2.19.15 Crew News

Calendar Updates:

Feb 23-25: Winter Voyage to Keystone
Feb 26: No school for 3rd grade (Day of Rest)
Mar 9-13: PARCC State Standardized Testing
Mar 11: 4:00-7:00pm Life is Art Artist Edition (Family Friendly Free Event to look at student art work)
Mar 14: 6pm Life is Art (Adults Only Fundraiser)
Mar 18-19: 3rd grade Student Led Conferences
Mar 23-Apr 3 Spring Break

Announcements:

VOYAGE NEXT WEEK: 

-Our voyage is February 23-25. Drop off students at regular time on Monday morning. Pick up students on Wednesday at 4:00 by the Early Childhood Parking Lot. If we arrive early, the office will send an email out. 

-Day of rest is February 26th. (Students come back to school Friday 2/27)

-Gear list is here.

-STUDENTS PACK THEIR GEAR and YOU double check! (This really helps them know what they have, where it is, and learn the preparation skills for later).

-Pocket warmers are optional, but highly recommended for each day. 

-Pack 1 LUNCH and 1 SNACK for the first day. Pack it in their reusable lunch bag, so that we don't have to use paper sacks when we pack our lunches for the following days.

-HYDRATE early- encourage drinking lots of water over the weekend.  

Student Led Conferences: 

-Third Grade will be holding their student led conferences the week before Spring Break.  This will be a great way to celebrate student learning and see what we have been doing in the classroom. Please sign up for a conference.

Click here to sign up.

Password: crew

LIFE IS ART: Have you gotten your tickets for March 14th? 

Here is a personal plug. :) Renaissance has done lots of fundraisers in the past, but we have narrowed it down to two big ones: Bootcamp and Life is Art. The parent committee who runs LIA has done such a fabulous job with making this a FUN event that really makes a difference in our classrooms. For example, this is the FIRST year I have had my own computer cart. Last year, 3rd grade had to share one cart, and before that, we had to share carts with multiple grades. This has been AMAZING! It gives us SO much more access to technology and teaching 21st century skills. I can't say enough how much I enjoy this event, and I hope to see all of you there.

Life is Art tickets are on SALE now! Tickets can be purchased here. Get them before the price goes up after March 6th.

Spring Climbing: Our crew will be climbing the week of March 16th. The more belayers we have, the more climbing students get to do! Hope to see you there!

 Belay Training for Spring Climbing will take place every Wednesday through February 25th.

Sign Up online; click 'Find a SignUp' and enter Mr. Doug's email; doug.baker@dcsdk12.org.
For those new to belaying, you will need to attend the entire training, starting at 10:00am (usually lasts about 90 minutes). 
If you know the physical skills necessary to belay safely, you can come at 12:00pm to learn the enhancements added to increase the emotional safety of climbers.  (If you took the belay training in the fall, you do not need to attend unless you would like a refresher or extra practice time.)

Health Fair Students have been working hard to put together all their learning about the human body in a Health Fair that we are planning to put on for 2nd grade. We are using this as an opportunity to develop oral presentation skills. Ask your child to tell you about his/her healthy choice and practice the following: -easily explaining this healthy choice & what system it affects -a clear, confident voice -not too slow, not to fast -avoiding filler words ("like" or "um") Teambuilding In preparation for voyage, we did a challenge called the Tarp Flip. A patrol of 12 or 13 would stand on the tarp and have to flip it over without stepping off. This was a great way to prepare for voyage and discuss the importance of communication, collaboration, and a positive attitude.