All About Heritage (News Flash Friday)

If you haven't had a look in your child's homework folder yet, please do!  In it, you'll find a large, yellow packet with everything you need to know about our upcoming, highly anticipated heritage project!

We had a 5th grade class meeting today about it after lunch and the kids were excited to get started. The first step is to talk with your child about your family's country of origin.  A phone call to grandma or grandpa may even need to be in order this weekend. The goal of this project is to get kids talking about their own family history.  So, take some time to talk and then together, select a country from your past your child is interested in researching.  Please sign and send back the packet with your child and we will be sure to add it to their heritage project folders that we will be putting together on Tuesday after the long weekend.

We will begin researching your child's selected country in school on Tuesday.  This is a link to a calendar (updated link Monday, 10/12) (one will be sent home too) for you to refer to so that you know what we're working on in school and what can be done at home.  This is very big project and we need to work together to keep your child on track and not get behind and overwhelmed.  I will be offering Mondays and Thursdays for afterschool help throughout the month to help out.  Please encourage your child to attend one or both of those sessions if they need extra time or support.

There are many pieces to this project and the yellow packet as well as the calendar have all the due dates.  Thanks in advance for all your help and support!! I promise the work your child puts into this project in the next month will all be worth it on the morning of the celebration.

Other tidbits from our week:

• We're getting ready to begin our first round of book clubs. We met our group members and previewed titles to read.  The clubs should be up and reading by the end of next week.  The reading they need to do for book clubs will replace any independent books they currently reading for the time being.  
• We had a real evacuation from the building on Thursday and we spent the 40 minutes waiting outside silently playing math games and making shadow pictures.  The kids were really very well behaved and patient! 
• We wrapped up our Science and Social Studies units this week because we are suspending switching for these classes until after our heritage research is complete.  
• We are preparing signs for our BINGO night coming up next Friday, October 16th!  We are in need of baked goods and drinks to sell.  All money raised that night will go towards reducing the cost of the Bronx Zoo ticket costs!  

Have a great long weekend!!
PS:  I never know who is or isn't reading my posts so please make me feel better by leaving a comment below.