Happy 2012!  

I hope you all have enjoyed our luxuriously long holiday break!  I am so excited to see the children on Monday and hear all about their adventures.  We have been doing a lot of reading at our house, and I hope you have also enjoyed some new books over the break.  

Take care, and I hope you enjoy this special time with your family and friends.  We'll see you on Monday!!

The students have each taken a turn sitting in our author's chair this week.  They have spent most of November writing a variety of nonfiction books, and it was time to celebrate their effort.  Each child chose their best or favorite nonfiction piece and read it to the class.

In preparation for all of this nonfiction writing, we did a lot of nonfiction reading.  Many of our large group read alouds have been nonfiction, and several literacy centers have focused on nonfiction books in the last few weeks.

We noticed that many nonfiction books use a question and answer format, so some of the children decided to try that in their writing.  Sometimes the title of the book is the question and the entire book is the answer.  Sometimes there is a question on each page.  Sometimes the same question is repeated throughout a book and in other cases there are a variety of different questions all about one topic.

I was truly impressed by the children's enthusiasm in diving into nonfiction writing.  They shared information and expressed their creativity.  If you have the chance to visit our classroom, please spend a few moments enjoying the children's work on our "I Am An Author" wall.   The students would love to hear your reaction.  Until then, here are a few photos of our young authors.

Again this year, ASW will be assisting the Warsaw Volunteer Mission in providing help to families in crisis. 

The children in 1H will be collecting items for a needy family.  The items needed will be:   Christmas gifts for the children, washing supplies, all types of canned food, food that can be consumed in a longer period of time, sweets, hygienic items, vitamins for the children, etc.  There are five children in the family:  Eliza – 12, Karolina – 9, Maja – 6, Natalia – 2, and Karol – 1.

The deadline for the collection is December 14th.   Please see your home email for a photo and a more detailed description of the family's circumstances.  In class, we have only discussed that the father is too sick to help the family, so the mom and the five children give him his one room while they share the second. 

Thank you, in advance, for your generosity.  Our children have an opportunity to make a significant difference for others who are not as fortunate as we are.   When we discussed the idea of helping a family in need, the children immediately had ideas of things they could bring that would be helpful.  It's heart-warming to see their eyes shine, knowing that they can make a difference.

For the second week in a row, we are including a "What's Inside the Cup?" page in the homework packet.  When we play this game at school, we call this game "Bears in a Cave."  There's something fun about hiding our bear-shaped counters beneath a cup and hoping our friend will calculate the correct number.

Both versions of the game start with a total number.  In the next few weeks, we will be expanding our range to higher numbers.  For now, we have been working primarily in the 8-12 range.

Knowing the total number, one partner keeps some number of bears outside and hides the remaining bears beneath the cup, or cave.  The other partner has to figure out how many bears are hiding, based on knowing the total number and how many are outside. 

This is great practice for us in both addition and subtraction, and I encourage you to play at home.  All you need is a handful of buttons, coins, or other small objects and an opaque cup.  As you play, please ask your child to explain his/her thinking.  How do you know? 

For me, the unofficial theme for November is gratitude.  I mentioned to a few of you that I have been feeling very fortunate to have so many things to mention on my 'thankfulness list.  I truly feel that I am the luckiest teacher at the school.  We have a remarkable group of students who impress me every day with their courage and careful attention.

Today, I would like to mention that I am also specifically grateful to work with such an amazing group of parents.  For the first time in my teaching career, I have had %100 parent participation in the first round of the fall parent/teacher conferences.

Wow.

You are clearly demonstrating that your child's education is a top priority for your family.  Thank you.   This is a tremendous gift to your children, and it creates a wonderfully positive atmosphere in our classroom community.

Thank you.
 

In our class, we have had the remarkable opportunity to participate in a global learning project called the I Spy Community.  Elementary students from schools scattered all over the world have worked together to build slideshow representations of their communities.  An energetic teacher in Brazil built a website where all of the Voice Thread slideshows are displayed, and now the students are tasked to explore these projects searching for similarities and differences.  Some children may want to pay close attention to cultural clues in the photos and try to guess which community is being represented.  After spending time on this on Friday, I am asking the students to find one similarity and one difference as part of their homework this week.  Then the children will be able to add their comment to the other classes' slideshows next week. 

