Thurs., Dec. 18, 2014

Dear Parents,

This will be my January newsletter; I’ve never gotten it done before break, so this is a first. I know everyone is excited for some time off, and I’ve heard of lots of great plans for the break.

I will soon send out an evite for a pancake breakfast we will have the first day back from break. Be watching for this. It’s a nice way to ease our way back into school.

I know that stores will be putting Valentine’s out for kids to purchase very early in the new year. Please don’t buy any paper Valentine’s, as we will be making our own in class. Thanks. I have all the supplies we need.

Students will be pleased to find that we’re done with all but two of our health packets. These two will be used during FLASH, which will be in Feb.

With semester report cards coming out at the end of Jan., I’m trying to put a few things in place now. There have been so many changes with the standards, testing, and report cards the last couple of years, that the mind literally reels.

We have a field trip on 1/29 to the Seattle Children’s Theatre to see Mwindo. This is a Central African tale with heroic beings and fantastical creatures; perfect for our class. I have also scheduled a workshop the day prior to seeing the play, so kids will be fully prepared to get the most out of their theatre experience.

I just sent an email detailing our Shakespeare practice schedule for the remainder of the year. I hope that Friday practices work for your family; please contact me ASAP if they do not. Thanks.

Kids participated in the National Geography Bee earlier this week. I was surprised to see how much the questions have changed this year. They included a lot more engaging information for this age group. Caleb Cissna was our classroom winner, and will move onto finals at the school level. Congratulations to Caleb!

We will be starting science experiments in class in January. Students design simple experiments, and then work hard to learn about the independent, dependent, and controlled variables. They have to report their work following a very specific format, which is probably the hardest part, but the most essential for real scientists.

We are also starting literature circles in January, which teaches the kids how to closely analyze a text, and gives them the opportunity to discuss the book in groups. The new common core is huge into kids doing complex literary analyses. I gave the students some choice of which book they would be reading today.

I typically like to do a little something to honor Martin Luther King, Jr’s. bday. We get to teach so very little social studies these days, that I’m always looking forward to every opportunity to involve the kids in thinking about the world we live in. There are two activities I wanted you to be aware of. One is a film from a series called “Eyes on the Prize” from PBS a number of years back. The first segment describes how the Civil Rights movement came into being, and lasts about an hour. There are a couple of still photos of lynchings, but I have seen the movie many times, and can warn the kiddos when to hide their eyes, if they prefer not to see these images. I know this can be scary for some students. I know our principal, Mr. Keeler, also has some grand ideas about how to honor MLK Day, but I have not heard those yet.

The second activity is having kids choose an article from an educational magazine entitled Us & Them. They read the article and tell the class a little about what they learned. The articles feature many different kinds of abusive behavior regarding people of many races, religions, and one article dealing with gays and lesbians being bullied. This can be a bit more controversial for some families, so please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have concerns. We’ll figure out a good alternative for your child.

We will be wishing the Yang family good luck in their new home in California. Andy’s last day at Lockwood is tomorrow. We also have a new student coming the first day back from break, so we will look forward to meeting her (I think I heard the student is female).

We will be starting a project called the Math Curse Book that students will be writing. The project incorporates art, writing, and math skills. These take about four months to complete, so I figured we had better get moving on them. We will discuss rubrics upon our return from break.

We will also be diving into a project called the Ancient Civilization project. This is an all-sixth grade project, meaning that all three classes are participating. A number of parents will need to volunteer from each class to make this happen, though it is much less work than mini units. To find out more about how to help, please come to the meeting on 1/8 at 3:40 here in our wing of the campus. I know Jamie LeDoux plans to attend the meeting, and will take great notes, if no one else is able to make it. We will also be discussing the sixth grade graduation and party. This is about a six-week project, and the culminating event is on 2/11, which is when volunteers will be needed. There will be a big celebration and potluck that morning.

We have three presentations in Jan. One is put on by a group called Junior Achievement. They have amazing classroom lessons on financial literacy and global economics. The other two are science topics put on by the PUD. All three will be fantastic information for the students.

Book reports for the quarter are due Jan. 20, so please make sure your child is on target to meet their goal. Thanks.

OK, now that everyone is completely overwhelmed, I need to get home. J Have a great evening.

Sincerely,

Justine