Halloween Reminder

Hi!

Just a reminder about costume guidelines:

The committe to develop Halloween guidelines came up with the following items to share with your students and parents regarding Halloween costumes and activities.

1. Costumes should be appropriate for a mixed age setting.

2. Masks are allowed only during the halloween parade.

3. Weapons of any sort are not allowed at school.

4. Accessories that are disruptive or a violation of the rights and responsibilities are not allowed or should be turned off.

Also, we will be doing a short parade around 11:40 tomorrow.

And, please don't send your kid to school with candy to give out. We have a special treat planned for tomorrow and I am guessing all the kids will get plenty of sweets over the weekend.

Thanks!

Wednesday October 27th

Good Morning!!

Happy Birthday Chloe!!

Today is Wednesday October 27th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will go on a field trip to OMSI.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have math groups.

We will continue to plan our space voyage.

We will have a special treat!!

We will represent Trillium on our field trip.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

T O A R S D E I

Announcements:

We are having a Halloween celebration on Friday! I will post some guidelines again before Friday.

We will have a class meeting tomorrow. Please prepare.

Morning Mystery Word Solved:
A S T E R O I D

A Few More Updates

Hi again!

Just wanted to throw a few more things your way:

1). Wrote this last time, but please send your child with a booster seat tomorrow for our field trip if they require one. This is obviously extremely important.

2). Boy was it a cold day! We really try and not have inside recess unless it is pouring rain (the kids just really need to get their energy out). A lot of our kids were pretty cold during recess and at this point I am not allowing inside recess for kids until we have created a strong level of responsibility. Please have them bundle up!

3). On that note, for those of you that are not yet familiar with our levels of responsibility system, when a student reaches Level 3 they have the option of inside recess if 1). there are multiple students staying in and 2). they have parent permission to do so. If you have any questions about this (as we head into our cold and wet days) please contact me.

4). School lunch was awesome today. Kudos to Elizabeth and Beth. I heard we served over a 100 nutritious meals! If your child wants one of these meals, please sign up on the sheet by the front desk. The spaghetti today was great.

5). This can be a touchy subject, but I've noticed over the past couple of weeks a lot of discussion about crushes and boyfriends/girlfriends amongst our students. This is totally natural as all our youngsters are getting to know each other and still experiencing the excitement of a new school year and a new class. We had a talk today about how all of this is perfectly normal but that it can be a distraction and can lead to feelings being hurt/students feeling embarrassed. We agreed that discussions of such things should not enter Trillium. Its not a crisis by any means, but I would like us all to be on the same page. Hope thats not too awkward.

6). Today we started planning the makings of our space ships that will launch us into space and start us on our travel through time. We could use some cardboard to create these amazing machines. If you have any to donate, that would be wonderful. The bigger the better. Smaller boxes tend to get wasted and clutter the classroom.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Best,

Whitney

Tuesday October 26th

Good Morning!!

Today is Tuesday October 26th.

It is the first day of The Blazer's season!!

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have garden class with Erin.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have music with Heidi.

We will have writing workshop.

We will plan space projects.

We will work to keep our room clean.

Go Blazers!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

B U L E H B

(I thought I could stump them with this one. No luck).

Announcements:

Please remember your booster for tomorrow's field trip!

We will be having a Halloween party on Friday. Guidelines are in the blog post below.

Morning Mystery Word Solved:
H U B B L E

A Few Updates

Hi all!

Just wanted to throw a few things out there:

1). Its looks like we have enough drivers for our field trip tom OMSI on Wednesday. Thanks so much!

2). If your child needs a booster seat, please leave it outside the classroom on the morning of our field trip. We were a missing a few last time but were able to scrounge them up. Please remember that this not only a school policy but also the law.

3). We will have a Halloween day this Friday. We have a few rules:

The committe to develop Halloween guidelines came up with the following items to share with your students and parents regarding Halloween costumes and activities.

1. Costumes should be appropriate for a mixed age setting.

2. Masks are allowed only during the halloween parade.

3. Weapons of any sort are not allowed at school.

4. Accessories that are disruptive or a violation of the rights and responsibilities are not allowed or should be turned off.

We are asking that students do not come dressed in their costumes to school. It creates a big distraction and we are planning on doing some science experiments the day of. We don't want to ruin anyone's costumes. We will provide ample time for kids to change into their costumes with teacher/parent help.

4). Please remember that even though we have a somewhat relaxed policy for students showing up to school (we allow students into their classrooms at 8:15 for some social/activity time) we really do want the entire class present at 8:30. That is when we first dive into our academic time with our morning challenges and shortly after go through our morning message (schedule of the day).

5). Just a reminder to sign your child up ahead of time if he/she is planning on having a school lunch. The meals have been amazing. I can testify. It really helps on cutting down on costs.

Thanks for such an amazing start to the school year. This class absolutely rocks!

Best,

Whitney

Monday October 25th

Good Morning!!

