If you plan to volunteer for any event (FAME, field trip driver, party, etc.) that requires you to be in contact with Cherry Chase students, the office MUST have a TB clearance form from you. Please contact the office for more information. November 9 Dear Parents, I’m glad so many of you could make it to our Halloween parade. The students really enjoyed displaying their creative costumes. There was also much merriment at our Fall Festival. As you have seen from your child’s math homework, we have been working on mental addition and subtraction. Tomorrow we will begin topic 8, with the focus being rounding and estimating sums and differences. Students who don’t know their addition and subtraction facts need to memorize them. The next two topics are adding and subtracting two digit numbers, so speed and accuracy for one digit computation are a must. The class has been working on expository and persuasive writing. The students have been using the writing process to develop their ideas and create a rough draft. They have benefitted from peer editing and are developing an understanding of how important their words are in order to create an accurate picture in their reader’s mind. Today we begin our exciting ancestor unit. Over the next couple months, students will learn about their own family’s history, compare how life in the past is similar to and different from today, and research a country of family ancestry. Since information specific to each child’s family is vital, students will have assignments to complete at home and then return to school. These include two assignments being sent home today: the ‘Discovering our Past’ worksheet and ‘My Family Tree’ – both of them are due Friday, November 13th. Further assignments will be sent home throughout weeks leading up to the two-week December break. The final phase of our unit will involve each student compiling their work into a book. These books will be on display during Open House on April 21st. While we have officially switched from life science to social studies, we will continue to enjoy the many plants that are growing in our classroom. Remember that students are dismissed at 11:35 everyday next week. I look forward to seeing you at the conference. Thank you, Mike Nelson