Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Time flies! It is hard to understand that we are in late October already. The days are getting colder and shorter, the leaves are falling off the trees and some of us have seen snow already!

We have our grade level Native American Assembly next week. It is scheduled for 10/28/09 at 6pm in the gym. If your child will have a speaking role in the show, please practice his/her lines at home over the break. I will send home an extra copy of the lines just in case. We practice these lines in the classroom as well, but it is also very helpful if your child has the opportunity to read them at home too. Don’t forget that our student projects are due on the 26^th!! You should have received a note indicating your child’s preference and idea for projects. Please discuss these ideas with your child to make sure this is something you can accomplish at home. Through the project, your child should show his/her understanding of how the culture of the Northwestern Indian tribes was influenced by the environment where they lived. Your child should be ready to talk about this as well, as we will share our projects in school next week.

I have some exciting Wiki news to share with you. I have added a section called printables to the bottom of my Wiki page, below the academic subjects and geography section. Through this link, you can access parent signature pages in math and word study in case yours were misplaced, various reading logs, and math games and tools. I hope you will check it out and see what is there so far. It is a work in progress and I will add to it periodically so please visit often. I have added many different reading logs and we have only used a few of them so far. We will systematically go through them all, but if your child wishes to use one already posted on the Wiki (rather than the one I am sending home) that is fine, as long as your child completes one for the week!! You might notice that your child is very interested in making predictions one week but more interested in “fix-up” strategies another and many times that depends on what type of books and magazines your child reads at home. All of our math games are also available in print form. Each game contains a full “packet” with directions, number cards and/or game board. Remember math is a social activity so have fun choosing, playing and discussing. I will still send home weekly hard-copies of all signature pages, reading logs and math games. Let me know if you have any questions. (To reach my Wiki and Blog, please go to www.hcsvt.org, click on “Teams”, “Maria McCormack” and my Wiki will come up).

Ask you child about:

• Shelfari
• Totem poles on the blog
• Our new idiom of the week “Needle in a haystack”
• Making rattles for the show

Have wonderful rest of the week and weekend!
Regards,

Maria McCormack