Today is Monday October 25th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have art with Joy.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have service with Polly.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have math groups.

We will have writing workshop.

We will finish our movie about earth.

We will respect each other.

We will have fun!!

Love Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

L B G E O

Announcements:

We have a field trip to OMSI this Wednesday and are still in need of drivers. We will be leaving at 9:15 and returning at 11:30.

We will be celebrating Halloween this Friday the 29th. More details to come!

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

G L O B E

We have a new globe in the room. Its pretty out of date but is still very interesting!

Friday October 22nd

Good Morning!!

Today is Friday October 22nd 2010.

We will have an all school meeting.

We will have buddies with Kurt's class.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have a class meeting.

We will watch a movie about our planet.

We will be kind to each other.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

V S U E N E I R

Announcements:

Field Trip to OMSI this Wednesday. We still need drivers!

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

U N I V E R S E

WIFI Update

Hi all!

Just wanted to let those parents who access Trillium's wifi that it is now password protected. The "Trillium" connection now requires the password: flower123

Thanks!

Thursday October 21st

Good Morning!!

Today is Thursday October 21st.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will make our very own sun dials.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have math groups.

We will have writing workshop.

We will be active listeners.

We will have fun!!

Love,
Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

O L C K C

Announcements:

We have another field trip next Wednesday.

We will have a class meeting tomorrow. Please be prepared if you have a proposal or are attempting to go up a level.

We will have our first "Buddies Day" tomorrow. Our buddy class is Kurt's advising. Kurt's students will be leading a mask making activity with our kids.

There will also be an All School Meeting tomorrow. A student from Ken's advising has made a proposal to change the "library corner" of the Multi-Purpose room into a "weight lifting corner." I'm hoping students from our class will attend to give their input.

If your child is planning to have a school lunch this Friday or any other Friday this year, the lunch must be eaten on school grounds. This is a district rule.

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

C L O C K

Wednesday October 20th

Good Morning!!
Today is Wednesday October 20th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have read aloud.

We will have snack.

We will go see a play!

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have math groups.

We will have writing workshop.

We will be on our best behavior and represent Trillium.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

M O T C E

Announcements:

There will be NO Round Up sprayed at the park. Feel free to play!

We have another field trip a week from today. We will be going to see an IMAX movie and we need drivers.

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

C O M E T

A Few Updates

Hi all!

I just wanted to inform everyone on a bit of news.

#1 I posted that The Parks And Recreation Department Of Portland were planning on doing some weed control in Patton Square Park using Round Up. They have agreed to hold off it with the understaning that Trillium will do some hand weed control. As of now, there will be no chemicals sprayed onto the park. I will keep your updated on how this all goes.

#2 Just a reminder that we will be going to The Northwest Children's Theatre tomorrow to see a play. I am very excited, they always do a wonderful job. Please remember to leave a booster seat outside the classroom if your child needs one. We will be leaving at 9:45. Here are some reviews of the play: http://nwcts.org/html/prod-reviews.html#alexander

#3 We had proposal passed during our class meeting last Friday that no gum is allowed in our classroom. Please help us support this new rule by not sending students to school with gum.

Thanks! We have had such a great start to the year and sincerely thank you for sharing your outstanding students with The Trillium Community!

Best,

Whitney

Tuesday October 19th

Good Morning!!
Today is Tuesday October 19th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have garden with Erin.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have a class meeting.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have music with Heidi.

We will have writing workshop.

We will be active listeners.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:
I M S C U

Announcements:

We are going on a field trip tomorrow. Please remember to leave a booster seat with your child if he/she needs one.

Apparently the city is spraying Round Up at the park today. We will be going elsewhere for recess this week. Might want to keep that in mind for after school play time.

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

M U S I C

Thursday October 14th

Good Morning!!
Today is Thursday October 14th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will do a science experiment about meteors.

We will have snack and recess.

We will finish our experiment.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have math groups.

We will have read aloud.

We will put the finishing touches on our solar system maps.

We will have writing workshop.

We will work to keep our room clean.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

T S O M R E E

Announcements:

Whitney thinks we should work extra hard today to keep our room clean and take care of our spots after snack and lunch. Yesterday, someone left a fruit snack out on a chair. It sat in the sun during recess and got really gooey. Then Whitney accidental sat on it during reading workshop. It was not fun.

There will be a class meeting tomorrow. Please fill out a proposal form or prepare to go up a level beforehand.

Tomorrow will be a school wide service day. The 1st and 2nd graders will be spending some time in the morning cleaning up Patton Square Park. We get a lot of use out of it and want to give something back!

Morning Mystery Word Solved:
M E T E O R S

Wednesday October 13th

Good Morning!!
Today is Wednesday October 13th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have art with Joy.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have menu groups.

We will have read aloud.

We will watch a movie about the moon.

We will have writing workshop.

We will be active listeners.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Double Morning Mystery Word:
S E L N T I

Announcements:

We have a field trip to The North West Children's Theater a week from today. Please remember to send your child with a booster seat if he or she is not riding with you.

