water cycle, macro-invertebrates, water quality, estuary ecosystems and ghost shrimp adaptations.  While on this field study we were also lucky enough to see lots and lots of seals out in the water watching us. 

 

Campfires and mealtimes were entertaining with a number of songs and skits performed by both the staff and the students.  Thursday night we ventured off on our night hike with the cabin groups.  I joined a group that was lucky enough to go inside a cave and learn about dragon teeth and these interesting sweets called "dulces de dragone."  The girls that I was with were very brave and the field instructor was a very gifted story teller that made the whole experience of the night hike incredibly memorable.  Friday we said goodbye to everyone and hiked back out the 3 miles to the bus.  This Outdoor Experience will definitely not be forgotten!

 

In planning for next year I would really like some input from you, the families, about Outdoor School.  I know that you were not able to join your kids there but I would like to know how your kids felt it went and if it was worth the "money."  I know the expense of it was much greater this year than last year so I think it is important for us as a staff to get family input about how valuable of an experience was.  Please email me with any feelings you have about it.  In planning for next year there are a few options:  there are 4 different camp locations and we have the option of fall or spring.  Thank you.

 

I will say again that I was incredibly impressed with the positive attitudes these kids had through the whole week.  They treated the staff and counselors with great respect and really made me very proud!  There were no behavior problems at all with this class!

 

 

This Week

This week we will be completing our Heritage Projects and sharing them with our buddy class at Cornelius Elementary School.  We will also spend some time following up on our trip to Outdoor School.  For homework this week I would like the students to do some work to follow up our trip to Outdoor School.  This will be in place of some of the other work they normally would have.  I will pass that out to all of the kids on Monday and I would like it returned on Friday. 

 

Upcoming Events:

November 26^th, 27^th and 28^th No School for Thanksgiving

November 24^th: All School Meeting and Buddy Lunch

December 3^rd:  Celebrations of Learning Combined with a Hot Chocolate and Coffee Social at the School 5:00-6:30 (Please bring in your own mug.)

 

**At the celebrations of learning there will be a slideshow of pictures for those of you that would like to see what camp was like.

 

 

Newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 10-14

 

Schedule:

Monday: Peace Hands Banner with Rachel's Class; Outdoor School Gear Drop off 6:30-7:30

Tuesday:  Leave for Outdoor School. Drop off at school between 9:00 and 9:30.

Friday: Return from Outdoor School at 2:00

 

Last Week

We had a very smooth week of activity.  Tuesday we experimented with blubber and discussed different animal adaptations, with a specific focus on marine mammals.  The students were great scientists and are going to do very well at Outdoor School with all the science and nature they will be learning while there.  After the blubber experiment Laura took us outside to do some really fun teambuilding activities.  These activities are so incredibly helpful for building our classroom community but one area that we need to work on is taking the teambuilding activities seriously.  It just takes a few kids goofing off during an activity for the activity to fail.  Friday morning we spent time with the Mayor of Forest Grove, Richard Kidd, and a City Council member, Pete Truax.  The students learned about our City Government structure and had some great questions for the Mayor.  This was a great opportunity for the kids to better understand the rules about no skateboarding downtown.

The heritage project is just about finished.  Students worked on the recipe and food connection to the project this past week (Which is my FAVORITE part).  A major setback and frustration with this part of the project was that yet again, several students had not done the necessary work at home to be able to do this part of the project at school.  The students were told 2 weeks ago to bring in a recipe and to have 4 or 5 kids still not have a recipe on the day that it was required really messed up how our work session went.  When students are irresponsible it does not just effect them, it effects me and the rest of the class because we either have to put things on hold, or I have to find other things for them to do, OR they distract their classmates.

 

* Rachel's class partnered with Elizabeth's Language Arts class and they wrote and shared poems for two voices with us.  The poems were beautiful.

 

Week after Outdoor School:

November 17:  Food and Culture Celebration at Pacific University 1:00-2:00.  This event will teach the kids about some different cultures through food and presentations.  This is sponsored by a small group of students from Pacific University for part of a class they are taking.  The event should be really fun and connect perfectly with our heritage project!  Please let me know if you do not want your child to sample the food.  (They will have Hawaiian food, Greek food and Vegan food to name a few.)

