Ms Lisa’s Crew

May 22, 2008

Families,

This has been quite a week for our 6th Graders! They put so much work into preparing and polishing up their portfolios – along with practicing their presentations. I loved seeing their proud, relieved faces after their presentations Tuesday night. What an accomplishment! I have heard so many compliments from the adults on their panels regarding their maturity, self-confidence, and their ability to speak deeply about their learning – and about themselves as learners. I feel confident that these kids are ready to take on the challenges of middle school next year!

Please make sure that you received the letter, sign up sheet, and permission slip regarding the last day of school. Your student was given this packet yesterday (Wednesday) – but I have only received three back. We are planning to do a very short recognition ceremony (to recognize 6th graders “graduating”/moving on to middle school) next Friday morning around 9:30am. This will take place in the gym and will include the whole school. If you would like to be there, you are welcome – but it will not last long. Afterward, as we explained in the letter sent home, we will celebrate with a pot luck lunch and games across the street at the park. Please remind your student to dress for the park and to wear and bring sunscreen that day.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend! And don’t forget: the last day of school is Friday, May 30.

☺ Lisa

P.S. A reminder from the office: Report Cards will be held in the office for students until lunch account balances and lost library book fees are paid.

    We have been busy preparing portfolios and writing reflections of learning this week.  Students are saving these reflections on their blogs and working on them during Writer’s Workshop. We are at the drafting stage at this point. Next week, students will complete their reflections, begin to share them with each other, and revise them. The week before we leave for Moab, they will edit and publish their pieces – and insert them into their portfolios.  This is quite a process and may require some time at home periodically if an individual student needs that extra time. If your child does not have consistent access to a computer with an internet connection, please let me know so that I can give her/him extra time at school (if needed).
This coming Friday, April 25 is Arbor Day – and we have a great community service opportunity! We will be “traveling” across the street to Metzler Ranch Park to help plant trees. The park service will do a short presentation for our students, and then teach them how to plant these trees. Please sign the attached permission slip regarding this trip – and return by Tues, April 22.
The Wednesday after we return from Moab (May 14), we will be doing field work at the U.S. National Ice Core Lab in Lakewood, Colorado. As part of our case study, “Ice, Ice, Baby”, we have been taking a close look at the Northern Polar Ice Cap. I really wish I could take the kids to the North Pole or Greenland to collect their own ice core samples, but the logistics are … well there are a lot of them! So, we will do the next best thing: visit a real lab - that just received their biggest ever shipment of ice cores from Greenland. Because the lab is so busy with this shipment, they are closed to the public and tours for a while. However, they agreed to allow our crew a short visit. Although we will only be in their lab for a few minutes, it will be very cold and students will be required to bring warm winter-wear. Permission slips for this trip will be sent home in a few weeks.  However, if you think you would like to drive and chaperone this trip, please let me know soon.
As a reminder, below are all of these upcoming important dates:

Fri., April 18        Castlewood Canyon Hike
Fri., April 25    Arbor Day community service trip to Metzler Ranch Park
Tues., April 29    Chaperone Training at Renaissance (required for all Moab chaperones)
Wed., April 30    (Possibly) Douglas County High School Ropes Course Trip
May 5-9        Moab Trip
Tues., May 13    Portfolios due
Wed., May 14    Field Work at U.S. National Ice Core Lab (Lakewood)
Tues., May 20     Sixth Grade Portfolio Presentation night (students present portfolios to panels)
Fri., May 30    Last Day of School for students

Have a great weekend!

Today, I sent home two pack lists and a permission slip. Please help your child prepare for our Castlewood Canyon hike (on Friday, April 18) by following the Day Pack list. In order to prepare and pack for our Moab trip, please follow both lists, as we will be doing a lot of hiking and students will need a day pack. Moab permission slips are due this Monday, April 14.
We will be taking a walking trip to Douglas County High School this coming Wednesday, April 16 in order to use their ropes course! This is an exciting opportunity and a perfect extension of our Adventure Education climbing experiences in our own gym.
Below is another reminder of upcoming important dates:

Important Dates:

Wed., April 16 Douglas County High School Trip
Fri., April 18 Castlewood Canyon Hike
May 5-9 Moab Adventure Education Trip
May 13 Portfolios due
May 20 Sixth Grade Portfolio Presentation night (students present portfolios to panels)

For those of you who were not able to attend our Moab Parent Information Night this week, I have also attached (email) the powerpoint presentation to this news. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me or the Adventure Education Team.

