Summer Birthday Party!

We sure had fun celebrating our kiddos with summer birthdays. Each child got their own version of happy birthday and a birthday bracelet.  Hope you have a great birthday this summer!!

Junior Achievement

Thank you Mr. Franklin for teaching us! We learned a lot. 

Mr. Franklin giving Mia her certificate of completion for Junior Achievement. 

Our Talent Show Performers

Bella singing "Let it Go". 

Tim performing a card trick. 

Lucia singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"

New Park in Selah

Have you heard of this before? There's not much time left before the May 1 deadline...

Volunteer Park

Merinda Dr. off Selah Loop Rd.

 

Volunteer Park is a proposed all inclusive park which will provide playground facilities to all people regardless of potential limitations. There will be ramps instead of stairs for those who are in wheelchairs. The playground equipment is made specifically for children in mind who have physical or mental limitations. The picnic tables, parking lot, & pathways have all been carefully considered to allow a more diverse population to use the facility.

The purpose of the Selah Parks Foundation brick fundraiser is to raise matching funds for the development of Volunteer Park. The City of Selah has been awarded a grant of $359,000 which requires matching funds to be able to distribute. The grant parameters have limited the city from contributing more than $150,000 in labor, materials, and financial donations. This leaves us with $241,000 to fundraise in donations, goods, and services to be able to complete such a monumental project in our community.

Purchasing a brick though the Selah Parks Foundation is an incredible way to support this community project. The bricks will be placed at the entrance to the park, adjacent to the parking lot and the playground itself. Donations in excess of the required matching funds will be used exclusively, on this park, for future maintenance and continued development. Purchase your gift bricks at

http://volunteerpark.donationbricks.com/.

With your donation, you will be able to personalize a brick. Both upper and lower case characters may be utilized. Brick sizes vary from the standard brick size of 8” by 4” available for $100 to the larger size of 8” by 8” for $250. Each brick will be nutmeg in color (with slight variations), laser inscribed, and epoxy filled in black. You may choose to submit your own company logo to be engraved on an 8×8 brick. This brick will cost $500.

All matching funds will need to be collected by May 1, 2015. All donations after that date will go towards the future maintenance of the park and not directly to its development.

Want to have current updates about the park and our progress? Follow us on Facebook
If you have questions about this project you can email us at selahparksfoundation@gmail.com or talk to Charlie Brown, the Parks and Recreation Manager, cbrown@ci.selah.wa.us or by calling 509-698-7301.

How LuCkY am I?

I have a classroom full of writers!

Mileage Club

Congratulations Nathan!! 25 miles in the mileage club! Nice shirt buddy!

What can parents do to help their child be successful on the state test?

• On testing days- Be sure your child is well fed, well rested, and on time to school.
• On testing days- Give your child encouragement and support to work hard, stay focused, and persevere (they know that word) even if it is hard.
• Allow your child to use the typing programs on Mrs. Carney’s technology page. They can access this through the Lince website. Students need practice finding keys on the keyboard.
• Allow your child to compose on the computer or tablet. Students need practice thinking a thought and typing it out. They can do this in Microsoft Word or even a Notes app.
• Go online and check out the practice tests for the state testing. Google WCAP SBAC or use the website wa.portal.airast.org  Students have used this many times and can navigate to find the practice assessments. 

State Testing Dates-REVISION!!!

Please note these days and times have changed!

ELA (English/Language Arts)
Computer Adaptive Test
Thursday, 3/9, 8:40-10:10
Friday, 3/20, 10:30-12:00

Performance Task
Wednesday, 4/8, 9:30-10:10 
Thursday, 4/9, 8:40-10:40
Wednesday, 4/10, 8:40-10:40

Math
Computer Adaptive Test
Tuesday, 4/21, 10:45-12:15
Wednesday, 4/22, 10:45-12:15

Performance Task
Tuesday, 4/28, 9:30-10:10
Wednesday, 4/2, 8:40-10:10

A Great Day

Thursday was a great day. Look at how many kids clipped up so much they clipped off the chart and onto my badge!!

Revisions are so hard!!!

We are in the process of writing our own stories now. After they are written, we will need to revise them. Revising is different from editing. Editing includes capitalization, punctuation, spelling, complete sentences, and verb usage. Revising is changing, deleting, or improving words. It also includes moving sentences around. It might be adding several forgotten details.