 

November 20:  Trip to Cornelius Elementary School to share our Heritage Projects and meet our buddies that we have been exchanging letters with.  I would love it if we had a few volunteers for this trip so please let me know if you can join us.  It will be from 9:00-11:00.

newsletter

Peregrine Press

November 3-7

 

Schedule

Monday: Italics Class; Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About (nature and animal adaptations study)

Wednesday:  PE

Thursday: Art

Friday:  Outdoor School Preparation Activity

     

Last week:

Last week was both productive and fun.  We spent a great deal of time working on the heritage project.  Students have written unforgettable memories involving their families, they wrote a diary entry pretending they were leaving the country, and they finalized their family history interviews.  The next couple of steps in this project are:  a recipe important to the family, a family tree (as far back as great grandparents if possible) and the collage cover (this part can include family pictures).  Please help your children with this information. 

On Tuesday our trip up to the Tom McCall Forest provided us with an opportunity to look closely at nature, spend some quiet time journaling, and discuss animal adaptations. We did a fun activity involving tape and button up shirts to remind us how important our opposable thumbs are.  (Ask your children to explain.)

 

The rap the class presented at the All School Meeting describing our community was a success and received a series of applause.  This class is so creative!

On Friday, in celebration of Halloween we made slime.  The ingredients are simple and safe, and the class did a great job of following the directions for how to make it.

**I am concerned with spelling for several students.  Please feel free to practice spelling at home with your kids.  If you would like some samples of word lists, I can send those home. 

 

This week:

This week we will continue focusing on nature and animal adaptations.  Part of our Out and About will be an In and About where we will be conducting an experiment about blubber and the adaptations of marine mammals.  We will also continue working on the heritage project.

I still need recipes from the majority of the class and I am really hoping to get those by Tuesday because we will be working on that part of the project Tuesday afternoon.

 

Outdoor School Update

Monday November 10^th: 6:30-7:30

Tuesday November 11th morning drop off at the school between 9:00 and 9:30. Please have your children wear their raingear and rain boots (not just tennis shoes, or hiking boots, they need to be water proof) on the day we leave for Outdoor School because we will be going directly to a field study as soon as we arrive at camp.

 

When packing for outdoor school, please pack the sleeping bags and duffel bags or suitcases in garbage bags to prevent them from getting wet during transport.  Also, please pack additional garbage bags for the return trip.  Contrary to last year, students are encouraged to bring a small flashlight this year for the trips to and from the cabins to the bathrooms.  Students are not allowed to bring any electronic devices or any food.  The morning that we leave (Tuesday) they can bring a snack because we will not be eating lunch until 12:30.  

We will return Friday between 2:00 and 3:00 but we will get confirmation this week as to a more accurate return time.

 

 

Peregrine Press

October 27-31

 

Schedule:

Monday:  Mock Election; Buddy Lunch; All School Meeting

Tuesday: Out and About to the Tom McCall Forest (nature study)

Wednesday: PE

Thursday: Art; Running Club

Friday: Halloween Celebration

 

*For our Halloween Celebration I would like to make "dirt cups" again which includes: gummy worms, chocolate pudding, graham crackers and spoons.  If anyone would like to contribute any of these things please let me know.  (The puddings need to be individually packaged.)

*We have had some difficulty being respectful in class lately.  Several students are not responding to the quiet signals and they are not picking up their messes.  Half of the class is consistently respectful so I feel that this is especially unfair to them.  I am hoping that the weekend was a necessary refresh for everyone and we can start anew this week.

 

Last Week:

Monday and Tuesday groups took turns presenting their research on the branches of government, citizenship and how laws are made.  I was really pleased with how well the groups worked together and presented their information.  Each member participated in the prep work and the presentations.  Students will do several group projects throughout this year and it is essential that they learn how to cooperate and pull their own weight.