Thank you and have a great weekend!
☺ Lisa Johnson

I hope you and your student(s) enjoyed Spring Break! We are busy this week continuing our Science Expedition and preparing Sixth Grade portfolios for “passages” in May. I will send home more about this later. For now, please take note of the portfolio due date and passage night below.

Important Dates:

Mon., April 7    Moab Parent Info. Night    5:30-6:00pm (Library)
Wed., April 16    Castlewood Canyon Hike    (permission slip due  )
May 5-9        Moab Adventure Education Trip
May 13        Portfolios due
May 20     Sixth Grade Passages night (students present portfolios to panels

Let me know if you have any questions!
☺ Lisa Johnson

Following is a note to parents from our Adventure Education Team:

Dear Families,

Your parent night around camping (Moab Trip) is on Monday, April 7 from 5:30-6:00 pm.  This is a meeting that you will not want to miss.  We are going to be giving you important information about your child’s camping trip.

•    What your child will be doing
•    Photographs of camping location
•    Important phone numbers
•    Transportation
•    Chaperones
•    Question and answer time

- The Adventure Ed Team

Read/Write-A-Thon
Well, CSAPs are over and your kids are having a much-deserved down day! They are absolutely loving our read/write-a-thon right now. I love the way a day like this encourages students to see reading and writing as fun activities – and encourages them to share their favorites with each other.

Adventure Ed. Info.
For those who were unable to make it to the general Adventure Ed. Meeting the other night, I’ve attached the K-6 “Scope and Sequence”. One decision that was presented that evening was that busses have been chosen as a way to transport students to and from the larger/longer trips. We will still have some parent chaperones drive their own vehicles so that we have them for emergency purposes – but students will travel on busses. In Moab, the bus drivers and busses will also stay locally in case we need them.

Moab Parent Information Meeting
The fifth and sixth grade teachers – and a member of the Adventure Ed. Committee - will hold a parent information night on Monday, April 7 at 5:30pm. Please mark your calendars for this event so that you can learn all of the details regarding our Moab trip (May 5-9).

Have a wonderful Spring Break with your children! (Reminder: NO SCHOOL for students tomorrow, March 14 – School resumes Monday, March 31).

Families,

Just a few quick things this week:

Reminder
Tonight at 6:00 pm, the Adventure Education Team will be presenting our adventure education curriculum from K-6th grade. They will be discussing year-at-a-glance plans, busses for spring trips, fees, and etc. They will not, however be discussing specifics of any of the upcoming trips. We will have trip-specific meetings for all parents after Spring Break.

CSAPs
Friday morning we will be wrapping up the reading and writing portion of the CSAP. Next week – Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning, students will be taking the Math portions.

Thank You
Thank you to Jamie Blair, Terri Swearingen, and Michael Matthews for providing healthy snacks for our first three CSAP test days. The kids have really enjoyed them! We appreciate your extra time and donations!

Planners
I have been promising the kids I’d include this in the crew news for quite a while now … but I just keep forgetting: Unless I contact you personally, you will no longer need to sign your child’s planner.  Next year, these sixth graders are going to have to independently keep track of a lot more than a homework assignment or two each day!

Spring Break
Thursday, March 13 will be our last day of school before Spring Break. I told the kids that we could do a “Read and Write-A-Thon” that day. They may bring pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, etc. – and, of course, any books that they would like to read that day. Please remind them not to wear p.j.s, this time - as some of our crew will be making up missing CSAP tests that day (so I don’t want to make things TOO casual!)
After a two-week Spring Break, school will resume on Monday, March 31.

I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable weekend!

☺ Lisa Johnson

Dear Families,

I have so enjoyed meeting with you and your child this week! It has been wonderful to see my students sharing their learning, projects, and writing samples with you. They are all getting older (and taller) so fast and taking more and more ownership for their learning! Thank you for taking the time to come in and share a slice of your child’s education with us.

