Hawaiian Stars News 1-5-07
The Hawaiian Stars returned to school eager to see their friends and share stories about their Christmas Break activities. Many went on trips, all spent time with family and friends, and some just relaxed. We shared about the best Christmas gifts we received and gave, and that was very interesting. A few spent some time working on Wordly Wise corrections and their Math Adventure planning sheets which were due yesterday. The rest are due today. We began talking about the volcanoes on Oahu and how this island was created. We will be doing some research about the origins of this island and many of the craters on it in the future. We'll also research the five Big Island volcanoes.
My family was busy this Christmas. My husband and I spent a few hours every day cleaning my mother's house to prepare it for sale. On December 27, my grandson Jaydon Watanabe was born to my daughter and her husband. He came three weeks early, so he was only 5 lbs. 6 oz. at birth, but he was also 21 inches long. I spent about six hours a day at the hospital with my daughter and the baby, and I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being a new grandmother again. They went home to Mililani Mauka on the 30th, so now I need to drive across town to see them.
The Hawaiian Stars are eager to get back to work and are trying very hard to establish meaningful New Year's resolutions. They made posters for their resolutions, and we will hang them around the classroom.
Our cards for the marines in Iraq reached them before Christmas, and they were thankful to receive such beautiful drawings and thoughtful messages. The coordinator of the project forwarded a thank-you note from their representative, so the Hawaiian Stars are very happy that they made the cards. Each student made three-five cards, so we made a lot of soldiers happy this Christmas.
Our next project is a Math Adventure. It is due for presentation on Tuesday, January 16. All Math Adventure planning sheets need to be approved today.
Next week we will begin out test prep sessions. Mrs. Holzman will work with the fourth graders, and I will work with the third graders from our two classes for this. We will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 - 1:15 PM for this purpose until it's time for the fourth graders to take the SAT in April. The third graders do not take the SAT, so they just do the test prep for practice. The third graders will also begin a handwriting practice book to review their cursive writing. Some of the work will need to be done for homework, so please check the homework assignment lists every week.
Our final meeting about the Big Island trip was held last night, and we had a good turnout. We should be receiving everyone's commitment checklist and check on Monday, January 8th. The breakdown of trip costs was sent home in the white envelope yesterday. If you have received your tuberculin test report, please send it in so we can copy it for our file and return it to you. The fingerprinting clearances will be sent to us by Goodenow & Associates as soon as they are ready. All of this information will be stored at the Administration office for future reference. Once you get chaperone clearance, you will not need to do it again. So if you're planning to chaperone the choir on their trip, you already will have the required clearance.
The fourth graders are getting excited about taking over the HUGSS program for the second semester. They will be trained by the fifth graders and received a detailed introduction to the program yesterday. Three fifth graders came to explain their duties and the purpose of the program. They gave the fourth graders some helpful suggestions about doing a good job because this is part of their school service commitment for the year. Duty assignments were sent home yesterday. I suggested that every fourth grader post it in a place where they can check it regularly.
Posted on January 5, 2007 6:29 AM | Permalink