Dear Moms and Dads,

"Old school day is so much fun. I wish we could do it everyday! We didn’t have to do much work" was a comment I heard from many of the children after our reenactment. If they only knew how hard it really was to stay quiet in their seats all day everyday and to only speak when given permission! They just might change their minds! The children studied arithmetic and geography. They also had a spelling bee and chances to recite information.

I have attached some pictures below for your enjoyment. Here are some questions to ask your child about old school day:

What do you study when you are studying geography?

What was your spelling bee like? (the children were asked to stand up and spell a word orally). If a word was misspelled, the child had to write it 50 or 100 times.

What arithmetic did you do? (some children worked on addition and some worked on subtraction.

What book did you have for a "reader"?

What old games did Mrs. W. (Miss Leak) and Mrs. Orr (Miss Hartshorn) teach you? 1) Shove- ha penny in which they gave a penny a push to see which number it landed on and kept track of their score, 2) Tiddly-buttons where they had to try to flip a button into a cup 3) Fox and Geese in which the fox ran around spokes of a circle trying to catch the geese 4) Annie Over a ball tossing game 5) Rag balls and 6) Graces (tossing hoops with sticks gracefully).

Can you say the Pledge of Allegiance?

I also want to thank all of you for your support in making our old school day memorable for the children. Your help with costumes and box (bag) lunches was wonderful!

We are reading books by an author named Robert Munch this week. His children’s books are filled with a lot of child humor. We have read Thomas’ Snowsuit and The Paper Bag Princess so far.

Today we started writing in our "Home School Journals". These are books in which your child will write a letter to each week and I ask that you write back to your child. The children love to read the messages you write to them. I have attached a paper to your child’s home school journal with more information/explanation.

Next week, some community members have agreed to visit our classroom on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 2:15 to talk about/share their childhood years. We will find that there are differences between today and the childhood days of our guests. Some of our guests include: Mrs. Cameron, Mr. and Mrs. Goss, Wilma Maynard, Mrs. Marian Merchant, and others that we are still trying to confirm. I’ll be sure to share their visits and talks in future newsletters.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

November 30: PTN popcorn sale at snack time

December 6^th: Four Winds science lesson

December 12^th: Early Release Day

December 13^th: VSO concert

Lastly, I want to thank all of you for attending your child’s parent/teacher conference. It is always nice to share your child’s work, discuss his/her celebrations and how we might work together to help improve some areas.

Now, for the part you have been waiting for: the photos!

I’ll send more pictures in another document so it won’t take so long to download!