Winter Plans

Upcoming Events:

Both Katie and Lena have boxes in our classrooms from P.O.P to collect money for children for the Angel Tree. One student brought in $20 of his own money to donate. We were very impressed by his giving spirit.

Tomorrow we will be going to Frog and Toad at the Taubman Museum. The kids are very excited.

On Friday we will be having a winter holiday party. Kids will rotate through stations making crafts and treats.

We have had a great response to requests for caps. Currently Katie's class is in first place for the Boxwood campus.

Friday is our last day of school until Monday, January 4th.

We hope that all our families have a wonderful winter break. Be safe and enjoy your fabulous children.

Barnes and Noble Here We Come!

This weekend is our annual book fair at Barnes and Noble. We are encouraging multitasking; you can get Christmas shopping done, support our school and see some very creative performances. The Super Heroes will be performing at 11:30 am.

Yesterday we walked over to Hollins and participated in a Winter Carnival. The carnival was hosted by different Hollins clubs and service organizations. Each groups set up a table with craft and games. Students had a great time.

Next Tuesday we will be walking over to Hollins to see The Jack Tales.

Thanksgiving Luncheon Reminders

The Thanksgiving Luncheon will be held at Hollins University in the Moody Center on Wednesday, November 25. The Student Art Show will be displayed from 11:00-1:00. A potluck will be served at noon.

• Please send your child to school at the regular time and please pack a snack for Fruit Break.

• The students and teachers will be walking over to Hollins around 11:15 a.m.

• Please meet us at Hollins University in the Moody Center between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m. (at the latest).

• When you meet us there, please let us know before you take your child to the art show/luncheon.

• If someone other than a parent will be meeting your child, please let us know beforehand.

• Please bring an entrée and a side dish, each to serve 10-12 people. Lunch will begin at 12:00 p.m. Please have the food ready to serve for the buffet. We suggest packing your food in disposable containers.

• Remember to bring 2 canned food items for the Salvation Army’s food pantry. Donation boxes will be placed at the luncheon site.

• Dismissal from Hollins University is at 1:00 p.m. There will be no After School Program.

• Please take your child’s artwork home following the luncheon (1:00) to allow everyone a chance to view the entire art show.

• There will be no school on Thursday, November 26 and Friday, November 27. School resumes on Monday, November 30.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
~ Lena and Katie ~

Keeping You Posted on Upcoming Events

We have a lot of activities planned over the next few weeks. Make sure you check the blog once a week and read your Quick Notes. If you have any questions feel free to call the office or email us.

Since our trash free lunch and celebration of 350 Day the school has decreased its trash output by 30 lbs a week. Great job Community School families!!

On Tuesday, November 24th we will have a Special Reading Day. Your child should bring a blanket, pillow, favorite stuffed toy and favorite book/s. We will still play outside so make sure p.j.s are appropriate for the weather. You can also send in a change of clothes.

On Tuesday, December 1st Elena will be hosting a Spanish Festival. El Rodeo will provide lunch for $5 per person. Families and friends are welcome. See Quick Notes for more details.

On Wednesday, December 3rd we will head over to Hollins for a Winter Carnival sponsored by Hollins' Service Project group.

Saturdary, December 5th our Barnes and Noble Book Fair will begin. Katie and Lena's Super Heroes will create a sculpture garden on Saturday at 11:30. Sculptures are something the kids love to do in drama. They will amaze you with their creative poses. Please have your child at the book fair at 11:15 ready to perform.

How Can You Help Make This Our Best Book Fair?

1) Distribute the vouchers to friends, relatives, neighbors, and coworkers
so their purchases can benefit CS too!

2) Sign up to provide entertainment. We need parents and students
with special talents (face painting, balloon sculpture, instrumental
music, etc.) Contact kimmuch@communityschool.net or
katrina@communityschool.net if you would like to help.

3) If you have a costume of a character (super hero, book character,
or a cartoon character),we would like to set up photo opportunities
for patrons. Contact Katrina or Kim M at the previous emails.

