Welcome to the Adventurers Parentlink for Friday, January 5th, 2001.

Happy New Year!

It was so nice to be back together again. The children were well rested and had lots of tales to tell about their exciting snow adventures during their vacation break.

This week we began reading books that were nominated for Vermont's "Red Clover" Award. After we finish reading and reviewing all the nominated books, each student will vote for his/her favorite title to win the award. Every elementary student in the state is entitled to vote. The results of this statewide vote should be available in early spring. Students are encouraged to look for text and illustrations that support and enrich each other. We began with Simms Taback's "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat." This book has also received The Caldecott Medal. The children enjoyed the rich colors and great detail that this author shares with his readers. They also enjoyed the die cuts and very colorful end papers and title page. Ask your student to tell you about it. On Thursday, the children heard Jim Haylesworth's "The Full Belly Bowl." The children thought that it reminded them of an old favorite title, "Strega Nona." On Friday we heard "Don't Make Me Laugh" by James Stevenson.

The Art Project this week was to paint and decorate a vibrant 2001 sign to welcome in the new year. The challenge was to draw the shape of an envelope in one continuous line without duplicating lines. Ask your student to show you how to do this, or perhaps you remember this challenge from your own childhood. The poem for the week was "Four Little Stars'" author unknown. The Pasackow family filled the Estimating Jar with corks. The students narrowed the range to between 40 and 80 pieces. There were 75 pieces in the jar which is exactly what Eric and Meg estimated. Meg pulled the long straw so she'll get to fill it with something new for next week.

We totaled up all the reading from the "I Love to Read" records and found out that Adventurers students read 1409 minutes this week. Even though we were missing many records we were very impressed and we're really hoping we can break the 2000 minute record if everyone brings in their record for next week. A blank record sheet was sent home today.

ATTENTION KINDERGARTEN PARENTS: Your child has been using the calculator at school. If you have a simple one at home, please bring it out and let your student use it. Give them word problems to solve using the calculator. Let them see the pattern that occurs when you repeatedly press a number, +, and =. (Some calculators work differently, so please experiment with yours before you have your student use it.) This group has been very interested in these activities.

We would like to begin the Kindergarten Literature Groups soon. If you expressed an interest in doing this earlier this year and are still interested, please let us know as soon as possible. The days and times would be Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday from 8:45 to 9:30. We have arranged "training" for you next week. If you would like to lead a group, please let us by Monday if Wed., Thurs., Fri., or either day at 11:00 a.m. would be a good "training" day for you. Mainly, you would be reading "good" literature to your small group of students and leading a discussion group about the book and related ideas or incorporate a "hands on" activity.

Next week, on Thursday, we will be going to the Flynn Theatre for the Performing Arts to see "Cinderella." We will be going to the 9:30 a.m. show, so we will be back in time for regular kindergarten dismissal and lunch for 1st and 2nd graders. We read several culturally diverse versions of this tale earlier in the year before seeing "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters." If you have a copy of the "original" at home, read it with your child this weekend. This performance should be quite interesting as it is told from the viewpoint of one of the step sisters. The cost for this performance is $5.00. If you would like to make use of the scholarship fund, which some Adventurers parents have generously contributed to, please let us know. As always, no child will ever be excluded from a performance for financial reasons.

The homework for this weekend is to read or listen to someone tell you the story of "CINDERELLA" and draw a picture of a favorite part. ADDITIONAL HOMEWORK FOR 2ND GRADERS is to complete their Math Journal pages through page 59 and complete their homelinks booklets. Please remember to bring both books back on Monday.

On Wednesday, January 17th, we are planning to take the train "the Champlain Flyer" from the Shelburne Depot into Burlington to visit the Lake Champlain Basis Science Center. We will meet in our classroom and board a bus at 8:05 a.m. so please don't be late. The last train leaves the station at 8:25 a.m. We will return from Burlington by bus and will eat our lunch upon our return. Please make sure that your student has a POCKET SNACK for our trip and a lunch and drink for our return. We hope all our Kindergartners will be able to stay with us all day. Please return the form letting us know about dismissal arrangements for this extended day for the kindergartners. We will need extra chaperones for this trip, so please let us know if you would like to join us.

Next Monday, January 8th, will be our monthly Adventurer's Parent Group Meeting. We will begin with a potluck dinner at 6:00 p.m. We will be planning our annual outing to Catamount for a day of winter sports later this month and would appreciate your help in coordinating this. We will need many parents to join us to help lace up skates, help out first time x-country skiers, and generally help make this a fun day of winter sports. We appreciate your input. We will also work on planning for the upcoming Adventurers Family Fun Night on Friday, February 9th, and we would also appreciate some input on a Adventurers team program survey that we are planning. Please let us know if you have other items to add to the agenda. Sonia will join us for childcare.

PLEASE make sure that you have your child's name is in all the clothing brought to school, including boots and mittens. The problem this week is students wearing boots to school with no shoes to change into (especially gym day) We do like to go outside on these beautiful winter days, so BOOTS, HATS, Snowpants and MITTENS are a MUST each day! Thank you.