Letters from Liddicoet

April 2008

Dear Families:

I trust that everyone has had a restful spring break. I know the kids were excited to take their trips, see their families, and just generally relax. Our classmate Luke Nemerov had his tonsils out over the break and we are glad that he has had time to re cover.

We come back to school with the CRCT just around the corner. We will spend time everyday doing practice activities. I have discontinued centers until after the CRCT.

Tuesday April 15 is the PTA - DEAR - night. I will share a story and song that your kids enjoyed. Come and listen. DEAR stands for Drop Everything And Read.

A big thank you to to Mrs. Ezenwa. She was our Junior Achievement volunteer and she did a super job.

We have started a unit of study on Life Cycles. We began with plants, and I know that the kids have become seed explorers. We will look inside a seed this week, and plant a lima bean.

We will be receiving our Butterfly Gardens as well next week. The class will be able to watch the life cycle of a Painted Lady Butterfly. Once they emerge from their cocoons we will release them. It is very exciting.

The kids are completing their creative writing stories about the space alien they created.

The class has made good progress with the introduction to multiplication. Most of them really like it.

Continue to send in snack with your child.

I will notify to all of any special snack needs during CRCT.

Thank you for all of your support.

Mrs. Liddicoet

march 2008

We wrapped up February with a wonderful parade of characters, and our visit from the Australian bakery.

Looking ahead we have many thing on our schedule.

*We have early release on March 6.

*Friday March 7 is our play FRIENDS - You don't want to miss this,  it will be great.

* Movie on the Mount is March 8.

*Also in March is our visit from Star lab on March 12. *Also comin up is our wondreful Silent Auction. I will be teaming up with MRs. BEaver to Auction off an afternoon with us playing the game of LIFE and making SNOWCONES> If it sounds like fun to you, be there and make a bid.

I would like to encourage all of you to begin practice on the CRCT, if you have not already.  I have assigned tests for you to practice with.

I am beginning to see improvement with math facts.  Thank you for your practice at home.

On technology night we shared some web sites that may be of interest to you.

Here is a very cool site about the constellations.

ENJOY IT!

http://www.quietbay.net/Science/astronomy/nightsky/

Here also is one the kids know best: Account # mv2 (no password needed)

http://wwwikeepbookmarks.com

Some kids need another sprial notebook, or composition book.  Ask you child.  Also our snack bank is once again very low.

Thanks for all you do.   

Mrs. Liddicoet

February 2008

Dear Parents;

I enjoyed meeting with all of you and having the opportunity to discuss your child's progress. All of the kids are making steady progress and we are having a great year.

This short month is a very busy one. Our Fire Safety visits are just beginning and the kids are excited about the visiting firemen.

As I discussed with you are conference we have started the weekly at home timed tests. Thank you for your care in doing this at home. Next week we will have our first Scientist of the week. It will be a good experience for each child.

We have the responsibility for word of the week beginning Feb 4 and many of the kids choose to write little skits to perform on the morning news. It has been fun to watch them come up with drama to demonstrate Self-Reliance.

The rotations for the Japan unit are going well and the kids are excited to visit the other rooms each afternoon.

A big thank you to Kim Wall who has come in this month to share Chinese New Year with our class. We are very lucky.

Looking ahead:
Feb 7 is the Art Show
Feb 14 - Valentine exchange in the room 1:15
Feb 26 is Technology night
February 27 Book report due, Character parade

Thank you for the supplies that have come in. We appreciate them.

Don't forget to let your children practice the CRCT.

IF you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me.
Thanks
Kathryn Liddicoet

jan 2008

Dear Families;

Welocme back!  I trust that you all had a wonderful vacation.  I am looking forward to a terrific New Year with your children. 

In Math for this this period, we will begin with a study of fractions, and will then study measurement. 

In Science we will begin a unit on Energy and Motion. 

I look forward to seeing each of you at conference time the week of Jan 22.  Look for a notice from me to schedule a time.  If you have any specific questions please let me know what you want to discuss. 

I will be posting some CRCT tests this month.  You can log on and have your child take assigned tests.  I would like to encourage all of you to beign this process.  I will let you know when the tests are posted.  Your log in numbers and information were sent home previously.

Thanks to our foundation,  we will start having computer lab teacher in this new year.  It should be great.  The instruction will begin with keyboarding and wordprocessing skills in January. I am looking forward to this time for your children.

A great big thank you to all you for the wonderful holiday party and gifts.  I feel very blessed.  Thank you notes are in your childrens cubbies.

Reminders:  Do not forget a snack each day.

                   Dress your child  for the weather,  jackets are needed.

We will need refreshment of our consummable supplies like glue sticks, pencils and crayons. I also need copy paper. 

Thank you for everything you do. 

Kathryn Liddicoet

December 2

Dear Families:

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun at our Corn celebration and the kids learned about the first Thanksgiving. We are continuing on with a deeper look at colonial times, and we will look at what life was like back then.

