Habit 4 Award Winner- "Think Win-Win"

Congratulations to Helen Drish for receiving an award for Habit 4 “Think Win-Win” at a school assembly on Monday, January 30, 2012.

Helen’s certificate stated:

Helen Drish lives life with a “win-win” attitude!  She comes into class with a smile everyday ready to have fun while learning.  Her peers enjoy her light-hearted sense of humor, and Mrs. Hoskins appreciates her sunny disposition.  She treats others with respect ad can bring a smile to any one’s face.  Helen’s positive attitude is contagious in our classroom!

Measuring Physical Properties of Matter

Today we had a lot of fun measuring some physical properties of different objects!  Students used rulers and tape measures to find the length, width, and height in centimeters and a balance scale to find the mass in grams.  We compared our results and discussed why we didn't all get the exact same measurements.  Ask your child to describe the experiment and tell you what he/she learned.  We'll continue to work on matter and mass for a couple more weeks, then take an assessment of the knowledge we've gained.

Here are a few photos of our experiment.

We Made It Half Way!

Today was the last day of the first semester.  We've made it half way through the year!  Time is just flying by, but we still have so much more to learn. 

Just a few reminders as we head into the second semester:
* There is no school on Monday, January 16 as the teachers have a work day.
* The Family Fun Night is Tuesday, January 17 from 5:30-7:30 PM.  Thanks to everyone who donated items for our Iowa Hawkeye basket.  I hope to see you all there!
* The snow has finally arrived.  Make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the cold weather as we go outside unless the temperature is below 0.
* Please encourage your child to continue reading at least 20 minutes 5 days a week.  Reading more builds our "reading muscles"!

Thanks for a great first semester!  

Family Fun Night

Our Washington Parent Group is sponsoring a family night January 17.  I will send home more details as I receive them.  I received the following forward from the parent group:

Dear Teachers,

On Tuesday, January 17th we are having our first Family Fun Night.  As part of this event we are having a silent auction.  We have sent letters home with students seeking silent auction donations and the Parent Teacher Group has been soliciting donations from local businesses as well.  In planning this event we sought advice from Pence Pals members as they have a successful event like this each year.  One suggestion they gave us was to have each class come up with a basket for the silent auction.  They indicated these were big hits and did well at the auction.  So we are asking you to brainstorm with your students and come up with a theme for a classroom silent auction basket and then seek donations from parents for the items.  Some ideas are:  movie basket, pet basket, and nail care/pampering basket.

The Parent Teacher Group will award the classroom with the best idea for the silent auction basket.  So have fun with this and please encourage your students and their families to attend this event.

Sincerely,

Amy Miller

I'm wondering if any of you would like to help head up this project?  I would need a letter to go home with ideas for the basket.  We can make copies of the letter for the class.  Any volunteers?

Thanks so much for all you do for your child.  It makes a huge impact in the classroom!