Math Fair: We had fun!

A big THANK YOU! to everyone for a successful partnership program! Parents and staff worked hard to bring three areas of focus together for 1 1/2 hours of fun for all students. Math facts or number sense, measurement and geometry were the three areas each grade focused on for about 25 minutes each. Here is a synopsis of the activities.

Pocket Day: Everyone was encouraged to wear as many pockets as possible. Some students wore shorts over pants. Others made shirts covered with pockets. Kindergarten and first grade counted the number of pockets each person had and the total pockets for their class. Second and third grade looked at their class data to determine the frequency each number of pockets occurred. Fourth and fifth grade were compiling school wide data to determine the average number of pockets, class averages, pod totals, school total, mean, median, mode and more.

Sawtooth Quilts were made by the Kindergarten and first grade classes to explore shape relations. They also made 12 inch rulers using 1-inch squares for measuring.

Tangrams were featured in second and third grade for shape relations and area. Kits will be provided for all second and third grade classrooms for further exploration. They also had fun with the Minute Madness activity. Do you know how many time you can write your name, hop or the number of jumping jacks you can do in one minute? They do now and for many of them it varied greatly from their predictions.

A place value game, As Close as Possible, required the fourth and fifth graders to use logic, strategy and subtraction/addition skills to reach the lowest score. Geoboards allowed them to explore shapes, angles, area and perimeter.

Please ask your students about these activities to reinforce what they experienced. It was great to see many parents come and participate with their children as well. Thanks for making Math Fair a great experience for everyone! ~Amy

Chuck E Cheese Night

It was great to see so many familiar faces at Chuck E Cheese last! Even though we had many hurdles to jump for the event to happen (date changes, they didn't send the packet with fliers and stickers, the snow came down and the roads were questionable in spots...) it was wonderful to see so many kids having a great time and so many parents socializing. Thanks for supporting our family events! ~Amy

Math Fair Update

Math Fair: Numbers, Shapes, Measurement will be held throughout the day Wednesday, January 26th as follows:

9-10:30am Kindergarten and First Grade
10:30-12pm Fourth and Fifth Grade
1:30-3pm Second and Third Grade

Students will rotate through three stations. Stations will be based on numbers or facts, geometry or shapes, and measurement. Topics were chosen based on our achievement data and teacher input.

Parents are encouraged to participate with their student. If you have addition time, we would love to have you participate with other grade levels, too. Forms will be coming home this week for you to sign up.

As always, thank you for supporting the success of your students through your involvement. ~Amy

New Year News

Chestnut has been bustling with activities since the Healthy Lifestyles Program.

The Original Works fundraiser wrapped up successfully. I hope everyone who participated is as happy as I am with the items they ordered.

The Holiday Family night was awesome. Lots of activities and crafts. Miss Beth (from the cafeteria) did a fabulous job painting some large photo boards for us with cut outs for faces. The kids pictures (and some parents) came out great! Thank you to everyone who helped and participated to make the night a great event.

Mrs. Riley was busy have students design possible covers for the 2010-2011 yearbook. We will have a selection available at the February PTA meeting for attendees to vote on and choose this years cover.

We kicked off a fundraiser last week and the kids are excited to earn an opportunity to cover the male teachers with silly string (10 items sold) or a limo ride (20 items sold). All orders and money is due to Chestnut PTA before January 19.

Math Fair is coming! It will be a daytime event again on Wednesday, January 26. K-2 will participate in the morning with 3-5 participating in the afternoon. Planning is being finalized so watch for more info to come. Parent attendance to participate with your child is encouraged.

Box Tops Pod Race 2 is underway and will end February 11. Last year the Blue Pod dominated. The Green Pod won this past fall. Who will be next? The entire school is a winner with this project as we earn 10 cents for every Box Top to support school and family activities.

Thank you for all your involvement and continued support of our students and school. Don't hesitate to contact PTA for more information. ~Amy

Healthy Lifestyles Event: Get Active, Eat Healthy, Promote Community

This years Healthy Lifestyles Event has a three prong approach. First, activity choices: fitness circuits, a backyard game, line dancing, yoga and a walking course. Second, healthy eating: choosing quick or easy to make, yummy food can be daunting to many. Come see our demonstration and try a sample. You may even learn about making better choices in the store. Lastly, healthy communities: rain barrels can help the environment of the community by recycling rain water and they can also be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Learn more from Soil and Water and purchase a barrel with a purpose. We have also mapped out a walking course around the school. Community members are welcome to use it when school is not in session.

Come learn more, this Thursday, November 18 from 6-7:30pm.

Everything centers on family fun, so don't forget to wear your sneakers and clothes you can move in! We will be learning to line dance to exercise our body and mind. We will learn about the practice of yoga to relax our body and mind. We will learn about healthy eating for healthy bodies and spirit. We will work towards developing a community that encourages healthy living through its actions. See you there! ~Amy