Newsletter

Peregrine Press
December 14-18

Schedule
Monday: Art, Nutrition Presentation and Final Essay due for Independent Project
Tuesday: Mini Out and About (Teambuilding) and Ind. Project Speeches
Wednesday: Ind. Project Speeches, Art and PE
Thursday: Ind. Project Speeches and Music
Friday: Movie Day

Last Week
Last week was very memorable. We spent a great deal of time working on the Independent Project by writing the rough drafts, editing and working on the visuals. Students were required to self edit their paper, and then also have a peer edit. We also made edible necklaces for chimpanzees living in a refuge in Bend, Oregon. This was a great activity that had the whole class very engaged! That same day we headed to the Senior Center to perform our play and it went great. The class also spent some time visiting with the seniors talking about our school and Forest Grove. Friday we also performed our play for the whole school at the All School Meeting. I was so impressed with how well each and every student did. It was a great team effort and every single person contributed an important part to the success of the play.

This Week
This coming week will mostly be focused on wrapping up the Independent Projects. Monday will be the last day to work on the visual and the main day to work on the speech. I made it very clear to the class last week that the final essay (along with all the rough drafts and brainstorming pages) is due first thing Monday morning. Every single student knows that, so if they don't come with that finished tomorrow morning it will immediately count as late. I don't mean to be harsh, but one very important part of this project is meeting deadlines and I want them all to know how serious I am about this. I am trying to prepare them for life, so they need to take responsibility for getting this done on time.
They will have time in class to finish up their visual and work on their speech. It will only be about 1 hour of time though so they need to keep that in mind. Last Friday we decided our speech schedule and so depending on when your child delivers their speech, that is the day their visual is due. Nothing actually has to be turned in for the speech. They are to use the essay and their visual for the outlines of their speech. If your child does their speech Thursday, they don't have to have their visual turned in until that day, but they will NOT have any more class time to work on that. Please ask your child what day their speech is so that you know what day their visual is due.
I hope all that made sense!

As for Friday, here is the plan. Students voted and the number one choice for a movie is "Elf" with Will Ferrill. It is a fabulous movie but because it is rated PG I want to have everyone's permission before I decide for sure to show that movie. Please let me know if you don't want your child to watch that because we would happily watch "Up" instead. (That is the movie that came in second place.) I would also like to have hot chocolate for the students. If you are interested in purchasing hot chocolate or other treats (maybe cookies or candy canes) please let me know. I can go buy them, but I know many parents are always offering to get things for the class and here is an opportunity to do that:-).

*Thanks for coming to the PTO event last week! It was a great success! If you didn't see it while you were there, we do have a giving tree in the lobby that has tags for gifts that a local family could use for the holidays. You take tag and then buy the gift on that tag and then return it to the school, unwrapped.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday! We will return to school January 4th.

Newsletter

Peregrine Press
December 7-11

Schedule
Monday: Nutrition Presentation and Art
Tuesday: Out and About
Wednesday: PE and Art
Thursday: Music and Buddy Reading at the ELC
Friday: All School Meeting

Last Week
Last week was mostly devoted to the Independent Project. Students spent 3 days researching in the computer lab, followed by a visit to the City Library on Thursday. Students made great progress on their research and rough drafts. On Tuesday we worked at the location of our new school garden. Students spread leaves and soil to help prepare for raised beds and mulching. It was hard work, but we got a lot accomplished! Music was fun (as always) and we started learning a song to teach us the states and capitals. Fitness Friday was very cold but most students participated the best they could. We followed that up with finding the mean, median, mode and range for the data we collected on laps ran.

This Week
We will start out the week with a special nutrition presentation by a local nutritionist that will come back again next Monday to do another activity with the class. This is to help build awareness of the importance of healthy eating and ways to make better choices about what we put in our bodies. On Tuesday we will start out the day with a service project to help Chimpanzees. We will be making edible necklaces for them! We will then head out to the Senior Center to perform our play "This Land is Whose Land." That will be a great opportunity for us to get a performance under our belts because on Friday at the All School Meeting we will perform it again for the whole school. Please come if you can! The meeting will start at 9:15 and I will go until about 10:30. I don't know the exact time of our performance, but it will happen in that window of time. (This will be at the Grove Room at Central School.)

Thursday we will head to the ELC for buddy reading again. When we went to the library last week students checked out new books to read to their buddies. The rest of the week will be mostly focused on the Independent Project again. Rough drafts will be do on Wednesday of this week. We will spend more time working on editing and revising and then also working on our visual aides. Remember, I am providing class time for the project, but if by Friday your child looks like they are not on track for meeting the final deadlines, I will send home work so they complete their projects over the weekend.

***Celebrations of Learning and Night of Traditions Thursday the 10th!!!

Please join us for Celebrations of Learning starting at 5:00 on Thursday. You will get a chance to check out the things students have been working on for the past few months. This will be followed by a PTO event called the Night of Traditions starting at 6:00. There will be an assortment of activities to do in the different classrooms and we would love for families to join us.
Just like last year, if you can, please bring a treat to share. We had some delicious cookies and things last year-yum yum! And if I am not mistaken, we will provide hot chocolate in the lobby.