I encourage you to visit the website as a family.  Here is the link:  www.ispycommunity.wikispaces.com.  You will find an overview of the project, a map of participating schools, and links to four different galleries of student work.   If you don't have the energy to explore the I Spy site to find our contribution, I will attach our video right here.  It is based on our field trip, and you will notice that other students have already started to make comments.  Enjoy!

Today, the School Board announced that Mr. Gamble will become the next Director of ASW!  We are so proud, and the girls and boys in 1H are certain that Mr. Gamble will be an outstanding Director!  Here is what they said:

Mr. Gamble will be an amazing Director because...

Joel:  He says "Good Morning!" when you go to his office.

Taner:  He made me laugh.

Anna:  He says "Good Morning!" to me every single day.
 
Megan:  He helps you to learn stuff when you get on red.

Philip:   Mr. Gamble says "Hello!" to me when I see him at Gold's Gym.

Mia:  He is kind, because everybody likes him. He never shouts at us.

Angela:  He is really tall, and he tickles me!
 
David:   He is sometimes funny to me.

Malina:  He is a great principal. 

Suzanne:  He is a very good friend, because he is nice to everyone in the school.

Anna Rose:  He teaches kids to be polite in the hallway.

Eun Hyuk:  He is brave and good to everyone.

Dewey:  He helps people if they fall down, like if they fall off their bike or off their seat.

Zelda:  He is really kind, and he always says "Please" when he asks us to do stuff.  And he greets us when we come to school.  He is really nice.  He laughs sometimes. I like him.

Eleanore:  He says "Goodbye" when we are going home from school, and he is always nice to us. 

Zita:  He's so funny!

Helena:  He is very nice, because he cares about us!  He smiles a lot, and he is funny!

Many thanks to John and Izabela for the wonderful Halloween party on Friday!  We are so grateful for your kind support and enthusiasm.  The children looked wonderful, and everyone enjoyed the parade in the gym. 

One of my favorite parts of celebrating Halloween is sharing some of my favorite books with the children.  Please ask your student to tell you the story of The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey or Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman.  You might ask, "What was Oscar's problem?  How did he solve it?"  In Big Pumpkin, several characters try to help the witch, but the true hero isn't the biggest or the strongest.  Your child should be able to tell you about the hero in Big Pumpkin, and how she saved the witch's Halloween party.  Many children had fascinating text-to-text and text-to-self connections that you would love to hear.

I wish you all the best as Poland takes a day tomorrow to remember and honor our departed loved ones.

Here is some important information from our P.E. teachers regarding the swimming program.  Miss Nina and I would welcome one or two volunteers from 11:35-11:45 on Friday November 4 and Tuesday November 8 to help the children become proficient at using the wall-mounted hair-dryers.  Please send me a quick note if you are interested in helping.  Swimming takes place during our normal P.E. times:  Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 -

Here are the swimming requirements from the P.E. department.
ELEMENTARY SWIMMING PROGRAM – PK-2nd grade  

SWIMMING begins:  October 31st – January 27th 

Please help to make this a successful program by having your child(ren)’s clothing clearly labeled. A swim bag with an identity tag should be provided to help them keep clothing organized. The following items are needed:

Swim wear – girls/boys
Girls are required to wear one-piece bathing suits.
Boys are required to wear spandex swimsuits (pant legs above the knee).

Swimming caps
Anyone with hair that is long enough to cover the eyes will be asked to wear a swimming cap unless they use a strong hair-band.

Flip-flops Flip-flops are recommended for student safety.

Goggles
Eye goggles are recommended but not required.

Masks are not permitted.

Towels and accessories
Students must provide their own towel.  Students will be required to shower before entering the pool.  The school provides soap in a dispenser in the showers.  However, if students would like to provide their own shampoo they are welcome to do so.

The description of the swimming program is attached below.
Thank you for your support of this critical life skill!

Wow!  UN Day was amazing this year!  I was delighted with the children's enthusiasm to learn about other countries and to share information about their home countries.  All of the children tried something new during our feast, and we heard several comments along the lines of, "Yum! That's really good!  I've never had that before!"  But again, all thanks go to our dedicated parents.  Thanks to you the children had a wonderful feast and a wonderful day.  Thank you!