October 20 Scholastic Orders Due
October 22-23 Goal Setting Conferences
October 26 Library Visit (this is sooner than normal because the library is not available 11/2)
October 28 All Day O&A to Tillamook Forest
Homework
Because of the short week and in-class work needed to prepare for conferences, there is no new homework due this week. Please encourage your student to continue reading and math practice at home.
Goal Setting Conferences
I look forward to seeing parents and Plovers on Thursday or Friday for goal setting conferences! This will be a time for us to chat about your student's academic snapshot, as well as goals for the year and homework expectations. Please call the office to schedule a conference time, if you have not already done so.
Upcoming Out and Abouts
This Wednesday, an educator from Oregon Ballet Theatre will work with the class to reflect on our trip last week and help with our study of story telling and fairy tales. We will use Step In Studio, next to FGCS, for this visit. Students should wear comfortable clothing that they can move in!
Scholastic Reading Clubs - Orders Due Tomorrow!
Even though our last orders JUST arrived, I decided to do a quick October order in case anyone wants Halloween books or time to pre-order the newest Diary of A Wimpy Kid book (or anything else)! You can view this month's selections and submit your order online at https://orders.scholastic.com/L79X9. When you place your order online, you'll help earn FREE books for our class! Orders are due Tuesday, October 20th. The books typically arrive about 10 days after I submit the class orders.
Volunteer Opportunities
1. Library Chaperones - Minimum of 2 chaperones needed for our next library trip on October 26th.
2. Breakfast Donations - Fruit needed for breakfast next week (10/30).
3. Mystery Readers - Next available dates are November 3rd and 5th.
Weekly Review
Last week, we prepared for our trip to the ballet by reviewing theater etiquette and vocabulary. Students also made up their own dances to accompany a Peter and the Wolf audiobook, and then we watched a video of a ballet performance of the same story. Using iPads, students were then able to look closely at photos and videos of ballet dancers performing and rehearsing. First, they used these images to practice making observations and inferences, and then they wrote down what were wondering about. I shared the Plovers thoughts and questions with the ballet on their Facebook page and their Education Outreach Director complimented the students' work at the performance!
Here is one of the rehearsal videos for the show we saw, Napoli: https://vimeo.com/141469674. See if you notice or wonder about some of the same things as the Plovers!
At the student performance on Thursday, we saw two short excerpts from The Nutcracker and a contemporary ballet called Beautiful Decay. Next, the director had five professional dancers come on stage to show challenging moves and demonstrate some of the choreography that we would see in the last piece. A few of the dancers had studied over the summer in Denmark to learn this new routine. One of the dancers didn't do his part correctly and the director made him try again. Finally, we got to see Act III of Napoli with over 100 people on stage! There was a wedding and then a lot of dancing, celebrating, clapping and tambourine tapping. The dancers were happy, funny, silly and playful. They were also good at spinning, jumping and working together. It was a great Out & About to see amazing men and women dancing together to tell us a new story about a fisherman and his wife!
Communication
Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Parents and students can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also leave a voice message on the class phone or come into the classroom before/after school.