We planted our class garden this week.  The kids were so excited about it.  We planted carrots, radishes, beets, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, peas, cauliflower, and broccoli.  We also planted our winter grass so that we can spend time outside our classroom reading and having picnics.  All of the kids planted some seeds so they can all be proud of the plants that will be growing soon.  We will be learning more about plants and agriculture this quarter.  I heard several kids say “A whole carrot can grow from this tiny seed?  That’s amazing!”  A class garden is always such a great learning experience.

We talked a lot about the election this week and learned a lot about how democracy works in our country.  The kids had some debates of their own about who they thought would be the best president.  We had a class vote and our senator from Arizona won, but we had some Obama supporters that brought up some good points as well.  Such a smart group of kids!

Next week is Veterans Day and the Renaissance Festival.  There is no school on Monday or Tuesday in honor of Veterans Day, and Friday is an early dismissal day (12:00) so that we can prepare for the festival.  I hope all of your kids can be there on Friday night to take a shift helping with our booth.  We’re doing bowling and fishing.  Should be a lot of fun!  More information will be coming next week.  Have a great Veterans Day!

Parent/Teacher conferences are always such a great experience for me.  I really enjoyed meeting with all of you parents on Wednesday and Thursday.  I love telling you what great kids you have and what a great job they are doing in school.  If you did not get a chance to come in for a conference, we can set something up next week.  Monday or Thursday after school would be the best for me.

This morning we had such a great discussion about the presidential election process in the United States.  We talked all about the Electoral College and how it all works.  Ask your kids to tell you what they learned!  They know that all 10 of Arizona’s electoral votes will go to the candidate who gets the most votes in Arizona.  These kids seem to really be into this election.  Whenever I bring it up, they have plenty to say.  They know a lot about the candidates and what they stand for!  I told them that I am so impressed with how much they know that we will have our own little election in class on election day, and then after school I will go and vote for the candidate that wins our class election, kind of how whoever gets the most votes in Arizona gets our state’s electoral votes.  That way they will feel like their votes really count.  They are really excited about that.

We had to cram a lot in this week because of the two half days, but the kids are learning so much and I am so proud of them.  I hope you don’t get tired of me telling me how smart your kids are!  I am really enjoying the discussions we are having in class.  I think sometimes I learn as much from them as they learn from me!

Next week we are going to plant our class garden.  We’ve been successful every year so far, so we’re looking for another bountiful harvest this year!

Have a great Halloween weekend!

The second quarter of the 2008-2009 school year is off to a great start!  It sounds like your kids all had a great fall break.  If you’ve never been on a cruise and you want a really relaxing vacation, you should try it out.  I had such a great time with my brothers and parents and I highly recommend it!

Every day these kids amaze me with their intelligence.  We have been working on some math concepts that most kids don’t learn until 5th grade, and they are picking them up and understanding them very well.  We have been converting mixed numbers to improper fractions and vice-versa.  We’ve also started on long division and they are picking it up quicker than any other class I’ve taught.

My students are becoming such great writers!  They write in their journals nearly every day and I love seeing their improvement as I look through them.  This week we have been learning and reinforcing some important grammar rules (when to use me and I, when and when not to use apostrophes, use of pronouns, and using paragraphs, among other things).  We’ve also been learning some basic typing skills.  These kids are growing up in a world where they will use a computer to write as much as a pen or pencil, if not more.

I am looking forward to meeting with all you parents next week at parent/teacher conferences.  Wednesday the 29th and Thursday the 30th are 12:00 dismissal days and conferences will run from 1:00 to 7:30 on both days.  Please call the office at (480) 988-3212 to schedule an appointment.  Thank you.

This front page of mreyre.com is now in “blog” format, so you will see the latest news whenever you come to this site.  All the letters I send home will be posted here.  The kids and I will be writing newsletters that will be posted here.  If you have a blog reader, you can subscribe to this site and it will inform you whenever there is a new post.  You can scroll down to see older posts, or click on the archives links on the left side.  You can even use the search box on the left to search for something specific.

I hope you are all having a wonderful fall break.  I am on my way to Miami for a Western Caribbean cruise with my brothers and my parents.  I told the kids I would take a lot of pictures to show them when I get back.

