May 22, 2009 Family Letter

Dear Families,

We are getting close to the end of the school year and are enjoying many extra activities at Shelburne Community School!

We participated in the school-wide Jog-A-Thon this week, and this fun PTO fundraiser encouraged us all to run and walk together. The weather was gorgeous. It was so sunny and warm, we felt very lucky to be out there first thing in the morning. I hope you saw the number tags your children brought home with all the tally marks on them. The tally marks represent how many laps your child did around the flag-pole circle! We have some amazing athletes in first grade with great attitudes. Sometimes we ran, sometimes we walked and sometimes we “wogged” (that is what Inspire first graders call jogging and running combined), but we completed the task together! At the end we were treated to ice pops, and that felt great after all that exercising!

Our narrative stories are almost complete and this week we have been busy editing and adding a section entitled “Meet the Author”. In this section, first grade writers can introduce themselves to the readers and give interesting information about them. We have also started designing our covers. As an additional treat for this narrative writing unit, first graders will learn to tell narrative stories according to Nahuatl, an ancient Aztec writing form. The Aztecs did not have a written language like ours so they told their stories through art and symbols, a process that first graders began exploring this week. Please re-visit our blog for examples of this very unique way of telling a story. We discovered that the same story can be told in many different ways and art forms, and almost appear as if it is a different story every time it is re-told. The students had a choice between using traditional Aztec symbols, create their own, or simply tell their stories using more familiar arts forms and pictures. We are very excited to share these skills!

News and Reminders:

• The Inspire Team will walk to the New Village Farm in Shelburne on 6/1/09. This fieldtrip is part of our unit on plants. We will help out in the gardens and also contribute some plant markings that we have designed in our own classrooms. If you would like to join us, please let me know. We will leave at 8:45am and return at 10:45am. Thanks!
• The entire Inspire Team will have a school field day on 6/2/09. We set up stations outside the school and play interactive and fun games. We would like parents to volunteer and help us with this fun day. We need parents to set up, manage the stations and clean up. Please let me know if you are interested. If you are interested in helping out, we would like for you to set up at 8:30 am. Students arrive at 9:00 and play for approximately one hour. Please sign up on the attached form and return to the classroom as soon as possible. Thank you for your help!
• The Inspire End-of-the-year School Picnic is scheduled for 6/2/09 at the Shelburne Beach between 5-9pm. This event is an opportunity for everybody to get together and enjoy some good food and games. Please bring your own food. The Team will provide dessert.
• The last day of school is Friday 6/12/09. It is a half day, so students will dismiss at 11:35 am.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the sunshine.

Regards,

Maria McCormack