Dear Families,
A huge thank-you to Asanga Domask, (Ella's mom), Jen Hsin, (Nori's mom), and Kysha Pierre-Louis for a wonderful Halloween party!  The children enjoyed the party!  I know they loved the activities and the super-cute snacks!  What a great way to start the Halloween celebrations!  The costumes were really cute too!  I'll post pictures either tonight or later this weekend so check back to see all the Halloween fun!  Again, thank-you to the room parents and to all the families who helped make our party fun for everyone!
Enjoy your long weekend!
Juliet

We had a great afternoon practicing our sculpturing skills.  The task was the practice making a sculpture of an American symbol.  We analyzed important parts of the symbols then practiced pulling the clay to form the shape of the symbol. This isn't easy!  We practiced today but will make the final sculpture Monday.  Ask me about what I made today!  
In Writing Workshop today we talked about ideas.  We started an Author Idea Notebook.  Next week I'll put it in my backpack and keep it there so I can add ideas when I am at home and at school.  Writers often are inspired by things they see or do so jotting it down in a notebook is a great way to remember the idea and a few important words to use another time in writing.
We read a beautiful book with paintings by Thomas Locker of the water cycle.  The book is written in verse so it's not only beautiful to look at, but to also to listen to.  Thomas Locker has several books with beautiful paintings and words about nature and we will be reading them later in the year.
Tomorrow the Halloween parade begins at 2:00.  Please send costumes in a bag with your child's name on it so we can put their clothes in the bag so everyone goes home with all their clothes!  

Today Mrs. Stapleton, our school nurse, and Mrs. Messina, our Health Room tech, came to visit to teach us about washing our hands.  We practiced washing our hands with their help, making sure we rubbed our hands together for a long enough time. Ask me to show you how I wash my hands!
We also learned about important times to wash our hands.  Ask me to tell you three times we should wash our hands.
Today we continued to learn about the water cycle.  We learned about collection, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.  We are pretty amazing to remember these big words!  We put motions to the water cycle, and we filmed it.  Watch our video here.

Busy day today!  We met with Mrs. Kanter today and learned about Red Ribbon Week.  Red Ribbon Week is next week and is about healthy living.  I will be sending home the ribbons on Monday, and we hope that children will wear them each day of the week.  
Ask me to tell you about The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything.  I am bringing home a ziplock bag with the important parts of the story.  I can't wait to tell you the story!
Have a great weekend!
Juliet

We played a new game today to practice writing word wall words quickly.  We played the game Mind Reader.  Ask me to tell you how to play Mind Reader!  

We read a funny book called Duck for President by Doreen Cronin.  The book was about Duck who didn't want to work on the farm, so instead he wanted to be in charge of the farm.  

We worked hard in reading groups today and did a really great job in literacy stations choosing stations and activities that will help us be better readers and writers.  

Just a reminder that Friday is our Weather Fashion Show!  

Great day today!
Juliet

We listened to a great story today about Martin Luther King, Jr.  The story was written by his niece and told about his family life as well as his many accomplishments.  Ask me to tell you about what we learned about Martin Luther King, Jr.  What did his family call him?

The SAG has asked me to pass along this information to families:

Now through October 27, the Student Government is sponsoring a Halloween Costume Drive to benefit local children. Please send in elementary age-appropriate, new or slightly used costumes to the collection box located outside Mrs. Kanter’s office. 


Through October 24, the Student Government is sponsoring Kids Helping Kids Food Drive to benefit local Manna Food Center. Please send in donations of nonperishable food to the collection boxes located in the Grade 3/4 
hallway. Items of most need include canned vegetables/fruit /tuna/meats/soups/chili, dried soups, brown rice, rolled oats, quinoa, low sugar/high fiber cereal, plain oatmeal, vegetable oils, evaporated milk, tea, coffee, infant cereals and 
formulas, crackers, and whole wheat pasta. 

Have a great evening!
Juliet

We had a great day today.  We practiced writing thank-you notes in writing workshop.  We made sure we wrote the name of who we were writing to, the message, and signed our name at the end.
We listened to a great story that was donated by our friend Daniel.  The book was Otis and the Scarecrow.  It was a great story about empathy.  Ask me about what Otis did that showed he was thinking about how the scarecrow was feeling.

