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!


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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.

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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.