February 13, 2012
Dear Parents & Students,
Thank you all for spoiling me and making me feel ever so special during
Teacher Appreciation week. I have enjoyed an off campus lunch, chocolates,
cookies and other treats, as well as, a few gift cards to my favorite
restaurants, craft store and I-Tunes. It's always nice to be recognized and
appreciated! THANK YOU!!!
As you all know by now, Mr. McCabe has been transferred to Heritage Middle
School as acting Principal. Mr. McCabe's last day at NFP will be on February
28th. He begins his new assignment at Heritage Middle on March 31st. Please
join me in wishing him the best of luck!
NFP's interim Principal will be Mr. George Risinger. From what I know, Mr.
Risinger is an experienced educator who has been working for WCPSS for many
years. Mrs. Smith will still be our Assistant Principal and we're hoping
that she becomes NFP's next Principal. Mr. Andre Smith (our Regional
Superintendent) will be holding an information session for teachers and
parents soon. I don't know the date yet but, as soon as I find out, I will
share the information with you.
Based on information from parents during Parent/Teacher conferences, there
was a request for more online reading comprehension support. I have,
therefore, added 9 more links to this website. The links target math and
reading skills. Please make sure that your child is accessing these links
several times each week. The links reinforce what we've been learning in
class and offer an opportunity for more practice.
Just a reminder that our next Writing Celebration will be on Friday, February
17th from 10:30-11:30. This day is also an early release day. We hope that
you can all join us as we have been hard at work creating personal narratives.
We have several projects going on in our class right now. Students should be
working on the Cereal Box project which is due on February 27th. This
project should be done at home and parents can help. However, students will
be graded on their oral presentations.
Our class will also be working on a Black History Month project. While in
class, students will look up quotes made by famous Black Americans. Students
will then have to interpret these quotes and explain what they mean. All
quotes will then be placed outside our classroom for all to read.
We are also working on the Passport Project. Students are researching
different countries and creating "mock" passport that tell all about these
countries. They are answering specific questions in hopes of convincing
others to travel to these countries. We work on this project on Friday
afternoons.
The Mastodon Matrix Project is now underway! This is a VERY exciting
project! All third graders will have an opportunity to do this project and
our class is the first class to begin! We are working in conjunction with
the Paleontological Research Institute in Ithaca, New York. We have received
a bag of soil/dirt that is approximately 11,500 years old. Our goal is to,
carefully, excavate the dirt and search for fossil twigs, seeds & bugs.
Whatever we find gets sent back to PRI for further examination. In addition
to this project, I have created a WebQuest for my students to complete in
order to learn more about Paleontology and what else is involved in this
particular science. The kids are EXTREMELY interested in this project. It
will take us about four weeks to complete it. We will use NFP's laptops
Monday-Thursday for the next few weeks in order to gather more research on
Mastodons. Feel free to stop by, if you're curious. We work on this project
from 2:00-2:50 four days a week!
Valentine's Day is on Tuesday. If your child plans to exchange Valentines,
please make sure that he/she have enough for everyone in the class. We have
a total of 24 students. A class roster with names has been added to the
homework tab for your convenience.
Our next field trip is in April (when we track back in). If you have not
submitted payment, please do so immediately. The cost of the trip is $8.50.
If sending cash, please send exact change. If paying by check, please make
the check out to NFP (not NFP-PTA). In order for this trip to happen we need
payment from every student as the school does not have money to cover the
costs for those students who cannot afford to pay.
As always,thank you for your continued support. Everything you do for my
students and I is truly appreciated! Please feel free to contact me with any
questions or concerns. I can be reached at dmiranda@wcpss.net.
Regards,
Daisy