The first quarter of the 2008-2009 school year has been a great success.  This class is so awesome.  They are so smart and we have had some really great discussions lately.  They bring up so many great points, ask so many great questions, and I am having such a fun time learning with them.

They had the greatest game of Capture the Flag on Friday.  The kids LOVE this game, and I told them on Friday that I have so much fun watching them.  It’s a strategy game, so they have to come up with different strategies to “capture the flag.”  I can just see their minds working as they run up and down the field.

Remember that Parent/Teacher conferences are coming up on October 29th and 30th.  Both of those days will be 12:00 dismissal days, and conferences will go from 1:30-7:30.  Please call the office to schedule a time slot at (480) 988-3212.  Thanks!

I just wanted to remind you all that tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 16) is an early dismissal day for staff training.  School will be over at 12:00.  Lunch will still be served, but it will be an hour earlier than usual.  All bus drop off times will be 3 hours earlier than normal.

Our first field trip is coming up on Friday, September 12. We will be going to see “Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience” at the US Airways Center in Phoenix. I need to know the final count by this Friday, August 29, so please return the attached permission form as soon as possible to let me know if you can come with us as a chaperone. I also need to send them the money this week, so if possible please send that in by Friday as well. If you are not able to pay by Friday, I will cover it and you can pay me later.

We are going to be studying dinosaurs in class, so this will fit in perfectly with our curriculum. Here’s a little information on the show:

Dinosaurs return to the earth in Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience! The show is based on the award-winning BBC Television Series and brought to life by The Creature Production Company. Direct from playing 10 sold-out weeks in Australia, Walking with Dinosaurs continues its record-breaking North American tour through 2008!

Fifteen roaring, snarling “live” dinosaurs mesmerize the audience and are awe-inspiring as when they first walked the earth. The stars of the show include Tyrannosaurus Rex, Utahraptor, Stegosaurus, and the largest of them, the Brachiosaurus, which is 36 feet tall and 56 feet long from nose to tail.

The show depicts the dinosaurs’ evolution spanning their entire 200 million year reign. The history of the world is played out with almost cinematic realism, including scenes of the daily interactions between dinosaurs.

With a 20 million dollar budget, Walking with Dinosaurs is a dazzling arena spectacle of unprecedented size and quality.

Regular ticket prices to see this show range from $45-$70, but we get a special school field trip rate of $15 per ticket. With the bus transportation fee of $4, the total cost of this field trip is $19 per student/chaperone. Usually field trips are not that expensive, but this one that I don’t want to pass up.

There will be several field trips throughout the year that we ask parents to pay for. However, there is a way for your child and yourself as a chaperone to go on all of these field trips for free. I wish I would have figured this out years ago!

In Arizona you are able to re-direct your state taxes and receive a tax credit of up to $200 if you file a single or head of household return and up to $400 if you file a joint return, off your Arizona State income taxes. So it is as though you are paying your state taxes to the school instead of the state.

The Arizona school tax credit is not to be confused with a tax deduction. It is a dollar-for-dollar credit. For example, if you owed $500 in state income taxes, and you donate $400 to your school, you would subtract the $400 directly from the total bill, resulting in a $100 payment to the state. What’s more, you can do this repeatedly each and every year. In addition, the $400 donation may be deducted from your federal tax bill for those who itemize their returns. More information is available at www.eaglesaerieschools.com/taxcredit.htm. You may want to ask your accountant about any specific questions you have.

We will be going on 5 or 6 field trips this year. The average cost will be around $10-$12. If you want to estimate how much that would be for your child and yourself if you want to chaperone on some of them, you can donate that amount and then when you return the permission form you can just ask for the cost to be taken from your donation. Of course if you like you can donate the full $200 or $400 and the extra will be used for other class activities.

You can download the tax credit form by clicking here.

We are off to a fantastic start to this 2008-2009 school year. Your children are amazing! We are already learning so much together and I know we’re going to have a great year!

I would like to remind you of a few things:

Thursday, August 21st from 6:30 to 8:30: Music orientation and instrument rental in the multi-purpose room.

Tuesday, August 26th: Early dismissal day. We are doing professional training at school in the afternoon. We will have an earlier lunch that day and school will be over at 12:00.

