This Week's Announcements

Monday:
We have an "in-school" field trip scheduled for 11:30. We'll be going to the gym to see a science movie about the Earth and different habitats. Apparently, the company putting this on sets up a mobile "dome theater" so it will be like an IMAX kind of thing. If you haven't sent in your $5 yet, please do so. Thanks.

Also on Monday, check your child's backpack, because several things are coming home:

• Graded quizzes, POW, and other worksheets from last week
• A "Homework Alert" to let you know what work was missing last week
• An Exhibition Checklist so you know what the requirements are for Exhibitions
• An Exhibition Sign-Up sheet so you can choose a time for your child's Exhibition
• A sheet that explains Milestone 3, which we should finish up Thursday, but that DOES require a little bit of at-home work/preparation--students need to bring their list of facts back to school on Wednesday
• a new Book in a Bag form
• Study Link 3-5

Tuesday:

No School--Staff will be involved in a professional development session

Wednesday:

Study Link 3-7 will be the night's homework. A new POW will come home also. At 4:30 the Book Fair will be held in the gym!

Thursday:

Information requested for Milestone 3 is due today. We worked on the PowerPoint for this milestone on Friday and will work on it again twice this week.

Friday:

Fun Friday for students that complete Milestone 3 will be held in the afternoon. POW is due today. 

Happy Halloween!

First of all, a huge thanks goes out to all who made our party possible. If you donated treats or supplies, thanks very much. And a special thanks to Mrs. El-Amin, who came into help out.

I tried to snap a few photos and put them together into a little scrapbook. Take a look:

This free scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox

First Trimester Exhibition Checklist

Here is the checklist for the first trimester Exhibition. If you're viewing this in an email, you'll probably have to go to the blog to see it. From here, you should be able to view, download, and/or print it. Don't worry, though, I'll provide a hard copy on Monday. I'll also be explaining it in detail throughout next week.

1st Trimester Exhibition Checklist

POW Help

Here's a movie I made today that might help with tonight's POW. This is a recording of me showing the students a problem similar to the one on the POW...

It should help if you need more explanation or if your child can't remember exactly what to do.

Online Book Club Starts Monday!

I am very excited for our next "Going Global" project. We'll be reading another book out loud but this one is guaranteed to be a hit with the kids (the last one was kind of lame). It's called The Maze of Bones and it's the first book in the 39 Clues series which is an insanely popular series in other schools that hasn't really caught on at UPA. I'm hoping it will spark the kids' interest and that it will inspire them to read the other 9 books in the series.

Two other classrooms at our school will be reading the book, as well as classes in Flint, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Georgia. We'll be interacting with them and working with them on several activities as we read. It should be pretty cool. I'll keep you posted.

Tomorrow's Party

It is looking like it will be quite a shindig tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who has committed to bring something. If you aren't able to this time around, don't worry about it. There will be other parties to chip in for.

The tentative schedule for events tomorrow is to change into costumes from 1:00-1:30, have treats from 1:30 to 2:30 and maybe play some games, trick or treat through the halls of the school from 2:30-3:00 and then clean up to go home.

Parents and families are more than welcome to attend part or all of the afternoon. If you aren't able to make it, I'll try to remember to take pictures. In the morning, my plan is to get some work done, including a math quiz and to get started on our Exhibition Power Point presentations.

Just some reminders:

• POW is due tomorrow (I will be blogging some tips for this later today)
• Book in a Bag sheets and Slice of Life stories are due Monday
• $5 is due by tomorrow for the mobile planetarium movie
• No School Tuesday, November 2
• Book Fair Wednesday, November 3 from 4:30-6:30 (workshops for parents start at 5:00)

Coming Soon: Return of the Book Fair

Wednesday, November 3 from 5:00-7:00, our school will be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair. There will be tons of books on sale at great prices, so it's a great chance to add to your home library or get an early start on your Christmas shopping.

Also, there will be a few reading and writing themed workshops for parents. I'm not exactly sure what all of them will be about (I'll get that info to you as soon as I can), but I do know that one will be about poetry and it will be led by me! So you definitely don't want to miss that one. It will run from 5:00 to about 5:30.

I hope to see you there!