Wow!

So glad I was sitting when I openned the super generous class gift! I was already enjoying the fun, thoughful gifts from the children and the lovely messages in the cards. The gift card was a show stopper! Thank you all for making my year much more merry!

The Answer is...

40 millimeters is also known as 0.040 meters or 4 centimeters. Great job for those children who voted for the second choice!

Wednesday Before the Break

The last day before the holiday will be packed! We will have a unit math test on decimals in the morning and our holiday celebration in the afternoon. On that day, please send your child with a small treat to share with the class. Each child should have a his/her own drink. If one family can send in paper plates, that would be most welcomed!

Holiday Homework

Your child received the Winter Break Homework packet today. Please take a moment to review the packet and let me know if there are any questions. The Winter Recess is a time for family and enjoying the festivities of the holiday season so every effort was made to make the assignments manageable. It is important to do a little bit of school work each just to keep sharp and start 2010 without a lag.

Mobile Library

We are having our visit to the Mobile Library tomorrow at 11:00. Please make sure your child has a recent library card (green colored) or a library application turned in to me so that s/he may borrow books. The books will have to be returned to your local branch of the library.

Cheers!

Many thanks to our dedicated chaperones, Mrs. McClintock, Mrs. Castillo, Mrs. Tortorelli, Mrs. Wojno, Ms. Manzano and Mr. Salfarlie. We had a productive workshop at the Brookyln Museum. We will return to the Museum for a second session in January and each child has received a family pass for free admission to the Museum. Please enjoy!

I'll be out tomorrow due to illness. The class is aware of this. There will be review work for the day along with some reading about the Dutch Colonist that will be helpful for our Brooklyn Museum Workshop. The substitute will give out notes to the trip chaperones tomorrow.

Brooklyn Museum Session 1

We have five chaperones for this Wednesday's trip to the Brooklyn Museum. Our workshop is scheduled from 10- 11:20. Chaperones are asked to meet the class by the security desk at 9:35. We will be back at the school before lunch.

The Poll Answer is...

...choice three! The series ordered from least to greatest is 1.3 (one and three tenths), 3.0 (three), 13.0 (thirteen) and 30.0 (thirty) . Congratulations to the children who picked the correct answer!

Decimal Games

Please check out the new link in the Useful Website list. When you get on the site, click on the Interactive Games link. It may require you to download the free Shockwave Plug In but the games are fun! Some games are advance (ex. Decimal Speedway asks children to perform multistep calculations with decimals) but most reflect the work we do in class. Many of the games can be played with two players. Try the Decimal Darts and Decimal Concentration games!

Kids Mobile Schedule

Very early on in the year it was mentioned that there will be a Mobile Library visit to our school in December. We have just received our schedule and our class will visit the library on Thursday the 17th at 11:00. Please make sure your child has his/her library card that day. For children who don't have library cards, there was an application sent home initially so that children may borrow books. If you have not already done so please send in the application so that your child may participate. Thank You!

And the answer is...

Three thousand ninety eight and sixteen thousandths is written as ...3098.016! Congratulations to all the students who voted correctly!

Friday PE

We will have grade level Physical Education once again this Friday in addition to our regular session on Wednesday morning. With the temperature becoming more frigid, please encourage your child to dress in layers. At times, children want to take off heavy down coats as they run around in the yard, so it would be helpful to have a light hoodie/ cardigan to wear as they exercise.

Museum of the City of New York

With the brisk weather and slow holiday traffic, it was such a comfort to have such terrific helpers, Ms. Carmody, Mrs. Castillo, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Klot, Mrs. McClintock, Mrs. Noda, Mrs. Rodriguez, and Mrs. Tortorelli, on our field trip today. Thank you kindly for all your help! The trip to the Museum was very educational and our children received so many compliments on their smart responses. Each child also received a family pass for the museum. Please do enjoy!

Monday's Trip

The class will be going to the Museum of the City of New York this Monday. There are nine chaperones who signed up for the trip. My apologies that I was unable to get the usual letter out to you. Your child was told you were confirmed.
Please meet us at the front desk at 9:15.
We are expected at the Museum at 10:00 for a 90 minute workshop called Leave it to Beaver. The children will be asked to check their lunches. We will be eating in Central Park afterwards (weather permitting) before returning to the school. The class knows they should bring a towel to sit on for lunchtime.
Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for an outdoor lunch.
Thank you for your support!

