Monday, February 6th: Puffins to Forest Grove Public Library 2pm-3pm
Thursday, February 9th: Celebrations of Learning Event
FGCS families are invited to attend a Celebration of Learning open house 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 9. This will be our first Celebration of Learning since the start of the pandemic, so we are very excited to welcome families to this event.
All classrooms will be open with displays of recent project work - you are welcome to visit your own students' classrooms, of course, but we also invite you to tour other classrooms to see what other levels have been learning and doing. The Art Room will also be open with a display of this year's yearbook covers and everyone is invited to participate in voting for which cover should be used for the 2022-23 FGCS Yearbook.
Tuesday, February 14th: Level 2 Valentines Exchange
Valentine’s Day Friendship Celebration
The Puffins will show appreciation for our classroom community and friendships with a Friendship Celebration at the end of the day on Tuesday, February 14th.
If your Puffin would like to bring in cards for their classmates, they MUST bring one for every student. Please help our classroom flow… for passing out cards with 26 kids:
It works best if they do NOT write out individual names on cards
(when they gift a similar card to each child, it makes it much easier to pass around).
Students can make cards or buy them. If you have the time, it can be fun to focus on creative re-use! Check out these links:
https://austincreativereuse.org/2019/01/creative-alternative-valentines/
https://trashmagination.com/valentines-and-business-cards-from-recycled-maps/
Also-please be modest with candy contributions; Puffins will not be allowed to eat treats at school. We have 26 students in our classroom.
A Message from Art Teacher Stephanie:
Buying a yearbook helps support the FGCS art program, and the yearbooks are currently on sale for $20. Students absolutely love getting their book during the last week of school, but they must be ordered ahead of time.
You can purchase a yearbook at this link:
Yearbook using the passcode: 1016052158063632.
On the website, you have the option customize your book with your own pictures if you wish, but you don't have to. This week in art students have been working on the cover, and we will vote on the cover during Celebrations of Learning on February 9th!
If you have any questions please email Stephanie at [email protected].
Tower of Books Challenge
The Tower of Books is an optional at-home independent reading challenge designed to support your child's daily reading habits. We ask that all of our level 2 kiddos engage in 20 minutes of reading outside of school time each day. Our kiddos brought home their paper "Tower of Books" backgrounds and book spine labels at fall conferences.
To meet the challenge, students must write down the name and category for each book they finish on a paper book "spine" and add it to their tower. The goal is 30 books! Consider an incentive for every tenth book your child reads (like picking family dinner or movie night). We have a special V.I.P celebration and award for any students who are able to complete the challenge before the last day of school this year. Please support your child in working on their tower and in helping them to be accountable with finishing a book "cover-to-cover" by discussing the book with them when they finish.
Math Homework
For the upcoming week, focus on these Apply homework pages:
For 4th graders:
Students should work to complete all lessons up to lesson 15 in the Module 3 book.
For 3rd graders:
3rd graders will be bringing home their new Module 3 workbook. Keep an eye out for that!
3rd graders can work up to lesson 3 in their new Module 3 workbook.
(Also, 3rd graders should check that all lessons are finished up in their module 2 workbook.)
Also strongly recommended: daily practice with multiplication facts for 2-10's
Check out these multiplication fact practice apps:Looking for more? Check out lessons on Khan Academy.
What's happening in the Puffin Nest:
This week, students have been working diligently to prepare for our Celebrations of Learning Event! We are looking forward to seeing you all there next week.
Language Arts
After finishing up our class Read Aloud: The City of Ember, we celebrated with a “book tasting” event focusing on exploring specific genres within our classroom library. Students reviewed the attributes of different genres and made posters for mystery, biography, informational, fantasy, realistic fiction and poetry. Next, students curated genre selections from our class library at the table they set up. Our classroom was transformed into a “book restaurant” and the kids had the opportunity to discover reading treasures amongst the many choices available to them in our classroom library. During the book tasting experience, students learned more about the elements of different reading genres, looked for “good-fit” books, and made a list of books they may want to read during the rest of the year.
Out & About & Science
Triumph, frustration, curiosity - our engineering teams experienced a full range of emotions on their path to the chariot races on Wednesday! While some teams completed a fantastic timed trial with their Sphero chariot, others were deep at work iterating to build a successful (and stylish) model. We can't wait to share our final prototypes with you at next week's Celebration of Learning! Ask your Level 2 engineer: What are you still trying to improve about your chariot?
Social Emotional Learning
Last week, we read a book called Circles All Around Us. This book is all about how we can provide thoughtful care to ourselves, while creating bigger circles of community and connections as we grow. Our discussion centered around these ideas:
- Think about your different circles (your families, your classes, your teams, your friends) and how it feels to be a part of a circle.
- Describe a time when you felt “outside” a circle.
- Simple acts of kindness and caring ripple out into the world.
Inclusive Community Read Aloud Topic: LGBTQIA+ History
We continue our weekly "Inclusive Community" read-aloud series.
Through these read-alouds, we will learn about and celebrate diversity in our community.
This week, we finished reading: Be Amazing