Adventurers Team    

Team teachers Pam Wise/Joplin James                     

Welcome to the Adventurers ParentLink for the week of September 5^th.

This week we had some special guests come to share a favorite book with us. On Wednesday, principal Nardelli, came to visit us read, “Car Wash.”  It was a fun book about going through a car wash.  The children in the story used their imagination and pretended that going through the car wash was like taking a ride on a submarine. Then on Friday, Mrs. Anderson, from the Library, brought some of her favorite books and read us a new book by called “Max Cleans Up.”

This Thursday morning we had our first Fire Drill. We talked about why we have fire drills and proper behavior for fire drills. The students did an excellent job. 

For our first nine days of school we have had some special activities during choice time..  The Challenge involved creating a design using pattern blocks and the Art Project was to create a picture using circles in a variety of sizes and colors.  The results are wonderful!  The Estimating Jar was filled with brightly wrapped sugar-free candies (that will be sent to Pam’s dad).  Today we counted and discovered that there were 196 candies in the jar. Was the closest with an estimate of . We also learned a poem called “A Poem is a Little Path” by Charles Ghigna.  By the end of the week, many of the children were able to recite it, and if you ask, you might be able to get a recital from your child.

This week in math our kindergartners have been having fun with some counting games. We also made patterns and designs with the pattern blocks. The first graders have been reviewing using tally markers, practicing making beautiful numbers and we have been also having some fun counting in other languages such as Russian, Japanese, and Swedish.  Our first and second graders will begin to bring home their math homelink books on a more regular basis. We ask that you review the activity or parent letter, initial the page, and help your child remember to return the notebook for the following school day.

This week we celebrated our first two birthdays of the year.  We congratulated Lucia and Allie for traveling six times around the sun and we sang four versions of  ‘Happy Birthday” including the French version (thanks to Diane Clayton), the Spanish version (thanks to Claudia Llona), the Tom Chapin version, and the silly version.  Lucia and Allie brought in some special birthday snacks to share with the class and we enjoyed celebrating their special day. (Please remember when it is your child’s birthday that our snack time is before lunch and that we hope you will respect our request that if you send in a treat that it be an appropriate morning snack. Please do not send sweets or messy snacks that will make a mess on our carpets when shared with 41 children.

***Homework:  THIS IS THE ONLY WAY YOUR CHILD CAN FIND OUT ABOUT OUR WEEKLY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT.  The assignment will be on ParentLink each Friday and should be completed at home by Tuesday and brought to school NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY.  Since we have been talking about fire drills at school, the homework for this weekend is to plan and practice a drill at your home. Then draw a picture of the place your family plans to meet outdoors and draw or write the route that would take you from your bedroom to the family meeting place.  Family members are always encourage to participate in these assignments and to assist the younger students whenever necessary.

Today we sent home our “I Love to Read” Record Sheet.  We will send one each Friday and ask you to help your child remember to bring it in on the following Friday morning. We hope this will help you make a routine of reading with your child. We encourage you to make some time for silent reading with your whole family if possible.  Please find a place at home to post the reading record so your child can keep track of reading time and remember to send it in each Friday morning. We recommend that each kindergartner read for 5 - 10 minutes to themselves or an adult.  We hope that first graders will read at least 10 – 15 minutes and that second graders will read at least 15 - 20 minutes. 

Clarke’s dad volunteered to transport all the cans and bottles we collect for the Birdseed fund. Our birdfeeders are completely empty so please send in any returnables you have so we can make a truckload and let the birds know they are welcome at Shelburne Community School. We have selected the weeks of September 10^th and 17^th for collecting, so PLEASE get your clean cans and bottles ready and begin sending them in on Monday.  Also we could use any paper grocery bags you may have.

We’re in the process of putting together the Adventurers team address list Phone tree so you can contact other Adventurers.  This will include parents’ names, address and phone number. If there is anything unusual about how you would like to be listed, please let us know.  In the past this has been most useful in the event of last minute change of plans or snow days (especially the ones when there’s no snow and we’re not likely to listen to the radio).  We need six parents to volunteer to be branch callers, e.g. these people would call six other families. Please let us know if you would be willing to help with this and we’ll have it ready to hand out at the parent night..

We’re looking for a few helpers in the afternoon to listen to first and second grade readers. If you have time one day a week from 1:00 –1:45 we would be most appreciative.  The students love to have you in the classroom and we believe it is important for each student to read aloud every afternoon.  Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to help.  Thank you.

***Are there any volunteers to cut and paste at home?  We have some wide ribbon that needs to be cut to a certain length and then overlap the ends and lightly glued.  No creative talents are required.  The project needs to be completed by Monday, September 17^th.  Any takers???

In last week’s message we said that our Adventurers Parent Information Night had been changed from September 18^th to September 25^th, but we mistakenly reported that this was a Monday evening when in fact it is a Tuesday. Please make sure you have this on your calendar. We look forward to seeing you then.

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Home Page maintained by Joplin James & Pam Wise
jjames@shelburne.k12.vt.us
Last updated: September 07, 2001