December Units of Study

Literacy
Students will continue to read Nonfiction Texts and work on a genre of their choice for their independent reading. In the middle of the month we will introduce Fantasy and immerse ourselves in reading this genre so that we can better write Fantasy next month.
In Writer’s Workshop, children will continue their work on Essays. Children are challenging themselves to write Essays that require content knowledge. Some have been incorporating the reading they've been doing in Social Studies in the writing they are doing!
In Word Study/ Grammar, we will focus on writing paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting evidence. We will continue our spelling work with -er, double consonants and other spelling patterns.

Math
We will work with decimals and metric measurements. Decimals present a challenge to most children as they shift from whole numbers to numbers that show parts of a unit. Whenever there is a chance, please point out how decimals appear in our world (money, measurements, small containers, etc) .

Social Studies
We will continue our study of Europeans, Africans and Native Americans during Colonial America. We will work on a explorers till we take our trip to the Museum of the City of New York. Then we will learn about some of the early establishments in New Amsterdam and determine the reasons people came to settle in this New World.

Winter Fest Auction

We want to thanks Mrs. McClintock for volunteering to sew together our class quilt for the auction this Saturday.
On another note, I have volunteered to take a child out during lunch as an auction item so if your child would like to avoid school lunch for a day, please bid. Proceeds go to fund the many enrichment programs our PTA provides.

Parents as Enrichment Partners 4

We currently do not have a parent to lead the workshop. If there are no volunteers, we will probably do some nonfiction work around Holiday books. Please send a note to me with your child if you have an activity in mind to share with the class.:)

Last Days of Penny Harvest.

Please send in your unwanted pennies this week. The Penny Harvest will officially end this week. Thank you for your generosity!

And the answer is...

36/(9/3) > 39/3 is... false! The portion in the parenthesis has to be done first with an answer of 3 as a result. Then 36 divide by that 3 results in 12 which is NOT greater than 39 divided by 3 (which is 13). Congratulations to the children who answered it correctly!

Thanksgiving Festivities

The Holiday Season starts this week! School will be closed this Thursday and Friday. This Wednesday, the class will have a celebration so please send your child with a drink and a snack to share with others.

Quilt Squares

We have almost all the square pieces for each child and the pieces are amazing! We want to thank the fabulous Ms. Johnson (our class parent) for overseeing this project and finding a talented seamstress (whose name is not currently not known too me, sorry!) to put the quilt together. We are currently looking for a large piece of cloth to mount the squares on. If you can donate a sheet of fabric no bigger than 5x5, please let me or Ms. Johnson know. Thank you for working on this project with us!

Math Poll Answer

The square number is not...18. A square number is any multiple that is the result of one factor multiplied by itself. For example 36 is the result of six times six; 49 is the result of seven times seven.

Winter Fest Quilt

Our class will be making a small quilt for our Winter Festival donation. Each child has received a small kit with a square of felt, directions and some small scrap pieces. I showed the class a model of how the quilt should look and we talked about how we can embellish the quilt with other objects and your permission to use them. We talked about how the kids can help design and maybe help put the piece together but they'll really need your help with the actual sewing. Have fun!

Green Sheet

Green progress sheets were written for children with surnames beginning with the letters S to W. Next week we start again at the beginning of the alphabet.

New Dismissal Routine

As of this day, the dismissal location was changed back to the playground. Please let any other family members/friends who pick up your child know about this change. Thank you for your flexibility and cooperation this afternoon.

Grade Level PE

This Friday we will have our grade level Physical Education class. Please make sure your child is wearing appropriate clothing for physical activity.

Nonfiction Viewing

Children who know something about the topics they read often read with better comprehension. One way to help your child through this nonfiction unit is to give your child exposure to high interest nonfiction topics through documentaries. There are some really great shows about Thanksgiving this time of year and what better way to give your child a heads up for the Social Studies work we'll do about Europeans and Native Americans than to check your TV guide and tune in?
This weekend there was a show on the Food Network, The Secret Life Of Thanksgiving that included fun facts about the first Thanksgiving and colonial customs. Shows on this network, PBS, Discovery and National Geographic (the History Channel can be a bit tricky as the content is often geared for an adult audience) can be great resources to help build your child's content knowledge.

