Angel Buddies

During the last few days of school, Na Pueo will be celebrating the holidays. We will share the joy of the season  by becoming Angel Buddies for our classmates. Your child will pick a name out of our Santa hat and that person will be their Angel Buddy. We will be doing special things for our buddies.  The following is a calendar of the special days and themes we will be following:
 
Monday, December 17.  Holiday Card Day!  Angels, make a holiday card for your buddy!  No fair buying one.  Make your own design and secretly present it to your buddy today.

Tuesday, December 18.  Bookmark Day!  Design a bookmark for your buddy.

Wednesday, December 19.  Paperback Book Gift Exchange!  Choose a favorite book to give to your buddy.  Share the love of a good book!  Write your buddy’s name on the outside of a tag or card.  On the inside of your wrapping, say who it is from. We will send home a wish list to help you choose.
   
The Angel Buddies keep their identity a secret throughout the entire week, but will reveal themselves on the last day when their buddy opens their paperback book.  Buddies were chosen today to give you time to think of ideas.  The spirit of sharing, giving, and doing something nice for someone else is the key to making this special week a success. 

Posted at 6:59 AM| Permalink

Portfolios

I know you have to place your January lunch orders, so please don't forget that Camp Erdman is on January 15-16. Don't order lunch for those days.  We'll be sending home more camp information before break.

Na Pueo have been working very hard to prepare for our conferences, which are Thursday and Friday, Dec. 13-14.  Students have been reflecting on what they’ve learned and what they still need to work on.  They have been picking out pieces of work that show how they have grown.  Your child will share their portfolios with you at conference time.  Our conferences will be parent/ teacher/student conferences, during which your children will take the lead.  The first 20 minutes of your conference, your child will share their portfolio with you.  When you are finished looking through the portfolio, you will spend the next 20 minutes meeting with your child and me to discuss how they have grown, what they have learned, and how they are going to improve.  If you need to reschedule your conference time, please let me know as soon as possible. Thanks!

Posted at 6:13 AM| Permalink

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, Na Pueo families!  In preparations for Thanksgiving, I asked the children to think about their classmates and teachers and what they were thankful for. Each child made a list of reasons that they were thankful for the people in their school community. Today your child will be taking home a list written by their classmates. Ask them to show you; they are very nice.

I am thankful for being able to come to work in such a beautiful place every day.  I am thankful for being able to work with students who are curious, kind, and hilarious, and have such supportive and loving parents. I am thankful for my health and being able to enjoy the ocean and our island. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Posted at 6:42 AM| Permalink

Holiday Book Orders #2

I know it seems early, but the holiday decorations are going up all over and I just had my first peppermint mocha of the season, so it must be time to start thinking about the Holidays.  Books are wonderful gifts for all the children in your family and Scholastic offers some very good deals.  I encourage you to take advantage of this Holiday book order.  If you would like to order books, please return the form(s) with a check made out to Scholastic by Friday, 11/16/07.  If you want any of these orders to be a secret, please let me know. I can be discreet.
Read on for some recommendations.
Here are some of my recommendations from this book order:
Holiday Gift Books:
#86 Olivia Helps With Christmas
#66 The Last Holiday Concert
#16 The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set
#70 The Little House Boxed Set
#40 Harry Potter Boxed Set
#101 Shel Silverstein Poetry Pack
#84 Newberry pack
#93 Ramona and Friends Pack
#31 Fudge for All Collection

Lucky:
#32 Henry and Ribsy Pack
#77 Where the Sidewalk Ends
#70 Something Big Has Been Here

Arrow:
#35 and 36 Gregor the Overlander Pack
#72 Sharon Creech Pack
#46 Kringle
#24 Eragon

Posted at 4:31 PM| Permalink

Graham Salisbury

I apologize, again.  Last week's entry didn't get published, again!  From now on, I will make sure to check that it actually goes up.  Because that note never got to you, I'll move back the book order due date to Tuesday. Sorry.

On Wednesday, the author Graham Salisbury visited us. He told us stories about growing up in Hawai`i and answered the kids' questions about Under the Blood Red Sun. To get ready for Graham Salisbury's visit, we read Under the Blood Red Sun and thought of questions to ask him along the way. We also did some writing. Earlier in the year, we read a book called Love that Dog.  The main character in the book wrote poetry "inspired by" Mr. Walter Dean Meyers. So we decided to do some writing "inspired by" Mr. Graham Salisbury.  We were interested in how he used one word or short phrases as sentences like, “Close. Real close.” or “Silence. Dark.” It sounded like poetry to us. We each chose three words or phrases like that from Under the Blood Red Sun and wrote a short piece with them. Through this, we explored how to use these short phrases to add to description and make an impact.  These writing pieces will be displayed in our classroom. Please come take a look.

For reading homework this week, your child will be taking home their reading journal to write a letter to me about their reading.  They have an instruction letter in their book to follow, but here's a copy, just in case. reading letter.pdf

Posted at 6:36 AM| Permalink

Pictures

Hi, Pueo Families!

I am so sorry. As I was putting up today's blog, I realized that last week's entry never got online!  And I don't know what happened to the videos I put on.  As soon as Mr. Yoshinaga comes back, I will fix it so you can watch the recycling presentations.

For this week, please check out last week's entry and take a look at the gallery.  I put on some new math pictures, Halloween pictures, Manoa Heritage Center pictures, and Foster Garden pictures.  Enjoy!

Your child will be bringing home a copy of From the Mountains to the Sea.  This copy belongs to the classroom. Please remind them to treat it with care. Thanks!

Posted at 1:29 PM| Permalink