Conference schedule begins this Friday!

Last week I sent a copy of my conference schedule home to those of you who scheduled conferences with me.  If you need to change or want to cancel your conference please let me know as soon as possible.  Dismissal will be at 1:40 for this Friday and all of next week.  Those of you who did not wish to have a conference will receive your child's report card in this week's Friday Folder.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Leprechaun Mischief!

You have probably heard from your child about the leprechaun mischief we experienced during the past few days.  Here are just a few pictures of some of the traps we built and the tricks played by our little troublemaking friend Lucky the Leprechaun.  We weren't able to catch him, but we sure had fun trying and our imaginations were running WILD!  It was amazing how many scholars reported actually seeing a leprechaun in the classroom on Monday!!  The scholars also enjoyed "thinking like detectives" as we gathered evidence and prepared a report for Dr. Heughins.

Important papers

Please check your child's Friday Folder carefully.  There are conference notes inside.  Please let me know if you have any questions, I hope my note helped to clarify the information.

Many scholars also have interdistrict transfer forms for next year in their folders this week.

Please let me know if you did not receive the pink note about the parent information night on March 25.  It is an optional informational meeting for parents of GATE students.  I have several extras which makes me suspect some scholars might not have received one.

On a more fun note, this Friday is career day!  Your child may dress up in the clothing of a career of their choice.  The following week we will celebrate Read Across America with some fun dress up day themes as well.

Catching up!

 I apologize for going so long without an update.  I have been working hard preparing for the California Distinguished Schools visit, working on the trimester 2 report cards, and fighting off the many terrible germs this year.  I think my best solution to get you all caught up on the many exciting things that we have been up to is to share some photos.

Friendship fractions combined art, Valentine's Day, and fractions.

We performed an experiment last week to learn more about the water cycle.  The scholars felt that the water that we allowed to evaporate was what caused this week's rainstorm!  Also, I wonder how many of you have heard our water cycle song performed at home?

Evaporation, accumulation, precipitation!!  I'm sure it's not annoying at all :)

The scholars continue to apply the icons of depth and complexity throughout the curriculum.

For our February door, we imagined what we would do if we were the President.  Many of the scholars decided that they WOULD become President someday.  I certainly can see it!

We learned about plane shapes and solid figures.

We finished introducing all of the Habits of a Scholar.  For Academic Humility, I had a perfect teachable moment when one of the scholars informed me that corn was a fruit.  I showed the class that no one, not even teachers (gasp!) know everything and can still learn new things, just like scholars do.  No one should ever stop learning or pretend to know it all.  This led to an interesting discussion on the differences between being proud of being smart and bragging.  Our conclusion was that it's good to be proud of being smart scholars but to share it in a way that doesn't make others feel bad.  We also agreed to never stop learning or to waste learning time.

I hope you enjoyed our Valentine's gift!

We became experts on fractions.  Please check Friday Folders for your child's test results.

We learned about the Red-Eyed Tree Frog.  The scholars really enjoy reading non-fiction text.

A few photos of our Tet and Chinese New Year decorations.  Many thanks to all the parents who helped out!