We had a great time Friday at our "learning celebration" which we tied into our social studies cultural celebrations unit. We made necklaces for Diwali, Chinese Lantern for Chinese New Year, ornaments for Christmas, dreidels for Hanukah, and gingerbread houses for FUN! We had Katherine K on hand (Will's big sis) to help with the Chinese lanterns & she even showed them how to write their name in Chinese! Lots of parents also came to help so MANY thanks to Sinead, Anu, Kelly, Kathy, April, & Louise for taking time to help out. An even bigger THANK YOU THANK YOU to Jenn K for helping to plan, organize, & take on this celebration! She was able to determine what I wanted when I couldn't coherently explain my ideas (I blame it on my report card brain!). 


Take a look at some of the fantastic pictures from Friday's event! The kids had a BLAST and so much fun building the gingerbread houses which were quickly dismantled & eaten before coming home! 


Remember that Wednesday is our last day and school is still dismissed at 2:45 so the normal Wednesday time. Report cards go home on Wednesday as well. Please be sure to put them in a safe place to return them when we track back in. A big warning as well -- many grades went down this quarter due to the expectations being raised. I gave the kids one last chance on Thursday & Friday to improve their reading grade, however many were solid 3's (not 3* or 4 like they may have been in 1st quarter). This quarter seemed to be harder for the girls with the nonfiction focus. They will like that 3rd quarter will be all fiction again!


I will be sending home math workbooks on Wednesday. We didn't finish a lot of the pages and I have been unable to grade everything. Please do with these what you wish. There is a lot of GREAT practice in them for those 5 weeks off . . . . . 

Don't forget that literacy night is tomorrow evening at 6:30 with the book fair in the media center and lots of great student work around the building. We will be having work displayed in the hallway and in the classroom. Please come in and read some of the AWESOME zoo books that our class created! Also check out our hallway with poems & short stories about paintings the kids did with Ms. Brockway! Lots of fun! I will be putting some sticky notes on the tables as well -- feel free to leave the kids a note about what you thought of their zoo books!

In the media center, our annual book fair is in full force -- lots of GREAT books to choose from. I also chose some books that we would love for our classroom if you would like to donate any books. We are working on our book drive for our classroom libraries.

We have had a lot going on with assessments and more. Please check out our photographs for all sorts of things that we are doing in class including writing, reading, & reading buddies projects. We are still working on nonfiction including finding text features and telling why they help us as readers. We just finished our unassisted writing samples and began a poem or short story on an art project that we completed with Ms. Brockway. I am going to try to cover all of the major holidays next week, but have a feeling our discussions will continue into 3rd quarter. We have run out of time the past 2 weeks completing assessments and big projects.

Fall Festival is TOMORROW night! I hope to see you there!

Zoo Stories -- final stories will come home next week for 1night for you to read with your child. Then it will need to be returned so we can display & share with our classmates. I can't wait for you to see the change in your writers -- 5 paragraphs, on-topic, and full of descriptive words & details! The kids did a fantastic job! (This was a fully teacher-supported endeavor with countless revisions and editing!)

Hurricanes Tickets PTA forms for discounted Hurricanes tickets will be coming home soon.   You can sell them to friends and family-- any child whose family sells/buys 4 or more tickets will get what sounds like a cool giftpack from the Hurricanes.  The class that sells the most tickets gets a party.  The school that sells the most tickets gets a visit from "Stormy" and a player, and a signed jersey to auction off at a school event.   We made about $950 in ticket sales last year "without even trying" and the winning school made $2000 so if we put more effort into it this year, we might win!  

Cultural Celebrations Unit: We will be doing a unit in November on cultural celebrations. I am looking forward to doing lots of fun activities with the kids but I need supplies by 11/16. Please go to:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/cultural1
Password: overton

Please email me if you are sending in a Scholastic order, otherwise I will go ahead & place the order tomorrow evening. Books should be here by end of next week or first week of November.

If you attended parent ed -- I would love to know your thoughts on what you felt would have been more beneficial to you as a parent. I would love ideas for sessions for next year.

Progress reports go home at the end of next week. Please check your child's red folder for graded or marked papers, especially in math. They will help you focus in on what they need to work on. Remember that all math papers on color paper were enrichment activities and sometimes are not marked with a grade. If your child got them correct, you will find a 4 in the grade box. Students have had multiple opportunities this quarter for level "4" questions in math. They had to really explain their thinking and show their thoughts.

We will complete some reading assessments next week & I hope to send home their rough drafts of their zoo papers by the end of the week. We will be publishing these books and I will let you know when you can view the final copies. I have seen some amazing writing and all students are showing growth in writing this quarter.

By now your child probably has told you that Mrs. Overton has no voice. It is now completely gone and even a whisper is painful. I will therefore not be at school tomorrow & will not be able to present the session on VoiceThread. I will offer the session another time & will let you know when I schedule it.  I am sorry that I am unable to present, but it would be hard to do one on VoiceThread without a VOICE!

I did not touch any kids today and have tried to clean the room. However, there are a lot of kids coughing, sneezing, and overall feeling yucky. Please make sure you keep an eye on your kids before sending them to school.

If you want to order from Scholastic & have to do it by check please let me know ASAP. I am not sure if I will be back on Friday but will find a way to get any orders if need be. You can order 24/7 online!

Tomorrow is EARLY release at 1:15 -- please make sure you have returned the form so I know how your child is getting home.

A quick reminder that Scholastic orders are due on Friday the 23rd -- please place all orders by 7pm Friday. 

www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
User Name: overton
Password: order

Parent Education Night is on Thursday & we are hoping everyone plans on attending! Please send in the flyer by tomorrow so that the school can plan for enough kids for the kids events (dance, painting, bingo) and for the parent sessions.

If you are unable to attend on Thursday but would be interested in learning more about VoiceThread one morning before school or after school, let me know!

Monday 10/26 = Wear lots of RED because you need to stay drug free!
Tuesday 10/27 = Wear stars on your clothes to show Morrisville stars are always healthy.
Wednesday 10/28 = Wear your hair crazy because drugs don't affect your life.
Thursday 10/29 = Bring a stuffed animal as a friend because friends can help you fight drugs.
Friday 10/30 = Wear your favorite sports clothing to school to stay active, healthy, and drug free.

This Wednesday is EARLY release @ 1:15 -- please return slips by tomorrow on how they are getting home.

Parent Education Night is this Thursday. Please see the flyer that went home on Friday & return to me by WEDNESDAY so that the school knows how many parents to expect! I will be presenting on VoiceThread -- PLEASE try to attend so that you can learn more about how this program works!

Kids are getting sick -- please make sure you are keeping them home if they have a temperature! We will continue to wash our hands frequently but especially before lunch & snack.

Fall Festival is next Friday -- October 30th. Please consider donating a few dollars to Mrs. George -- if everyone pitched in $2-3 it would completely cover the costs. Right now she has had only one parent offer to help with the expenses.

Reading Website: This is a website from the county on reading at home. Check it out:
http://www.wcpss.net/news/2009_oct9_readingathome/