Email Troubles

I have been having trouble sending and receiving emails for at least a week. If you wrote and have not heard back from me, I'm sorry! I either didn't get your email or tried to respond and it didn't go through. I can't tell when it does or doesn't work, because all of the emails look like they have been sent. Hopefully I will get the problem fixed soon, but I apologize if you sent a question and did not get a response in time!
Thank you for your understanding.
-Alyssa Johns

Class Directories

One of our parents has volunteered to put together class directories for our community! If you would like to include your information, please go to the following web address and fill in the form. Thank you!

http://www.edrozo.com/parent-directory

Upcoming Dates

Friday, December 9th: Free Dress Day if you bring a can for Sunshine Acres

Monday, December 12th: Field Trip to the Heard Museum in Phoenix- Please send a sack lunch and drink with your child and have them wear a maroon shirt. Make sure you have emailed your child's homeroom teacher if you would like to chaperone.

Tuesday, December 13th: Gingerbread Day- We will build gingerbread houses in the afternoon from 1:30-3:00 if you would like to join us. Hot chocolate will be served for the kids, so they are welcome to bring a mug to drink out of. We will also have cups for those that don't bring a mug. We will not be exchanging mugs in our cluster since we already had plans to do gingerbread houses, and we do not families to send in a mug on top of other items we have requested.

December 15th and 16th: Mandatory ILP Conferences

Summative

Our summative will be tomorrow, December 8 from 2:00-3:30. It is an Open House format, so please feel free to drop in for 20 minutes or so. Since it is during the school day, it is not mandatory attendance for families because the students will already be present. If you can make it, we would love to have you, but we understand if you cannot come. Thank you!

Gingerbread Houses

We just want to let you know that it is not mandatory for a family member to attend the gingerbread building on December 13th. On the form we requested that someone be present, but we understand that this is a busy time of the year with holidays and summatives. If you or a family member are available to come in, you are more than welcome, but if not, we have lots of help so don't worry. Thank you!

As you are signing up for your ILP conferences, please remember that we are only able to meet with our families from our homeroom during those two days. Unfortunately we don't have the availability to meet with everyone in our math and reading classes as well because each teacher sees 70 or more different students each day. If you do have questions you would like to discuss with your child's reading or math teacher, please email us and we can answer your questions by email or phone. If you have already signed up with your child's reading or math teacher in addition to their homeroom teacher, please cancel your other appointments so we have enough time slots to meet with the families of our homeroom students. Thank you!

Thank you so much to all the families that attended and sent food in for our Friendship Feast last week. It was a fun time for the kids and we had great food to enjoy! We hope you all enjoyed the holiday with your families and friends.

Today a field trip permission slip is coming home and will be due back next Monday, Dec. 5th. We will be going to the Heard Museum in Phoenix on December 12th. If you would like to chaperone, please let your homeroom teacher know. There is no cost for chaperones, but you need to be willing to drive yourself to the Museum because there is limited space on the bus.

It is time to start building our summative projects. The following are some items that would be helpful to have during our building process: clay, small sticks, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, yarn, small rocks, t.p. rolls, shoe boxes, or other craft items. Your child might bring home a list of specific items that they would like to bring in to build with as well. PLEASE do not go out and buy anything, we will use things that you already have around the house.

Don't forget to plan to be at our summative on December 8th. It is a walk through to see the projects the kids have created, so you can come through anytime between 2:00 and 3:30. Plan to take at least 15-20 minutes to see the work your student has done this quarter.

December 13th we will be having a Gingerbread Day where we will read gingerbread stories, complete gingerbread math and wrap up our day by making gingerbread houses. We would love to have you come join us for the gingerbread house building. A note will be coming home about what your student needs to bring that day to build a gingerbread house.

We wanted to clarify that in accordance to our school policy, the food for our feast on Wednesday must be store bought. Things like deli turkey, store bought cookies, already prepared mashed potatoes, etc. can be brought. We apologize for not making that clear from the start and if you need to change what you were planning on bringing, you can do that on the sign up link. Thanks you!

As the weather is getting cooler and kids are wearing jackets, please make sure that all sweaters and jackets your child wears are labeled with their names. Please remember that we have 90 students in and out of our classrooms so it is impossible for us to keep track of jackets and waterbottles for our students. If things are labeled, we can get them back to their owners quickly. If they are not labeled, they usually end up in lost and found.
Thank you for help with keeping kids belongings labeled!

Friendship Feast Sign-Up

We are having a Friendship Feast on November 23rd at 12:00. We will eat and then the kids will share their personal narrative writing with you! Families are invited to come join us to eat and to hear the kids' writing. Please sign up for a food item to bring. Thanks!

Johns' Homeroom: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/friendship75

Aguilar's Homeroom: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/friendship77

Sullivan's Homeroom:www.SignUpGenius.com/go/friendship78

Extra Homework This Week

Today we are sending home an additional homework item that is due next Monday with the checklist. We are sending home a circle map about Thanksgiving Traditions so the kids can fill it out with your help. In class, we will be writing personal narratives about our Thanksgiving traditions and since it will be written prior to Thanksgiving, the kids may need your help recalling what your family usually does at Thanksgiving time. Please help your child brainstorm on the circle map, and then they need to return it next Monday, November 14th.