4) Pre-order whole Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes for $35 each.
(CS receives $7.) Flavors include original, chocolate, pumpkin,
and white chocolate raspberry. To pre-order, contact Katrina by
Monday, November 30, to guarantee pickup during the Book Fair
weekend.

There will be no November or December book orders. Please support our Barnes and Noble book fair.

On December 8th we will be walking over to Hollins to watch a performance of the Jack Tales.

And last, but not least, Frog and Toad is on December 15th at the Taubman Museum.

During this week of thanksgiving, Lena and I would like to express our gratitude to our families. We are so lucky to teach in such a dynamic educational environment with such amazing kids and families. We look forward to seeing you at the luncheon on Wednesday.

News from the Earth Keepers

We are reading up a storm in Lena's room! This week in Literacy, we listened to new stories on tape and visited several cool Reading sites on our classroom computers. We had a blast searching for “dazzling” words in dictionaries. We enjoyed Book Share on Wednesday as classmates brought in interesting books to discuss.

On Monday, we visited Elena's class for the fantastic Hispanic Heritage Parade. We loved learning about the many contributions made by famous Hispanics. On Tuesday, we enjoyed our field trip to the play, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Thank you so much for driving us Hope, Leah, Katie, Wendy, Tulie, Lisa and Julie.

In math class, we designed graphs from information in tables. We learned to look horizontally and vertically for important information, and we especially liked making our own graph with Fruit Loops. Now we are working on telling time using analog as well as digital clocks. On Thursdays, we have teamed up with our buddies from Kim's class, and we've become experts at Addition War.

Last week, a local musician came to visit our class. Our new friend, Adam, stopped by to play some guitar tunes for us. We had a great time rocking to Beatles songs and one of our favorites, “Johnny Be Good.” Our panel of judges gave him a score of 11 out of a possible 10. We hope he will come back and play for us again soon!

Thanksgiving Lunch

Community School

Potluck Thanksgiving Luncheon and Student Art Show
Community School families and friends, please join us in giving thanks at our annual potluck

Thanksgiving Luncheon and Student Art Show. This is truly a “feast” of art and food.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
MOODY CENTER, HOLLINS UNIVERSITY
Art Show
11:00 - 1:00 Ballator Gallery, 2nd Floor Moody Center
Potluck Luncheon
Noon - 1:00 1st Floor Moody Center
Please bring the following: Seminar Families and Community School Staff - dessert
Early Learners, Elementary & Middle School Families - 1 entree & 1 side dish to feed 10-12 hungry people
Please have all food ready to serve at the buffet. We suggest using disposable containers to avoid loss of
serving dishes.
Questions? Call the Community School office at 563-5036

Fabulous Fall Happenings

We have been doing so many exciting things in our classes it will be hard to cover them all!

We had a Bolivian exchange student assigned to our classes yesterday. The kids are very excited to work with Jaime. This morning he worked with Katie's class on Wednesday he will be with Lena's class.

Last Wednesday the Fantastic Fourteen went hiking to Woodpecker Ridge with Holly. We took bird identification pamphlets and passed them around while looking for birds. We also studied the amazing leaves. We are planning to return in the spring and see how things have changed.

In Katie's literacy class kids have been working on syllabification and haikus. Students have been writing haikus to monsters they created. We have been reading haikus and playing games with them. We are also finishing up writing about what makes us special.

Students continue with independent reading and choosing "just right books". They are working on handwriting. Today we took time to play different literacy games so the kids have more choices during their independent time.

In math we have been working on calendar skills. We have been analyzing calendar data and filling out our own calendars. We played outside counting games with Beth's class. We continue working on addition facts. Today we also played a addition game with cards called Double Compare.

Katie's class also hiked to Hollins on Friday with Kim's Halsey's class to see the Betty Branch sculptures. The kids drew a picture of their favorite sculpture and then wrote about it in their journals.

Play Reminder

We are very excited about our trip to see Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing tomorrow at the Roanoke Performing Arts Center. We will be leaving at 9:15 so please make sure you are on time.

Please leave your booster seat in the morning at drop off.

Upcoming Field Trip

We will be going to see Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing on Tuesday, November 10th. If your child is still using a booster seat, please leave it when you drop them off.