You will find a letter from our room parents about the two parties we have this year.  I will also be including the letter in this blog just in case the letter gets lost!  A huge thanks to our three parents who have volunteered to coordinate our parties!

Homework will be online only this week.  I will not print it and I don't want you to print it either!  Let's save some paper and give the copier a break!
Be sure to check out the two weekend opportunities for families on our homepage. 

Have a great afternoon!
Juliet

Dear Parents,

We will be serving as Room Parents for Ms. Wolfe’s class and are reaching out to you regarding the events planned for this school year. We will be holding our class Halloween party on Thursday, October 30, 2014 and our Valentine’s Day party on Friday, February 13, 2015. If you are able to volunteer at either of these parties, we would love to have the help!

Every year at Bells Mill Elementary School, each classroom collects money from all of the families in the class to cover the expenses that occur during the year. This year we would like to collect up to $25 from each family. The money collected will be used for the 2 class parties (Halloween and Valentine's Day), and gifts for our teacher. We are hoping that this amount will cover the expenses for the entire year; however, in some cases, we may ask you to donate store-bought food, paper products, decorations, prizes for the kids, time, etc. for our events. 

We would like to have all the money collected by Friday, October 24th.  Please send your donation in an envelope marked "Class Fund," attention Asanga Domask and include your child's name. You can ask your child to give it to Ella Domask or to Ms. Wolfe. Checks can be payable to Asanga Domask or cash is acceptable. 

Please also let us know ways in which you'd like to help by filling out the form below and returning via email. Can you assist in planning our classroom events, the parent’s social, and any gifts we might get for our teacher? Keep an eye out for a Signup Genius that will come by email as we seek volunteer help for the Halloween party.

Please Note: We have traditionally served treats at each of these parties; however, we are well aware of the seriousness of food allergies and intolerance. If you have a child with a food allergy, please let us know. We will look for food options that will be inclusive; however, you may feel more comfortable providing your own safe treat for your child. While we will do our best to address the special dietary needs of children with food allergies, we cannot be held fully responsible for ensuring that every treat will be safe for every food allergy.

We are looking forward to a fun year in Ms. Wolfe's class! Thanks in advance for your generosity and cooperation in making it a great year for the children.



Sincerely, 


Asanga Domask,   [email protected] (Ella's mom)

Jen Hsin,  [email protected]  (Nori's mom)

Kysha Pierre-Louis,  [email protected] (Cole's mom)

Volunteer for your Class

I would like to volunteer or help out with the:

Halloween Party __________ Valentine’s Day Party __________

Parent’s Social __________ Teacher’s Gift __________

Other ____________

Child’s Name __________________________________

Food Allergies _________________________________

Your Name_____________________________________

Phone Number _________________________________

Email Address _________________________________

 

Today was a really great day!  We learned about wind.  Ask me to tell you some words that describe wind.  We also wrote notes to friends.  We learned about three important parts of a note; who you are writing to, your message, and signing the note with your name.  We analyzed an interesting picture this morning and came up with questions or things we were wondering about in the picture.  

Reminders:  The Book Fair is open tonight from 6:30 - 8:30, and tomorrow until 1:00.
It's picture day tomorrow too!  
Enjoy the evening!
Juliet

Today we went browsing at the Book Fair.  Your children will be coming home with a wish list and the flyer for the Book Fair that advertises some of the books that are at the Book Fair.  But there are many more to choose from than are in the flyer.  The Book Fair is open tonight from 6:30 - 8:30.  The Book Fair will be open tomorrow during the school day, and Thursday until 1:00.  
We are really working on being more responsible with classroom materials.  We seem to have a lot of literacy station and math station activities left out.  We have also had children destroying some of the materials or mixing up sets of cards so they could have more.  We had all of our name cards in writing station drawn on with markers to add moustaches, beards, glasses, etc.  We have talked about how putting things away is part of being responsible.  We will be talking about the Bells Mill Six Star Expectations over the next couple weeks and will use that language of being a good citizen, being fair, etc. to talk about appropriate behavior.  Tomorrow we will be having a class meeting to focus on the problem and solutions for how we can do better in being responsible with classroom materials.
It was great to see so many families come to our Open House on Monday.  The kids were really excited to see you at school and show you what we do in our classroom each day.  
Have a nice evening!
Juliet