Upper Elementary Friday Newsletter- November 16, 2012

November 16, 2012

 

Dear Families:

 

                We are thankful for so many things, but today we’re reflecting on our pleasant and organized classroom filled with items that so many people provided for us.  We identified those who donated their time, talents, items from home, and purchases to make sure we have a well-equipped classroom.  We can assure you that we are very happy with the room that we work and play in each day, and we thank everyone who did so much to create our classroom environment.

                On Wednesday we took our monthly trip to the Schenectady Public Library to exchange our Dewey Decimal books.  We are sometimes amazed at the topics we find in some of the categories.  This activity is really helping us to reach out to new genres.  We also have many books illustrated by Tomie dePaola, including his biography.  We’ll share many of the books before we visit one of his earliest works at the Dominican Retreat.  When we returned from the library we were able to watch a webcast from the International Space Station!  It was very interesting to listen to the Japanese astronaut.  His statements were translated into English.  We all laughed at the end of the session when he floated out of view of the camera.  We thank Jennifer for telling us about this opportunity, and for setting up the webcast for us.

                Freedom Crossing by Margaret Goff Clark is our new class novel.  We are keeping a Reader’s Response Journal for this novel study.  The setting for the book is Lewiston, New York.  Ben’s mom, Teresa, just happened to send in a perfect map of New York State for us to use to find Lewiston, and to identify the physical features of the area.  The story is about a group of young people helping a slave to escape to Canada. 

                Next week we will watch the movie October Sky.    We will learn more about the early years of space exploration, and we’ll be inspired to follow our own dreams after we see this movie based on a true story.  The back of the movie jacket reads:

“When Homer Hickam, Jr. sees the Soviet satellite Sputnik streak overhead, he aims for the stars and a new destiny in this incredible true story of hope, determination and triumph.”

 

We wish you a bountiful Thanksgiving filled with  turkey, stuffing, cranberries, family, friendship, thankfulness and joy,

 Debbie & Crew