December 4, 2009

I truly can’t believe it is already December and there is so much going on.  Let me back up to November and send a thank you to each of our families and teachers that participated in conferences this year.  Conference time is such an important time to get to know your child’s teacher, provide pertinent information to the teacher regarding your child and demonstrate to your child that there is a strong home/school connection.

All TAG nominations were due on November 30, 2009. Nominated students will be assessed in January.  Testing is scheduled at BC-Fernwood on January 6th and January 7th. Testing is scheduled at BC-Hollyrood for January 13th and January 14th.  The Leadership Team will review test scores and will make final decisions regarding TAG identification.

Every year schools practice a variety of safety drills to ensure that we are prepared for any type of emergency that may come our way.  This year we have practiced fire drills, earthquake drills, and will soon practice a drill we call a Lock In/Out Drill. During this drill, one long bell is rung to signify that there is a dangerous situation inside/outside our building which requires us to lock all classroom doors and stay quiet inside the classroom. This is a standard district drill. Typically this type of drill occurs when the police notify a school there’s dangerous activity in the neighborhood and they want all students safely inside a classroom.  While we hope that we never have to
utilize this drill, we know that practice is necessary for children and adults alike.  Monday, December 7th, both Beverly Cleary campuses will be involved in a Lock-In Drill. Because this is a drill and can be intimidating for some
youngsters, we wanted you to have advance notice so that you might talk to your own child about it.  As always, reassure your child that the adults at school are responsible for keeping them safe and that this is a practice drill. All children should feel safe and secure at school and these safety drills allow us to practice
for dangerous situations. In the event that we ever need to use this procedure for a real emergency, our administrative staff would send a letter home to notify you of the event.

We have two exciting activities happening in December.  An incredible 4th grade student has initiated a supply drive for our active US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.  If you’d like to donate to this drive, you may put supplies in boxes at both Beverly Cleary Campuses. The second act of kindness occurring at Beverly Cleary School
is our community is once again preparing holiday food baskets for local families in need, as well as for the Oregon Food Bank. Our food drive will go from Monday, December 7th, through Thursday, December 17th.  Please see the information about this food drive in the newsletter.

A QUICK VISIT TO KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE:
If you were to visit BC-Hollyrood you would observe kindergarten students working in small groups, large groups
and individually with their teacher.  Classroom activities are designed to be “open ended” to allow teachers to meet the rate and level of each student.  In reading this might look like a group of students building three letter words with consonants and short vowels using magnetic letters or letter tiles.  Another group of kindergarten students may be practicing writing letters and words to develop their fine motor skills.  Some students
may be responding to the story they read by illustrating a response to reading form and writing about what happened next in the story. Another group might be reading a decodable book that allows students to use letter sound knowledge to read a book.  Next to this group you may see a small group reading a chapter book which is appropriate for their rate of learning.

When visiting first grade, you may see a whole group math lesson on the floor where the teacher is discussing the attributes of buttons and is asking students to find a button with a similar attribute (color, shape, number of holes, or size).  The classroom next door is also discussing attributes, but is looking at attribute blocks instead of buttons (triangle, hexagon, polygon, rectangle, square and circles). Writing in first grade is amazing.  Each classroom has a writer’s workshop time where students are writing.  One lesson, often taught in first grade, is teaching students what a “Small Moment” is.  Students get very excited to tell their story but often get stuck telling a long story.  With a “Small Moment”, students focus on one small piece of their story and develop this with descriptive language while practicing their punctuation. The classroom next door may be working on a “Small Moment” story but are editing and practicing using similes or metaphors.

Play auditions began today for the production of Ramona Quimby which will be performed on February 25 at 7 pm.  I can’t wait for this Beverly Cleary classic to come alive on the BC-F Campus.

Winter break begins December 21 and runs through January 3, 2010.  I look forward to seeing smiling faces on January 4, 2010.

Happy holidays to all-
Annie Tabshy
Beverly Cleary-Hollyrood / Assistant Principal