 

To prepare for the mock election and also to practice persuasive writing techniques, each student wrote a persuasive essay on a topic of their choice.  Some chose the presidential candidates and other chose issues close to them.  On Friday they were given the opportunity to share their essay with the class and I was pleasantly surprised with how many students decided to share.  They wrote very persuasive essays and should be proud of the work the accomplished.

 

Wednesday we were lucky enough to be audience members for the presentation of Honk Jr. and it was great!  The actors and actresses performed beautifully and it was such an engaging story that all eyes were on stage the whole time.  When we returned to the school students had only nice things to say about the performance.

 

Friday we completed our 2^nd week of goal reflections.  I made it one of MY goals to have goal reflections at least every other Friday and so far it has been going well.  It is really important for students to reflect on the goals they have set for themselves.  This way we can see how to make progress in reaching them.

 

**I had 10 students forget to turn homework in this week.  Remember that even if they don't have a packet of activities to do, they need to fill in that log that states things they do at home that works towards a goal.  All of the students should know this routine and understand this responsibility by now because it will only help them in the long run.

 

This Coming Week:

Our class is responsible for presenting at the all school meeting on Monday at 1:00 in the Rogers Room at the Library.  We will be sharing all the words that the different classes came up with for the kind of community we want to be a part of.  After much creative brainstorming, the class has decided to share a "rap" that encompasses the words that describe our community.  The rap was written by a small group of our boys, and has gone through some editing with the class and it is going to be great! I love that the students were able to come up with such a unique way of presenting the information that we were asked to share.

 

This week we will begin our study of heritage.  On Friday I sent home two different papers that are the start to the project. Much of the work will be done at school, but there are some components that require your help.  Please set aside some time to have your child interview you about your heritage.  Also, I am asking that they write about a story that is important to the family.  They will write the final draft in class, so what they do at home can be sloppy.  The third thing I am asking is that each child bring in a recipe of a favorite family dish.  If there is a story that goes along with that that would be great. 

 

   Tuesday we will head to the Tom McCall Forest to get ready for outdoor school.  We will look at animal adaptations and tree/plant identification. 

 

 

Upcoming Events:

November 11-14: Outdoor School

November 20^th:  Heritage Sharing with Cornelius Elementary 4^th Graders (at Cornelius Elementary School)

 

 

Peregrine Press

October 20-24

 

Schedule

Monday:  Italics Class; Running Club

Tuesday: No Out and About

Wednesday:  Honk! Performance at Theatre in the Grove 10:00; PE

Thursday: Art

 

Updates:

We started off the week with literacy circles.  The literacy circle books that were assigned were short for this first round because I wanted the students to become familiar with the routine.  In the next few weeks students will be starting longer books that should take several weeks to get through.  All activities should be done at school, however, if students misuse their time, they may have additional work come home. These literacy circle activities give students a chance to read out loud to their peers, work on vocabulary development, learn the story elements, and review grammar.

 

Another major activity involved the study of government.  Students were in groups that researched and prepared a presentation on a specific aspect of the government.  This week the groups will present on their topic and be responsible for teaching their peers about what they learned.  The topics include:  Legislative Branch, Executive branch, Judicial Branch, How Laws are made, and Citizenship.

 

On Monday we participated in a Solv project at the A.T. Smith House.  The students helped clear out weeds, blackberry bushes and also softened up some dirt so a garden can be planted.  Ask your children about why the A.T. Smith house is important.  They can also share some things they learned about that very historic home.   

 

To help students develop and improve their writing and editing skills I have buddied them up with a peer that will help them.  Last week we did a fun activity where they were using their imaginations to write silly stories and after each sentence was written, the buddy was responsible for helping with editing.  The biggest hurdle we will face with writing is really paying attention to editing.  So many students have great ideas, but they don't necessarily want to take the time to check their spelling and punctuation. 

 

This Week

This week the students will learn about the different presidential candidates, and measures, then they will be responsible for writing a persuasive essay taking one side.  We will learn about persuasive techniques and also the essential components of a 5 paragraph essay.

 

Upcoming Events

All school Meeting and Buddy Lunch October 27^th 

Mock Election October 27th