Dear Moms and Dads,

It was a pleasure seeing your children guide you around the classroom at Open House last week. It truly was their night to be in charge in the classroom and they were so dedicated and serious.

One of the biggest announcements for this letter is the fact that we were able to sit in the butterfly tent with the butterflies. The kids were in awe when butterflies landed on their knees or fingers. It was precious. We have some great photos of them with the butterflies for the memory books.

Mrs. Kaminski (our school nurse) came in this week to talk about dental health. She demonstrated the proper way to brush our teeth. The children seemed quite amazed to find out that grown ups have more teeth than they do at this point in their lives. Did you see the new toothbrush packet arrive home in your child’s backpack?

We have completed writing our narratives about a character named Madeline. The problems the children came up with are quite cute such as Madeline wanted a new pair of shoes or a big screen T.V.

You should see spelling papers arrive home in your child’s homework folder. I ask your child to spell words for me that focus on certain sound spelling patterns such as short a words, words with dge, words with tch, words that double the final consonant before adding the ending, or words that correspond to a theme we are studying. Words that your child misspells are the ones he/she will work on. Of course, I also take words from their daily work that are misspelled such as the word "they" or "because". There are different tasks your child does here at school with his/her spelling words such as: 1) writing the words in alphabetical order 2) writing the words small, fancy, and fat 3)write the number of syllables, vowels, and consonants in each word 4) write each word in a sentence and 5) write each word in crayon and then paint over the crayon. Once your child has worked on the words for 7 activities (as above), I meet with him/her for a "spelling check". If he/she gets all of the words correct, new words are given. If a word is misspelled, it is worked on again the following week.

Last Friday was popcorn day. Some children were not aware of this and really wanted to get a bag of popcorn. Thus, I gave them a 25cent "loan". I asked them to write an IOU note and place it in their homework folders for you to see. I told them that if they pay me back, they could have another loan sometime. I believe popcorn will be available the last Friday of each month.

We had Four Winds today with Mrs. Bolger, Ms. Ransom, and Mrs. Aiken. The topic is insects. Be sure to ask your child to tell you what he/she found out about insects from this workshop.

Sarah and Chris Zschau have an old cider press and would love to come to school to make cider with the children. Therefore, we are asking that you send in some applies with your child by next Monday. The apples can come from wild apple trees in a field as well as store/orchard apples. If anyone has any paper cups they are willing to donate, that would be helpful as well. Thank you.

Here are some questions to ask your child this week:

Who sits with you at your table this month?

How do the Painted Ladies look different from the Monarchs?

What are your spelling words?

What did you find out about brushing your teeth?

What did you learn about insects in the Four Winds workshop?

What is your Madeline narrative about?

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

Please return the permission slip about fieldtrips for the remaining school year along with the $4.50 Shelburne Museum admission fee. (This letter was sent via e-mail last week).

October 4^th: Four Winds Workshop about insects

October 8^th: Picture Day-pricing information was sent home with your child on Tuesday.

October 9^th: Field trip to Shelburne Museum. Your child needs a snack, cold lunch, and a drink in a container that will not break. Please DO NOT send any money for this trip. We will not be visiting the gift shop or purchasing food in the cafeteria. Also, please make sure your child has appropriate footwear (and rain coat if the weather calls for rain) for lots of walking on this day. Flip-flops are not very safe for this walking adventure.

October 10^th: Early Dismissal for students

October 11^th: Library day rescheduled for this day due to early dismissal on Wednesday. Your child should bring library books to return on Thursday for this week.

October 23^rd: We will take our walking tour of Moretown Village. Ms. Hartshorn and I will point out where certain buildings used to be in town such as a blacksmith shop, doctor’s office, teahouse, hotel, and creamery. We’ll also tell them about the 1927 flood and show them the house where Mrs. Booth was rescued from the second floor. We plan to leave at 2:15. Please join us if you wish. If we don’t complete the tour on the 23^rd, we’ll finish it on the 24^th.

October 25^th: Bus tour of old school house sites around Moretown. We will leave at 8:30 and return around 10:00.

I think that is it. Please scroll down and enjoy two photos!

Sincerely,

Kathi