HAPPY VACATION!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! SPAIN HERE I COME!

This Week....
   We've been very busy and a little wild since it was a full moon and the excitement of vacation is on the brain!  We have been working really hard on our information booklets. Thank you Mrs. Gerber for coming to help us! :)  Most kids are finishing their rough draft and/or publishing their work.
  I had really ambitious dreams of having ALL of the projects completed and TYPED but we didn't quite get there. The good news is that we will finally have access to the new computers in the lab/library! Moving forward, your child will be learning some word processing skills (if they don't have them already).
      * NOTE *    If you are looking for a stocking stuffer, you may want to add a jump drive to your list as each child will need one after the break! I'll send out a reminder after we return.

    That said, most kids have handwritten their work this time. IF they choose to, they can always type their work and print it out at home over the break. I am not making this a requirement but some kids have said they want to do it.

      SO: HW for writing is basically to print out any photos your child may want or need for his/her booklet. (TYPING OPTIONAL)


  Here are some works in progress:

Publishing

Research: Looking for Shark Photos

Drafted page

Designing A Layout

Creating a Booklet Cover

Conferencing With Wu Laoshi

HAGAR'S HOUSE

     We decided to talk about the gift of giving this past week and the kids did a service project to collect goods and stock the Hagar's House pantry. They made posters and little skits or service announcements to perform in each classroom. It was really sweet and super cute to watch them wok together on this. We will collect all of the boxes around the school and sort the items today. I am so proud of them for the work they did. Your kids are so kind and special. I have sent some of the videos directly to you via email so look for those! 

    

STAFF PARTY

   We had our staff party on Wednesday! It was really nice to be together outside of the GLOBE'S four walls. We danced with the belly dancer and did some SALSA with our Latina ladies! I know we all left with that warm, fuzzy feeling we had at the retreat. 

Here's a photo of the 3rd grade team. We are excited to add Ms. Shunnarah after the break. Ms. Estrada will be teaching all of the Spanish for grades 2 & 3! 

     

FAMILY 

Finally, I would like to wish you all a wonderful winter break. I hope that you are able to relax, enjoy and celebrate the holidays and New Year. I am so grateful and honored to teach your children each day. I LOVE coming to work because they are all amazing and brilliant little people. Each child in our classroom is special and unique. I appreciate them for EXACTLY who they are and I love them all like family members.

 My family:

  

My awesome Sister in Law

MY Wonderful 2nd Parents (in laws)

I will always believe! 

Cole believes! (picture by Elena)

LOVE

 My Vacation

 My husband and I started a tradition 13 years ago...

     We travel at Christmas. This year we are going to SPAIN!! We will be in Madrid, Cordoba, and Granada. Cole will stay at home with his grandparents but next year ......he's coming to PARIS with us! So...start saving friends and we can all meet at the Eiffel Tower in 2014! 

xxooo

Fun Stuff!

First I'd like to say thank you for the books, flowers, and kind emails! Y'all are so good to me!

P.S. This is Mr. Cole writing apology letters to his after-care teachers for not making good choices.......Shaking my head! 

Science Experiments:

   I took a detour on the Ancient Greece topic to finish up the last of the science unit on Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils. We popped our homemade rocks out of the molds we made in October and made some scientific hypotheses. We also made fossils and are currently completing the last part of an experiment on Fossil Fuels!  More to come in SS starting Wednesday. 

Chinese Culture:

   Wu Laoshi taught the students about the geography of China today. They put together puzzle maps!

Just a little peek into our day....

Recent Developments...

Friends,
  In light of recent events, I would like to take this time to assure you that the leadership changes and shifts that are taking place do not and will not effect my love and dedication for GLOBE, your children, or my ability to be an effective educator. This is a new school with lots of growing pains. In my experience I have learned that maintaining focus on the job at hand, the curriculum standards and the children is the best way to insure that the job is done with fidelity and rigor. I hope that your confidence in my teaching abilities remains unwavering and that you understand that your children are getting a wonderful and rich education here at GLOBE. I ask that you try to remove yourselves from any of the other non-curriculum related discussions that are buzzing around. It will not serve you or your child. In situations like this, there are many sides to every story and it is best to allow those directly involved to deal with it. At  the end of each day, we are all human beings with thoughts, feelings, aspirations, and humility. At GLOBE, we are striving to teach our children to have empathy and respect. This is a time for us to model these virtues. I love GLOBE. I love teaching and I love your kids. Moving forward, I will work even harder to improve myself as an educator and your child's academic abilities.

With Love,

We're Back At It!

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break! I had the flu for the first weekend of break but I was able to shake it off and head to New Orleans with my boys! We had a lovely and DELICIOUS time. We took Cole on a swamp tour, climbed the live oaks, went 'antique' shopping, and ate wonderful meals all over the city!  (We stayed with friends who had a great babysitter!)

Check out Cole's 'really old fashioned phone'

Assessments:

   I am working on getting these little children to become better spellers! The next few months will be intensely focussed on spelling patterns, word work and word sorts! So I will be collecting more specific data on the areas we need to practice more frequently.
   The students have started grammar morning work each day with a quick mini review before morning meeting. The morning work is a quick 10 sentence activity that focusses on all the 3rd grade grammar standards.
  We also made a chart to track our progress with math fact fluency! I'm devising a plan to celebrate each child as he/she learns all the facts with fluency! Each child is tested with one minute fluency tests at his/he own pace. So don't worry if you see that your child's chart isn't as full as the others.....

last but not least .....UPDATES AND INFO:

1. We have a projector! YAAAY! Thanks so very much for helping! We have watched videos on Greece, fossil formation, and Madamoiselle has shown some French videos as well!

2. The book fair is almost over.
Family Night from 4-7 on Thursday Dec.  5th and it will be open on Friday from 7:30 am-10:30 am. The kids have really enjoyed shopping there this week.

3. Wishes/Needs:
     * I am looking for 3-4 milk crates to use for each table's materials. If you have one sitting in your garage or basement that you don't need or want, send it in! I'll take it!
    * Card Stock ....we need some for our info booklets. If you've got some to share, we could use it!

Thanks so much......Y'all are the best!