Please remember to check your folder outside the classroom.

Please remember to sign up for a school lunch at least one day in advance if your child is going to get one.

Double Morning Mystery Word Solved:

L I S T E N
S I L E N T

(We had a some trouble yesterday with students talking with their neighbors when others were speaking)

Tuesday October 12th

Good Morning!!

Today is Tuesday October 12th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have garden with Erin.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have music with Heidi.

We will finish our solar system maps.

We will have writing workshop.

We will respect each other.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:

L E C W L A A

Announcements:

We have a field trip coming up to The Northwest Children's Theater on October 20th. We are doing fine on drivers, but extras are always a help. We also have a field trip on the 27th. A sign up sheet will be up soon.

Please check your folder outside the classroom. There is optional homework available today. Please remember that not every piece of the homework needs to be completed if parts of it feel too easy or challenging.

Lets still keep a look out for lice!

Morning Mystery Word Solved:
W A L L A C E (We watched a Wallace and Gromit movie on Thursday because we filled up our Responsibility Jar. Now its time to fill it up again!)

Thursday 10/7

Good Morning!!

Today is Thursday October 7th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have a class meeting.

We will do a science experiment.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have menu groups.

We will have writing workshop.

We will celebrate our special day!!

We will work to keep our room clean.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Whitney

Morning Mystery Word:C I E R M A E C

Announcements:

Please remember that there is no school this Friday and Monday.

Field Trip to The NW Children's Theater on October 20th. We're doing fine on drivers but having extras is always nice and you get to see a fun play for free!!

We just wrapped up a very amazing class meeting. Julian moderated and did an absolutely awesome job. The first proposal passed was to listen to Whitney. I like it.

The second proposal passed was that we will go to Jungle Play Land (I think its been renamed Kids Club & Fitness) sometime this year for a field trip. This proposal brought on some really great conversation such as "how we will pay for it?", "how will we get there?", "is it safe?", "when will we go?", and "is it like Enchanted Forest?". A few amendments were made and we agreed on is this: We will go to Jungle Play Land at some point this year (when Whitney feels it works best and when parents can drive). We will ask parents to pay for their own child's entrance fee. We'll see how it works and I'll keep you posted on what date works best.

This meeting went long and unfortunately we ran out of time for our science experiment. We will definitely do it next week.

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

I C E C R E A M

Wednesday

Good Morning!!

Today is Wednesday October 6th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will do art with Joy.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have menu groups.

We will watch a movie about our Sun.

We will have writing workshop.

We will be kind to each other.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Stella (Stella lead our morning message)

Morning Mystery Word:
N O A T S R T U A

Announcements:

Just a reminder, no school this Friday and Monday.

We will be having a class meeting tomorrow since we won't be able to have one on Friday.

Lets stay on the look out for lice.

We will be doing a science experiment tomorrow about craters!

Lunch for tomorrow is spinach potato fritatta.

Morning Mystery Word Solved:
A S T R O N A U T

Tuesday

Good Morning!!

Today is Tuesday October 5th 2010.

We will do our morning challenges.

We will have garden with Erin.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have music with Heidi.

We will work on our solar system maps.

We will have writing workshop.

We filled up our marble Jar!!

We will be active listeners.

We will have fun!!

Love,

Lily (Lily lead our morning message)

Morning Mystery Word:

R S E B M L A

Announcements:

We filled up our responsibility marble jar this morning! We will celebrate this Thursday afternoon with a viewing of a Wallace and Gromit episode and some ice cream sandwiches!

Please remember that there is no school this Friday and Monday due to in service days.

It seems that the lice invasion is over, but please still check your child's hair.

If your child is planning on having a school lunch (they are wonderful and prepared/cooked by the super team of Beth (1st/2nd grade teacher) and Elizabeth (Stella's mother)) please sign up on the sheet outside the school kitchen. Tomorrow's meal will be a Thai teriyaki salad with baked beans and Thursday will be a spinach and potato frittata.

Thanks to everyone who signed up to drive/chaperone for our field trip to The Northwest Children's Theater on October 20th. We already have enough rides for the entire class!

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

M A R B L E S

Monday

Good Morning!!

Today is Monday October 4th 2010.

We will begin our new morning challenges.

We will have P.E.

We will work on our solar system maps.

We will have snack and recess.

We will have reading workshop.

We will have lunch and recess.

We will have read aloud.

We will have menu groups.

We will have writing workshop.

We will have a special treat.

We will respect each other.

It is Marley's birthday!!
We will have fun!!

Love,

Marley (Marley lead our Morning Message)

Morning Mystery Word:

T U R J I E P

Announcements:

Just a reminder, there has been more than a few cases of lice around the school. Please check your child.

There is no school on Friday. It is an in service day.

Our Responsibility Marble Jar is almost full!!

Morning Mystery Word Solved:

J U P I T E R