September 23, 2013 Dear Parents: Field Trip: Just a reminder that this Thursday is our all-day field trip to Red Cliffs. We will be leaving right at 9:00 so please see that your child is not late. We will be hiking at Cedar Breaks so your child needs to wear good walking shoes. All students need to purchase a school lunch for that day. Please do not let your child bring electronic devices such as ipods, etc. for the bus. I’d hate for anything to happen to them. Thank you. Reading parents won’t need to come on Thursday since we will be gone on our field trip. S.E.P. Conferences: Next week is S.E.P.conferences. I have sent home a suggested time for you and your child to come and meet with me. Please sign and return it as soon as possible. Just a reminder that school will be dismissed next week at 2:30 each day (even Wednesday) because of S.E.P conferences. I’m looking forward to meeting with you and your child at your scheduled time to celebrate the wonderful things he/she is doing in school. Math: We will continue with place value and simple addition strategies. Spelling: Watch for spelling words to come home today. They are on a half sheet of paper. The spelling test will be on Thursday. Top Secret Bag: Throughout the month of October, starting next week, I will be sending home each night a mystery bag with three students. This is a TOP SECRET activity that you can do with your child in place of their 20 minutes of reading. There is a book to read as well as an activity to do. Please help me reinforce to the students that this is a top secret activity. I would like it to be a surprise for everyone at the end of the month just like it will be for those at the first of the month. Please complete the activity and send the bag to school the next day so I can send it home with another student. Have fun with it! Fluoride: Fluoride rinse started last Monday. It will be every Monday before school for those who have signed up for it. Science: We are having a great time with our unit on rocks. We will learn about sedimentary rocks this week and learn about fossils. It will be another great week. Language: We will work with the friendly letter format, character and setting as well as continue with punctuation. Take – Home Library: Take Home Library books will start to come home on Monday. These books are on your child’s independent reading level. The students should be able to read them by themselves. Please encourage your child to return these daily (if they don’t have a chapter book). These books are a great help in getting reading minutes in each night. If your child is reading at a level higher then M, they will be bringing home M level books. The higher leveled ones don’t always have appropriate content for 7 year olds. Spirit Friday: The PTA is sponsoring Spirit Friday where they are encouraging the students to wear their school shirt. It doesn’t have to be this year’s shirt. It’ll be fun to watch the school pride as well as spirit soar. I will be gone to a writing workshop at the district office on Wednesday. Shauna Smith will be the sub. Parents, I am delighted with our class. We have wonderful students who get along very well, work hard and help each other. It is a joy to be their teacher. I’m looking forward to a great year! Sincerely, Brenda Haight