Hello Parents, Nov. 10, 2011
This week, we began anticipating Thanksgiving. Our new poem (printed below) taught us some great vocabulary like “blessings” and “recollect.” We also colored a large mural of the famous painting “The First Thanksgiving” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. The fun thing about the mural is that each child was only given a small portion of it and it had to be assembled for them to find out what the picture was. This mural is on display in the hallway.
Tuesday afternoon is always “buddy time.” Hopefully you read Ms. Tucker’s article about buddy time on the district website. This week, our buddies taught us how to weave. We made a simple, flat woven paper mat. This project was a stepping stone to our next weaving project: baskets.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Shaw showed us lots of pictures of foods the Chinook people ate. She also showed us some great videos about how those foods could be harvested and/or prepared. We then used paper collage to create our own meal of native foods. In a couple weeks, we get to eat the real thing!
The field trip to Pinkalicious is next week. If your child has a new permission slip in their backpack today, it means we have not received theirs. All of the chaperone spots have been filled, but feel free to let us know if you’d like to be added to the waiting list unless a chaperone cancels.
Next week, we will be doing a lot of special crafts to enhance our study of the Chinook people. One of the biggest is making clay masks that will be fired in a kiln. Mrs. Wold (and a few other teachers) took a mask-making clinic from a famous Native American mask maker named Lillian Pitt. We will use her method to make our masks. Attached to this newsletter is a list of supplies that will help us decorate our masks. Please note that the items you send will probably not be returned. In addition, we would love to borrow some wooden rolling pins on Wednesday. They should be well-labeled so we can return them, but be forewarned, we may not be able to wash them before we return them. They’ll likely have some clay residue.
A note about recess: We do not have the option to keep children inside at recess. Please remind your child to dress warmly and bring a coat every day.
You’ve Made A Difference
As Thanksgiving Day approaches,
Our blessings we recall;
The things we are most thankful for,
We recollect them all.
You are really special,
In all you say and do.
You’ve made a difference in our lives;
We’re thankful now for you.
By Joanna Fuchs