Thursday, January 24, 2013

Greetings from Room 10!

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Dear Parents of Room 10,
            This was a short, cold and productive week!  The children worked hard as we finalized the ABC Book and began two new writing assignments; their Wax Museum speech (which will be done in school) and their DARE essay (which will be finished at home).
            Whales.  Whales.  Whales.  This week we began the Whale Unit with the first two lessons.  After making their Whale Unit divider, we focused on the differences and similarities between whales and fish.  On Thursday I shared a power point presentation introducing seven whale behaviors.  Ask your child to name and explain each of the seven behaviors.  As I explained to the children, these are just seven of many behaviors whales exhibit.  Next week we will begin the whale-to-scale project where we will do scale drawings (1 inch: 1 foot) of a variety of both toothed and baleen whales.  This is a fun and very mess project…and I LOVE IT!
            As I mentioned earlier, the children have selected their Wax Museum subject, we have conducted research and have written facts in their writer’s notebook.  I gave the children directions for both the one-minute speech and the poster.  Except for putting together a costume for the Wax Museum, THIS PROJECT WILL BE DONE ENTIRELY IN SCHOOL.  The Wax Museum is scheduled for the evening of February 28th, and the proceeds will benefit the Marillac Shelter.     
            The children had their final DARE class with Officer Dave Harrington on Wednesday.  Officer Harrington explained that he is in the process of planning their DARE graduation for sometime in late February, although an actual date has not yet been established.  As soon as I am given the date, I will let you know.  I suspect it will be a morning event, as the last few graduations have been at 9:45am.
            I am happy to announce that I have an extra pair of hands in the classroom every afternoon.  Matt Viglucci, my former 5th grade student and a current Lab School Senior is doing his internship in Room 10.  He wants to focus on writing, so he spent the week finalizing the students’ memoirs.  He also did an outstanding job reading aloud to the children.  Welcome Matt!
            Is your child reading a minimum of 30 minutes nightly?  I did a “State of the Class” Thursday to get an idea of where each of them is with Betor’s Bulls-Eye.  At this point your child should have read a minimum of 15 books.  Please check in with your child to see if he/she is on the right track.                                                 Stay warm!  Lester Betor & Class

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