PAWS Night Alert!

Watch for a note to come home after conferences. Our last night this year will be Thursday, March 13th. Save the date for us.

Creating a Library at Home
Encourage your children to create personal libraries. Here’s how: 

•  Find a special place for books. If your child’s room doesn’t have a bookshelf or bookcase, use a box, basket, or other sturdy container. Plastic stacking cubes word great.
•  Add to the collection frequently. As often as possible, let your children choose the books they want to add to their collection. A book-buying trip to a yard sale or bookstore is a fun Saturday activity.
•  Take your children to the library regularly. Even a child with a well-stocked bookshelf needs a fresh supply of books. Encourage children to treat library books with the same care they show their own.
•  Give the Gift of Reading. Give your children books or magazine subscriptions as gifts. 

Physical Education Matt Zimmerman, PE Teacher I am right in the middle of planning for Field Day 2008. It is going to be a great time for the kids to show off their skills, have fun with friends, and to get a little wet. We are going to do some traditional activities that we have been working on in class, but with a little twist.

The kindergarten and 1st graders have been learning about germs and how to make sure you can stay healthy. We just finished our juggling unit and I was very impressed at how their skills greatly improved. We are getting into more advanced scooter activities and the kids really enjoy it. You can’t go wrong when scooters are involved. Second and third graders have been working on their skills with throwing various objects at a target. We have been using frisbees, fox tails, spider balls, bean bags, and many other things. It is really neat to see their minds working on how to get the different objects to their targets. Each of these objects is different lengths and weights; they must use varying speeds and techniques to complete their tasks. Fourth graders have been working on football skills as well as team games. Mat ball, Omni kin ball, and team handball are all great games to build unity and cooperation amongst peers. It is encouraging to see the students work together and solve problems with each others help and encouragement. I appreciate all of the cell phones we have received so far for the fund raiser. If you know of any family and friends that have used cell phones, please bring them in. I just sent off our fist two boxes of phones and am waiting to see how much we will receive for them. It has been wonderful having such great parent support in their child’s education. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about anything we are doing in class.

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Science
Mrs. Zwemke, Science Teacher

February is the month for Health study at CDS. No matter what grade you are in, you will be studying nutrition, body systems, dental health and safety. So, if you child is asking more health related questions, or just telling you about what we are doing in science, no doubt it will have something to do with the human body.

This year the fourth graders will be participating in the State Science Assessment. As a general preparation for the test, look for your child to bring home a booklet titled “Review Science Questions” 4th grade. I will keep a classroom set of booklets for us to review in science class, however it would be so helpful if you would review the questions with your child at home. I will be giving numerous quizzes as we progress through the booklet. I am hopeful this effort will help everyone do their best on the BIG science test this spring which is scheduled for the middle of April.

Another fourth grade activity is a Science Fair which will be held April 3rd. The Science Fair is a voluntary activity. Each student will receive a “Science Fair Information Packet”  which will be discussed in science class and then brought home for you to consider. All work on the project will be done outside of science class and is a wonderful opportunity to work closely with your child from the beginning to the end of the project. The fair itself will be held at Explorer Elementary. We will board a school bus and take our projects to Explorer the afternoon of April 3rd and set them up. Since CDS students have a skating party that evening, our students and parents may visit the fair from 5:00–6:30. Ribbons will be awarded. We encourage parent assistance and I sincerely hope you and your child take advantage of this great learning experience. The Elementary Science teachers have organized the science packet so you will understand how to select a project, set your own time line and assemble your display for presentation. Please e-mail me with any questions you may have.

Help is needed with Christmas tree parallel and series circuit lights. It is indeed a project that needs to be started now for Math and Science Day 2009. If you are interested, PLEASE E-MAIL ME  OR  GIVE  ME  A  CALL, 794-4260!

Mrs. Moffit's Music Classes Linda Moffit, Music Teacher  The Kindergarten classes learned about music from Jamaica. They enjoyed playing percussion instruments and the steel drum to the Jamaican rhythm. The students had fun leaping like a frog in a song about short sounds and long sounds. We  have had a lot of

fun playing Singing Games. One that we learned during this time was called, “Mama, Buy Me a Chiney Doll.” The first grade classes gave a “SUPER” performance about Kansas Day. The students had fun pretending to be a cat when they played a Singing Game. We always have fun playing percussion instruments to our songs and learning dances. The second grade classes gave a “SUPER” performance about “BUGZ.” The third grade classes have continued their study on African-American spirituals. One spiritual that they learned about the story and song was “Follow the Drinking Gourd.” We also had a study on the history of some Folk Songs of the 1800’s. The fourth grade classes had a study on our Kansas state songs. They enjoyed learning the history of “Home on the Range.” We learned about different tempos in a song called “Oh, Danny Boy.” The students learned 2 versions of this song and filled out a Venn Diagram to show what was the same and different about the songs. They especially had fun dancing the Chicken Dance to show different tempos. One fun game that we played to help us learn note values is the game, “Beach Ball Math.”