Poll answer

The answer to the math question "If n*n=49, then n equals..." is 7. Congratulations to everyone who voted as everyone answered this correctly!

Book Gifts!

Wow and thanks to all the families that purchased books for our class libraries during the Scholastic Book Fair! Those books will definitely be useful for our current Nonfiction unit and our upcoming Fantasy unit. Happy reading to all!

I will be at a Teacher's College Workshop on Test Prep this Friday. Ms. Vasquez is the substitute scheduled to take over. Due to my absence, the green progress report for children with surnames L to R will be written on Monday. Thank you for your patience.

Fun Family Activity

If you are free and looking for something to do with your child, the Brooklyn Museum is offering an activity this weekend that ties in with our Social Studies work. Gifts from Nature: Tools and Arts of the Native Americans is a workshop allowing children to explore the tools and works of art by Native Americans. These workshops are held from 11:30- 12:30, Nov 14 and 15, and this activity is free with museum admission. The Brooklyn Museum is at 200 Eastern Parkway.
Thanks to Ms. Beirne for sharing this information!

Nonfiction reading

As many of you have noticed, there is now a bright orange reading log for our nonfiction unit. It focuses on some specific reading skills. Your child has to read a nonfiction piece and tell about the main idea (one sentence that sums up what the piece is about) and five details (sentences that tell more about the main idea and often tell who, what, when, where, why, or how).

Often the reading in nonfiction is very short since nonfiction books tend to be organized in articles. Your child has been told that in such cases, s/he can write about one article and continue reading for the remainder of the forty minutes in another book or in another article in the book. It is important for your child to read at least 40 minutes so that the reading stamina does not decrease during this unit.

Second Marking Period

The second marking period has gotten off to a promising start. Many children have shown that they have taken their report card results and thought about how they will move forward from there. There was an observable increase in participation from almost everyone! Keeping up this great effort will be the challenge but thankfully the children seem willing to do it!

Thank you for all your efforts and insights at the Parent Teacher conferences. It was helpful to speak with you on Tuesday!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Please be reminded that Tuesday will be a half day with children eating lunch at 11:30 am and dismissal at 12 noon.
Schools will be closed on Wednesday due to Veterans Days.

PTC Appointments

Our first Parent Teacher Conferences will happen this Tuesday. By now, your child should have given you an appointment letter with your scheduled time. Please try to adhere to that time. Report cards will be given out Monday.

Prgress reports for children with surnames ending in F to K were also filled out this Friday. If your child had the green homework sheet this past week, please make sure you check and sign the back.

Dream Catchers

Our third Parents as Enrichment Partners was a lot of fun! The kids were happily engaged in making our version of the Native American dreamcatchers. As an extension, we also used glyph to create designs and messages on our pieces.
Thanks go out to the many parents who showed up to assist. There is curently no one scheduled for December's session; please let me know if you are interested in leading an activity!

Author's Visit

Jacqueline Woodson will be visiting the fourth grade on Monday. She is the author of many books including The Other Side and Sweet, Sweet Memories. She will be arriving in our classroom at 10:20.

Community Forwards

Here are some PTA sponsored events to look out for:

The Scholastic Book fair began today.In addition to new books there are many discount used books donated by families and teacher on sale. Please bring any used books to the MMR for our Used Book Sale.
There is also a need for volunteers to staff the event.
Contact Diane Levenson at dianetix@aol.com or Debby Wattenbarger at dwattenbarger1@nyc.rr.com for more information and to volunteer your time! Thank-you!


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

LUNCHROOM VOLUNTEERS

We are having a "lunchroom volunteer program" orientation on Friday after PAEP. We still really need volunteers. Orientations are held after PAEP and before PTA meetings generally but we can accommodate anyone's schedule. Tracy Armstead is now chairing this committee and can be reached at tarmst01@yahoo.com.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WINTER FAIR

Classes are making art projects for the Silent Auction.

