January News and Notes

                             

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and wish you the best for 2008!  We have hit the road running and continue to be very busy here at Mt. Bethel.  We have eagerly begun the second half of our school year.

I am looking forward to visiting with you during conference week and discussing the progress your child is making. I always enjoy this time of the year for we are able to reflect upon the year and to set goals as we look ahead at the remaining school year. Please be prompt for your scheduled conference time. To help me stay on schedule, please gently knock on my door at your scheduled time.  As a reminder, behavior folders will not be coming home until after conferences.

Six Flags 6 Hour Reading Club

This is another great opportunity to earn a free ticket to Six Flags.  Information and the reading log went home Monday.  Just record the number of minutes and titles of books for a total of 360 minutes (6 Hours), sign  and return the log on or before February 22. Tickets will be distributed at the end of the school year.

Venn diagrams, fractions, equal parts, whole, compare, constrast, estimate, interpret, temperature, centimeter, meter, thousands...these are only a few examples of vocabulary used in our 3rd Nine Weeks Unit of study in math.  We will continue with subtraction and addition with regrouping as well. Here are a few activities to enjoy: Have fun with your child measuring items found around the house.  First estimate how long they are then measure them.  Do this using inches, feet, yards, centimeters and meters. Pick a recipe you and your child could make together.  Have your child measure the ingredients.  Discuss the fractions with your child as the ingredients are measured. Click on this link for additional fun activities: Harcourt Math 

We will soon be packing our bags and traveling to Japan!  As we learn about the  people and their culture we will  compare and constast their lifestyle with ours.  Japan is the subject of our enrichment project this nine weeks. This is optional, but if your child wishes to research this topic, the project will be due February 29. Remember this project is designed to be as simple or as complex that is appropriate for each individual child. (Ideas such as a poster, diorama, traditional report, book...these are only a few ways your child can explore this topic.)  A few fun sites are:

Kids' Japan     Zoom School: Japan     Daily Life in Japan

We turn our focus to the study of the Solar System. We are looking forward to hosting High Touch, High Tech later this month. This is always a wonderful in-school field trip which the scientists engage the students in some fun, hands on activities. A couple of great sites for enrichment and fun are NASA'S Starchild Learning Center and NASA'S KIDS CLUB.

Congratulations to Aaron for being selected our Character Word winner for the word : RESILIENCE.  Way to go, Aaron, we  are very proud of you!!

   We welcome a new student, Amelia, to our Mt. Bethel Family!  We are so excited to have you join our class!

LOOKING AHEAD:

   

January 21: MLK Holiday

January 22-28: Conference Week ( 12:20 Dismissal)

January 30: 21st Technology Demonstration (8:30-9:00) 

January 31: January Reading Records Due.  Please tally the number of minutes read. I am so proud of the reading the children are doing!

January 31: High Touch, High Tech

February 6: Early Release (12:20)

February 13-14: Jump Rope for Heart (information will be coming home)

February 14: Valentine's Day (Bring box and valentines)

February 22: Six Flags Six Hour Reading Log is Due.

As always, thank you for your continued support.