Our Classroom Newsletter

      This newsletter is going to be fairly short, since we ended up having only two days of school out of five last week.  We have now used up all of our official snow days, so each one we have from now on extends our school calendar.  Right now, school ends Thursday, June 18th for the summer, but new snow days will move that date closer to July.  The children will be using the same sight words cards this week as last week, since we only had one day to practice them together.
      I apologize for not sending the Class Valentine list home to you last week.  It was my intent to do so, but it was one of several things that got "lost in the shuffle".  I am sending it home on our first day of the school week.  The names on the left column are cards I am requiring all students to do if they choose to do any valentines.  The ones in the right column are optional.  Please do not send in valentines cards until Wednesday, February 11th.  By then, we will have decorated holders to "house" them until the party Friday afternoon, February 13th.
      As you know, Rugrats skiing did not happen for us last week.  Hopefully,  the weather will cooperate over the next two Tuesdays, and the children will have LOTS of fun.  Should your child be using his own equipment, you can leave it for him at Perfect Turns, or he or she can bring it on the bus, but he or she will have to be able to carry it.  We leave backpacks for children returning to school by the fish tank in the school lobby.  If we know you or someone else is picking your child up at the mountain, we bring that child's backpack with us to save you the trip into school to get it.  Let us know ahead of time what will be happening with YOUR child Tuesday afternoon, please.  We leave Crescent Park at 12:15 pm, and leave the mountain at 4:00 pm.    If you wish to pick up your child at Sunday River (and maybe ski with them for a little while before heading home), you can do so at the Perfect Turns building at 3:45 pm each day that we ski. The bus leaves the mountain to return the children to CPS right at 4:00, so we are usually back at school by 4:15.  There are no bus runs at that time, so you will need to make arrangements to collect your child at that time.  Please let me know to whom I may release your child on each ski day.  MKA is still an option, if you can't be at school at 4:15.  MKA closes at 6 pm.   Though I will not be skiing with the children, I will be close by should there be any problems, and I will be dismissing them at the end of the day.  When you pick up your child (whether at the mountain or at school), please speak to me so that I know your child has been safely handed off to you or an adult of your choice.  Thank you.  I always worry a little that I won't get each child where he or she is supposed to go, though I have never lost one yet!  Your help with this would be greatly appreciated!
      Because of all of the snow days last week, we did not begin our NWEA testing as expected.  Our testing window has been moved back one week, so over the next two weeks, we will be doing the winter NWEA testing.  Our first test is tomorrow morning at 9:45.  It is a long test, and will last almost until lunch.  Please review the idea of this testing with your child, and encourage him or her to try his BEST!  The results of the tests are used for many purposes at school, including deciding groupings for different programs.  The children have to understand that the test is designed to give them some easy questions, some really hard questions, and to give them lots of questions that are "doable", but only if the children really THINK about what the question is asking and APPLY those strategies we have been learning in class to answering it.  Though the time they take to do the test is recorded, there is no "time limit".  Each child is encouraged to take as much time as necessary to think about and answer each question.  I don't want anyone to be stressed by the testing, but I do want to encourage the children to work hard on the exams to show whoever looks at the results just how much they actually know.  Please talk to your child about the importance of  trying his or her hardest to do their very BEST on these exams.  We have our Math test tomorrow, and our Reading test at the same time NEXT TUESDAY.  You can help your child reach for his potential by making sure he or she gets enough sleep the night before, and has a nutritious breakfast that morning.  As always, the results of the exams will be shared with you, probably at our parent-teacher conference in March.
         That's what I have for this week's news.  I will be in touch again next weekend.