Haunted High Rises/Fall Fun Day Project: Due 10/28

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Student projects from this year (2026-2027):

Today your child will be bringing home a set of directions for our Haunted High Rise/Fall Fun Day project. This project includes designing a creative diorama in addition to writing a creative and/or spooky story to go along with it. On the assignment page, there will be a detailed step-by-step instruction sheet to help students with work progress and time management. We will begin the rough draft of the stories in class, but any portion unfinished will be continued as homework. The general timeline (please see the instruction sheet for further details) will be:

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  • START DATE: Tuesday, October 13th- Start a rough draft. You will be given time in class, however, if you do not use your time wisely, it will be homework. You may select one of the Sentence Starters provided, or make your own.

  • Start typing rough draft onto Google Docs by Friday, October 16th.

  • Have an adult/parent at home read your rough draft. The adult can offer suggestions on how to edit. Complete by Wednesday, October 21st.

  • Have a writing conference with Mrs. Dyer by Thursday, October 22nd. After your conference, you will work on your final draft. Final drafts will begin in class, however, any unfinished portion will be completed as homework.

  • FINAL DUE DATE: Wednesday, October 28th- Turn in your final draft with your completed diorama.

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The entire project (story and diorama) is due on Wednesday, October 28th. Additionally, there is a speaking portion for this project. Students will be presenting and reading their creative and spooky stories to the class and to 2nd grade students! At home, students should practice telling their stories with expression! For example, use long pauses to build up suspense… raise voice volume to show excitement…. lower voice volume to demonstrate nervousness… etcetera!

This will be a great way to kick off our Fall Fun Day festivities! See below for pictures of some excellent samples from previous years--- this will help give parents and students an idea of what the final projects will look like.

Art with Mrs. Haynes

Meet Mrs. Haynes. She is our talented art teacher. We are so lucky to have art instruction for our students. They will have twelve lessons throughout the school year.

Lesson #1: Squiggle Art: The beauty of an “oops”

Lesson #2: Puzzle Piece Collage

Lesson #3 Bilateral Tints and Shades

9/11

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Today marks the 25th year anniversary of September 11th. Like many Americans, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the news report that day. Let's never forget the 2,977 individuals that lost their lives that day.

Science: Invisible Forces

Students have been doing a great job with their Science Forces lessons. We have discussed forces such as pushes and pulls, and discussed topics such as gravity, friction, pattern of motion and momentum.

Students loved watching Rube Goldberg machine videos that had elaborate chain reactions. For three days, students made their own Rube Goldberg machiens that demonstrated pulling, pushing, and gravity forces. All of these explorations can easily be recreated at home. Thank you to the families who sent materials in to class for the students to use in their structures!

Dodecahedron

Students carefully assembled a dodecahedron in class. A dodecahedron is a 3-dimensional figure that has 12 faces. Each face of their figure had a math problem to practice the various multiplication properties. The kids did a great job and had so much fun creating their figures.

Using Quotation Marks with Dialogue

Students can use this anchor chart to help them remember how to use quotation marks when they include dialogue in their narratives.

Book Fair

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Room 14 will be shopping on Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 1:00 - 1:30.

Students and families (including any out-of-town family members who may want to purchase books as gifts) will be allowed to shop online for an assortment of books. Students will have an opportunity to shop in person with their class.

Room 14 will also have a classroom wish list of books to add to our classroom.

Payment Options:

  • Send cash with your child. Place the cash in an envelope with your child’s name on it.

  • Set up an e-Wallet set up for your child to shop with.

  • Families can also choose to shop online.

End of Conferences

It has been such a pleasure meeting with each of our Room 14 families. I personally love getting to know the students' parents because it helps initiate a great home-school relationship, and allows for greater communication for the benefit of the students' learning. 

Some of my favorite things that occurred at the conferences include:

  • hearing parents remind their children that it's okay to occasionally fail and make mistakes

  • witnessing the parents' love for their children and wanting only the best childhood experience for them, including both strong academics and strong socialization and friendship connections

  • watching the students listen and take in the advice given by the adults

  • observing how the child interacts with the parents and share their own perspectives on their learning

  • being able to support the parents and the child in common academic and home goals

  • sharing what home and school life is like for the child

  • listening to the goals and strategies that the parents have for their children

 Please utilize the conference slides to review what was discussed during our meeting. Feel free to send me questions any time throughout the school year.

 

Vooks Storybooks

Vooks is “a kid-safe, ad-free streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks.” It has all sorts of favorite children’s books that have been animated into read aloud videos for children to watch. Parents may sign up for one free month to try it out. It would be a great way to keep kids engaged with reading and exposing them to countless children’s books.

Book Wizard

Book Wizard is a tool on Scholastic’s website to help parents find books for their child based on their Lexile reading ranges. It also helps to sort books according to your child’s interests.