IMPORTANT OCTOBER DATES October 2nd: No CATS for 4th graders (come Thursday for field trip!) October 3rd: FIELD TRIP 4th Grade to PCC West to see the play, “The Sun Serpent” October 7th – 10th : No CATS due to CATS testing October 11th : Half-Day October 14th – 16th : No CATS, half-days for parent-teacher conferences October 17th – 18th : FALL BREAK October 22nd: FIELD TRIP 5th Grade– Bat Research Program, Brandi Fenton Park October 24th: CATS OPEN HOUSE 5-6pm 6th GRADE MT. LEMMON SKY SCHOOL PARENT MEETING – 6-6:30pm October 28th-29th:FIELD TRIP 6th grade – UofA Sky School on Mt. Lemmon Overnight October 29th: NO CATS for 5th graders October 30th- FIELD TRIP for 4th graders to the Santa Cruz “Living” River October 31st: Halloween!!!! These dates can also be found on the new October calendar in the back of your child’s CATS communication folder.
THANK YOU’s! I want to send out a big thank to all of you parents who have contributed tissues, hand sanitizer, surface wipes, and SNACKS to share and use in our CATS classroom. Your generosity is so appreciated! It is helping to keep our classroom cleaner, reducing the germs, and keeping our kids healthier, and well-fed!
Curriculum C.A.T.S. is off to a great start! In the past few weeks, we have been doing a lot of team-building and character-developing activities.
CONTINUING OPPORTUNITY THIS YEAR! I have entered a CATS team into Math Olympiads. This is a national math competition program, where students (4th – 6th grade) engage in developing their math problem-solving skills. Five monthly competitions happen throughout the year, where members of the team take 30 minutes during CATS class to solve 5 interesting math problems. You can get more information by going to the Math Olympiad website:www.moems.org. Please encourage your young math mathematicians to participate!
6th graders are getting right into the concept of flight. This month, we will be making flying hoopsters and roto-copters. We will test different variables, looked for patterns, and draw conclusions based on our data. The sixth grade over-night trip to Mt. Lemmon Sky School is happening October 28th-29th. If you have not turned in your child’s paperwork and first payment yet, please do so as soon as possible. The final payment of $50 is due by October 21st. Please feel free to email or call me with questions or concerns (696-8437). We will have a parent meeting about the trip on Thursday, October 24th from 6-6:30pm at Hendricks School in room 28. Also, start looking for and/or borrowing a sleeping bag and warm clothes to bring on the trip.
5th graders have started reading the novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins. This month, we will be participating in a bat research simulation program with Pima County Parks on October 22nd at Brandi Fenton Park.
4th grades have been learning about Aztec history and art to prepare for the play that we will see at Pima Community College, “The Sun Serpent.” We will also begin The Riving River of Words Program through Pima County Parks and Natural Resources. This program links science and art. We will study the newly recharged Santa Cruz River, and go on a field study to the river on Wednesday, October 30th. We will learn about where the water from the Santa Cruz comes from and how to test the water quality. Then, we will continue with The Living River of Words Program by having a writer/poet come into the CATS classroom and teach us about writing poetry about nature and the outdoors.
Academic Reminders Please talk to your child again about taking responsibility for communicating with their teachers about important lessons and work missed when they are away from their class to come to CATS. It is an important part of learning for students to advocate for themselves. Please talk to your child about his/her day in CATS each week, sign his/her communication log, check on grades and behavior in the regular classroom, and please check your email for the CATS newsletter each month. J
All CATS students will receive a formal “report card” in January, not in October; however, please feel free to contact me by email or phone any time if you have concerns about your child’s progress in CATS. I am happy to set up a conference with you, and you are always welcome in the CATS classroom if you want to check out what we do here!
REMIND ACCOUNT Please sign up for REMIND for CATS to receive text messages with information, reminders, and updates about upcoming events for your child’s CATS class. If you signed up for REMIND last year in CATS, you do NOT need to sign up again. Here’s how you sign up for REMIND to receive text reminders:
On your cell phone, enter 81010.
Then, for 6th Grade text @2020ca; for 5th Grade text @msjslin ; for 4th Grade text@cats202. You will then get a text from REMIND confirming you as a member. It will also provide directions on how to download the free app; however, the app is not necessary to receive REMIND texts.
Attachments: 5th Grade permission slip for Brandi Fenton Park Bat Research field trip, 10/23/18 4th Grade permission slip for The Santa Cruz River field trip, 10/30/19
Always feel free to contact me with any concerns – 696-8437 or by email.
Always feel free to contact me with any concerns – 696-8437 or by email.
Puzzle of the Month September:Can you name something that has to be bad before it is considered good? Answer: Gossip October: By inserting 2 punctuation marks, can you make the equation correct? 560=600
