Holiday Paragraph

A while ago the 403 Scholars began taking notes on different winter holidays. Next, each Scholar chose their favorite one and turned their notes into a paragraph. Today we were able to share our paragraphs with our classmates! Here are Ella's and Kai's fabulous and informative paragraphs!

Day of the Dead

By Ella

Day of the Dead, also known as Dia de los Muertos, is a time to cook, clean, and celebrate the ones who died in the past. In Mexico and some parts of the United States Day of the Dead is celebrated. It is not a time for spooky stuff like Halloween, it is a time to remember. On Day of the Dead almost all the houses fill with the smell of rich chocolate and warm chile. If you need to get ready for Day of the Dead go to the markets. They will be filled with candy and food. November 1st and 2nd is when Day of the Dead is celebrated. It's time, it's time to celebrate DAY OF THE DEAD!!

Here is Jack complimenting Ella on something she wrote in her paper!

Veteran's Day

By Kai

Veteran's Day is a holiday to commemorate (and honor) soldiers...who died in wars and to honor soldiers...that are still alive. Only celebrated in the U.S., on November 11th, it was originally called "Armistice Day". (Armistice /@r.mI.stIs/ means a pause in fighting brought about by agreement between the two sides.) Barely anyone actually celebrates it except actual veterans. Few non-veteran citizens of the U.S. celebrate. As for citizens of other countries, they don't celebrate at all. Now, as I was saying, barely anyone actually celebrates. But you still get a day off.

Kai is most likely pointing out his awesome double header to Cate!

Here the Scholars sit in inner and outer circles in order to share their paragraphs with many classmates!

Pen Pal Party!!

WOW!! Yesterday the 403 Scholars met their Pen Pals from UNC. All of the students AND all of the Pen Pals were there - how fantastic! We wanted to make a great first impression. Here are some of the things we did to get ready for the Pen Pals...

Our reading hour ends at 1:30 and the Pen Pals were scheduled to arrive at 1:45. That means we had to wait an excruciating 15 MINUTES for them. Alexandre and Zoe could barely contain their nerves!

Finally the Pen Pals arrives and were greeted with great excitement, conversation, and hugs! We spent the rest of the afternoon sharing stories, interests, and personal treasures with them. Here is a look at the Scholars hanging out with their Pals:

What a truly awesome experience for everyone! We can't wait to keep writing letters and we hope to see the Pen Pals again in the Spring. We send a special thank you to the parents who helped us get ready, Miss Hensler for all of her hard work, and the Pen Pals for taking the time to meet with us!!

Plant Website!

We've begun to study plants in class. This cool website takes you on your own plant mystery. Help Detective LePlant solve the cases while learning fun facts and playing cool games! Have fun!

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/index.html

Volunteer Thank You!

Room 403 has been so fortunate to have many helpful volunteers for the first part of the year. We had four Juniors from the UNC School of Education who helped and observed in the classroom twice a week. They recently spent their last days with us before finishing up their semester at school. We will truly miss Miss Kriska, Miss Hensler, Miss McMurray, and Miss Nelson. We also had Ms. McGee, a volunteer who helped for the math hour once a week. What a lucky bunch of Scholars to have all this support. Thanks!

Miss Kriska and Miss McMurray get a BIG group hug on their last day. We'll miss you!