Pacifica Wednesday Weekly

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March 1, 2006

Important Calendar Dates

If you have items to add to the calendar, please e-mail the date and time along with a description to calendar@pacificaschool.org

Common Vision School Visit

Keep Friday, March 3^rd open to join us as Common Vision spends the day at our school, facilitating tree planting, leading activities on cultural awareness and drumming. It should be very inspiring and educational for everyone. To find out more, check their website at www.commonvision.org

California Writing Assessment
The CA Writing Assessment for grades 4 & 7 will be administered on March 7th and 8th. Please make sure your student is in attendance, on-time, well-rested and well-nourished on both dates.

Potluck Social and Curriculum/Grants Information Meeting
Have you been wondering what the impact is in the classroom of those wonderful grants we have received? Come meet new people, have lively discussions and find out more! We will discuss the grants we have received through the State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER), the California Charter Quality Institute (CCQI) and the Music Center Education Department (MCED). We will go over implementation, incorporation and classroom impact. PLEASE JOIN US ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8 AT 5:30pm.

Parent Support Group
All parents are encouraged to participate in our monthly Parent Support Group. We will focus on fostering non-violent communication in the family, building cooperation and strengthening family relationships as well as supporting our children at school. Janette will facilitate the meetings. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, March 14 at 3:30pm. ALL WELCOME!!!!!!!

Annual Giving Coordinator Sought

The Fundraising Committee is seeking a dedicated individual to manage our Annual Giving Campaign. This position involves tracking and reporting giving, sending monthly reminders and processing credit card entries, and sending thank-you letters. If you are interested in this opportunity to fulfill your parent participation commitment, e-mail the Fundraising Committee at fundraising@pacificaschool.org.

CLASSROOM UPDATES

Miriam and Tracie and the Fire Breathing Phoenixes

I hope these anecdotal entries will give you a sense of the happenings in our class the past two weeks:

•  During dance class one of our dancers busts away from the group as soon as she hears an Irish tune and does the Jig with a right Irish flair and plenty of concentration to boot. 

• During drumming a student gives us a unique sentence to beat a rhythm to and that was "Let's all eat spiders." 

• During rest time a student reads Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! to the class.  Since this inaugural event many students are lining up for their turn. 

• Our fieldtrip to the Malibu Creek State Park was a huge success and extremely well-planned to miss the rain.  It was a brisk day in the mountains but we had our fearless leader Lily from John-Robin's class who took us on a wide open path just above the creek.  The two kindergarten classes intermingled throughout the day and many children were taking pictures of the scenery with digital cameras from Cindy's class.  It was a great breather from the classroom and a great way to begin a holiday weekend. 

The following Tuesday we were back in the classroom refreshed from our adventures.   Some children used our new worksheet to express what they felt they learned that day.  Some clear and self-honoring achievements for the day were drawn and dictated including one that showed growth in self-control. (I learned how not to hit.)  

• The game time on Friday joined the two K classes once again in a roving and wild escapade called Shark in the Water.  Some children were lifeguards saving swimmers as they were pulled under the parachute.  One of our students said he thought it was the greatest game ever! 

• Friday rolls around and we witness yet another act of kindness when a student spills some papers accidentally and two of his classmates quickly help to clean it for him when they see how upset he was! 

STAY TUNED FOR MORE VIGNETTES for all who wish they could be a fly on the wall in their child's classroom.

Cindy’s Class

This past week has been quite exciting! (As always, right?) First and foremost, on Tuesday we visited Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow exhibit in the Nomadic Museum at Santa Monica Pier. There, we were mesmerized by the photos and recyclable architecture. Check it out if you get a chance! www.ashesandsnow.org  Thanks to all the chaperones that made it happen. Before the trip, we learned to sing like the Hopi people and dance like snakes with Shyamala from the Music Center. It was a slithering good time! 

In other news, we have welcomed the rain, since we just began working on group weather projects. “Sunny and 73 degrees” gets kind of old after awhile. While some of us are creating our own water cycle models, others are charting weather patterns and temperature or even making a play about where rain comes from. We’ll let you know what we discover! 

Finally, in math, we are learning all about counting and the hundreds chart by making counting strips and playing games such as Missing Numbers and Which Holds More?  Stop in and visit anytime!

Sascha’s Class

This week we will be reviewing math multiplication and division facts. We will focus on reading comprehension, and create dramatizations of various story passages. On Thursday we will continue our drumming with Malick Sow, and on Friday we will spend the day with Common Vision, an organization dedicated to ecological awareness.  Please note: due to scheduling changes, our class meeting will be next Tuesday, March 7, after school.

Patrick’s Class

• Our class invited Miriams K-1 classroom to a science fair where he helped them perform some of the experiments we've been working on.

• We've been studying mythology in Language Arts and students have been working on myths from different parts of the world. We also created our own myths and have been telling our own stories.

• We watched the Olympics in mathematics and learned about averaging and place value.

• We started taking multicultural dance classes from the Music Center and have learned folk dances from Hawaii and India.

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