We Need Auction Items:
Vacation Homes, Art, Instructional Classes, Night out on the town – So if you own a business, have a special talent or have an awesome vacation home that you are not using and would like to make a tax deductible contribution to our Silent Auction it will be much appreciated. Contact : Nicole Bilu Brier nbilubrier@yahoo.com

We Need Parent Volunteers:
To help make and set up decorations (this year’s theme is Toyland), day of and week before….
Run Craft Tables – Conceive crafts or run table day of (we will have shifts)
Cook / Bake Goods for our food sale
Sell Tickets, man tables, work school store on the day of event
Set up the night before and break down after the event

We Need Artsy/Enthusiastic Parents:
Each year each class donates an art project to the fair to auction off. We need parents to conceive and execute the project with your child’s class. Past projects include collage self portraits, paintings, quilts and sculpture. Please let your class parent know if you are interested. You can also email Tracy Armstead at tarmst01@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

Our First Meeting will be held November 6th in MMR room after PAEP – 9:30ish.

Please email us if you would like to help (Brendemily@earthlink.net) or just show up on the 6th!

Book Fair

Just a friendly reminder that our visit to the school book fair will be tomorrow.
Due to some confusion in scheduling, we are now going to the fair at 11:10 and not 11:40 as originally reported.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please keep in mind that the book fair will be opened throughout the week and next week, so you might visit with your child at other times such as Parent Teacher Conferences.

Parents as Enrichment Partners

We have an open slot this month for our Enrichment session. If no one has an activity they would like to share, we will be making Native American Dreamcatchers. If time permits, some children will share their writing pieces from our first writing unit.
If you would like to come to lead an activity please send a note to me with your child.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Your child has a notice with a tear off for Parent Teacher Conferences on next Tuesday. Please return the slip as soon as you can. Appointments will be scheduled first come basis. Each meeting will run approximately ten minutes. Report cards will be given out the day before.

Pictures for Computers

Just a friendly reminder that each child will need 3 pictures of them for a power point presentation they are working on in Ms. Pattison's class.

November Units of Study

Reader’s Workshop will feature a Nonfiction study during which we will use text features to help us read informational texts. Finding main ideas and supporting evidence, making generalizations and determining important information are among the goals of this unit. Students will use simple research skills.
In Writer’s Workshop, we will begin Essays by learning how to write about personal ideas and about themes we find in the stories we read. Our goal is to state a clear thesis and practice ways to support our thinking. We will use a five paragraph essay structure, with emphasis on how to write a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting sentences.
In Word Study/ Grammar,we are looking at the s and f sounds. Also we will continue our spelling work with spelling patterns. We are focusing on the -le and -er endings, and the vowel -consonant patterns from words with long vowel sounds and short vowel sounds. We will also work on identifying adjectives.
In Math, we will begin our work with multiplication facts, and number sentences. We will also work with decimals and place value. As an extension of our work with decimal concepts, children will work with metric measurements. If time permits, we will also review addition and subtraction strategies with decimal values and explore order of operations in number sentences.
In Social Studies, we will finish up our work with the Native Americans of New York, leading to the next unit on the interaction between the Europeans, Africans and Native Americans in Colonial New York.

Thank You, Chaperones

We had a lot of fun bird watching today! Thank You-s go to out to Mr. Herel, Mrs. Klot, Mrs. Tortorelli, Mrs. Tunitsky, Mrs. Wojno and Mr. Carmody (who also helped escort another class from our school). We are so glad you were able to join us!

Swine Flu Vaccination

By now your child should have given you a booklet referring to the free swine flu vaccination clinics being sponsored by the Health Department. Inside the booklet there is a consent form for families to complete and return to the school if you are interested in having your child vaccinated.
Please make sure you have received this booklet. If not, the main office can provide another copy for you.

Friday Activities

We will have our second visit to the Audubon Center this Friday morning. We have six chaperones and we will be leaving the school at 9:30.
The class will return in time for lunch and we'll also have a Halloween Celebration afterwards. You don't need to send any treats but a drink for your child would be good idea.
Ms. Gamboi will give the class their science period at 2:10 since we will be at the Audubon Center during our regular science period.

I will be at an all day Literacy Workshop at Teachers College tomorrow. I've left plans for a substitute teacher and the class is aware of my absence. Have a great day and see you Wednesday!

Math Test Unit 2

Unit 2 is coming to a close this week! On Thursday, we will take the second math test. The focus of this test is on multidigit addition and subtraction. Most children will do well on these skills but might make mistakes when not reading the problems carefully. There will also be a few problem on statistics (mode,mean, median, maximum, minimum and range) and creating a bar graph. Help your child study by going over the definition of those words. There will also be a polygon question.
Your child has received a first study sheet and will recieve two more tomorrow. We will have a review session on Wednesday.