Winter is coming and days on the playground are getting cold. Please send in a warm change of clothes and make sure your child is dressed properly for the weather.

Fall Fun

What a fun, busy fall we have had!

We have outstanding character, and our jellybean jars show it! After filling our containers to the brim, we were rewarded with an afternoon at the movies along with delicious popcorn.

In Lena’s math class, we’ve been working on place value up through hundreds. We continue to work on addition and subtraction facts up through 18 and their inverse facts. We’ve enjoyed reviewing our facts using tile counters and dominoes, and last week we had an exciting bingo contest. This week we’ll learn about ordinal numbers and begin several fun days of graphing.

In Katie's math class, students have been working on addition facts. We have played addition bingo and used dominoes to make our own number sentences. We have also been working with geometry, measurement, fractions and spatial patterning by making intricate quilt square. After making bar graphs in class we met with Lelia last week and graphed how many jellybeans we had earned.

In Literacy, we’ve learned the Goldilocks technique for selecting books for independent reading. This is called the “just right” method.

In Lena's class, as we read our “just right” books, we record our thoughts in journals. Our book clubs have begun, and they’re known as the Dragons, Cats, and Wolves. We look forward to Wednesdays when we have Book Share. We are continuing to learn new dazzling words to add to our vocabulary word wall, and we have begun to analyze and sort words in word study. Our handwriting continues to improve as we practice 2 to 3 times a week.

In Katie's Literacy, we are learning how to work independently. Students are learning to conference with a partner about reading and writing. We also have been working on picking our just right books and completing reading response pages about what we have read. Students meet with Katie weekly to discuss various reading, writing and word study projects they are working on out of their literacy folders. We love our wondrous word wall and added deciduous to our list this week.

In science and social studies we have been working on character and leadership. Last week students created manners skits that showed poor manners first and then marvelous manners next.

We loved sampling our “new food of the month” which was pumpkin. We enjoyed delicious pumpkin muffins that Natalie’s mom made using all organic ingredients.

Last Tuesday our school celebrated Trash Free Lunch Day. Our middle school friends taught us about items that can be recycled, and afterward, we read the book, Perfect Pigs, which kept us smiling as we learned all about manners.

On the playground some students have been building tunnels in the sandbox. They built a tunnel with a hole in the center so they could see through end to end and watch things pass through. Students also discovered the tunnel would support their weight if they stood on it. As soon as students discovered they could stand on it they started to wonder what would happen if they poured water through the tunnel, would it strengthen the tunnel or weaken it? After much discussion and hypothesizing buckets were filled and water was poured through. It turns out that water strengthened the walls. The kids involved had a wonderful discussion about why water added strength to the tunnel. They continue to experiment with ways to make tunnels in the sandbox and have invited students from other classes to give input and help create.

In Lena's class for the past several Fridays, we have practiced how to be good sports by playing fun, exciting games led by middle schoolers, Tichelle and Meg.

Did you know that over ten of us have been published in the Roanoke Times News Fun section? Check your newspapers each Monday and read our creative responses.

Keep reading with us daily, parents! October will soon be over, and we’ll turn in our completed calendars for “Book It” Pizza Hut coupons.

We are looking forward to Friday when we’ll dress up and parade over to the middle school. Do you think they will recognize us?

Fall Festival

Check your child's folder daily for updates on Fall Festival. We are watching the weather closely.

Cool Classrooms

We continue to focus on character in our classrooms. There have been many conversations about how to problem solve and treat each other. We had an activity early in the week about the effect of saying mean things. To demonstrate the power of negative words we asked students to squeeze toothpaste out of a tube of toothpaste. We then asked students to try and put the toothpaste back in. We have some determined students, but no one could make the tubes look the same as they did when they were brand new. This demonstrated the fact that when mean things are said, they cannot be "unheard" by the person who said them.

In math, Katie's class has been reviewing skip counting, patterns, and playing Shut the Box (an addition and problem solving game). Lena's class has been working on patterns and addition Bingo.

