Family Fun Night Information-Please read

FAMILY FUN NIGHT
THURSDAY, MAY 2ND – 6-8 PM

1. BASKET DONATIONS!  The deadline for donations for grade levels baskets is THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 19TH!  Please return your donation as soon as possible, so we can shop for items and have them all ready for you to preview before Family Fun Night!)  (A list of themes is at the bottom for your information and for a reminder!)
2. BUSINESS DONATIONS!  Your business may be interested and able to help with a donation towards one of the grade level gaskets, or you may have an item that would make a great raffle item on its own or combined with other area businesses!  We are ALWAYS appreciation for donations!!  If your business is interested in make a donation, or financial donation to help cover other event expenses, please contact Michelle Unwin at 505-510-5694.
3. VOLUNTEERS:  We still need volunteers for selling tickets and for setup on May 2nd.  If you are available, please email Michelle Unwin at theunwins@comcast.net .  
4. TICKETS will be on sale before and after school the week of April 29th.  Watch for more details next week!
5. SAVE THE DATE!!!  May 2nd is coming fast!  Can’t wait to see you all there!!!

Here are the basket themes for this year:
Kindergarten – Fan Frenzy (Ducks and Beavers, one basket each)
1st Grade – YUM!!  Coffee, Candy & Sweets
2nd Grade – Summer Family Fun (camping, etc.)
3rd Grade – Gift Cards Galore
4th Grade – Technology
5th Grade – Great Gardens & Money Tree

Thanks again for your faithful support for the school!!!  Let’s celebrate a great 2012-13 school year together at Family Fun Night!!!

Family Game!http://www.blogger.com/home

First letter, last letter

Even though this is an easy game for younger and older kids to play, "First letter, last letter" is a fun way to teach children to think fast. The first person starts by saying any word, and then the next person has to come up with a word that starts with the last letter of the previous player’s word.

For example:
Player 1: "Rat"
Player 2: "Time"
Player 3: "Egg"

Extra challenge: Clap your hands on a regular beat. Players must say the word on the beat, otherwise they’re out. You can increase the clap tempo as players get eliminated, so that the final two will have to fire words back and forth lightning fast.

http://www.greatschools.org/students/activities/slideshows/2812-family-word-games.gs?page=3

I found this game at the above site. I thought it would be a fun family activity. You could also do this withing rhyming words, word families, blends, digraphs...what ever level works best for your family.

Looking for Earth Day fun???!!!!

Check out what's going on at the Oregon Gardens!

http://www.oregongarden.org/events/earth-day/

Visit to the Art Center

Here are a few images from our trip today! We had a great time visiting the Willamette Art Center. Check out their website for fun family times at the center!

http://www.willametteartcenter.com/

Leprechaun Pictures

I found the pictures from the day the Leprechaun's visited!

iPad and writing

Today the kids were working with an app that had them listen to a sentence and then put it in order. The tricky part was that the app has them include punctuation as well as using uppercase letters correctly. The app they used today was Sentence Builder.

Writing with First Graders

We are currently learning how to structure our writing to make our pieces better. We are learning to write a topic sentences, supporting detail sentences (on topic) and a closing sentence. Ask you student about these and have them show you what they know!

Using the iPads

Friday was the egg drop for second grade. We took pictures and videos using the iPads so the second graders could see the whole drop.
Here are a few pictures of us at work.

Charter Survey

Dear Charter Parents,

In the past we have had to administer a survey the state provided. The state no longer is providing a survey, however we have developed a survey that we believe will be more useful to our school, and is much shorter!  We would like all surveys to be completed by April 19th.  Your feedback will be used by the Charter Board and teachers who will review this data as we plan for next year.  While the numeric scores will give us a general idea of how we are doing – the most important part of the survey are your comments to let us know what you like and what ideas you have for the future.

To access the survey please go to:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HGYDRZ2

Please fill out only one survey per family.

Thank you for your participation,

Amy Morris                       Gary Etchemendy

Charter Board Chair           Principal

A Note from PTC!

TC MEETING
All parents are invited to this month’s PTC meeting, Monday, April 15, 6 pm.  This month we’ll be talking about the teacher mini-grants that were awarded, hearing a report from Mr. Etchemendy, presentation about KEY program, and talk about Family Fun Night.  Additionally we will be talking about Board positions that will be open next year, and roles to be filled for our events.  It’s a great time to get involved, and we would love for you to be there!  Childcare is provided for school age children in the gym.  

FAMILY FUN NIGHT
Hopefully you’ve seen the flyer and announcements about our annual Family Fun Night coming up Thursday, May 2nd.  We just wanted to remind you that we have one more week to accept donations to be used towards Grade Level Baskets & Items that will be raffled that night!  Yes, we can take cash or check donations (checks should be made payable to Forest Ridge PTC).  All money donations will be used to purchase items for the raffle.  This year’s theme’s are:  

Here are the basket themes for this year!
Kindergarten – Fan Frenzy (Ducks & Beavers)
1st Grade – YUM!! Coffee, Candy & Sweets
2nd Grade – Summer Family Fun
3rd Grade – Gift Cards Galore
4th Grade – Technology
5th Grade – Great Gardens & Money Tree!!

We’ve also got donations coming from area businesses that we are excited about!  We’ll share more details on those in the next week or so!!  Can’t wait to tell you about it!  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Michelle Unwin @ 503-510-5694.  

Thanks again for all your support for Forest Ridge!  
See you Monday night at PTC and at Family Fun Night on Thursday, May 2nd.  

iPads in the Classroom

Your student may have told you that we are using iPads in the classroom. Several teachers wrote a grant to our school district and we were awarded 12 iPads, 6 for primary and 6 for intermediate. This week our class has been working on using the iPads to record ourselves reading a book and then listening to our fluency and the app Know Your Math Facts-free. If you own an iPad, have your student show you what they have done this week.