Scholastic Book Fair

The book fair will begin next Thursday Nov.5th. Our class will be attending at 11:40-12:15 on that day. Your child received a book fair order form today so that you can preview the selections and budget your child's book money accordingly. Parents are welcome to help out that day, if you'd like to shop with your child. Please see a representative of the PTA for further details.

Penny Harvest

The annual Penny Harvest was launched today. We are asking families to donate their unwanted pennies so that they can be pooled together and donated to a charitable organization of the students' picking. Please support this worthy cause!

Progress Update

By now the whole class has received a quick progress update on the back of their green homework sheet. Most of the feedback concerns work habits and behavior. We will begin the cycle again next week with children whose last names begins with the the letters A to E.
Thanks for your support!
Have a great weekend.

From Deb Capone

Check this out -- we could win $500 or $200,000!

Care2 and Great Schools are having a contest to determine 'America's Favorite School'. The winning school gets $200,000. They are also doing random drawings each week to give schools $500. PS 8 won $500 already. All we have to do is ask our friends and family to vote for our school using the link below. It takes a few seconds (they do not have to fill in the comment section, just name, email and zip). Hey - it is free money, so worth a shot! (The winning school has just under 6000 votes - if 250 of our parents get 25 people to do this, we can beat that!)

Here is the link:
http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/3602514?refer=30279.04.1254847332.240007
(Please copy and paste)

So spread the word!!!

Friday's Wardrobe

There will be three events tomorrow that might require special attire:
The class will have their photos taken at 11:40 before lunch.
There will also be a grade level Physical Education class at 2:10 for which your child needs to wear sneakers.
After school, the Boo Bash will start at 5:30. Costumes are encouraged for that time (though not required). Admission is $5.00.

Blog additions

Please note the changes made on the sidebar. The websites listed are now links, so you can click and visit each site. There is also a weekly poll your child might like to answer. The questions are intended for reviewing past lessons. Hope you enjoy these add ons!

Thanks, Chaperones!

It was a whirlwind trip through the Museum of Natural History and thankfully we had eleven chaperones to keep us safe and sound.
Thanks to Mrs. Carmody, Mrs. McClintock, Mrs. Tortorelli, Ms. Decoteau, Mrs. Noda, Mrs. Rao Herel, Mrs. Klot, Mrs. Soriano, Mrs. Castillo, Mrs. McGouran and Mr. Elliot for coming on our Native American exploration with us!

Our next trip is Friday, October 30th. We already have seven chaperones for our return to the Audubon Center.

Power Point Presentations

In computer class, our students are learning to make a power point presentation about themselves. Towards that end, Ms. Pattison (our computer specialist) has asked all students to bring in two to three photos of themselves. If the photos are digital, Ms. Pattison would greatly appreciate it if it were sent to her email address, Pattison154@gmail.com (which would save her the time spent scanning photos). If you are sending it directly to Ms. Pattison, please include your child's name and 4-303 in the email title. Thanks for your help!

Grade Level PE

There will be a grade level Phys. Ed period this Friday. Please make sure your child wears comfortable gym clothes and foot wear on this day as well as every Wednesday.

Natural History Museum Trip

We'll have our first bus trip this Tuesday. If your child is prone to motion sickness, please take the necessary precautions. A light breakfast, a seat near the front of the bus and some sour candies, have always been helpful in these situations. Please be aware that for legal reasons, I cannot administer motion sickness medication to any child, nor can any child take the medication by themself.
Thank you for your cooperation and thank you to the many parents who will be chaperoning this trip.

Thank you, Blog Readers!

Thanks for keeping up with these many posts! The posts below (for October 16) are from a notice that was sent out by our class parent. Many of you have this as an email if you provided your email address on the class directory.

PTA website mailing list

This is a great way to make sure you don't miss a thing...so sign up now! You can sign up via the pta website at http://ps154pta.org/ or email PS154_PTAsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

FYI: Here are some upcoming PTA events!
Friday, Oct. 23rd Boo Bash
Monday, Nov. 2nd Parent's Night Out
Thursday, Nov. 12th PTA Meeting
Friday, Nov. 13th 1st Movie Night of the Season

Executive Board Meetings

All Are Welcome!!
These will be held every 2nd Friday of the month after drop off the MMR and every last Thursday of the month in the evening at a location TBD. If you would like to attend the off site meeting, please email Jennifer(our class parent) or someone on the board for info beforehand.

