October 28, 2012

Last week, it was wonderful to visit with so many caring family members of my students during parent teacher conferences. Thank you for attending.

Our week flew by with lots of hands on projects supporting the books we read and the study on bats in Science. On Friday, we compared and contrasted what the students had learned about spiders the week before with characteristics of bats. Both are creatures most people are afraid of, but they serve a purpose in our environment and both eat insects. We also had a special presentation on Friday on solid waste, and the students were given good ideas to recycle jars and plastic milk jugs.

This week there will be only 3 days of school. On Thursday and Friday, there will teacher in-servicing in Tok. For Halloween on Wednesday, there will be special game activities starting at 1pm and the students will be released from school early when the games are over. Instead of going home after lunch, the kindergarteners can stay and be a part of the activities. Please join us at that time if you are free.

I hope you have a warm and productive week!

October 21, 2012

Our first quarter was officially completed last Friday! It seems like just yesterday that we started the new school year! Please remember that there is no school on Wednesday due to parent/teacher conferences.

The students had a full week of learning and activities. They enjoyed creating a beaded necklace early in the week, to help improve their fine motor and sorting skills.

On Thursday there was a special event called, "Sources of Strength" sponsored by TCC. The teens started the program on Wednesday and then the whole school participated in games and processing activities first thing in the morning the next day.

 At the close of the morning, the students enjoyed hearing the rap artist, "Chief Swag" share his songs about a positive image and healthy life style choices.

The teens really rallied as leaders to the younger students and played an active role in helping with the activity.

 To conclude, everyone left the gym to under a tower of "high fives" and positive energy.

A correction from last week is that the D.A.R.E. program will start on the 19th of November instead of last Friday. Have an awesome week!

October 14, 2012

Last week flew by, with lots of different activities aligned to Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies concepts. On Monday, the students were introduced to Christopher Columbus in Social Studies due to the public holiday. Other concepts that have been being covered in Social Studies from the start of the year are the pledge of allegiance, our countries flag, the national anthem, in addition to the folk song "This Land is Your Land" using a map of the United States. In Science, our butterflies reached the length of their life cycle just  as we moved deeper into learning about seasonal changes and different types of weather. The stories that were used during reading time were aligned to the Science  and Social Studies material being covered. I am hoping that all the student hands on projects are making it home after school in addition to their weekly work on Friday. Please ask your child each about their day, and if they have anything to show you. Also, everyone in the class is getting much better at doing and returning homework. Thank you for your support in this area.

Letter recognition and sounds have constantly been address from the start of the quarter.The following photo is of the "Zoo Phonics" animal hunt and letter match activity from last Monday.

The next photo is of the pretzel letters made with a bread dough on Friday. The students filled two pans of  letters, or their name made with the dough, that were baked and shared at lunch.

This week in Science we will be moving into comparing spiders with insects. There will also be no nightly gym on Tuesday due to the Tribal meeting on health and Wellness. All the teachers and staff from school will all be attending. We cover the gym on a voluntarily, but feel the meeting is important and the older students will be encouraged to attend. Additionally, a special event is scheduled this week with a Native American rapper promoting a healthy life style. The D.A.R.E program is also planned to begin in all classes this Friday.

Have a great week and always feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

October 7, 2012

The weeks are passing quickly and the end of our first quarter is rapidly coming to an end. The students continue to work on cooperative learning and listening skills. Ask your child if they got a blue "Kid's Love Note" each day, as that states that they followed all the school rules and states: "Please give me a BIG hug and two kisses. Then tell me how proud you are of me." 

In addition to the regular district math and language arts curriculum we are covering, the students are doing social studies and science activities. The butterfly unit is completed and we will focus more closely on types of weather and how that ties into the seasons. As we move closer to the end of the month, we will study spiders and bats to tie into Halloween activities.

I hope you have a wonderful week.