Tuesday, March 30

Greeting everyone!
I wanted to mention a few things...

Storyline:
As you may have heard, our next storyline we are traveling to Venice. Your children will become school children living in Venice, Italy. The storyline is book based, which means it is based on a book! The book is titled
Gabriella's Song. It would be most helpful if you DID NOT BUY OR READ THE BOOK to your child, as incidents in the story will become part of our storyline.

There was a Homefun assignment sent home Tuesday that is due on Thursday.

Thank you for your support!

Scholastic Book Orders:
I have finally given up on doing the ordering myself (it has been a control issue>>>)and am now going to have you order books online. On the left hand side of the page is a link to the Scholastic Web site. I will be sending home some of these magazines in the next few days so you have a hard copy. If you do not want to order online, just return your order by April 7 and I will order your books for you. Please make a check out to Scholastic Book Orders.

Here is a letter explaining the details.
Online Ordering Information

Scholastic Activation Code: DZ2VB (this code is also on the left hand side of page)

Dear Parent,
Now it's easier than ever to find the right books for your child — and help us earn FREE books for our classroom library at the same time! With new online ordering from Scholastic Book Clubs, you can choose from a much wider selection of books than in
the printed flyer. Plus, you can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card. Best of all, our class earns a FREE book every time a parent places their order online. It's so simple! Here's how it works: SIGN UP at www.Scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the "Don't have a User Name and
Password?" link, then register for your own username and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class
Activation Code shown above. This code ensures that your order is sent to me.
SELECT the books you'd like to order from over 500 titles available online...and take advantage of online-only specials and discounts.SEND your order to me online by the due date. Books will be delivered directly to our classroom, as always. Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer. But why not experience for yourself how convenient it is to order online? Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure. Plus our whole class benefits thanks to the FREE books we'll earn with
every parent online order. Go to www.Scholastic.com/bookclubs now to get started.
Thank you,
Becky

March 12

WOW! The past couple weeks have been amazing! I hope you enjoyed the National Parks last night. I was so proud of each child in our class. They did a fantastic job. People kept coming up to me and asking what grade the children were in. When I told them first grade they were amazed. The Junior Park Rangers were so professional and enthusiastic and best of all - confident!

We will be finishing up with some final activities next week.

I wonder were we are going when we get back from spring break??

Remember that there are only two days of school next week, Monday and Tuesday. I will be meeting with you on Thursday and Friday to share the wonderful growth your children have made through out the year. If you have not contacted me about coming, I will assume that you are coming. Please let me know if you are not going to attend the conference for your child.

Have a great weekend! I am off to Portland for the weekend. It is soccer season in our family again! YIPEE.

Becky

March 5, 2010

Storyline:
We are gearing up for the culmination. We have been working on our presentation boards. They are looking very nice! The children are very excited about them.
Today I sent home the research papers that the kiddos have written. Please have your children practice reading their papers several times over the weekend.It will be important that your children feel comfortable with the material in their reports, especially if they are using the presentation boards.

I have gone over the papers several times. If you find any mistakes, please let me know and I will fix them. I think I have read them so many times that I can't see the mistakes anymore!

Here is the schedule I have for the evening of the 11th. Several people did not sign up so I put them in the empty available spots. Please let me know if the time your child is scheduled to "work" does not work for you.

4:30 to 5:00 Sachi, Isabella, Maddie, Mimi, Taleah
5:00 to 5:30 Chase, Sam, Simon, Abby, Carson
5:30 to 6:00 Jake, Henry, Bronwyn, Gavin, Lauren, Scarlett
6:00 to 6:30 William, Jaden, Aidan, Michael, Audrey

Please make sure your children are there a 5 to 10 minutes before their "work shift" begins.

The colors of the park ranger uniforms are brown, green, gray and tan (blue jeans are fine too). It would be great if the kiddos could come in "uniform" for the culmination. Pants and a shirt would be great. If the girls REALLY want to were dresses that if fine too!

One of the great things about all school storylines is the energy is it creates around the school. If you can, try to come early or stay later to explore all the parks at our school. They are truly amazing.

National Geographic Young Explorers:
Yesterday the kiddos brought home a N.G. Young Explores magazine. If you go to the website listed on the left, you can get to the same magazine. The kiddos can read the magazine on line and the cool thing is they can read along with a nice lady who is reading the text. Click on "Listen and Read". Now, another cool thing... we didn't get to the frog portion of the magazine, however, if you click on "For Teachers" on the menu bar, then click on "Young Explorers Interactive Whiteboard Content" you can get to the frog part of the magazine. It is the teacher version. But it is pretty neat. Finally, at the top of the menu on the main page there are some fun activity links for the kids to do. Explore the site and have fun!

CONFERENCES:
I have not heard from a few of you about conferences. Please let me know if you are coming so I can plan ahead!

Thank you!
Becky