Lunchtime Volunteers

Orientations to volunteer in the lunchroom will be held every 1st Friday of the month after Parents as Enrichment Partners, 20 minutes before every PTA meeting and every 3rd Friday of the month after drop off. The next orientation is Friday, Oct. 23rd (which is actually the 4th).

Forwards from the School Community

Forwarded from Nicole Bilu (PTA):
Help me make a difference through OneCause! This simple program turns your everyday purchases into much needed contributions for P.S 154. Just shop at your favorite merchants through OneCause and P.S 154 will receive up to a 20% contribution, at no extra cost to you!

Join OneCause today to contribute to P.S 154 or your own favorite cause or
school!

http://www.onecause.com/invite_response/128961/136421



Forwarded from Nicole Bilu:
Hi Everyone,
Our Parents Night is coming up!! The posters and invites will be going up and out next week but I wanted to give you a little more notice. This years theme is "Studio 154". It will be on Monday November 2 at Highbar in NYC from 6 9 again the day before Election Day so no school the next day. There will be open bar , h'ors douevres , raffles, and lots of dancing. It is an adult only event that is open to all friends and family. So dust off your Capezios and jumpsuits and start practicing your Hustle!

AND BOOK THE BABYSITTER NOW!

If you can't make it consider donating to our fund that will provide tickets to
teachers and staff!

Thanks for your support.
See you there,

Nicole Bilu


Forwarded from Deb Capone (the PTA):
Dear Parents,

Please help support the PS 154 Fall Clothing Drive!

On Friday, October 16 from 3 4:30 at the International Food Fair, we will be selling good condition children's clothing, Halloween costumes, and winter wear for 1 to 5dollars. We will also be collecting unsellable clothing and textiles of any sizes to donate to an organization called Wearable Collection(http://wearablecollections.com/). Wearable Collections will help reusable items get to people who need them and shred the rest for insulation and other environmental projects. They will provide the school with a small sum of money for each pound of clothing we collect. Usable adult and children’s sneakers will be sent to our sister schools in Africa.

Here is how you can help:

Drop off your sellable children’s items in the PTA office from Tuesday, October 13th to Thursday, October 15th. It would be great to have the bags sorted and labeled by size.

You can also bring your non sellable adult and other items to school on Friday, October 16th or directly to the International Food Fair. Label and separate your sellable and non sellable items!

Volunteer to help! On Friday, October 16th, we need volunteers to help organize the clothes to sell during the school day, help set up the sale from 2 to 3, run the sale from 3-4:30, and help load up the wearable collections truck and clean up from 4:30 to 5. Please contact Sarah Goodman at saregood1@gmail.com if you are available to help.

Thanks,
Deb

Dismissal

Thank you for your cooperation and patience during dismissal. We will be continuing to dismiss 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at the Sherman Street exit until further notification.

Music class

Recorder classes will begin next week. Our class will have Mr. K at 1st period on Tuesday. If you still have your recorder, please bring it to class.

Math Homework

Your child's homework tonight will include many statistic words such as mode, median and range. They will also be asked to find the average of data on a line plot. You child might not recognize average because they use the word mean. I encouraged them to bring home their Student Reference books for help. Some children will also struggle with the division that is required to find an average so it is okay for them to use a calculator in this case.

Publishing

We are now finished with our first writing unit and your child may have taken his/her piece home to finalize their work. Please make sure your child's narrative is finished ( written neatly on looseleaf with a colorful cover) and in class by Monday. The kids will have a small celebration and get to read each others work. I will provide snacks. The children will share their pieces with parents during November's Parents as Enrichment partners session.

Thank you, Chaperones!

Even a little rain couldn't dampen the fun of our trip to the Audubon Center! Thanks to Mr. Charlie, Mr.Elliot, Mrs. Carmody, Mrs. Spezio, Mrs. Tortorelli; Mrs.and Mr. Chinchilla for sharing in our experience!

Picture Day

Order forms for Picture Day were distributed on Tuesday. Picture Day is on Friday October 23.

