Weekly Update

Dear Families,
We have have had a terrific start to the new school year!  I hope your child is coming home sharing all the wonderful things we do together in our classroom.  It is like these kids have known each other forever, because they get along beautifully and seem to enjoy each others' company. 

I hope you had a chance to read some of our blog posts this week.  We started a science experiment in our classroom and I posted a picture earlier.  If you wish to see it again, simply scroll down on this blog to read older posts.  We are observing a flower which we placed in water and blue food coloring to see if we can change the color of the flower petals. Today, the students learned to make science entries in their new Science Journals.  The students learned to write like scientists.  They learned to draw realistic pictures with labels and use words that describe the experiment or process.  They also learned to include an "I noticed" statement and some students even made predictions.

Today, the students also started to work on their self-portraits and we also began working on our classroom contract.  We discussed what it means to be safe, kind and responsible at Allen Brook.  The kids had great ideas and thought that using kind words and safe, calm bodies are two of the most important expectations at our school.  Such great thinking!  We will share our classroom contract with you when it is done.  It is a rough draft now and we are adding to it this week.

Today, your child brought home his/her Thursday folder for the first time.  This folder contains many important notes for you this week, including our first "homework"!!  We would like for you to help your child finish our hand project and send it back tomorrow.  Papers are provided.  Let me know if you have any questions about this project.  This week's folder also includes information regarding our units of study this year, our weekly schedule and information about homework.  I will not send home reading homework and book bags until the first full week of school (ie homework folders, reading logs and book bags will come home on Monday September 9th).  This week's folder also includes a "cheat sheet" for you to keep at home.  This might be familiar to some of you, particularly if you printed the documents I send before school started.  I included a paper version of what I call "The ABC's of Mrs. McCormack's Class".  This document provides an overview of the administrative aspects of school and team Harmony.  For example, you can read about dismissal routines, snack and communication.  Please keep this document for future reference.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you. This week's folder also included an overview of the web-sites we will be using in our classroom.  I will slowly introduce these to you all.  The kids and I started tweeting this week and tomorrow, we will do it again.  If you wish to follow us on Twitter, our name is @McCormackPals.  We will learn more about our online collaboration with Ms Davison's class next week.    Lastly, our folders included a volunteer sign-up sheet.  Many of you have asked about volunteering in our classroom.  Thank you for wanting to be a part of our learning community.  Let me know what you would like to do and send the form back to me.  We usually start volunteering opportunities in early October, after assessments and community-building experiences on our team.  Thank you.

Please have your child return the Thursday folder tomorrow.  If the folder comes back the next day, the students can choose a treat in our Treasure box for being responsible.  These treats are small items, such as pencils, erasers and stickers.  No candy!

Once again, thank you for supporting your child's education and helping your child transition so beautifully back to school.

Regards,
Maria