Three Cups of Tea/Pennies for Peace - Our class raised $34.00, Richland Elementary raised
$942.35. Plus $100 in matching grants for a grand total of $1042.35!!!The entire district raised over $3,000 for the "Pennies for Peace" Project!! (We are still counting!) Last week we traveled to the High School to see the presention by GREG MORTENSON (2009 Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author of Three Cups of Tea and Listen to the Wind). This was a great experience for the kids. They learned about a great man with a great mission, how kids in other parts of the world live, simple ways they can help other kids and how lucky they are to live our in great country. We were so fortunate to have this wonderful opportunity...thanks to the Gull Lake Community Schools Foundation for all they've done to make this possible!
CONFERENCE FORMS - Please make sure you have turned in your conference time request forms by this Wednesday, November 4. The Richland teaching staff will be coordinating conference times for siblings at our Thursday staff meeting and if I don't have your forms by then I will just put you in any available spot and you may not get a time that's most convenient for you.
Take a look at our WRITERS TOOL BOX section. We started this weekly project this past week. There is a schedule in this section to let you know when your child will be bringing the "tool box" home.
A Few Reminders about Reading Club:
*Decodables always come home on Mondays (or the first day of the school week). These are for your child to keep...forever. Even if your child does not have his or her Reading Club Bag at school their DECODABLES will still be sent home in their BEE FOLDER.
*We try on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to send home GOOD FIT BOOKS...but sometimes we just run out of time and don't get to it. GOOD FIT BOOKS are only sent home if your child has his or her bag on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. REMEMBER, if your child brings some GOOD FIT BOOKS home please read them that night or the next night and then RETURN THEM TO SCHOOL.
*Your child can read in one sitting/one week, any book two times and have it count for Reading Club. You can write "2x" by the book and Mrs. Simmons, our reading club mom will know to count it twice. That same book can count later (on another sheet), but not more than twice on one sheet. So your child can read again the next week or later again in the month, etc.
* Reading Club sheets are available to print off from the Richland PTO webpage. Just go to "schools" at the Gull Lake Website, click Richland Elementary and then click "For parents" and then the PTO. There you'll find the forms. You can also just write down books your child reads on any paper as long as it has your child's name, my name and the books and number of pages they've read.
Ms. VanBuren's last day...It's hard to believe that Ms. VanBuren will only be with us for a few more weeks. Her last day will Friday, November 13. She will then begin the second portion of her internship at Kalamazoo County Headstart. We will be having a little "Good-Bye/Thank you/Congratulations" celebration for her. If you would like to contribute a few dollars for a class gift (most likely a gift certificate to The Teachers Center and a book) for her please send it in an envelope with JUST MY NAME ON IT. (She often goes through Folders in the morning and we want this to be a bit of surprise for her.) Please send this in by November 6th. Thank you...it's been great for our class to have her with us!
Thanks to everyone for helping with our Halloween Parade and Party. The kids had a great time! - Thanks to Sue Blesch and Kathy and Dave Bergland for organizing our party!!
A few reminders to give your child to help us all stay healthy:
*Wash your hands often.
*Keep your hands out of your mouth. (Difficult for first graders with loose teeth!)
*Cough/Sneeze on your sleeve, not in your hand.
As parents, remember that if your child is sick to keep him/her home until she or he has been Fever-Free without the use of tylenol, motrin, etc. for 24 hours.
Would like to access your child's lunch account balance any time on line at the school website? Just contact Kris McPherson at kmcpherson@gulllakecs.org and ask her to email you a user ID and password for your child(ren)'s account balance. When you receive your user name and password just go to the Gull Lake website, go to SCHOOL LIFE, then FOOD SERVICE and then to STUDENT BALANCE.
Check out our CALENDAR page. I've updated it
so it has important NOVEMBER DATES and
a few December dates too.
Thanks to those who sent in the extra snacks. We should be all set for the next month or so!