Honeybee Howler, 4/6/10

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April 6, 2010

Calendar

April

7 Dr. Viola Vaughn, 12:45 - 1:30pm, MS Commons

8 NurtureShock Book Discussion, 8:40am - Well, Chapters 5 & 8

First Grade Parent Orientation Meeting, (for parents of current kindergarten students) 6:30 - 7:30pm, LS first grade classroom

15 PFA Meeting, 8:15-Coffee, 8:30 Meeting, Gerlinger
Topic: Upper School Seniors discuss their cumulative experiences at CGS.

~~16 Viewfinder Global Film Series~~

Will be rescheduled TBA

~~30 Spring Parade~~
Kindergarten Spring Parade has been moved to May 2nd. Friday Sing canceled.

May

2 Spring Festival, (Beehivers lead off the festivities with a parade.)

14 Preschool Circus

20 Preschool Parent - Teacher Conferences (classes in session)

PFA Meeting, 8:15 - Coffee, 8:30 Meeting, Gerlinger

24-26 Preschool Parent Teacher Conferences (classes in session)

28 *No BS or LS Classes - Report writing day

31 No School - Memorial Day

June

11 Preschool Family Potluck, 11:45 am

Last Day of Classes

*Prearranged childcare available as space permits

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Reminder~
If you have a message concerning your child's afternoon pick up, appointments, or the Village, that you forget to tell teachers in the morning, please call Tammy: 503-297-1894, x379. She will get the message to us right away. Thank you.

Dear Family and Friends of the Honeybees,

We had a good, and tiring, week back from spring break, readjusting to early morning wake-up times and the Honeybees’ busy schedule.

Button Project

The Button Project continues and the Honeybees are enjoying their time choosing and sewing buttons. Their sewing skills are showing up at the Invention Center where some of the Bees have made doll clothes or animal costumes. If anyone pops a button at home, be sure to ask your Bee for help!

Paper Collage

The Honeybees have been inspired by one of the books we’ve read and are trying their hands at paper collage, both cutting out pictures from magazines and tearing and cutting the shapes they need. This is great practice for those important cutting skills, and also a good use for old magazines.

Math and The Donut Shop

Before vacation the Honeybees made some delicious looking paper donuts, which are now being put to good use when we play Donut Shop. In this game each Bee gets a turn to buy donuts at the donut shop. We use wooden beads as pennies, and they count out how many pennies they need to buy the number of donuts they want. Prices fluctuate so we have been practicing counting by twos as well as working consistently on the foundational concept of one-to-one correspondence. This game is pure math, and the Honeybees are having key conversations with each other as we play and they apply numerical strategies to real life concepts.

Books

The Honeybees have been hearing stories about buttons to complement their work of sewing buttons. This week we read Button, by Sara Fanelli, which inspired our collage work. This story has quite a cast of characters, but the main character is a red button. The button’s adventures begin when it pops off of a coat at the start of the story and continue until the happy conclusion, when the button becomes a home for a shell-less snail. We also read Buttons by Brock Cole, a very witty, tongue-in-cheek tale of a hapless family working to solve the problem of the father’s missing button. Not only do all three daughters find husbands; luckily one husband is even enterprising enough to find a replacement button for his father-in-law’s pants.

Family Sharing

This week Lily’s family shared their tradition of cleaning out the hametz (leavened food) before the start of Passover. Each Bee received a feather that they used to sweep up the large number of Cheerios that had somehow found their way all over the Honeybee classroom. We all tried a piece of matzo and heard the story of Passover, the Jewish holiday celebrating the Exodus of the slaves from Egypt. Thanks to the Wands for sharing this fun celebration with the Bees.

Stay dry until the sun shines again,

Allen, Rebecca, and Chenoa

Book Discussion Group Resumes

Thursday April 8^th after drop off, please join us in the well to discuss Chapters 5 and 8 of NurtureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. Chapter 5, “The Search for Intelligent Life in Kindergarten”, explores the use of intelligence tests with young children, the malleability of intelligence, and brain development. Chapter 8, “Can Self-Control Be Taught?”, is about a pre-school program that has been very successful with at-risk children in teaching delayed gratification and self-control. It is now being used in all early childhood classrooms in some eastern schools. It should be a lively discussion! Please join us.

Parent - Faculty Association Accepting Nominations

The Parent-Faculty Association (PFA) is accepting nominations from March 1st until April 15th, for the 2010-11 school year. Anyone interested may apply. The PFA welcomes parents who are new to the school and parents who have not considered leadership involvement before. Generally, it is best to start out by volunteering as a grade representative before serving on the executive council. Nominating yourself is encouraged.

Please e-mail pfa@catlin.edu to nominate a candidate (including yourself) for any of the following positions:

Grade representatives (preschool through twelfth)
Volunteer coordinator
Spring Festival
Advisor to Council
Beginning School coordinator
Lower School coordinator
Communications coordinator
Treasurer
Vice president

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Catlin Gabel

Beginning School