We will work on time to the quarter hour and to 5 min. This is something that can be reinforced at home, just like practice with money. Have your children tell you what time it is throughout the day, on an analog clock.

We will begin work on geometry this week. Vocabulary is intense in this unit. Words like vertices, obtuse angle, acute angle and right angle. It is a fun unit to work on.

Coming up this month. Our classroom celebration is on the 20 of December. Our room moms will be giving you more information. I sent home a note about the December project in place of a book report.
I would the kids to share a family tradition that your family enjoys. If you do not celebrate a December holiday, your child can share what tradition you do have.

The kids did a fabulous job on the book talk. They each shared good information about their book and spoke well.

A website that we have enjoyed is ikeepbookmarks.com
account # mv2 no password

There is a folder there on early settlers that the kids can explore. There is also a math folder with many games to practice with.

Thank you for the supplies and the snacks. I appreciate you! Mrs. Liddicoet

November 4

Hello Families:

I can not believe that we are already into November. Wow, this year is flying by.
Our Fall celebration was terrific. Thanks to all of you for your contributions that made it perfect.

I look to forward to seeing many of you at our Thanksgiving lunch at school on Nov. 15 at 12:33.

We will have a classroom celebration that will focus on the importance of Corn to the early settlers, the week of Nov.19. I will send more infomation soon.

The October book -reports were very good. For November we are asking the kids to read a book and come in prepared to give a Book Talk on the book. Look for a letter home.

ALso coming home this week will be a letter about CRCT practice that you can do at home. Each child has their own login and access to practice tests. Look for it.

Classroom needs:
Snacks for the snack bank
bandages

Please remember to dress your child for the cooler weather. We will start leaving water bottles at home now that it cooler as well.

Please continue to practice math facts at home and to work with your children on their high frequency spelling words. Regrouping in subtraction has been taught, and we are still working to master the concept.

We are beginning a new unit on Jamestown and Colonial Times.

Thanks for all you do,

Kathryn Liddiceot

October News

Dear Families;

Wow!  October is shaping up to be a very busy month.  I'll fill you in on all that iis going on. 

*Fall Festival is on October 20 -12:30-3:00

*We will go to the Funk History Muesum on Oct 26 - Field Trip forms went home today

* Perfoming Arts Trip on Oct. 29 to see" Firebird".If you have not sent in your performing Arts permission slip please do so.

* Report Cards will go home on Oct. 22.

We will be starting a new Social Studies unit on Woodland and Plains Indians, then we will go into the story of Jamestown and Plymouth.

We got a letter from our penpal the Duckman.  He wrote a personal note to each of the kids, and asked them to help him think of some names for the ducklings.

I appreciate all you help with centers on Thursday.  It is going very well.

Thank you.

Kathryn Liddicoet

September 4

Dear Parents:

I enjoyed meeting all of you at curriculm night. We are off to a great start and I am enjoying your children.

The class in learning the routines and everyone is happy.

I plan on having centers on Thursdays from 10:15 to 11:00. We will begin on Sept 20 and you will be receiving a form to sign up in the next week. Center helpers will assist with editing and math or special project stations.

Our first book report; to create a paper bag puppet of a character in a book, will be due on Sept 27. I will send home a bag and written directions.

Our book of the month for August was "Roller Coaster". The kids had a great time learning about roller coasters, designing one of their own and writing about it. Their creations are posted in the hall.

We are also learning about Homphones and will be creating a class powerpoint book of Homophones.

Please work with your kids on MATH FACTs and continue to read with them.

This week your kids have had a chanch to explore a website at ikeepbookmarks.com
There are some great math activities on this site. To use.. go to ikeepbookmarks.com
Account: mv2 ( no password needed) Find the Math Folder. There is an addition and subtraction timed test on the list. Have fun!

Thank You

Kathryn Liddicoet

August 20

Welcome back to school!

Our first week of schol went very smoothly. the kids are excited and I know that we will have a great year. I am looking forward to sharing more with all of you on curriculum night August 28. Thank you for the extra snacks and the wish list items.

Our class plans to have a pen pal called the Duckman. He works at the Hotel Grand Pacific in Victoria Canada, and cares for the some very special Ducks there. I met home this summer and asked him if we could write him during the school year. It should be good letter writing practice for us and a lot of fun. There is a bulletin board in the classroom with pictures and information about the Duckman.

Remember:

*Agendas come home daily. Please look at them and sign them
*Homework packets were sent home Monday the 20. Please work on them at your own pace, and return on Friday. Home work is for review and practice and should take no more than 30 min. at night.
*Target will begin this Tuesday, August 21.
* Math Compacting will begin the week of August 28. I will explain the program to you at curriculm night.

I look forward to working with you all.

Kathryn Liddicoet