For the Week of January 2nd

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that you have a year filled with blessings and good will.

Sleep Reminder

I know how vacations can change our sleeping schedules. It seems like we stay up later and later and get up later and later. If this has happened to your family, I encourage you to get your children back on an earlier bedtime as quickly as possible. It is very hard for a tired child to concentrate and listen attentively in school.

Chess Club

Watch for a flyer coming home about chess clubs. We had a wonderful first round and are planning to mix up the players and add some new ones - so if your son or daughter is interested we would encourage them to join.

For the Week of December 12th

Chess Club

Many of you have asked if we are going to have another chess club. The answer is yes. After we come back from break, I will be sending out another sign-up sheet. This gives us a chance to mix up the clubs so that the students can meet new friends and opponents. It gives students who have heard about chess club a chance to join. So watch for the flyer coming home. I can always use parent volunteers, also, so if that would be of interest to you, please let me know.

Chess Club #2 meets on Wednesday and Chess Club #3 meets on Thursday.

Outside Paper Recycling Bin

A question was raised about putting shredded paper in the outside paper recycling bin. The answer is - absolutely you can put shredded paper in the bin. I would recommend that you put the shredded paper in a bag, so that it does not blow around when the driver services the bin. Paper or plastic bag is fine.

Lexia

Prairiview has 5 licenses for students to use the online phonics and sight word program called Lexia. It has been a great help to boost students' phonics skills. Lexia can also be used on home computers. Many students have taken advantage of this. The program also offers a section on Latin and Greek stems. I would encourage parents of high grade level readers to email me. I can set it up so your student does not have to do the whole program but can skip directly to this section. Knowing these stems can help your student with a multitude of vocabulary words - and it is free!

For the Week of December 5th

Chess Club

Club #1 will meet Wednesday for its last club of the season and Club #4 will meet Thursday for its last club of the season. The time has flown by and the clubbers have learned a lot about chess.

Bowling

Friday is bowling day. The fifth graders will be going in the morning and the fourth graders will be going in the afternoon.

Books and Movies

Books are usually better than movies because our imaginations can paint more vivid pictures than cameras can and because books usually include more details than time will permit in movies. For these reasons, I think it is fun to read the book version with my children first and then watch the movie together. This opens up some interesting conversations about which parts they liked better in the book and which in the movie. What parts were left out of the movie that they wished had been included? What parts did they add to movie which weren't in the book? Were the scenes set-up how you imagined them? So when you have the chance, enjoy the movie more by enjoying the book first!

For the Week of November 28th

Chess Club

Club #2 meets Wednesday, November 30th. Club #3 meets Thursday, December 1st.

Conference Week

Conferences will be held all week after school. Because of this there will be no school on Friday.