Dear Families,
What another glorious sunny weekend we had! There’s no denying autumn is in the air though, with more crisp and chilly mornings and smells of biodegrading plant matter filling the forest. I love the change of seasons! This also signals our readiness to finish getting into the thick of opportunities in class. We’ll be forming math groups this week and will begin exploring geometry concepts twice a week in addition to our normal operational and place value math. We’ll also be practicing our multiplication, division, or fractions on an individual basis throughout each week, finishing with a progress check on Fridays. This week we’ll also be conducting our AIMSweb assessments. If you are not familiar with these, they are short assessments (less than 10 minutes) that measure math concepts and application, computation, and reading. They are great tools to measure progress and this week’s assessments will provide a starting place for the year ahead. Speaking of the year ahead, each May our 6th graders do a field trip with Kenai Fjords Tours to explore some of the fascinating science in Resurrection Bay, from zooplankton to water turbidity. This unique experience is funded by each participating student where possible and by scholarships for those unable to cover the costs. Scholarship funds are generated through donations as well as different fundraisers throughout the year. That being said, our first fundraiser is this Saturday morning, September 17. Volunteers, especially students, are needed to make this a success. A sign-up sheet went home with students on Thursday. Please let me know if you and/or your child(ren) can help for an hour or more. This is a great way to contribute towards our Denali community. It is expected that each family contributes 40 volunteer hours per school year. Another great way to get involved and help out our school is through the PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association). Our first meeting of the year is this Wednesday from 5:30 – 7pm and includes a potluck, childcare, and a meet and greet! I’ll be there as well! I could also use help preparing, copying, building, and/or fixing materials, supplies, etc. in the classroom. Additionally, field trip chaperoning and driving is another great way to contribute (which by the way, the office also needs proof of insurance, driver’s license if these are your plans. These can be photographed/emailed, faxed, or you can stop by to have them copied). I really do appreciate all your help and involvement with our class and school. I believe the greater our partnership, the greater opportunities of success will be afforded to our children. This Friday (Constitution Day) I will be sneaking out of town to (hopefully) harvest a caribou north of the Lake Louise area near Glennallen. We will have Mr. Mason as our substitute. Before this we will go over sub expectations as a class to make sure we are all on the same page. Finally I wanted to share with you a project I put together through “Donor’s Choose” in hopes of bringing additional chances to grow life in our classroom. Chevron is granting $100k to Anchorage teachers for STEM projects like this so there is a high likelihood they will fund our entire request (so don’t donate yourself just yet). Click here for the project. Sincerely, Mr. Brent
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