Tuesday, August 26th from 6:30 until about 7:30: Parent curriculum/information meeting in the classroom. During this meeting we will discuss how our class works, curriculum, homework, field trips, student expectations, what you can do to help, and many other things. I like to have this meeting a couple of weeks into school so that you can be familiar with our routine and ask any questions you might have. If you have any questions before then, please don’t hesitate to call me at (480) 216-5784.

Thursday, August 28th: Family book fair

Monday, September 1st: Labor Day – No school.

Friday, September 5th from 7:00 to 9:00: School Rock Around the Clock 50’s Dance

Please return the bottom of this letter with your child tomorrow (or e-mail me), indicating whether you will be able to attend the parent curriculum meeting on Tuesday.

Welcome back to school! I have been anxiously looking forward to school starting again, and I honestly don’t think I have ever been this excited for school to start. I feel honored and humbled to have the responsibility of teaching your wonderful children. I taught third grade last year, so most of my students this year are my students from last year. I am so excited to meet those of you who are new to the school. This is a wonderful place, and I hope that you all feel comfortable and welcome in every way. I truly love teaching children this age. They are such a delight to be with. I love the idea of charter schools and in particular I love Eagle’s Aerie. In my mind, teaching is the best career on earth. There is nothing I love doing more than being with these children and teaching them.

I hope to meet you at the Meet the Teacher Open House and Ice Cream Social on Thursday, August 7 starting at 6:30pm. We will start out all together in the multi-purpose room and will then separate to our classrooms. During that time I will be able to answer general questions. If you would like to discuss specific concerns about your child, I would be happy to set up a time for you to come in and share those with me in a one-on-one setting where I will be able to give you more time. There are so many people to talk to at Meet the Teacher night and I would like to get to all of them.

Also, please plan on attending a parent informational meeting in my classroom on Tuesday, August 26 at 6:30pm in the classroom, where we will discuss everything from curriculum to field trips.

Just a little about myself - I grew up mostly in Utah, England, and the Washington DC area in a family of nine children. I am the third oldest and have two older sisters, two younger sisters, and four younger brothers. My parents are authors and write books mostly about parenting. They also developed a worldwide pre-school program called Joy School. My family is now spread all over the country, doing various things. I am the only one that decided to go into teaching.

While growing up I had the opportunity to visit or live in England, Mexico, The Philippines, Japan, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, France, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ethiopia, and many parts of the United States. I love sharing my experiences in these countries with my classes.

I went through a major career change to end up where I am now. I studied construction management at BYU in Utah and after I graduated I worked as a project manager for a large homebuilder in Northern Virginia. It was a great job, but after 18 months I decided that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Although it involved a huge pay cut, I decided to follow my dreams and take the path to become a teacher. I started by substitute teaching and taught in over 50 classrooms in Virginia. I loved it from day one and decided to permanently change my career to teaching. I did a lot of education research and found an idea that I loved…charter schools. I moved to Arizona, the capital of charter schools, in the summer of 2002 in pursuit of a teaching job at one. I visited many charter schools in the valley over the summer, got the call from Eagle’s Aerie, and the rest is history.

I enjoy being outdoors, hiking, scuba diving, traveling, rollerblading, basketball, tennis, and many other things. I spend a lot of my free time doing outdoor activities, taking pictures and editing them on the computer, learning to play the piano, hanging out with my nieces and nephew who live close by, and dating (still looking for the right one!).

Currently, my three favorite hobbies are photography, astronomy, and learning to play the piano. I love to share these hobbies with my class. I have digital photography equipment, a huge telescope, and a digital piano that spend a lot of time in my classroom. We will have some family astronomy nights when it is cooler where you will be able to come and look at cool stuff through the telescope.

Communication

I feel that an open line of communication between myself and all of you parents is extremely important. I have a class website at www.mreyre.com, where you can find current spelling lists, calendars, newsletters, information on upcoming events, and more. New sections will be added throughout the year. Letters, spelling lists and newsletters will also be sent home, but for some reason they don’t always make it into the hands of parents. The website is a great way to keep up to date with what is going on in the class. As far as getting in contact with me, feel free to use any of these methods of communication:

• E-mail. This is probably the best way to get a hold of me. My e-mail address is . This is my school e-mail address and I only check it when I am at school, which is usually from about 7-4 (including every day the week before school starts). I will respond to e-mails mainly before and after school, but I also check it when the kids go to their exploratory classes during the day. You can also send me an e-mail by filling out a form in the contact section of the website.
• Cell Phone. My cell phone is my one and only phone. The number is (480) 216-5784. The best times to call are the hour before school or the hour after school, but feel free to call at any time. Be aware that I do not answer my phone during class. If you need to get hold of me or your child immediately during school hours, please call the school office at (480) 988-3212.
• Written communication. If you send a note in with your child, be sure to remind them to give it to me right when they first see me. Sometimes I find notes on the floor, in desks, or in the backpack box that kids forgot to give me.
• In Person. We can set up a conference at any time…it doesn’t have to be during parent-teacher conference days. Contact me by e-mail or phone to set up a time.

Homework

I know some parents love homework and some don’t. Some students enjoy it more than others. The same assignment is sometimes viewed as too much by some and not enough by others. I give homework for two very important reasons:

1. It gives you an idea of what your child is learning and it gives you the opportunity to be more involved in their education. I believe that in many cases, this type of parental involvement is the most important key to success in a child’s education. Please take time whenever you can to sit down with your son or daughter and help them with their homework. I know some of you have big families and this isn’t always possible, but whenever it is, it sure helps.
2. Sometimes concepts become clearer when thinking about them in an environment other than the classroom or when going over it with other people such as siblings or parents. I remember many times as a child when math concepts became much clearer when I was sitting by myself at home doing my math homework.

The most consistent homework will be reading. I ask the students to read for at least 20 minutes at home at their level every day. My hope is that each student can realize the joy of reading and look forward to doing this reading every day. This can be reading with parents or siblings (including parents or siblings reading to them) or reading on their own. I can’t stress the importance of reading enough. Reading every day helps children in all subjects - not just language arts. It keeps their minds engaged and active. They will need to keep track of their home reading in their homework notebooks. They are supposed to write how many minutes they read and get you to sign it every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I also give them time in class to read every day and we have school-wide reading days every other Monday, when the entire day is focused around reading and reading activities.

It is important that they read books at their current reading level. They will take reading comprehension tests here at school to determine what their Lexile reading level is. A great resource at home is www.lexile.com, where you can find reading levels of many books. A simple way to tell if a book is at their level is to have them open the book to the middle and read one page. Keep track of the number of words they don’t know. If there is more than five, it is probably above their level. If it is between one and five, they are learning new words and it is not too difficult. If a book is too easy for them, they get bored, and if it is too hard, they get frustrated.

On top of reading, your child will usually have additional homework on Monday through Thursday nights. This additional homework should take about 10-25 minutes for a total of about 30-45 minutes a night to do all of their homework. On some nights, reading will be the only homework. It might help to set aside a study time each night. Most homework will be due the following morning. Spelling homework is given out on Mondays and is due on Thursdays. When we are working on projects and book reports, students may need to do some of the work at home. Students are more than welcome to call me any time with questions about homework. I love that opportunity to help them over the phone.

Homework is important, but I know that sometimes it interferes with family time. If homework ever interferes with family activities, please let me know and I will give them more time to do it without penalty. If a student has an excused absence, they will have additional time to do their homework.

I think it is very important that homework not be busy work. It is only effective if they are learning from it. If you ever feel that your child is doing busy work for homework or that it is taking too long to complete, please let me know.

The students will be using a homework notebook. They are to bring it home with them every day except Friday when they turn it in for the weekend and bring it back to school every morning except Monday because it will already be here. I will make sure they write down the assignments properly and I will stamp it when I see they have written it down. This way, all you have to do is ask them to see their homework notebook, and you will know exactly what their homework is. Please sign it each evening after your child has written how many minutes they have read.

Parental involvement

Your involvement in your child’s education is vital. By parental involvement, I don’t just mean helping out in the classroom. You can be completely involved in your child’s education without ever setting foot in our classroom. The most important thing you can do is show them that education is important to you. When your kids know that education is important to you, you instill that idea in their minds. Work on their homework with them. Read with them. Help them expand their minds. Ask them about what they learned in school each day. Spend one-on-one time learning with them.

Volunteering in the classroom is not an expectation, but there are several ways you can help if you wish to. In order to allow the students to get settled into a routine, I ask that you don’t ask to volunteer in the classroom for at least the first month of school (On the first day of school, feel free to stay for opening ceremonies in the multi-purpose room, but say goodbye as we head to our classroom so we can get right to work).

