October 2009
I was so glad to see parents from BES and DES at the PFLEX District
Information Night on September 29th! After introducing the PFLEX Elementary
instructors, several parents spoke about Destination Imagination and Math
Pentathlon, the after-school programs PFLEX offers. They were very
enthusiastic about DI and MP, noting how participation in these programs last
year was beneficial for their children and for them, as well. I was so glad
to see the interest in both programs from the parents I talked with after the
program. Keep an eye out for an October newsletter with DI and MP interest
forms -- these will go out the week of October 5th. If your child is
interested in either MP or DI, please return the interest forms to me as soon
as possible. DI teams will form quickly and begin after-school practices,
and MP teams will start practicing in January. Both DI and MP require us to
have a specific number of volunteers for practices and the tournaments, so if
your child is interested in MP or DI, please make sure to mark how you can
help these teams.
In PFLEX class, we have been learning and reviewing Math Pentathlon
games and working on Instant Challenges to get everyone familiar with MP and
DI. Soon we will start our Renaissance unit, mixed in with art, science, and
identity activities. We will also start having choice days, when children
get to decide what they would like to do among several centers. DES has also
been working on Robotics, discovering how the programming brick and the
sensors work as they build vehicles that zoom across the floor.
Again, thank you to everyone who has sent in supplies from the PFLEX
Wish List and bags of recyclables. Keep them coming! You would be amazed to
see how many recyclables we use once we start building!
Students may want to explore computer programs we used in PFLEX last
year, such as Google SketchUp (http://sketchup.google.com/), a three-
dimensional drawing tool, or Storytelling Alice (www.Alice.org), a computer
programming tool that lets you you make three-dimensional worlds and games.
Both SketchUp and Alice are free downloads and from reputable sources.
I am looking forward to an amazing year with your child!
Lisa Sparkman
PFLEX
Brookhollow Elementary
Dessau Elementary
Lisa.Sparkman@pflugervilleisd.net