CSAP assessments begin this coming Tuesday, March 4 and continue through Thursday, March 13. Following is our CSAP schedule:
Writing:    March 4-6 (T,W,Th)    Morning
Reading:    March 4 & 6 (T,Th)    Afternoon
March 7 (Fri.)        Morning
Math:           March 10-12 (M,T,W)    Morning

Please be sure to have your child present on these days. If you would be interested in contributing a healthy snack for our students, please let me know.  We would really appreciate contributions!  (Thank you, Jaime -Jayson’s mom- for volunteering to bring snack on one of the days.)

Here are a few things that you can do to help prepare your child for these assessments:
•    In order to assure that your child is alert and confident, please make sure he/she gets a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast each morning.
•    Share some times in your life when you had to take tests or show your best in another way – and how a positive attitude can make all the difference.
•    These tests are another way to reveal a student’s strengths and areas in which to improve. However, they only reflect what the test-taker puts into them. Regardless of how your he/she feels about these types of tests, please encourage your child to show her/his best so that results are as accurate and useful as possible.

Reminders:
•    No school this coming Monday, March 3.
•    Spring Break begins Friday, March 14 (no school for students on that Friday)
•    School resumes Monday, March 31.

One last note: Our second expedition is up and going strong. We are building background knowledge and scientific process skills as we work with dry ice. Dry ice is an engaging material to work with. But, it can be dangerous if not handled safely.  Students have been made aware of (and are being held accountable to) the safe practice and handling of dry ice. Your child may show an interest in experimenting with this intriguing substance at home. Here are some safety tips:
•    Children should never use dry ice without adult supervision.
•    Dry ice should always be handled with tools or dry leather gloves. It is very important not to let skin come in contact with dry ice (as it is solid at -110 degrees Fahrenheit).
•    Dry ice should never be sealed in a glass container (or preferably any container that does not have a flexible seal - like a balloon or a plastic baggie).
•    Do not swallow dry ice or directly breath dry ice vapor - and do not use it in an unventilated area.
•    Be cautious about storing dry ice in your freezer. It can make freezers much too cold and end up shutting them off.

If you have any questions, please always feel free to contact me at lisa.johnson@dcsdk12.org - or by calling or stopping in.

☺ Lisa Johnson

Hello!

Well, our second trimester is already coming to an end! Conferences are next week and report cards come home in next Thursday’s Folders. If you have not already signed up for a conference time, please contact me to find out which time slots are left.

Expedition
We are beginning our next (Science) expedition this week. I will update you as to the “big ideas” and “guiding questions” as soon as these elements are unveiled to students. I’m trying to keep a bit of mystery alive for a few more days.

CSAP
Our CSAP window is fast approaching: March 4 – March 14. Please support your child in getting enough sleep and being present at school during that time period. If you would like to help us out by bringing in healthy snacks and drinks during test days, please let me know which day you can contribute something. This would be much appreciated!

Calendar
Monday, March 3 is a teacher work (no student) day. Spring Break begins Friday, March 14. School will resume on Monday, March 31.

Readers Workshop
We have started reading some “Junior Great Books” short stories and learning to have “Socratic Circle” discussions. These stories are chosen and written to purposely include unresolved issues that can be interpreted in different ways (ie. no “right” answers!). Our crew is learning to have respectful, deep discussions about these stories. Individuals are learning to share opinions and ideas – and to back them up with references from the text. Some of these stories may be challenging for some students to read on their own. I am supporting all students by reading these stories aloud the first time while they read along. If your child brings a Junior Great Books story home (stapled photocopy), please feel free to assist him/her with re-reading the story – and discuss some of the issues together!

I will hopefully see you all next week during conferences!

Lisa Johnson

Just a few things this week:

Reminder
Just a reminder that students have no school Friday, February 15 and Monday, February 18.

Valentine’s Day
Students will have an opportunity to exchange valentines with each other at the end of the day Thursday, February 14. Please note that I have let students know that if they decide to participate, they need to be sure to have a valentine for every student
in our crew. I have attached a class list to help with this.