In Literacy Katie's class created name acrostics. Please stop by and see them on our windows. We also did a character study of the characters in Miss Nelson is Missing and created skits about situations that could have happened to the characters. In Lena's class students have been working on story summaries in story frames. Students worked in pairs to pick a story, summarize the beginning, middle, and end using words and pictures. Lena's class has also worked on word ladders.

On Friday we were lucky to have middle schoolers from Linda's Babysitting Friday group teach our classes games.

Calendars have come home for our Book It Program. This is a wonderful program that encourages reading. If you have any questions please let us know.

Fall Festival 2009
October 14 & 15
Katie, Lena and Beth’s Classes

You and your child are invited to attend our Fall Festival! This year we will be hosting a Fall Festival on the Community School campus on Wednesday. On Thursday we will be hiking the Peaks of Otter.

When:
§ Wednesday, October 14 & Thursday, October 15
§ Wednesday: Drop your kids off between 8:15 and 8:45 on.
§ Thursday: Please have your child here at 8:15!

Where:
§ Both days we will meet at Community School
§ We will leave for Peaks of Otter at 9:00 a.m. sharp Thursday so make sure you are on time!

Needs:
§ 8 – 10 parent drivers/chaperones for Thursday
§ 5 – 6 parent helpers on Wednesday for crafts, games, etc.
§ Portable fire pit or something we can create a bonfire in on Wednesday
§ Parent/s to be in charge of creating and maintaining a bonfire on Wednesday

What to Bring:
§ Fruit break snack on Wednesday
§ Wednesday: We will cook hotdogs for lunch and have sides
§ Thursday: You will need to pack snack and lunch
§ Thursday: Bring a backpack or bag to carry lunches in while we hike and water to drink on the hike.
§ Make sure you dress for the weather

Cost:
§ 10.00 per person

Questions?
Call: 563-5036
Email:
katiew@communityschool.net
lenab@communityschool.net
bethr@communityschool.net

Fall is Fabulous

The weather is cooling down a little these days, but that doesn't deter our students from working hard and playing hard.

In both Katie and Lena's classes kids have been working on recognizing and using words with pizazz. In Katie's class these are called Wondrous Words, and in Lena's class they are called Dazzling Words. When you and your child are reading together, see if you can pick out some of your own. Life can be a little spicier when you know how to phrase it.

This year we are also using a great idea that Kim and Betsy use in their classrooms. Lena and Katie both have plastic bottles with different colored jellybeans in them. Each bottle of jellybean has a quality that we like to see in our students: pink is enthusiasm, yellow is respect, red is kindness, etc. When a teacher or student sees another person in our classroom exhibiting any of the qualities listed on one of the bottles, we put a jellybean in a small glass jar. When the jar is full, the class gets to have a special treat like time outside or a class party. The trick is, kids have to get "caught" performing that behavior; they can't tell on themselves. This is a wonderful way of making kids aware of how our behavior positively affects others.

Be on the lookout for upcoming information on Fall Festival; it will be in folders this week.

The Super Heroes!

Could it be that week two was even better for Katie and Lena's classes than week one?

We wrote about what we would change about our school and found out that we should add a chocolate closet or put a water park behind the main building.

In computers we talked about the characters that are posted outside each classroom. Lelia told us why each person was famous. She then let the kids pose beside the person they most looked up to.

We practiced our fabulous name skits, though we had to wait until today to present them. Katie's class is The Fantastic Fourteen and Lena's class is the Earth Keepers. Together we are the Super Heroes.

For those of you who missed Gatherings the way that our level plans to be a Class Act is by:
Character
Leadership
Aspiration
Service
Saving the Planet

Attentiveness
Conservation
Together we can save the world!

Remember book orders are due on Wednesday!

Thank you to all the parents who made capes for the skits today. We are planning on using them throughout the year.

The First Week

We had a great first week of school. Lots of time was spent meeting new friends, creating classroom routines, and building community.

Lena and Katie are so impressed by the class acts we have in our classes this year.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you at Gatherings on Thursday, September 17th at 7:00 pm. Class names will be revealed during our Class Name Skits on Friday, September 18th at 10:30 am.