December 9, 2013

Hello Turquesa Families,

This week in Turquesa, we are continuing our exploration of the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia. This a brief stop in our history studies this year; it's important to build the connection between early humans and the great civilizations that we'll be studying in the new year. We are learning about the birth of agriculture, the first cities, cuneiform writing, and many other key elements of life in between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Many of the learning activities during this section of history are designed to be collaborative and exploratory. This builds upon the strong foundation of research skills that each student began to develop during our Early Humans Research Reports Project. Daily in the classroom, I hear excited teams of students making exciting discoveries together, organizing their new knowledge, arriving together at understanding. And, for me as a teacher, it's wonderful to see that the Upper Elementary children are both proud of their abilities and excited to get help from others.

Today, the students will select one aspect of the Fertile Crescent (a city, a ruler, a god/goddess/hero, a natural resource, etc). The formal history project will be a two-week endeavor to create a vintage-style travel poster that highlights the best features of the aspect they chose.

January is going to bring us to Ancient Egypt and a glorious new hands-on formal history project. Our first history endeavor in our new space will be an adventure!

In other news, we have a busy couple of weeks with events. Here are the highlights:

Today, 12/10/13 – Pacific NW Ballet Workshop about the Nutcracker

Tomorrow, 12/11/13 – Library Trip (we’ll leave MCH at 9:45 and return at 11:15)

Friday, 12/13/13 – Nutcracker at McCaw Hall

Monday, 12/16/13 – Computer Science presentations from a handful of technology professionals (in Turquesa from 9:00-10:00 AM)

Monday, 12/16/13 - Wrapping Party for our Adopt-A-Family gifts from 2:00-3:30 (parents are welcome to join us!)

Tuesday, 12/17/13 – Delivery of Adopt-A-Family gifts, load at 9:30, leave at 10:00, return at 11:00 (we’ll still need a few drivers to help us transport kids and gifts

Thursday, 12/19/13, & Friday , 12/20/13 – Classroom Packing in preparation for the move

Friday, 12/20/13 – Pajama Day! (students are welcome to wear pajamas to school – or something else relaxing – and can bring a game and/or stuffed animal)

In the midst of all everything, everyone will continue doing their math, grammar, history, geography and science!

Please let me know if you would like to help or participate in any of the above plans. We’d be delighted to have you join us.

Thank you,

Nicole