Thank You!

Our class got a really special gift today! We got a big bag full of wonderful books!

Thanks to all those parents who donated to our class!!! We are very excited to read them!

Ending off Literacy Month - reading our favorite book...

Dear Parents,

Please choose a time that you can come in and read to our class. 10:45 am is our best time - because that's reading time but if you cant make that time, we will be able to fit it in for when its good for you.

The book should be of interest to the whole class, preferably with pictures and should not take longer than 10-15 minutes to read.

I have sent home a letter, in your child's homework folder with a calendar of dates for you to check off a convenient date and time. Please send it back to school tomorrow.

Thank you so much!

Morah Rivki

Our Trip to Historic Richmond Town

It was a great experience for us walking through the 1800's village, with our tour guide who was dressed to fit the scene! She taught us the whole process 'from fiber to thread' and we all had a chance to practice. In those days, children our age had to do these jobs for real! We tried on the clothes that they used to make in those days and really got a feel for colonial times!

We had a walk around the historic town, but as we had a special program we did not have time to visit the inside of buildings, stores and houses. A lot of us are interested in going back to visit and asked me to let our parents know the address!

Historic Richmond Town
441 Clarke Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10306
(718) 351-1611

historicrichmondtown.org

Hours:

JULY & AUGUST:

Wednesday - Sunday: 11 am - 5 pm
Open village & outdoor demonstrations; self-guided tour.

SEPTEMBER TO JUNE:

Wednesday to Sunday: 1 pm - 5m

Tours:

Wednesday-Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

On to Earth Science now... Our first Chapter - Water!

'How does water change form?' is the big question of chapter 5. We will be learning all about the importance of water and the water cycle.

On Thursday we made a model of the earth's water - "What if all earth's water would fit in a bottle?"- Where is earths water? We labelled four cups for the four places that fresh water is found on earth: "atmosphere"; "lakes, rivers and streams"; "groundwater"; and "glaciers". We labelled a big bottle "oceans and seas" for the salt water that is found on earth. We then poured water into each cup:

	Amount of Water (total 2200 mL)
	Atmosphere (fresh water)		about drop
	Lakes, rivers, streams (fresh water)		about 4 drops
	Groundwater (fresh water)		13 mL
	Icecaps and glaciers (fresh water)		47 mL
	Oceans and seas (salt water)		2139 mL

We noticed how most of earth's water is found in oceans and seas and is salt water. We inferred why people should use fresh water wisely... because we need fresh water to drink and most of earths water is salt water!

Math Unit 7

We have completed unit 6, taken a test and also done our midyear assessment -which we do after unit 6. Now Its time to begin Unit 7. In this unit we will be extending the basic multiplication and division skills that we learned in the first half of the year. We will be reviewing multiplication and division patterns, extending basic multiplication facts, practicing making estimates of costs and exploring ratios.

We are now onto math journal 2. We will still be working on completing pages that we missed in math journal 1 when we have time and for homework.

Some really great parent events coming up...

February 17th - 7:30 pm - Our literacy consultant, Myra is coming to speak to parents about literacy, reading to kids and how to choose books. Myra works with the staff in school and she has excellent advice and practical tips on making literacy more meaningful to our kids! Don't miss out on this opportunity to meet her!

Feburary 23rd - 8:30pm - Parenting discussion group for Moms and Dads - "When they don't listen" - how to deal with misbehavior.

Our morning meeting this week...

At this weeks morning meeting we again reflected on the meaning of 'being a good friend' and thought about how we like to be listened to by our friends and how a good friend listens and responds...

we reflected:

• How I like my friends to listen to me...


• I like my friends to listen to me when...


• When my friends listen carefully to me, I feel...


• When I'm talking I don't like it if my friend...