Weekly Update, Wednesday, October 19, 2010

Upcoming Events

Oct. 27th-30th Annual Seabury Book Fair

Monday, October 25th, School Picture "retakes"

All school Halloween Costume Parade

Wed. October 27th, 2:00 pm

No School~ Thurs.October 28th-Friday Oct.29th

        Parent Teacher Conferences

NOVEMBER'S UPCOMING EVENTS:

EARLY DISMISSAL~NOON~ Wednesday, Nov. 24th

No School~Thursday,November 11th~ Veterans Day

No School~Thursday,Nov. 25th and Friday, Nov.26th

~Thanksgiving Break~

Here's What's Going On In

Beacons' World



Language Arts: Both  Charlotte's Web and Mr. Popper's Penguins reading groups are hard at work completing their respective chapters and their vocabulary questions. Both groups have completed chapter 12 and are currently writing their summaries. We are very proud of the progress both groups have made.In addition, Beacons are enjoying reading chapter books during silent reading and will be creating a book report of their choice in the coming weeks.

Writer’s Workshop: All Beacons are progressing with their exciting animal newspaper articles. In their articles, students are required to label the essential newspaper article questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. It is wonderful to see how much their writing skills are maturing and how thrilled they are as they learn more information about their animal!

Math: Both the Math Magicians and the Math Magicals did an excellent job on their chapter assessments. On Monday, Beacons began working on their respective new math chapters full of advanced addition and multiplication. Both groups flew through their first lesson!

Science: We are finishing our research and will begin our reports next week. The students will work on writing paragraphs on paper before transferring this information to their Powerpoint presentations.

Social Studies: Students are learning about the motivating factors for early migration and exploration. We will soon begin researching explorers. Along the lines of Social Studies, and as part of our integrated curriculum on "Connections", this week we left school to learn about our community and the positive impact a few can make for the betterment of others. Below is a brief bit of information regarding our fieldtrip and the photos of your Beacon experiencing it. Enjoy!

      Yesterday, Tuesday, October 19th, the Beacons and the Sharks had a fieldtrip to the Edgewood Community Food Bank. It was an enriching experience for both the students and the adults. Not only did the Beacons learn where the money they had collected for the Hunger Walk and the canned goods they had collected went; but they also learned the ins and outs of how a family of say 10 goes about getting enough food for the week. Students went around and saw how many packages of macaroni and cheese for instance they would need to put in their box or shopping cart to feed their family members for a week. It was heartwarming to see how empathetic and caring so many of our Seabury students were to the needs of the less fortunate. Then the students stocked a grocery item for the food bank. It was a wonderful, enriching and empowering event. Many thanks to Heide Calhoun who spearheaded this fieldtrip. Also, many thanks to the directors of the foodbank who took time from their busy day to help share their mission with us. 

.

~ Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~

~Margaret Mead 

Looking forward to another exciting week with your Beacon,

   Betsy and Tiffany

Week in Review October 12, 2010



Upcoming Events

No School~ This Thursday and Friday, Oct. 13th and 14th

Field Trip~ Tuesday, Oct. 19th,
Edgewood Food Bank

October 27th-30th Annual Seabury Scholastic Book Fair

Wednesday, October 27th
Annual All School Halloween Costume Parade
(around 2:00ish. More to follow in next week's 
Friday Folder)


No School~  Thursday, Oct. 28th and Fri. Oct. 29th
Parent-Teacher Conferences

Here's What's Happening in
the Beacons' World:

Reading:Beacons in both the Charlotte's Web reading group and the Mr. Popper's Penguins groups did an excellent job of cooperative small group learning by using their dictionary skills to complete the tough vocabulary lists. The Charlotte's Web group completed chapter 7 and the
Mr. Popper's Penguin group has completed chapter 9. They are all doing an excellent job of answering the critical thinking questions and especially writing their chapter summaries!

Writing: All Beacons are now on their exciting newspaper article of discovering a strange, new animal! Their imaginations are running wild and their writing is improving to convey their vision of what the animal looks like and the environment in which it lives. Be sure to ask your Beacon the essential questions (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) about their newspaper story.  Stay tuned for more breaking news on your Beacon's amazing animal discovery!

Math: Our two excelerated math groups are finishing up their respective chapters with an assessment today.  They are off to new and intersting concepts starting next week.  Be sure to ask your Beacon what the new topic of study will be.
Spelling:Last Friday, each Beacon did an amazing job on their spelling test. These were tough words and they really did an "A for effort" work. Since this week is such a short week, we are having the spelling test today, on Wednesday with only a few contractions. In reviewing the Beacon's respective writing logs it seemed pretty evident that they all needed additional help with these words. We will complete the contraction list on next Friday's spelling test.

Science:All Beacons are researching an animal for a research paper and PowerPoint. If you haven't asked your Beacon which animal he/she is researching in Science, please take a minute to do so because it really is quite remarkable how much information each Beacon has gleaned.  The important categories students are researching include characteristics and basic facts, habitat, diet, behavior, interesting facts, and resources. 

Social Studies: All Beacons have now taken home their edible globes. You'll have to let us know of which continent you took your first slice. Yummy! A parent told me that she doesn't even like cantaloupe; but she was going to make an exception because her Beacon wanted her to taste Africa! Now that we are sure where the continents are and the great bodies of water, we're off to exploring explorers next week! We'll soon be writing about our discoveries.

“Words are the voice of the heart”- Confucius

Looking forward to another exciting week with your Beacon,

Betsy and Tiffany



Seattle Childrens' Theater~The Borrowers

    



      Yesterday, Tuesday October 5th, we went to the Seattle Childrens' Theatre to see The Borrowers. Everyone greatly enjoyed the production. Many thanks to the chaperones who accompanied us. We greatly appreciate you! After the performance, we ate our bag lunches at the Pacific Science Center Food Court. Then we took a walk down to the fountain, and low and behold, the sun was in the perfect location for us to be showered with rainbows! Wow, a field trip with your Beacon doesn't get much better than that!!
Here are a few photos to share with you about our big outing!

                                                        What a wonderful day!