Busy, busy weeks ahead!

Welcome back students! These next five weeks are going to be very exciting and challenging and new for us. For starters, we are going to get ready for the WASL coming up just after spring break. We'll be doing that by familiarizing ourselves with the kinds of questions that will appear-- especially on the science WASL.

On Wednesday night, I look forward to seeing parents and teachers for the math and science assessment night here at Maple. It starts at 6:30 and will go for about an hour. Ms. Litvack, Ms. Koeller, and I have prepared a presentation about the math curriculum that we are using here at school, and about the science WASL the kids will be taking in April.

Also this week we'll be starting on our Family Life and Sexual Health unit. We'll be starting this week by talking about the importance of the unit, Family, and Self Esteem. On Friday, students will have a test on addition and subtraction of positive and negative numbers. We'll have a pre-test on Thursday and homework throughout the week on the subject.

Next week we have TWO field trips and our first Global Reading Challenge. Wow. Come on Monday the 3rd at 9am to see the kids perform and hopefully win the school-wide challenge. On Tuesday the 4th we have a field trip to the Children's Theater to watch "One Hundred Dresses", and on Friday the 7th: we'll be going to Benaroya Hall for a concert performed by the Seattle Symphony.

Have a GREAT Mid-Winter Break!!

Hey boys and girls!! I hope that you have a super fun and safe week off. I've had fun already-- I got to go snow-shoeing yesterday up at Snoqualmie Pass. It rocked!!! Also, I took advantage of the SUNNY weather we had this past weekend to get out in the garden.

I know some of you are hanging out at home and some are on Oregon the coast and some are elsewhere with family in Washington. Hope that you're having a great time doing whatever you're doing.

Don't forget to work on the packets I gave you, and read those Global Reading books. I strongly encourage folks to re-read books too. There should be an expert of each of the books on each team. We'll only have one week before the first school challenge when you get back.

That's all for now F3. I'll write again before I see you on Monday the 25th.

Cheers!!!!

We'll Be Making the MOST of the Week Before Break

We'll be starting to work on the 50 state (and DC) challenge this week.

Another break? Already? Really? Yes, we will not be together next week, the 18th through the 22nd. I hope everyone has a ton of fun with their families and friends.... But I will also be offering students some extra credit work to do during the break.

Since we will be in the middle of a math unit, I'll provide some extra homework for kids who want to get exponentially ahead :). Also, I'll be providing some reading assignments to take home to start getting ready for the upcoming WASL. I encourage students to work about 30 to 60 minutes a day on this extra work. Of course Global Readers will have a whole week to read and reread the ten books they will be quizzed on starting just a week after we get back from break.

What's up for this week ahead? In science we'll be continuing to change one variable at a time to try to make our go-carts run a little farther, and learn how to write up an experiment including the materials, procedure, prediction, results and conclusion. We'll be continuing our study of the past (explorers) and present (counting delegates) in social studies.

Also in social studies, we were just invited by a class in New Iberia, Louisiana to join them in the 50 state challenge. Funny enough, I actually biked through New Iberia on my bicycle trip last year, so I'm excited to join this challenge. The first challenge we have is to find classes to write to in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

On Thursday the 14th, we'll have a Valentine's Party in F Pod at 2 pm. On Monday the kids will organize who will bring what for the party. Last week we made some Valentine cards for a good friend of the class :). I encourage students to make Valentines for each other and not leave anyone out.

It's time again to write to Paul, and that will be your homework on Monday night. Since we sent him a package last time, we'll just be writing letters this time. He sent us pictures and a letter last week which you can check out just below this posting. Thanks Paul!

Upcoming Field Trips, a New Math Unit, and a letter from Paul

Thanks Paul for sending us pictures!!

This week we have our first of many upcoming field trips. I wish that I could take all of the kids, but unfortunately the field trip is only for our Global Readers. The author of Half and Half will be speaking at the Downtown Seattle Public Library at 10:30 am on Tuesday. Ms. Lloyd and I will be taking all of the fourth and fifth grade Global Readers and we will be back in time for lunch.

We have a ton of field trips coming up in March (well, I think four is a ton, anyway). The kids and I are really looking forward to all of them. Thanks to all the parents for signing all of the many field trip permission slips that have been coming your way.

The kids are going to be reviewing a lot of data this week as part of science and math. We will be doing a class research project in to how we have done in the six unit tests that we've had in math so far this school year. Have we improved as a class since the beginning of the year? How has the range in test scores changed over time?

Students have started to study the exploration age in the 1400's in social studies. Concurrent with studying the 1400's, students in F3 are also following politics. We'll be counting up all the delegates for both the on February 6th after the big Super Tuesday (February 5).

Parents, please look in your child's backpack on Monday for a letter from me regarding FLASH.

Have a great week ahead. Cheers!

PS: Check out the latest letter from Paul!!