Field Trip
Last week we went to the Nature Center in Chula Vista. We had a great time. I would like to thank Mrs. Baeza for all of her help with the students during our time at the Nature Center. Everyone had an engaging time with the plants and animals of the marsh. We saw first hand the adaptations of animals to their environment.

PTA Membership Drive
Thank you all who supported our PTA drive by becoming a member.

Arroyo Vista Charter School Student Council
Starting this week we have our student council. These students want to help our school through their leadership. I wish I could tell you who they are, but I have forgotten who was announced.

Parent-Teacher Conferences
September 16th starts parent-teacher conferences. I will be sending home a confirmation of our upcoming parent-teacher conference. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say about your child. I also will have data to share with you. Look for that schedule coming home on Tuesday, September 7th.

Can Do Attitude
Our class is working on becoming responsible classmates and problem solvers. Help your child at home by giving him/her the opportunity to do chores, help you complete projects, or assign a task s/he can complete on his/her own.

STAR Strategies:
We will start working on structural features of informational text. That seems like a mouthful, but it really isn’t. What it does mean is how can a student look at a piece of text and know it is non-fiction as apposed to fictional text? Features such as indexes, glossaries, and table of contents help students to see how non-fictional text is written. It is important to know what these differences are. You read non-fiction with a different purpose.

Word Study:
We are looking at the vowel/consonant/silent e pattern in words this week. In particular we are studying the long i and long o patterns.

Writing:
In writing we will continue to work on writing as a process. This week our focus is taking the pre-write information through to the first draft. Once your child has several drafts s/he will choose one to take through the entire process to publishing. We are on our way!

Independent Reading
We will continue to concentrate on those things we need to do in our reading response journals. (Keeping track of the books we are reading, and writing a book recommendation, etc.)

Mathematics:
In mathematics, we had our first benchmark assessment covering chapters 1-3. On Tuesday we will continue our study of money. How do you add and subtract money amounts? We will focus on the value of the coins, order of greatest to least value when counting money and so on.

Social Studies:
We are continuing to learn about “People Who Made a Difference”. We will look at Jackie Robinson, Frida Kahlo, and Jimmy Carter. Then the unit will be assessed.
P.E.
I have planned activities to help with coordination and catching and throwing.
Homework
This week, due to the shorten week, your child can cross out Monday on the Reading Log. I know they love to cross out homework.

Assembly
We had Nedco come to our school. It was an assembly about never giving up, encouraging other and do your best. The students in our classroom agreed it was the best assembly yet. The man who did Nedco had yo-yos in his presentation. A flyer when home this week about buying yo-yos. A place on the playground has been set aside for students who want to practice yo-yoing. You may purchase the yo-yos before school. I am not certain of the prices, but I think the range begins with $6.50 and goes up to $15.00. The message was very good and the students thought so as well (with or without a yo-yo).

Questions
This is just a brief outline. Please feel free to come by the room and talk if you have any questions, or come by if you want to just talk. I am so glad your children are in my class.

Students
Remember if you miss school you miss out! Also, I would miss you in class as well!
Mrs. Bengel

Edited by - teacher on September 03 2010 10:38:12