From the Director’s Desk:

On June 25, 1876, General George Armstrong Custer received information that a “significant” number of Indians were gathering at Little Big Horn.  Without stopping to question the information, he decided to ride out with 250 men to “surround” almost 3,000 Indians. Clearly, Custer demonstrated simple content mastery; he understood the definition of “significant” as more than just a few.  However, Custer failed to exercise a higher-ordered thinking strategy.  Would history have been changed if Custer simply asked the question, “What do you mean by significant?”

Custer should have attended Satori!  What a pleasure to wander in and out of classrooms and observe skillful questioning and the classroom discussion that results from it.  Children are encouraged to distinguish between fact and fiction, determine mathematical realities, and make judgments and evaluations.  Students are taught to employ many cognitive operations related to critical thinking, thereby avoiding the likelihood of their own “Little Big Horn!”  Even better is the fact that the classroom teacher assesses daily the growth in critical thinking and moves the “little thinker” forward to more challenging curriculum—the blessing of the multi-age classroom!

Calendar of Events:

Tuesday, October 19:  Upper School Field Trip, Mini Materials Science workshop, Houston

Friday, November 5:  School Pictures

Lower School News:

Students will be studying topics that will get us all in the mood for Halloween!  The letter I is introduced this week, saving H for, what else, the week of Halloween!  Students will compare insects with the focus on spiders, as asked for by the students at the beginning of the year—the perfect time is now!  Should your children have any stuffed spiders at home, please send them to school for the week—stuffed only!

Middle School News:

Students will be conducting a fun experiment with pumpkins the week of Halloween, so please send a pumpkin in with your child before Friday of next week.  They will weigh them, count seeds, and then carve them on October 29^th before lunch and party.  Carving utensils as well would be greatly appreciated.

Upper School News:

Last week, Annie Vieau had her video question selected to be answered on the air of the first Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip.  The entire class was also chosen as the only class to participate in a live skype conference session during the second field trip. Both will be archived on the site; we will receive a DVD copy.  Mrs. Polk from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas visited Upper School with her “trunk.”  Pictures are posted on the website.

Music:

Each class performed Columbus Day songs for their teacher and Mrs. Wilkins.  They are also studying the values of notes and recognizing them in the songs they sing.  Students are also beginning to learn Halloween songs!*

Art:

Students are working on skull art in tandem with Spanish study of Dia de los Muertos.*

(*Editor’s note—as a student/fan of interdisciplinary studies, I am so proud of our specials teachers for connecting their own venues with each other and classroom focus.  The more connectedness, the more mastery!)

Odds & Ends:

Gymnastic classes with Mrs. Alloway will begin November 2^nd from 4-5 p.m.  Cost is $8 per student per class.  Classes are for all ages; the gymnastic equipment will be provided by Mrs. Alloway’s mother.

What I Overheard Today:

“I had to wash my hair, then brush it, and now my head hurts!”  Monday mornings can be so trying!

From The Director’s Desk:

Often during parent/teacher conferences, parents ask for guidance and advice. We are glad to do so as it is our joint responsibility to seek out ways to help shape our children’s future.  Recently, I was reminded by Madelyn Smith, noted childhood behavioral author, there is a caveat: not only must we seek out information, we must evaluate it.  We as parents—not the expert or society—are “ultimately responsible for how we choose to discipline our children.  No one can give you permission; no one else owns this important decision.”  It seems as our society changes, there is a greater demand placed on the schoolhouse to help parent our students.  We have trained to become experts, and indeed, there are no better experts than the classroom teacher in behavioral thinking or development. We can offer expert observations on managing discipline, but ultimately, it is the parents’ choice as to its implementation outside the classroom.  The experts have ideas; the choice is yours—don’t be afraid to make it!

Calendar of Events:

• Tuesday, October 12—visit from the Galveston Fire Department, 1:30
• Thursday, October 14—1 p.m./Lower School; 1:45/Middle,Upper School
• Thursday, October 14—Daughters of the Republic of Texas Trunk Lady visits Upper School

Lower, Middle, Upper School News:

Students will be working on post-activities on their study at Museum School of the Native Americans of Galveston.  Activities will include pinch pot making, restoring pottery shards to their original state, and trash can archeology.  The director of the museum continues to comment on how polite our students are!

Art:

All grade levels have participated in “Fractional Exposures: Peepers and Squeakers” where children created colorful characters to demonstrate simple fractions such as 1/3, 2/3, 3/5, etc. Also, commemorating the recent discovery by astronomers of a new planet 20 light years away, students created their own “crazy planet” posters.  The created their own landmasses, oceans, moons deposited their own life forms, and designed their own contraptions ranging from practical to zany!  Lower School’s renderings of “Happy Lives and Sad/Angry Lives” will go home this week—nice work!
Music:

We hope you enjoyed our singing at the Open House—your children do love to sing!  We are now working on recognizing the different notes in music and their values.  We have been singing Columbus Day songs and will begin Halloween songs this week.

Spanish/PE:

We will be working on the Day of the Dead, or  “Dia de los Muertos,”a holiday or festival which is celebrated in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, and other areas in Central and South America populated with the Latino ethnic background. The Day of the Dead is also celebrated in areas of the United States, such as California, Texas, and many others, in which the Mexican/American heritage exists.  November 2nd is the official date for Day of the Dead, although it is celebrated between October 31st and November 2nd.  It is a time when family members who have died are remembered. In Mexico, this festival is considered to be the most important holiday of the year.  Although this celebration is associated with the dead, it is not portrayed as a morbid or depressing time, but rather a period full of life, happiness, color, food, family, and fun. There is excitement everywhere. In many areas, outdoor markets sell many symbolic goods, such as special breads, flowers, pottery, baskets, candles, paper puppets, candy skulls, etc. The main symbols of this holiday are skulls and skeletons, and are displayed throughout the cities. Scenes of skeletons hugging, marching, dancing, and laughing are seen in window displays on the streets. Marigolds are another significant symbol for the Day of the Dead festivity, and are known as the “flower of the dead.”  I will be talking to all of classes about this wonderful holiday for the rest of the month.  All classes will continue learning the colors, days of the week, and the calendar.  Upper and Middle school will go into more depth on “El Dia de los Muertos,” while Lower school will not. All classes will do arts and crafts dealing with this special holiday!   And we are loving the cooler weather in PE!!!!

Reminders:

• No open toed shoes, please.
• November 13^th as Parent Work Date?  Let me know if this works for you.

What I Overheard Today: “You smell delicious today, Ms. Wilkins!”  Thank goodness because they surely will tell you the alternative!