Wed. 10/28 "It's Been Awhile!"

Parent-Teacher Conferences
I can't believe we are almost to the end of the first trimester. Conferences are held this year on Wednesday, November 11th after school, and all day Thursday the 12th. I sent notes home today to remind you about the time you signed up for (or were selected for if you did not sign up.) Please sign these tonight and send them back with your son or daughter tomorrow.

Halloween Party
This Friday we will be celebrating silly and spooky costumes throughout the school. We have recess from 2:oo to 2:15, then we will have fifteen minutes to pull on out costumes before the school parade. The parade starts with the primary grades and weaves its way through the school, adding grades as it passes them, and will eventually end up outside on the blacktop (if the weather cooperates.) It lasts from 2:30 to about 2:45. Then we will go back to our classroom for some fun and treats until we pack up to go at 3:30.

Volunteers
Thanks to all the parents who volunteered for the two upcoming field trips! The first four parents to offer to chaperone for the November 17th trip to Science City were Mandy Yoder, Colleen Evans, Mary Beth Warinner, and Machaela Edmonds. Our trip to Allen Field house on January 12th to see the Lady Jayhawks will be a fun one too. Thanks to Jennifer Culbertson, Mandy Yoder, Shyla Strathman, Colleen Evans, and Rodney Eklund for quickly offering to come along and help keep kids safe. I will send out more info on these trips later.

Reading
It was so exciting to watch the kids intently devouring the conclusions of their mystery/suspense novels today. I love introducing students to great books! Next week we will have a fun review project for an independent book of each students choice that they have read this trimester and are eager to share out with peers. Then the following Monday, we will begin to explore the Fantasy/Sci-Fi genre of reading with the books "Tuck Everlasting" and "City of Ember."

Writing
We have been working on some writing skills this week such as run-on sentences, and punctuation and capitalization when using dialogue. When reading with kids at home, please point out these rules to support what we have been discussing in class.

Congratulations
We are very excited to have one of our own fifth grader's story selected to be in the LJWorld this year, for the Spooky Story Contest. Way to go, Sabrea Platz!

Questions? Comments? Send me an e-mail and I will get back with you as soon as I can.