Friendship Feast RSVP

Wednesday, November 23rd will be our Friendship Feast at noon in the 1/2 Cluster. Families are invited to come eat a traditional Thanksgiving lunch with us and then listen to their students' read their personal narratives about Thanksgiving. Please RSVP by Friday if you plan to attend. Then we will send out a potluck sign up next Monday once we know how many are planning to attend.

DATE: 11/23/2011 (Wed 12:00PM - 1:30PM)

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/friendship53

Learning Lab Volunteers

Families,

We have had some challenges getting our volunteers in order this school year. We have been brainstorming different ways to have parents be involved and balance that with the number of student teachers we have each day in our classroom. We want to make sure that when you come in that we are giving you good opportunities to be involved and make the best use of your time.

After brainstorming and talking with other clusters, we would like to try having parents be involved in our Learning Lab each day. Our student teachers run our Learning Lab and we would like to have a parent each day come in and help students during Learning Lab. The kids are primarily practicing skills by using technology, so parents would be circulating and occasionally practicing skills one on one or in small groups. Learning lab has all three classes rotate through for a half hour each from 10:50-12:30.

Please sign up at the following link www.SignUpGenius.com/go/learning39

Thursday Volunteers

If you are a volunteer during math in Miss Aguilar or Mrs. Johns' class, we are canceling volunteers this Thursday, the 27th due to Galileo testing. We are sorry for the late notice!
Thank you!

Volunteers Needed

We are still looking for volunteers to teach Junior Achievment (an economics program) for Mrs. Johns' class and Miss Aguilar's class. Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering and teaching the lessons to the students. New JA volunteers would need to attend a one-time training in Tempe, the upcoming training dates are below.

Training Dates:

November 1^st from 8-10am

November 16^th from 8-10am

Thank you!

Cookie Decorating

On Monday, October 31st, we will have cookie decorating at the end of the day. We will need volunteers to come in at 2:00 to help set up and help the kids with decorating. We also need supply donations. Please visit the link below to sign up to come in or to send in an item.
Thanks!

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/fall4273

Supplies Needed for a Project

If you have any used food containers at home with lids that can be made into drums, please send them in this week. Examples of the types of containers we need are metal coffee cans with lids, or plastic pretzel tubs with lids. Anything that is around these sizes would be acceptable.
Thank you!

Dialogue Journals

This month, the kids will have Dialogue Journaling as a part of their homework instead of book reports. Below is the explanation for how to complete a dialogue journal at home.

Dialogue Journal Objective: I can read what you write to me and write back to you.

This year one of our homework expectations is for your child to dialogue journal once a week at home with a family member. During dialogue journaling, your child is having a silent, written conversation with someone where you write back and forth to each other about any topic. We have found this activity to be a motivating reason for kids to write and read what is written to them. It’s also a great way for you to find out about their day or talk about things that are important for them. This is not necessarily a time for them to be corrected on punctuation or spelling. Often the kids will automatically use the words you’ve written to help them spell. Just enjoy the conversation with your child, ask them questions and encourage them to ask you questions as well. It might be helpful for you to keep all the entries in a notebook. The entries do not need to be turned in, just check off that your child has completed a dialogue journal on their homework checklist.

Finding Good Fit Books

At our ILP conferences we always have lots of people ask how to find good fit books for their kids to read at home. We just found a great tool on Scholastic that can help you out! You just type in the book in the BookAlike tool and it gives you similar books in reading level. You can also change it to select books that are harder or easier than the book you type in. We hope it helps you all as you work to read at home with your kids this year!

http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do

2nd Quarter Summative

We know our last summative has just been completed, but the date for our next summative is set! On December 8th, you and your child are invited to come between 2:00 and 3:30. Your child would like to show you their work that they completed during our Native American unit. We know that is a busy time of the year, so please mark your calendars and save that date!

Thank you for attending our Egypt Summative. The kids did a great job and we hope you enjoyed their performances and projects.

Summative tonight

Dear Parents,
Summative night has finally arrived. Remember your child may dress up in Egyptian attire or dress up nicely. There was an error in the time Ms. Aguilar's class will sing their Egypt song. Ms. Aguilar's class will sing promptly at 6:00p.m. All kids need to be in the 3/4 cluster to perform the song at their scheduled time. We look forward to seeing you tonight!

Team 1/2

This week, the 1/2 teachers will be attending a training on Tuesday and Wednesday. We will have substitutes those two days teaching in our classrooms. We will be getting trained in Thinking Maps which will help us with our instruction in all content areas! We are very excited for the opportunity.

Also, the only thing we are currently collecting at school are Box Tops for Education. Thank you for thinking of us and sending in other things, but for now, we are not collecting them.

