Friday (Thursday!) Letter - 02.17.11

February 17, 2011

Dear River Run Families,

This week we started the History of Writing, the third of the five Great Lessons.  Coming home with your child/ren you will find replica's of drawings on “animal skins”.  The story of writing started 20,000 B.C.E when prehistoric humans drew on cave walls.  Since we did not have a cave handy we used the animal skins to put our drawings on.  We also mushed berries and flower petals to see if we could use the juices to write with as prehistoric man did.   Our last lesson, until we return from break, was on a type of writing that took place about 3,500 B.C.E.   You will see a piece of clay in your child's folders with cuneiform writing on them.  The Sumerians built one of the first great civilizations, with the wet clay they used for bricks they inlaid/wrote using a stylus, and let the clay dry in the sun.  Our version of a stylus can also be found in their folder.  Upon return we will see the Egyptians contribution to the History of Writing.

Have  a wonderful break.

Amy

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In the afternoon program we completed our unit on jump roping and many of the students were surprised at how successful they were in this activity. We also had fun learning a few fun jump rope chants.   

While learning about the United States, we discussed interesting facts from each state while we noted their abbreviations and worked on a class map showing every state at least one of us has been in.  We didn't complete this activity (as there was lively discussion about the interesting facts) so we'll pick that up again after break.  We have a suspicion that not all of the fifty states have been visited, unless any of your children have been to Hawaii and they have forgotten.  We'll see after break.

Also this week, the students learned of MaryKaye's upcoming move to Ohio. We are working as a group to enjoy our remaining time with her, learn about her new hometown of Columbus, OH, and move through our sadness to wish her the best on this new adventure.

Amy and I look forward to conferencing with each of you tomorrow. After that, we hope you'll enjoy the break week and please do remind your child to complete the one book they've chosen to read for our class activity upon their return. They should bring that book back to school with them on Monday, February 28th.

Best wishes,
Nancy Adis

Upcoming Dates:
Friday, February 18th – No School - Parent-Teacher Conferences
February 21-25 – No School – February Recess
March 11th – Fee Fi Fo Fum school performance
March 12th – RiverRun Movie Night at the Foster's residence
March 15th – 9:30 – 11 a.m. RiverRun Open House
March 24-25th – No School