April

Dear Families,

Well, the snow is finally gone! Flowers are in bloom and spring is in the air. With that in mind if you'd like your child to be able to have cough drops during school hours, there is a form you can fill out in the office. Then if you send a bag of cough drops with your child's name on it, the nurse can give them as needed. Also, it would be really helpful if your child has a 16oz. water bottle for the classroom, this would allow them to have water when needed, but not have to leave the room.

The Grout Run is happening soon, pledge forms are due April 15th. We will be at Cleveland Track on April 16th...please contact me if you are interested in walking over with us (I will have to drive and meet you there) or just meeting us there. The Grout Auction in Saturday, April 20th. We've completed a beautiful wall hanging of Portland and Oregon icons. Plus we've decorated an outdated globe with positive sayings and student pictures. I hope you can make the auction. If you cannot afford the admission for the event, but would like to go; PTA is looking for volunteers to work shifts, contact PTA or the office if this would be helpful for you. It is an adult only event.

With the time change tardies have really become an issue. We have had days of 13, 11, 7, or 8 children late to class. Just a reminder breakfast is served at 7:30 in the cafeteria, first bell rings at 7:50 and they are to be in class at 8:00. Please remind them to come to class on time and ready to learn. This will help them start their day off well.

Portland bridges are on display in the library for the month of April. Please come by and check out all the amazing creations! Thank you families, for helping your child with this project! Their speeches are available for review on SeeSaw. We will be taking our annual bridge walking tour with Nathan Hoover. We've split my class in half (I am unable to do the long walking involved on this trip); so some children are going on Thursday, April 11th and the rest will go on Friday, April 12th; the classes will be going with Ms. VanClock.  Ms. Williams and I will remain back at Grout with various activities for the rest of the students.

 We have many other activities coming up in May...MAPS testing, more field trips, character studies in reading and fairy tales in writing; so please stay tuned! 

As always if you can volunteer, any day, just check in with me. Would love to have the company!! Any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks for your support,

Carolyn Neal

cneal@pps.net

503-916-6209

February 2018

                                                                      
Dear Families,

Well, I am glad to be back in the classroom finally! My shoulder is healing well, but I did recently hyper-extend my knee; talk about the walking wounded!!

I appreciate your support and help in the next few weeks. Remember if you have time Wednesday mornings are a great time to stop by, the kids are in art and I could use help wiping down desks, sharpening pencils, and hanging student work.

This month students are working on the 3rd grade Portland bridge project. It is a great time of learning teamwork, problem solving, and researching the city's bridges. All in preparation for their own bridge building and speech due in March. Mrs. Van Clack will have more information on the expectations for this project coming home soon.

We continue to work on multiplication and division this quarter. Memorization of basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication basic facts is important. If they can practice with flashcards frequently that would be good for them. Also, if they can access the internet, they can do Freckle Math; if an adult has time to sit with them, even for 15 minutes, and talk through the problems, that would be really helpful.

In reading we are continuing look at non-fiction books and their text features, as well as beginning to look at biographies. We are drafting opinion papers and supporting our opinions with evidence or specific reasons. Continue to encourage your child to read every night at home, as that is part of the school's homework expectation.

Keep Thursday, February 21st, in mind, as we are so excited to have our  STEAM  (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) night at Grout. It will be in conjunction with our kindergarten round-up. Come as a family and check out the hands on activities in the gym and cafeteria. We will be there from 6:00-7:30pm.

Our Grout community continues to focus on kindness. We are participating in a coin drive for Pennies for Patients, students came home with information and a coin box for this project.

Information regarding our Valentines' Day activities will be coming home on Monday the 4th.

As always I appreciate working with you in helping your child to be successful.

Sincerely,
Carolyn Neal