FALL CONFERENCES NOVEMBER 16th-18th

Fall Conference Schedule

TUESDAY, November 16th

12:15-12:35 Ashton

12:40-1:00 Willliam

1:00-1:20 Kassidy

1:30-1:50 Thomas

2:00-2:20 Colten

2:30-2:50 Zabrina

3:00-3:20 Lauren

4:30-4:50

5:00-5:20 Jayden

5:30-5:50 Shayna

6:00-6:20 Dawson

6:30-6:50 Zachary

WEDNESDAY, Novermber 17th

12:15-12:35 Salvador

12:40-1:00 Aaliyah

1:00-1:20 Kaitlynn

1:30-1:50 Andee

2:00-2:20 Jesse

2:30-2:50 Raelynn

3:00-3:20 Trista

3:20-3:40 Sydney

THURSDAY, November 18th

12:15-12:35 Mason

12:40-1:00 Midori

1:00-1:20 Bryce

2:00-2:20

2:30-2:50 Nathan

3:00-3:20 Cole

Halloween Snack MIx

Please send in two cups of ingredients for our Halloween snack mix. This could include 2 cups of chocolate chips, M & M's, pretzels, small crackers, popcorn, raisins, Cheerios, Chex, or almost any other cereal. We will mix everything together and fill individual sandwich-size Ziplock bags for each child. We will munch on our Halloween mix while we watch two short, G-rated bat videos. PLEASE DO NOT SEND COOKIES, CUPCAKES, OR ANY OTHER FOOD ITEMS THAT CANNOT BE ADDED TO OUR SNACK MIX. If, however, you would like to provide 24 juice boxes or Capri Sun pouches, please let me know. I am looking forward to seeing the assortment of snack mix items we receive. This is a fun and inexpensive way for every child to participate in giving & sharing. Thank you in advance for your assistance in making this a really fun mix.

Getting Your Child to Love Reading

From Reading Rocket Website

Helping your children to enjoy reading is one of the most important things you can do as a parent and well worth the investment of your time and energy. Kids will learn reading skills in school, but often they come to associate reading with work, not pleasure.

As a result, they lose their desire to read. And it is that desire-the curiosity and interest-that is the cornerstone to using reading and related skills successfully.

By far the most effective way to encourage your children to love books and reading is to read aloud to them, and the earlier you start, the better. Even a baby of a few months can see pictures, listen to your voice, and turn cardboard pages.

Make this time together a special time when you hold your kids and share the pleasure of a story without the distractions of TV or telephones. You may be surprised to find that a well-written children's book is often as big a delight to you as it is to the kids.

And don't stop taking the time to read aloud once your children have learned to read for themselves. At this stage, encourage them to read to you some of the time. This shared enjoyment will continue to strengthen your children's interest and appreciation.

Simply having books, magazines, and newspapers around your home will help children to view them as part of daily life. And your example of reading frequently and enjoying it will reinforce that view.

How you handle books will eventually influence how your kids treat them. Children imitate, so if they see that you enjoy reading and treat books gently and with respect, it is likely that they will do the same.

Next Week

Next Friday there will be no school for students. Teachers, however, will be receiving training at the Tenino Elementary School from 8:00-4:00.

March of the Penguin Reading Skills Program begins on Monday. The students (& teachers) are very excited! We will be marching to our reading classrooms at precisely 8:30 so it is important for your child to arrive at school on time. In fact, the very best time to arrive at school is 8:00 a.m. If you are transporting your child to school, please try to get them here as close to 8:00 as possible.

Finally, book orders are being sent home with students' homework this week. The Scholastic Book Club is an ideal way to get your hands on quality, inexpensive book for your child. If you'd like, you can order online. Our classroom access code is GYC9B. If ordering online, you will have access to three different catalogs instead of just the one that is sent home. Also, for every parent that orders online, our class gets to pick a free book. All book orders are due next Thursday, Oct. 7.

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GYC9B

Have a great three-day weekend!!

Great Site for Learning to Identify Letter Names

If your son or daughter needs to learn or simply brush up on his or her letter recognition skills, here's a great kid-friendly site for kids to work on letter identification and alphabetical order while playing fun games like Whack-a-Mole and Fishing Pond. Go to: http://www.playkidsgames.com/ alphabetGames.htm. Have a blast!

Reminders, Info., and Requests

Tomorrow, Sept. 21, all Parkside students will take part in a health screening under the supervision of Nurse Charla. Should vision, hearing or other potential problems be suspected, Nurse Charla will contact you personally by note or phone.

Wednesday, Sept. 22, is individual student picture day. If you wish to purchase pictures, you must send the money on that day. All students will be photographed even if they are not purchasing photos.

Please remember that all homework is due on Thursday. Also, library books should be returned on Thursday as well. Students who bring turn their books in on Friday morning will still be allowed to check out books on Friday afternoon.

With this typical Washington weather, I am asking that students wear or bring a jacket every day even if the weatherman calls for sun. The weather is just too unpredictable and students who are not dressed for the weather (for rain or cold temperatures, for example) will need to sit at the office during recess.

For those of you who ordered books through the Scholastic Book Club, they should arrive in about two weeks.

In health, we have been studying a unit that addresses various feelings children are likely to experience entitled "Good, Bad, and In-Between."

In art, we have completed our first project which involved shapes, drawing faces, and painting. The end products were some really cute school buses which will be displayed on our hallway bulletin board during conference week. Next we will explore different types of lines while drawing and decorating turtles.

Please continue to work with your child each evening in the completion of their homework and the strengthening of their academic skills. YOU ARE VITAL TO YOUR CHILD'S SUCCESS.

Thank you!

Why Can't I Skip My 20 Minutes of Reading Tonight?

Let's figure it out -- mathematically!
Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;
Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.
Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week
Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
Student A reads 400 minutes a month.
Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year
Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.
Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year. Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain
these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.
One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:

Which student would you expect to read better?
Which student would you expect to know more?
Which student would you expect to write better?
Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?
Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?