Dear Students and Families,
I can hardly believe it is the first full day of fall! I once heard this: "Fall is the world going to bed". To me, that means that the trees and flowers go into a deep sleep for the winter and mankind slows down a little bit. At the very same time, I need to make sure our children are still working towards academic excellence and that their minds are awake and inquiring about the world around them. This is where our great team of teachers and staff here at TACS come in! See the learning and fun we are having in the paragraphs below. Please know that you are always welcome to reach out to your child's teacher and/or me if you have questions or concerns!
Upcoming Dates
9/26 TA Fundraiser SaveAround Fundraiser begins. Please see the paperwork sent home with children or check the website. 9/27 Back to School Night 6pm The schedule is printed below
9/27 Coffee with Kerryanne 10am-11am in the cafeteria
10/3 Coffee with Kerryanne 5:30-6:30 in the cafeteria
10/3 Board of Trustees meeting 7pm in the cafeteria
Updates for the Classrooms:
Kindergarten
This week in kindergarten we:
*Used a data chart to identify how many boys and girls are in our classroom
*Sorted people by looking for characteristics that some classmates have in common
*Discussed which food items we can put in the compost bin
*Learned about recycling and why it's important to save our Earth
*Read some of our favorite stories with our friends from 5th grade
*Learned a few rules and tips from our friends in 4th grade about how to interact with our school pheasants so we don't scare them away
First Grade
This week in first grade we:
-practiced blending cvc words
-practiced reading cvc words with the short i sound
-made our brains grow by listening to others and learning math strategies from our friends
-practiced counting mystery boxes and showing our work
-learned how to make numbers with a tens frame
-watched the Magic School Bus on sound and vibrations
-reviewed what a fable is and what a moral is
-read the fable, 'The Maid and the Milk Pail'
-reviewed what characters are and what the setting of a story is
-read the fable, 'The Goose and the Golden Eggs'
-learned about the difference between opaque and translucent objects
Second Grade
Ask your Second Grader about...
-how they are growing like beanstalks as readers,
-the power they have in choosing what and how to read,
-how they celebrated the first day of fall outdoors,
-reading the book "The Busy Tree" and acting out parts of the story,
-the difference between a noun and a verb,
-the math games Build 50, Fill A Shape and Today's Number,
-exploring money and the worths of each coin,
-how they found the missing numbers on the hundred chart,
-our PBL on how to help save the monarch butterflies,
-how they took care of themselves, others and our classroom environment this week!
Third Grade
Ask your Third Graders about:
*feeding our venus fly trap. So cool!
*how you know whether to use c or k in words
*what an amazing job they did writing their Seeds Stories during Writers' Workshop (A chorus of, "Can't we write for longer?!)
*how to make a multiplication equation from a story problem
*beating me in Pico, Ferme, Nada in THREE tries!
*the characters in Stone Fox and what has happened so far in our new read aloud
*if they would pay $11,865 for a lunchbox
*how we are sprouting seeds in our classroom
Fourth Grade
In ELA this week, the fourth-grade read the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address - Greetings to the Natural World. Throughout the week the students have been learning about the Iroquois' lifestyles, homes, the Iroquois League and have learned the 5 original tribes of the Iroquois Nation. Students are busy building longhouses and learning the ways of the Iroquois. The class became hunter-gatherers in the woods today, as they looked for natural elements to add to their longhouse models. The class will continue to study the Iroquois and illustrate the stanzas of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address to go along with their readings and longhouse projects. In math, students have been busy with multiplication and identifying prime and composite numbers.
Fifth Grade
Ask your 5th grader about...
1) The meaning of these prefixes and example words: mis-, un-, in-, and dis-
2) This week's vocabulary and the flash cards they made. [operation, multiplication, factor, product, algorithm, and commutative property, in addition to the ones from their guided reading book groups]
3) The Floss Rule (spelling: one syllable, short vowel followed by a double consonant that makes one sound. Ex: bliss, doll, skill, mall) and whether they can come up with more of their own! (A few were disappointed we didn't choose Bill. :) )
4) The difference between a factor and a multiple.
5) How much of Earth's water is freshwater, and where to find it.
6) Our class' reading book: Upside Down Magic!
Rural Life Lab
This week in Rural Life Lab, Kindergarteners made butter, 5th graders manually thrashed oats that they grew, and everyone worked to find potato "treasures" naturally hidden in the garden. The pheasants are settling in and students are doing an admirable job respecting the rules that keep the pheasants safe.
PE/STEM
This week in STEM K & 1st grade we did our first Elephant and Piggie Challenge on the book “Can I Play Too?” Be sure to ask them what they built!
2nd-5th Grade did a classic paper chain challenge! Ask them how long their chain was!
This week in PE we have been working on our Mini Golf skills! Ask them how we hold a putter and about all our trick stations!
Art
In ART we continued to work on artwork for our group exhibition for Harvest Fest k-5 this Sunday, 9/25. We explored completing works in progress, watercolors, and working collaboratively. The 5th graders completed their designs for the Coffee Mania fundraiser and the community can cast their votes for their favorite designs on Facebook. Voting closes Friday, 9/23 at 4:0pm. The winning design will be featured on the coffee bag for the fundraiser.
Spanish
This week in Spanish we read stories and learned vocabulary about family as well as body parts. We also learned to chant the days of the week like a train.
Ski Club
Looking for those interested in the winter ski club. It is a 4-week program where 3rd and older can learn or better their ski/snowboard skills. We are looking at doing Tuesdays. Weekends could be a possibility but this cost more. The lessons and passes for students are $139 and $169 for adults. The season passes run $399 k-12 and adult is $569. These passes are good the entire season as well. They do offer additional meal plans and rentals if needed. I will send an informational brochure and signup forms to any interested.
The program is 6 weeks long meaning we will be there for 6 weeks. The lessons run for 4 weeks and start the first week of January. If you purchase meal plans and rentals these run for 6 weeks. I need a headcount so please let me know by next week and would love to see you on the slopes. Parents, it looks like they also offer a program for you as well. Anyone chaperones who would like to join are welcome as well.
Tom Brown
315-254-0147
"Together we achieve more"-Author Unknown Kerryanne Schenck Head of School Truxton Academy Charter School
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