Original items on this page are Copyright 2008 Diane Trudnowski.

eSurg Field Trip on Nov. 5, 2008

Our first field trip of the school year was very exciting! The C-2 students visited our Adopt-A-Classroom.org sponsor, eSurg, in person on Wednesday, Nov. 5! The eSurg staff gave the students a tour of their offices (located in Pioneer Square, just across the parking lot from Qwest Field, where the Seattle Seahawks play football). The students also enjoyed a delicious pizza lunch, served by the eSurg staff. It was so nice to meet all of the eSurg staff and to thank them in person for donating all of the backpacks and supplies to our classroom! During this field trip, eSurg presented Mrs. T. with a check to purchase additional supplies for our classroom and Maple School!

VETERAN'S DAY ASSEMBLY

The annual Veteran's Day assembly was held in Maple's multi-purpose room. The assembly began with the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the National Anthem. The United States flag and the Washington State flag were brought into the assembly by veterans who had been specially invited. Students read poems about Veteran's Day, and we watched a short video about the history of Veteran's Day. We also learned about a soldier in Iraq that the fifth graders in F-3 have "adopted". At the end of the assembly, we sang "America the Beautiful". The last picture below shows the fifth graders from room F-3 with their boxed up and ready to mail Soldier Care Packages, filled with items brought in by Maple students as a part of the "Forgotten Soldiers Drive".

OBSERVING EARTHWORMS

C-2 students enjoyed observing red earthworms up close as a part of their science unit on Soils. The children learned that if they were very patient and quiet, the "shy" earthworms would become very active after about five to ten minutes! We also compared and contrasted the differences and similarities of sand, clay, and humus (the main components in soil).

"I AM SPECIAL" PROJECT

The C-2 students made these wonderful "I Am Special" projects all about themselves! First, they went through all of the steps in the writing process (prewriting/brainstorming, rough draft, revising/editing, publishing) to write all about themselves. Next, they made "pop-up" self-portraits. We took the finished projects down to the Maple office to share with the office staff. Finally, we displayed our projects on the bulletin board in our classroom.

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

Parent-Teacher Conferences were held November 17-November 25. This is the area at the front of the classroom where I met with the parents of C-2 students. It was an honor to meet the parents of my students - I learned so much about their children, and how proud their parents are of them! Thank you, parents, for doing such a fantastic job! BRAVO!

THANKSGIVING PROJECT

We made these "We Are Thankful" projects to share with our families at Thanksgiving.

VOTING FOR PRESIDENT & GOVERNOR

The C-2 students were very interested in the Presidential election and the events leading up to Election Day. On November 4, the students voted for President of the United States and for Governor of the State of Washington. The students completed a voting ballot, and dropped their ballot into the C-2 ballot box. The votes were counted by students whose names had been randomly drawn. The winners were: Barack Obama for President, and Christine Gregoire for Governor.

"TUMBLEBOOK LIBRARY" - OUR FAVORITE!

The C-2 students LOVE to use the TumbleBook Library! The TumbleBook Library is a collection of audiobooks for children in preschool all the way up through high school. Some of C-2's favorite picture books are a part of the TumbleBook Library. In the photo below, you can see the C-2 students reading/listening to the story (one of our VERY favorites) "How I Became A Pirate"! (We also love the sequel book, "Pirates Don't Change Diapers"!) If you would like to read these stories, click on the blue TumbleBook link below, which will take you to the Seattle School District Library Resources page. Once there, click on the blue TumbleBook link found at the top middle of that page. This will take you directly to the TumbleBook Library.

 

Duck Thanksgiving graphics courtesy of Graphics By Grandma George.