Expedition News
We are finishing up our last case study: Machu Picchu and the Incan civilization. Your children are working in small groups on seven separate “museum” displays and projects that illustrate the way the Incan people utilized their resources. We plan to
have a museum display with student-researched and written “plaques”/summaries that describe the background of each resource topic. Please feel free to stop by at the end of next week to visit our projects.

Adventure Ed Information Night…
Note from our Adventure Ed. Coordinator:
Thursday, March 6, 6:00 p.m. will be an Adventure Ed information night for parents. Please leave children at home as we will not have childcare and you will not want to worry about your children while gathering this valuable information. Bring your
questions!!

Student-Led Conferences
Student-led conferences will be held during the week of February 25. Please look over the time slots below and send me your first three preferences. I will do my best to accommodate your top choices. If you have other children who attend Renaissance,
please remind me of this – along with the name(s) of the other teacher(s). I will speak to them so that we can try to coordinate your conference times!

Tuesday, February 26
8:00 – 8:20 am
4:30 – 4:50 pm
4:50 – 5:10 pm
5:10 – 5:30 pm
5:30 – 5:50 pm
5:50 – 6:10 pm

Wednesday, February 27
1:30 – 1:50 pm
1:50 – 2:10 pm
2:10 – 2:30 pm
2:30 – 2:50 pm
2:50 – 3:10 pm
3:10 – 3:30 pm
3:30 – 3:50 pm

Thursday, February 28
8:00 – 8:20 am
4:30 – 4:50 pm

Friday, February 29
7:40 – 8:00 am
8:00 – 8:20 am

Thank you!
Lisa Johnson

Sixth Grade Families,

Reminder: Field Trip Friday (Tomorrow)
We will be traveling south of Castle Rock to a Llama farm tomorrow (Friday) in order to do field work for our last case study: Machu Picchu and the Incan Civilization. Please encourage your child to wear appropriate clothes and shoes. After last night’s snow, I am anticipating mud tomorrow. Thank you to Frank Gibbs, Gordan Adler, and Amy Levy for volunteering to drive!

Ski Trip
Please don’t forget that the sign up deadline for the February 20th Ski Trip is tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 1. Sign up information was sent home and your students have been reminded a few times. But, if you don’t have the information handy, call the front desk tomorrow to find out more: 303-387-8000. Those who choose not to attend this trip will still have school that day and will be participating in special activities.

Expedition Update:
Thank you to all of our families who were able to attend Expedition Night last week! Our crew was proud of the learning they shared with you. The feedback I received from students was very positive - many of them just wish we had shared more and gone on longer. Thank you for being their audience.
We had a guest speaker from the Parker Artist Guild visit us today. Bruce Norman, a professional photographer shared a slideshow of his trip to Peru and Machu Picchu. Our crew enjoyed his pictures and asked him a number of related questions about Machu Picchu, Incan architecture, and the current descendants of the Incan people. He also surprised us with a gift: a large copy of one of his prints of Machu Picchu - for our classroom! We enjoyed his visit! To view his photos (maybe your sixth-grader can narrate), go to http://www.brucenorman.com/ and click on “Peru”.

CSAP Window
Yes, it’s almost that time again. Renaissance’s CSAP testing window is coming up: between March 3-13. We ask that, if you are planning any family trips or etc., you take these dates into account and plan to have your child attend school between March 3 and March 13.

Congratulations
Congratulations to Alex and Athena for their entertaining performances at the Artstravaganza Talent Show yesterday. Our crew was able to watch them perform in the morning at our school-wide assembly - and some of us watched them again last night. We were very proud of you, Athena and Alex! Congratulations, also to our entire crew for their beautiful Mayan artwork. I heard lots of complements from our community last night at the art show.

Reader’s Workshop
We have been reading and learning a bit about Greek mythology recently. This has provided a motivating and natural reason to learn about Greek and Latin root words, prefixes, and suffixes. This will be a great vocabulary-builder and word study opportunity for students. The kids are already making many connections between what we are reading about and our own cultural stories and language. Our list of connections is varied and interesting! Stop by and check it out sometime …

Have a fun and restful weekend!
☺ Lisa Johnson