4-2-18

Welcome April!

Now if the weather would just cooperate!  

Gardens:  A HUGE thank you goes out to Beth Rothschild and Jessica Polizzotti for coming in last Thursday and truly “getting their hands dirty” preparing trays of pots for 10 classrooms around the school, and helping our students each plant a seed for our summer gardens.  The “Theme” is going to be:

Kindergarten: Flowers

1st Grade:  Rainbow vegetables

2nd Grade: Companion planting: “The 2 Sisters” Native American gardens

3rd Grade: Italian:  Tomatoes, peppers and basil

5th Grade:  Science themes:  Sunflowers and pumpkins

In addition, we planted herbs today and will continue to do so each day this week.  Marcus’ grandfather will join us this Friday for planting cool weather crops directly into the gardens!  Let us know if you’d like to join us and we’ll find a time for you!

Flat Stanleys are due to return home to you on Friday, April 6.  We will share them next week.  Students should practice a short 2-3 minute presentation and be ready to share by next Monday, April 9.  Once students have shared the adventures of their Flat Stanley, they add a mini Flat Stanley to our second grade Flat Stanley bulletin board in the hallway and pin the place to which their flat friend traveled.  This turns into an amazing display.

Sharing for the month of April will be a Baby Photo and a memory of when they were “little”. (In an envelope with my name on it!)  Please send those in BY the Monday after April vacation (4-23) so we can have fun guessing who is who! The names have been fascinating and this will be lots of fun!

Field Trip: Thank you so much for submitting the signed permission slip and check.  We are excited for our journey to The Butterfly Place.  We still do not have enough chaperones so please consider this opportunity- it is a magical place!

Author Visit:  We were inspired by Matt de la Pena's visit to Happy Hollow last week.  The author of Last Stop on Market Street and Love, among others, told us about his childhood growing up with a Mexican mother and a white father in San Diego and how he wanted to write books for children that they could see themselves in, as he often couldn't find books as a child that reflected the poverty in which he grew up.  Thank you to Colleen Flannery, our Library/Media specialist, for arranging this event.

Finally, our Butterflies all hatched over the long weekend :( but we are enjoying their mischievous activity in our classroom (including “swimming” in the sugar water!).  They will “spread their wings” and fly free outside before week’s end!

As always, please let us know if you have any questions as we proceed along this educational journey together.

Deborah & Julie