Friday Letter - 04.08.11

April 8, 2011

Dear River Run Families,

This week we finished reading a historical fiction book from the Dear America series. We read about Finn Reardon who was a newsy in the year 1899. He lived with his family of seven in tenement housing in lower east side of N.Y.C. The book was interesting and gave a good picture of how life may have been for families at that time.

We also looked at plants native to Canada. We all liked the Canadian Columbine and were able to identify the red maple tree, barley, and black raspberries with ease.

This was a great week full of learning and joy.

Amy
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This week the students used their creativity to brainstorm possible inventions as solutions for problems such as brushing your teeth after lunch at school or work (away from home) and cleaning the sticky food off the grill as well as possible machines for planting a tree, feeding a toddler, changing a light bulb, cleaning a bathroom, or packing a suitcase. We continue to read about other inventors and discuss the process of using unique, new ideas to improve our lives.

We enjoyed the spring weather that we had at the end of this week and today we were able to take advantage of it by spending our PE and recess time walking to Steinmetz Park. Its the first time we've gotten there since last fall and we all enjoyed the opportunity to stretch our legs, use the playground equipment, and use our nets to fish for things in the pond.

In art this week, we welcomed artist Kristen Olivo (Nicholas’s aunt) who discussed sources of inspiration and taught us about jewelry-making. Each student made a necklace and/or bracelet with the beautiful beads that Kristen donated for the students. The jewelry items came home on Thursday or Friday and are for the students to keep.

We also began new student interest projects this week, with each student selecting a country (from Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands) to research. Each student will learn about the country and its culture and then share with the class so that in the end we will all learn a bit about many of these countries. If you know anyone native to one of these areas who would be willing to come in to the classroom to share their experiences growing up in that country, please let us know. We welcome such community visitors.

Turning to next week, we are looking forward to our Thursday field trip to the Hudson Valley Community College campus where the students will have lunch in the student center and participate in the program on Native Americans. Thank you in advance to those parents who’ve offered to transport and assist in chaperoning our students. Also that day several RiverRun families will be attending the Potluck Dinner and Woodcock Watch at the Pine Bush Discovery Center. Please call Teresa Foster at 393-4122 with any questions about that program.

Have a lovely weekend,
Nancy

Upcoming Dates:
April 14th – Class Field Trip to HVCC for Mark Tayac and the Piscataway Indian Nation Singers and Dancers
April 14th – 5:30 p.m. RiverRun Potluck Dinner and Woodcock Watch at Pine Bush Discovery Center
April 18th - 22nd – No School – Spring Recess
May 6th – Class Field Trip to The Egg for the New York Theatre Ballet’s “Alice In Wonderland Follies”