News From Our Classroom

     Hello.  I hope you had an excellent fall weekend.  I managed to get things (like leave-clearing) done just in time for high winds (at my house on the hill) Sunday night!  :(   I guess that's a project I'll be repeating this coming weekend, too!
     Progress reports went home last Friday, along with copies of the NWEA testing and a breakdown of the tests by subtests.  On the Progress reports, I've tried to provide for you information on the testing we did in the fall that you have not yet received, including your child starting DRA level and his/her sight word knowledge in early September.  This is old information, though, since it has been roughly 5 weeks since this testing was done.   Your child has been working hard, and has progressed from these initial levels.  But at least this "snapshot" of where he or she started will help you discern the progress he or she has made when you receive their report card in another 6 weeks.  With Math, we have not done any unit tests yet.  We have been concentrating on "number sense" (really understanding what digits mean), on odd and even numbers, on 1 or 2 more than or 1 or 2 less than numbers,  and on "counting on" versus "counting".   If you have any questions about what you see on the progress report, please feel free to contact me.  These reports are supposed to be signed by you and returned within the next week or so, but returning them means YOU don't have a copy of it for your records.  If you wish to have a copy to keep, please just send me a note so stating, and I will be happy to make one for you.
     On Friday, the kids brought home their recordings of their first "science experiment" for the year.  Our job was to learn about  the "scientific method" of investigation from forming a hypothesis through analyzing our data, right up to forming a conclusion.  Two weeks ago (on Monday, 10/2),  I came to class with a VERY overripe banana,  and five VERY GREEN bananas.  We talked about how unappealing bananas were when they got ripe too fast, and brainstormed ways we could store the green bananas to keep them as green as possible for as long as possible.  Our hypothesis was that we could delay the ripening of the bananas by how and where we stored them.  The kids conjectured that a banana would take the longest to ripen if we put it in the refrigerator. So, we put one banana from the group in our classroom refrigerator.  We put a "control" banana on a table in our classroom, and did nothing to it.  We put a third banana on the same table, but sealed it inside a plastic ziploc bag.  We hid a fourth banana behind a curtain in the classroom, so it was still at the same temperature, but was not exposed to sunlight in the same way the "control" banana was.  Our fifth banana was stored in a cupboard (again to avoid sunlight), but it was also sealed in a ziploc bag.  Then we recorded what our bananas looked like each day that we were able to look at them during the following two weeks.  Each time we looked, we would put the date in our journal/ booklet, and then would draw a picture of each banana as it was shown to the class.  After TWO WEEKS, the banana in the frig was still VERY green, with only slight markings of yellow.  The "control" banana was mostly yellow, and getting somewhat soft.  The banana next to it on the table in the sealed bag was also pretty yellow, but was not AS yellow as the "control" and was definitely firmer.  The banana that was behind a curtain was greenish yellow and firm, while the one in the baggie in the dark cupboard was green with markings of yellow.  So, our hypothesis that the banana in the frig would take the longest to ripen was correct!!   I told the kids I would put the frig banana in a warm room for the next two days (and put our "control" bananas in the frig), and would make banana bread to share with them--one loaf this week, and one would be for our Halloween party.  The kids seemed to really enjoy learning to use the scientific method this way! I hope that you had a chance to look at their booklets to see all of their work!  Not bad for 6 year olds!

      We are having our school-wide "Halloween Parade" as usual on Tuesday, 10/31.  Looking over the schedule for the afternoon, it appears that our little "Party" will have to take place from 12:00 to 12:40 that day.   I have already acquired decorative cupcakes and banana bread (from the bananas we used for our science investigation), frozen right now until the day before the party, but would love some help with fruit pieces (like sliced apples and caramel "dip") and/ or veggies and ranch dip, and juice boxes for drinks.  If you could help with any of these items, please let me know.  We will begin to get into costumes at 12:50, and will leave the school at 1:15.  We walk down Chapman Street to Main Street up to NorthEast Bank, and then up Spring Street and back to school, which, believe it or not, takes about an hour.  We should arrive around 2:10pm, so I doubt that we will even have time to change out of costumes upon our return. If we do have time to take the costumes off, we will. Hopefully, because we will not be eating, the costumes will still be in good shape for the night's adventures.  There  will not be any homework on Halloween night, since "trick or treating" is the priority for the evening.    If you are looking for a "safe environment" in which your child can go "Trick or Treating",  Crescent Park School will be open for the activity on Halloween night from 6 - 7pm (or until the candy and treats run out).   To that end, the PTA and the school are asking your help to acquire candy or treats to pass out to "trick or treaters".  We are looking for  donations of bags of PEANUT-FREE treats to make the evening a success for everyone.  The treats do not have to be candy, or even food for that matter.  Special pencils, stickers, etc. also make good treats.  If you would be interested in contributing to our "booty", please send your treats in with your child, and he or she will have the pleasure of taking donations down to the office to put into our candy stash.  Then, on Halloween night, some adults and teenage children will dress up in costumes and hand out candy to those people who come to CPS to "trick or treat".   Oh, just a word or two about using candy as snacks following Halloween-- Please limit the amount of candy your child brings to school after Halloween.  Could you please NOT send candy for snacks after THURSDAY 11/2?  Kids on a "sugar high" have difficulty concentrating on learning, and we do hope to do some good learning that week, too.  Thanks!
      We've been asked to tell you that "Tooth Fairy" visits are happening in about two weeks, just before Halloween!  They are scheduled for 10/24 and 10/25.  If your child participates in that dental health program through the school,  he or she should be seen on one of those two days.    Also, School Picture Retakes are scheduled for Wednesday, 10/25.  If you wish to have pictures retaken, or if your child was not here on "Picture Day" and would like to have pictures taken this year, you should be prepared for the pictures to be taken on the 25th in the morning.

        I did want to give you a "heads up" that I may be taking a few days off toward the end of October to provide care for my father, who needs a surgical procedure to be done soon.  He met with his cardiologist, who did not give him much good news about the effectiveness of the procedure for someone his age.  He is 88.  Since Dad lives alone in Portland,  I will be there to take him home from the hospital and care for him until he's able to be up and about on his own, if he agrees to do the procedure.  Any plans that I would leave for the person who would be substituting for me on those days would follow our normal "routine" as much as possible.  Unless something unforeseen happens, I expect that the same person should be my substitute for the entire time I was gone.  Once I have those dates that I will be gone, I will pass them on to you. 
       I think that's all for this week.  I will be in touch again next weekend.