Wednesday
November 18
Admissions Tour
9:15am
Board Meeting
6:30pm
Friday
November 20
Spirit/Pizza Day
Wednesday
November 25
Family Friends’ Day
10:30am
Early Dismissal
11:45am PS/PK/K
Noon Grades 1-5
Thursday - Friday
November 26-27
Thanksgiving
NO School
Wednesday
December 2
Admissions Tour
9:15am
Friday
December 4
Spirit/Pizza Day
Admissions Tour
9:15am
November 12, 2009
Annual Giving Update
Show Me the Money
Investigtions in 4th and 5th Grade
Seattle Kids Marathon Reminder
Lost and Found
Annual Giving Update
Annual Giving kicked-off on Tuesday with a delicious breakfast from Bakery Nouveau and custom lattes. Thanks to everyone who gave on Tuesday or before - over 200 of you! What a great way to kick-off this fundraiser! To date, we’ve raised over $90,000.
Now, every class that reaches 100% participation earns an extra $1000 for Westside, and it’s not too late to give! Not one class has reached this goal yet, so there’s still time for your class to be the first. You can give online. Click here. You can also send an email with your pledge information to janar@westsideschool.org.
Thank you to everyone who already gave, and here’s to reaching our goal of 100% participation.
Other questions? Email Jana at janar@westsideschool.org
Show Me the Money!
By Margie Carpenter, First Grade Teacher
You might think the subject of this article is a certain Tom Cruise movie or you might think I’m going to write about teacher salaries. I certainly have an opinion on both of those subjects and we can talk about that over coffee sometime. This article is about first graders taking a close look, a very close look at coins.
The students in my class have all seen coins before, of course, and had a great introduction to money and counting money in kindergarten. I started our current study of money by asking the first graders to sit in a circle around our classroom rug. Then I poured our can full of coins out in the middle of the circle. It’s an impressive collection and some first grade eyes widened as they looked at all the money. The directions were to keep hands off of the money until I told them which coin to pick up. That was a tough direction to follow for some of the first graders but I quickly asked them to find a penny. We looked at the penny and then compared it to a nickel, which we then compared to a dime. After we discussed and compared the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter, I taught the students how to play “Race for a Quarter.” Games are a fabulous way to learn math skills like identifying coins and their values.
On another day the first graders used a Venn diagram to record the similarities and differences between two coins. They worked with a partner and had magnifying glasses to take a close look at two different coins. Heidi and I were amazed at how quickly the first graders understood how to use the Venn diagram. Our classroom was soon full of students peering at coins and asking questions such as: “Who’s this guy?” “What’s up with the pony tails?” “What is this building called?” and “What does this number mean?”
Some of the differences between coins that the students found were that the coins have different years on them, some are dirty and some are shiny, some have an eagle and some have a building, and the penny says “one cent,” the nickel says “five cents,” the dime says “one dime,” and the quarter says “quarter dollar.” The last fact is something I have never noticed before and I have spent a lot of years looking at and using money! Westside students are very observant people.
The similarities of the coins included the fact that all the coins say “Liberty” and “In God we trust” on the heads side, they all have a head on them, they all have a year on them and they are all hard, round, and made out of metal. The partners had a chance to share their findings with their classmates and the Venn diagrams are now displayed on our classroom wall.
One of the first graders asked “How much money is this?” as they were looking at the coins spread out on the rug. Hmmm…sounds like that will be the next math problem we’ll be solving in our classroom.
4th and 5th Grade Investigations
By Judith Arvidson, 4th Grade Teacher
The Fourth and Fifth grade students are in the middle of a nine week Investigation on Global Perspectives and Myth. Students spend two afternoons a week with Linda learning about myths. Their first step was to find a myth from their country of research. Now they are reading the Greek myth The Odyssey and will culminate their study by writing their own myth that corresponds to the cultures and geography of the country that they are researching.
In their Global Perspective Investigation, students spend two afternoons a week with Judith exploring the economic and political systems of the world, as well as learning how children and their families live all over the world. Students began their Global Perspective Investigation by writing a business letter to the embassy of their research country. We have received replies so far from several embassies including; Iran, Czech Republic, Norway, New Zealand, Egypt, Ireland, Chile, Taiwan, Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Germany, and Mexico. This project was designed to practice writing a business letter, but had the added bonus of receiving replies which has added to our understanding of the world! Students will also create a political and cultural map and construct a timeline of important events in the history of their country.
We are currently using the books Material World by Peter Menzel and Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio to compare and contrast families’ lives from around the world with our lives here in West Seattle. These two books are photographic studies of average families from around the world. Material World uses photos to show how an average family lives during an average week. The culminating photo is of the family outside their home, surrounded by their possessions. Students observed these families and used their observation skills to notice - not judge - something about each family. They then went home and had similar conversations with their families about how they live their lives during a week and drew a picture of their family outside their home with the items that each student values in front. We had some interesting conversations about what we “have” vs. what we “need.” We will explore this concept as our Investigation continues. Our Investigation will culminate with student presentations and a Global Potluck Brunch!
Seattle Kids Marathon Reminder
Here’s another reminder that the Seattle Kids Marathon is coming up on November 28th. Check out all the details & register your child on-line at www.seattlemarathon.org. Miles from Mileage Club count towards the 25 honor miles you need to accumulate. Don’t worry if you don’t make it; keep going after the event. It’s one not to be missed!
Lost and Found
Lost and Found will be donated to a local non-profit organization on Thursday, November 19th. If you’ve lost something, please check in the hallway ASAP so your child’s favorite coat or sweatshirt is not given away!