If and when you do come in to help, I like to give you the opportunity to be the teacher. Bring in your favorite picture book to read to the class. Prepare a positive attitude lesson and share it with the class. Teach us about your career. Share travel experiences. These things can have a great impact. We will discuss these things more at our parent meeting on Aug. 26.

Absences and tardies

It is extremely important that your child is in class as much as possible. When your child misses school, I cannot give them some worksheets that will make up for everything they have missed. I very rarely use worksheets. Lots of the learning that takes place in my classroom is through discussions that we have. When a student misses a day, they miss out on the instruction of that day and it is hard to make it up. Having said that, please don’t send your child to school if he/she is contagiously sick! I understand that things will come up that you have no control over. Whenever possible, please schedule medical and dental appointments outside of school hours.

For some reason I always have about twice as many absences during the second half of the year then I do during the first half of the year. I’m not sure why this is, but please try to keep your student’s attendance consistent throughout the school year.

All absences must be excused by doing the following: If you know your child will not be in school before the day of the absence, please let me know about it by e-mail or phone as soon as you know about it so I can plan accordingly. If you don’t know until the day of the absence, please call my cell phone at (480) 216-5784 before school starts on day that your student will be absent (leave a message if I don’t answer) so that I know not to wait for them before we start on lessons. Please call my cell phone instead of the office. The office will know they are absent when they receive my attendance shortly after school starts.

Please try to avoid picking up your child before school is over unless it is an emergency or a scheduled appointment that you have informed me of. The last half-hour of our day is very busy. When students leave early they miss out on homework instruction and other important end-of-day activities. If I know in advance that they are leaving early, I can prepare these things for them in advance.

Also please help them to arrive at school on time. They should arrive in the multi-purpose room sometime between 7:40 and 8:00. After 6 tardies, I am required by the school to give after-school detention.

It’s hard for me to express how excited I am for this coming school year. I am so happy that your child is in my class, and I look forward to a really GREAT year.

Some of you have asked about what you can be working with your kids on over the summer to keep them up to speed. If you spend even just a few hours over the course of the summer working with your kids on educational things, just the fact of doing it instills in their mind that it is important. Things like that make such a huge difference in their attitude toward school and their work ethic. They know you’re cheering for them!

So here are some things that will really help if you work with your kids on them over the summer:

• Daily reading. This can be reading on their own or you reading to them. It’s the single most important thing that will keep her mind active. Kids always learn so much by reading. It’s important that the books are not too hard or too easy. A good general rule of thumb is that if there are 5 or less words on each page that are challenging to them and help increase their vocabulary, it’s probably at about the right level. If they read several pages without any challenging words, it’s probably too easy, and if there are more than 5 per page it may be too hard and will be frustrating to them. Even if it’s just for 10 or 15 minutes a day, it helps so much.
• Writing. Probably the best thing for your kids to do over the summer as far as writing goes is to keep a journal. Just have them write a little in it each day. You could even read over it with them or better yet, have them read it to you as you watch what they’re reading. Then you can help them with any spelling and grammar mistakes. The kids got so much better in 3rd grade with run-on sentences, but they still tend to use them sometimes. Make sure there are lots of periods in there and not too many “and’s”. They should also pay attention to writing neatly.
• Math. This may seem simple, but the kids need to continue practicing adding and multiplying simple 1-digit numbers and subtracting simple 1-digit answer subtraction problems without using their fingers (in other words, have them memorized). Most of them have done very well on memorizing the timestables, but some of them still add and subtract numbers one at a time in their heads (and sometimes still use fingers). 7+4 is 8, 9, 10, 11 in their mind. 15-8 is 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7. When they get all the single-digit addition and multiplication problems and all the subtraction problems with a single-digit answer up to 18-9 memorized, they can do the harder work so much faster! If you go to my website, mreyre.com, there is a math section that has worksheets that you can print out for this. Flash cards are also good for this. It’s not all that exciting, but it’s one of those things where memorization is the best way to learn it. A few other math things you can practice with them to keep them fresh: telling time on analog clocks and counting money.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments throughout the summer. Thanks for being such great parents and for being so concerned with your child’s education.