TBS Strawberry Creek Classroom: Field Trip Tomorrow & other NEW News

New in this Blog:

Appreciation Cards (see homework)
Class Party info (Dec. 20)
Secret Santa (begins Dec. 16)
DON'T FORGET: Dec. 19 the Kelp Forest and Ocean life Opening, 8:30-10:00 - This is a showcase of learning event for students and families! In the event you are unable to attend, the Kelp Forest in Strawberry will remain up into January.

Homework:
1.
4th Grade Math: Packet due on Friday (no math class both Wednesday & Thursday due to field trips)

5th Grade Math: Problem pages due Friday.

2. Appreciation Cards (Due Weds. Dec. 18): We began this in class today. Each student has a set of small cards and a list of students in Strawberry. Goal: write one appreciation card for each person on the list. As discussed with the kids, the appreciations should be as specific as possible. For example, instead of "Thank you for being in my book club" - strive for a bit of detail such as, "Thank you for helping me with the book club project," or "Thank you for sharing great ideas in book club." The cards will be delivered on Friday the 20th as part of our "class party."

3. Reading: 20 minutes/night

Field Trip Tomorrow: We are headed to Duxbury Reef in Bolinas for tide pooling. Students need: lunch, snack, water bottle, warm jacket, warm hat, shoes that can get wet (regular shoes, rain boots etc. are fine) and a day pack to carry items in. Students may bring extra shoes etc as they wish. Depart by 9:00 - Return to TBS by 3:30.

December 20, Class Party Plans: The Strawberry students are planning a party day for Dec. 20. On Friday 12/13 we will send a list out of what items students have signed up to bring. So far we are having a pasta and salad bar lunch (so students do not need to bring lunch), that each student will contribute an item or two. Some students also plan to bring cookies for decorating. Again a list will go out with the specific food assignments.

Secret Santa: Today, the students who chose to participate in Secret Santa (the kids wanted to do this again this year) have selected the name of someone in the class to be a "secret santa" for. They each have a yellow piece of paper with the name of the student and a list of "favorites" categories to help plan gifts as well as guidelines on the backside. Please note: There are 3 gift giving days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). The first two days gifts should be simple token items - preferably handmade (but a candy, baked cookie or such is okay too). On Friday the gift should be an item within a $10 range. The children know how important it is to keep the "secret" part secret, and that choosing participate means they must keep to the number of gifts given (not over, not under).

Today in Strawberry: This morning we continued work on our kelp forest, then had our second big trash pick up - this time at Strawberry Creek Park. The creek runs all the way to our adopted shoreline, so today we helped keep a pile of trash from going to the bay. Our most scary item was about 1000 or more styrofoam packing peanuts just feet uphill of the creek - ugh!