Today, September 21st, each student brought home a gold piece of paper. On the gold piece of paper they wrote a list of things that they would like to bring to school from home. The items will be used to make projects for the Ancient Egypt summative. They should be asking for things like cardboard, toilet paper rolls, aluminum foil, gold glitter, scrap pieces of fabric, things you might have around the house. Please have a conversation with them about what the items will be used for. You can certainly send in a substitute item that you think might help them to build their project. You should not need to go out and buy anything special for this project. For example, students might bring in cereal boxes to build a step pyramid. Thank you for your support, send in the "junk."

Our Summative date has been changed to October 4th from 5:00-6:30 due to a scheduling conflict. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The kids will walk you through our Ancient Egypt Museum and you will see them perform a song about Egypt. Mrs. Sullivan's class is performing at 5:00, Mrs. Johns class at 5:30, and Miss Aguilar's class performs at 6:00. Please plan to be there for the performance for your child's homeroom and then for about 20-30 minutes before or after the performance to look at your child's projects. The kids will need to wear dress clothes or wear an Ancient Egyptian style outfit. We'll see you then!

We are working on putting together volunteer schedules and will have them out within the next week or so. Thank you for signing up!

Galileo testing will take place in our cluster on Thursday and Friday this week. Please make sure your child is well rested and eats a good breakfast.

We will have homework this week, please check your child's classes for the appropriate homework. The book report sheets can be completed on one chapter of a book if your child is working on a chapter book that they haven't finished yet.

Volunteer Sign Up

Unfortunately we had some schedule changes that have affected our volunteer times. Please re-sign up on the form below for specific volunteer times. Thanks so much and we apologize for the inconvenience.

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/volunteers695

Summative Date

Our first summative is scheduled for October 4th from 5:00-6:30. The kids will walk you through our Ancient Egypt Museum and you will see them perform a song about Egypt. Mrs. Sullivan's class is performing at 5:00, Mrs. Johns class at 5:30, and Miss Aguilar's class performs at 6:00. Please plan to be there for the performance for your child's homeroom and then for about 20-30 minutes before or after the performance to look at your child's projects. The kids will need to wear dress clothes or wear an Ancient Egyptian style outfit. We'll see you then!

Homework will begin the week of August 29th, so the first homework checklist will be due on September 5th. After ILP's you will know what teachers your child has for each subject area. Please see the website pages for each teacher of your child's to find out the homework assignments for the week and to see what your child is working on in class.

We are collecting empty toilet paper rolls for a project and we also need full rolls of paper towels. If you are able to send in either of these items, please do so on Monday. We will be collecting them through Thursday, September 1st.

We will see you at your ILP conference this week!

This week we are continuing to get to know our students and are completing many assessments to find out more about them. We will not begin switching for reading and math yet, as we need to determine the best placement for each student. Homework will not start until we begin switching as most of our homework is related to reading and math.

We are making crocodiles on Friday that are made out of egg cartons. If you have a cardboard egg carton, please send it in on Friday with your child. If not, we have an alternate crocodile to make that does not involve an egg carton. Thanks!

The First Week of School

This week, we will spend a lot of time getting to know the kids in our cluster and helping them get to know each other and the cluster expectations. We will practice classroom procedures, spend time building community, and complete all about me projects.

For the first few weeks of school, we will also spend a lot of time assessing the kids so we can prepare to ability group the students. They will each take end of the year assessments for math, as well as the Galileo assessment, and a math fact fluency assessment. For reading, they will be given the Galileo Assessment and the Developmental Reading Assessment which is a one on one reading accuracy and comprehension assessment. In writing, a developmental spelling assessment will be given and the kids will complete a writing sample. We will then look at all of these assessments to decide where to place the students for reading and math based on the data these assessments provide.

School Supplies

You can bring your supplies on Meet the Teacher night or on the first day of school:

Do not label (to be used as community supplies):
Two 24 packs of Crayola crayons
Scissors
One Highlighter
One Dry Erase Marker
Four Elmer's glue sticks
24 Yellow Sharpened Pencils
Crayola colored pencils
Crayola markers

Label with your child's name:
A sturdy zipper pouch (for the first day put inside: three labeled, pencils, one of the boxes of crayons labeled, one eraser labeled)
A two pocket folder (will be taken back and forth from school to home each day, so it needs to be sturdy)
a 1 1/2 inch binder for portfolios that will stay at school
4 pocket folders with prongs: one green, one blue, one orange, and one red
a wide rule spiral notebook (this will be your child's writer's notebook, so please have them pick out a notebook they love and will be excited to write in)

Please sign up for at least one extra item to donate at
http://signupgenius.com/go/school95

Volunteers Needed

Volunteers are a special part of Polytechnic Elementary School. We really appreciate the time that you spend helping in our classrooms, because we know that without your help there are many things that we could not do with the students! We will start inviting volunteers into the classrooms in September after the children have settled into their daily routines and procedures.

To sign up for volunteer opportunities, please visit http://www.SignUpGenius.com/go/classroom417 by the end of August. To sign up to help with math centers, please wait until you know which math class your child will be in.

There will be other volunteer opportunities throughout the year, so keep an eye out for them on our website. Also, if you have a special skill or talent you think you could use to help in our classroom, please email your child's homeroom teacher to let us know.
Thanks!