Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!!


A little trivia from Wikipedia:

Halloween (or Hallowe’en) is an international holiday celebrated on the evening of October 31; today it is often celebrated in the morning and afternoon as well. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, and reading scary stories. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, and at times in parts of New Zealand. In Sweden the All Saints' official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Field Trip Reminder!


On Friday, October 31st (Halloween!), we will take our first field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo. Please remember to wear comfortable shoes and layered clothing in case the weather is cold. (No Halloween costumes!)

Bagged lunches will be provided and lunch is at 11:00 p.m. We will leave promptly at 9:00 a.m. and arrive back to school at 2:30 p.m. We are looking forward to a fabulous time!

Family Reading Night & 3rd Grade Performance


Just another friendly reminder, on Thursday, October 30th at 6:30- 8:00 p.m. Your third grade students have put together a special show just for you! There will also be a pumpkin contest and other fun reading treats! We look forward to seeing you there!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

No School next Friday!

Just a reminder...Friday, October 24th is a Teacher Planning Day. There will not be school for students.

(Monday, October 20th has become a regular school day due to the revised Weather Day schedule)

Spelling HW

There will not be Spelling Homework next week: October 20th- 24th. We are working on a Reading Benchmark test all week and will be focusing on our Patricia Polacco Author Study.

In addition, there will not be a Reading Selection Test for the week.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Patricia Polacco Author Study

We are studying the children's literature author, Patricia Polacco for the next few weeks. This week, we are reading The Keeping Quilt and talking about family traditions. Some of the other stories we look forward to reading are: When Lightning Comes in a Jar, Thunder Cake, Babushka's Doll, Chicken Sunday and Thank You Mr. Falker.

The class will participate in a center where they record elements of a narrative story on a graphic organizer using Patricia Polacco books. They will also review writing responses to literature during Writer's Workshop.


Check out Patricia's website at: http://www.patriciapolacco.com/pr/index.html











Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Zoo Field Trip!

Please send your child on our first field trip, October 31st! We will be going to the Jacksonville Zoo to see the animals and fall pumpkin display! Please remember to sign and return your permission slip!