February 13, 2004
Friday’s Message:
Happy Valentine’s Day
We had a heartfelt day! Lots of love was passed around the room. Thank you to all the parents that donated goodies for our classroom party. The kids had fun passing out cards and socializing. It has been an extra busy week. Enjoy the long weekend!
Sweet Hearts
Did your child’s sweet heart treat make it home? Liz, Jake’s mom, and Paul, William’s dad, did the Valentine cooking project . It was hard resisting licking those sticky fingers, but they waited and were rewarded with half of a heart to eat at school. Thank you Liz and Paul!
Chinatown
We had a full day on our field trip. By having the students write about the trip, they shared a few things they saw, heard, touched, smelled, and tasted.
Thank you to everyone that drove and chaperoned; some drivers even switched for the return ride back to school. Thanks from all of us! We couldn’t have gone without you!
Thank you to Michael and Margaret, Claire’s parents, Nicole, Jabreel’s mom, Brian, Jake’s dad, Vivian, Julia’s stepmom, and Katie and Cynthia, Ryan’s moms, for helping us out on this trip. We hope you enjoyed yourselves, too!
Bread from Around the World
Last week I asked parents to sign up to bring a bread your child can share with the class. A couple of parents have already returned the form with the same bread listed. To be fair, I will let students bring the bread on a “first come, first served basis.” I will be contacting you when to bring the bread (just to spread out our bread tasting. The plan is to try to do a couple of breads a week.)
If you would like to make the bread with students on a particular date, please let me know so I can schedule you in. You can indicate your date of preference on the form, send a note with your child, or check in with me before or after school.
Homework:
READING
Read and record in your Reading Log.
WRITING
Write five things you love to do with your family and explain why. Write complete sentences.
MATH
Sort your valentine cards/goodies. Make a graph to show how you sorted them. Complete the attached worksheet.
TANGRAMS
Tangrams are great for visual perception. They originated in China. It is a seven piece puzzle that can be manipulated into many shapes. I read Grandfather Tang’s Story where animals made from tangrams kept transforming. Students had he opportunity to try puzzles with varying degrees of difficulty. Now they can try the challenge at home.
The tangram kit is for your child to keep at home. (Simply cut out the pieces of the square. Cut carefully on the lines.) If your child enjoys and/or is challenged by this activity, there are many tangram puzzles you can buy. You can also extend your kit by having your child make up his/her own puzzle. After s/he makes a shape, help trace around it. Then take the pieces off and see if s/he can put it back together, or better yet, can you or a family member? Can you get the pieces back into a square?
There is nothing to turn in for the tangram portion of the homework. If your child wants to turn in a puzzle shape outline s/he make with the seven pieces, s/he can do so. I’ll add it to thetangram puzzles students are working on.