Reading logs

It has been great to see how well the children are doing with their reading entries! Most children have been able to move past summaries onto making theories about the main characters in their books. It is especially important that they read the directions and bullet points at the beginning of the week (it mimics the tasks on the ELA test). Please remember to sign it on each weekend. Thanks!

Student Reference Book

In response to your concerns about the Student Reference Books being available for home use, Ms. Capua has now placed an order for an extra set of the SRB. Sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused, especially if you went out and purchased one.

Blog Response

Thanks for the swift response to the blog letter! It looks like an overwhelming majority of the class will ge their updates here. Please be aware that I will post news as it becomes available so there is no set time for checking in. In the past, I've had to post almost daily to keep up with the events of our school and classes. I would recommend that you check in at least once a week while every other day may be optimal. Thanks for participating in this!

International Food Festival

As some of you may know, this year's International Food Fest will be held next Friday, October 16 at 3:00PM in the School Yard (MMR if raining). Last year, a few parents volunteered to create wonderful plates for the event such as Chinese, Australian and Japanese. The organizers need lots more and would love to have as many dishes as possible to sell as small portion tastes. Tickets will be sold the day of the event, and each taste will be either one or two tickets (each ticket will be $1 or 12 tickets for $10). Please email Joelle at joelle.held@gmail.com if you are able to contribute. You can drop off food with Joelle the day of the event, by the PTA desk in the MMR or make other arrangements with Joelle directly. All dishes should be at the school by 2:30PM the day of the event.

Phys. Ed volunteers

Mrs. Ussery, the gym teacher, is looking for volunteers to help her chaperone classes to Prospect Park for some gym sessions. Please contact her at mrsussery@gmail.com if you would like more details or to help out with these excursions

Audubon Center: Bonkers for Birds

Our next trip will be to the Audubon Center at Prospect Park this Friday, October 9th. We will participate in the first of a series of four workshops where we will examine the characteristics of birds. As of this posting, there are only four parent chaperones. Given that this is a walking trip, it would be better if we had a total of five parents. If you are available and would like to join us, please send a note with your child. Thank you!

Lunch Forms

Please send in a lunch form for your child if you have not already done so. If your child has home lunch, write that over the page. Each child has to be accounted for. Thank you for your cooperation.

First Trip

Whew!
Our first trip to the Picnic House at Prospect Park was a success. Thanks Mr. Elliot, Mrs. McClintock, Mrs. Leon, Mr. Klot, Mr. and Mrs. Bosamonte for chaperoning the class. We learned alot about the different types of plants that the Lenape (Algonquin) Indians used. White pine will never look the same to us again :)

Supplies for Class

Hello!
By now you should have received an updated list of the materials needed for this upcoming year. This is slightly different than the supplies in the school tool box list due to the fact that the supplier is unable to provide some of the items requested by the teachers.
If you did not receive a list through the mail, don't worry. Here are the items your child will need, sorted by due date:

1st Day of school
Eight Black and White composition (non spiral bound notebooks)
100+ pages (including 1 for Science class)

One 5ct pack of Bic Velocity mechanical pencils w/.9mm lead

One ½ or 1 inch binder with inside pockets

Six plastic/vinyl two pocket folders w/fasteners

2nd day of school
One nylon zipper pencil pouch with
grommets

One 3 count or more pack of .9mm lead refills

Four large Elmer’s Glue stick

One large eraser

One 8 count conical tip Crayola Washable markers
classic colors (thick)

One 24 count or higher Colored full-length pencils

Four 3x3 yellow self-stick notes, lined

Four boxes of Kleenex facial tissues

3rd day of school
One 5” blunt child safety scissors

Three rolls of Bounty paper towels

One anti bacterial Hand wipes

One 10 count 2 gallon size storage/freezer Ziploc bags

One 50 count sandwich size Ziploc bags

4th day of school
Two 15 count gallon size storage/freezer Ziploc bags

One Clorox disinfectant bleach free wipes(for Science Class)

One Uniball fine line rolling writer(for Art class)

Two blue Mead Marble notebooks unruled,or $2.50 if you cannot find these books. (for Art class)

Four 12 ct Stanford Mirado Pencils No. 2(for Computer and Science classes)

One pencil sharpener with receptacle

$5.00 for National Geographic subscription