     Revising is really hard. It means admitting our story isn't perfect and can be improved. It also takes time and thinking. Revising is also really messy.To practice this, we revised our Zombie Attack! story. I would read a sentence aloud, one at a time, and they would have to decide if it could stay or if it needed improvement. If it needed improvement, we asked for several suggestions and chose one. Here is one way our story could be revised for improvement.

   

Staff Picture

It's a little belated, but I still wanted to share. We have such a great staff at Lince, and I'm so lucky to be able to teach here.

Happy (almost) Friday

I just wanted to remind families that we do not have school Friday (2-13-15) or Monday (2-16-15). Friday is a non-school day built into the calendar in case we have a snow day during the winter. Monday is President's Day.

Another class story

Zombie Attack!

            A long time ago in the year 1, there lived a fearless knight named Hercules. He was so brave that he became friends with a fierce, fire-breathing dragon named Alvin. They had many adventures together protecting the Kingdom of Lightning.

            One adventure they had was the time zombies attacked outside the gates of the kingdom’s castle. The zombies needed to eat, and so they were trying to get the people in the Kingdom of Lightning. Hercules saw that the people were in danger, and so he bravely fought the zombies with his sword. While he was fighting, a zombie jumped up and sneakily bit him on the shoulder. Hercules yelled, “Ah! He bit me!” This bite caused him to slowly become a zombie too. Alvin the Dragon heard Hercules’ cry, so he flew in to help. He breathed fire onto a big, heavy tree, and it immediately burst into flames. The tree crashed on the zombies, destroying them all, except for one. Alvin couldn’t bear to kill his friend Hercules, but Hercules was still a zombie and a threat to the people in the kingdom.

            Meanwhile, Zeus was up in the clouds, watching the fierce battle. Alvin called out to Zeus, “Zeus, can you please help?” Zeus flew down and shot a healing lighting bolt at Hercules. Hercules quickly recovered and returned to his human self. He was so grateful to Alvin and Zeus for saving him. Zeus flew back into the clouds, and Alvin and Hercules resumed their watch over the kingdom.

Here is a picture of our plan that goes with the story above.

A Class Story

Here is a story we wrote together as a class. We are learning how to make a good plan with a quick sketch and quick notes first. Then we take the plan and carefully write a good beginning that focuses on one of four strategies - introduce the character, describe the when of the story, describe the where of the story, or begin with an action. We then use the plan to flesh out the action (the problem or significant even in the middle). Finally, we write a satisfying ending that solves the problem, provides resolution to the situation, or expresses feelings about the significant even of the story. Other components for our story include planning limited dialogue in our story by sketching out a speech bubble in our plan, including descriptive adjectives to describe characters and setting, and using strong verbs in our action.

We hope you enjoy our story. Look to see if you can see the components listed above in the story below.

Shark Attack!!

By Mrs.Bonsen’s class, 2-4-15

       Deep in the warm, Hawaiiann ocean waters lived a beautiful mermaid named Alex. She had long brown hair, blue eyes, and a green tail. She loved seaweed – she loved to eat it, play with it, and wear it in her hair for decoration. She was a very nice and kind mermaid who loved animals. Her very best friend was a dolphin named Blue. They loved to play hide and seek together.

       One day at lunchtime, Alex couldn’t find Blue. They always ate lunch together. Alex was sad that Blue was gone, so she shouted, “Blue, where are you?”

       What Alex didn’t know was that a huge, mean shark named Haley had eaten Blue for lunch. Haley was so hungry that she ate Blue in one big gulp! Haley had found Blue swimming far from the school when she had been playing hide and seek during recess. Blue had been looking for a new hiding spot.

       Haley had been feeling pretty guilty about eating Blue. She decided to spit Blue back out. Blue was so happy to be out of Haley the shark that she swam quickly to find her friend Alex. She told Alex what had happened, and Alex was upset. Alex and Blue hurried to find Haley. When they found her, they confronted the shark. Haley felt so bad, so she said, “Sorry! I was super hungry, and I made a mistake. It will never happen again!” Blue forgave Haley. The three creatures decided to be friends. They swam off together to find a good lunch for Haley.

Here is what our plan looked like - notice the quick sketch on the left and the quick notes on the right.

January's Recognition Assembly

Congratulations to all the recipients!

Nathan and Nailani receive the effort award.

Madi and David receive the achievement award.

Josiah and Tim receive the citizenship award.

Our book exchange

Hopefully everyone ended up with a book they like.

Melton the Warm-Hearted Snowman pics

The singers

The Elves

The reindeer

The children

The cast on stage

Working hard on opinion writing