Beverly Cleary SchoolUpdates
JANUARY NEWS
Dear Families –
I trust you all had a relaxing break! As your household switches out of “vacation mode,” we’ll be getting back into school routines as well. Your students will be reviewing school rules and taking time to remind each other of the kinds of words we use (polite and encouraging). What are some of the things you do at home to help get your child back into routine? Candy Cane Update During the weeks leading up to Winter Break, students in Room 224 sold candy canes to students on the Fernwood campus in order to raise money for Heifer International. (Heifer gives livestock to families in need around the world; families use the animals as a sustainable source of nutrition and income.) Your students raised $346!! With that, they decided to buy: a sheep, goat, chicks, and honey bees! We all had a great time choosing which animals to give and reading about how they will help change lives. Coming Up In February our class will be attending an Oregon Children’s Theater production of The Magic School Bus: Climate Challenge. To help us get the most out of the play, we’re starting a science unit about how the sun, atmosphere, water, and earth all work together. At the end, we’ll talk about things we can do to help take care of the earth. What does your family do? Does your child help put the recycle out or turn the lights off when he/she leaves the room? You can help your student be ready to participate in class discussions by talking about these ideas at home now. And while we’re talking about field trips… your student uses the money he/she brings from home to pay for their own bowling game, grocery item, etc. This gives your student a chance to do “real life” practice with the money skills they work on each day in class. While I very much appreciate your willingness to help fund these trips, it gets a little tricky when we receive a lot of checks. I know that in this day of debit/charge cards I don’t usually carry cash on hand, and I completely understand if that is true for your family. A permission slip came home today, and it would be 100% OK to write a note letting me know you’ll send in cash when you have a chance. I will be eternally grateful! Last but not least, I wanted to share some sad news for Room 224; one of our classroom gerbils, Stormy, has passed away. Teachers and students spent some time talking about this today, but I wanted to let you know so that you will be able to talk with your child if he/she mentions it. Here are the January dates to keep in mind:
I’m looking forward to the amazing learning that will happen in 2012!
Mrs. Lowe
