Wow, what a year! To better state that- what a GREAT year! We have covered a lot of material and participated in many fun and exciting projects.  We made many new friends along the way too.  As I write this last post of this school year, I am packing up Room 214 and moving across the hallway to Room 231.  

Each of your children has brought such personality and dynamics to our classroom. I was so fortunate to have such a wonderful group of students this past year and many of whom I have had the pleasure of teaching previously. My friends and family often laugh at me when I refer to your children as “my kids”. 

It has been my pleasure getting to know not only your child, but many of you as well. Having parental support and open lines of communication is an essential part of any successful school year.   Hopefully our paths will cross again…

Thank you for all you have done to make our year so fulfilling and memorable. Also, a huge thank you for so many lovely cards, gifts, letters, and conversations this week and throughout the year. 

Can you volunteer some time either Thursday or Friday morning to help out?

We now have the log benches for our outdoor classroom at school. They need some work done to them before they can be installed. We need to take some of the bark off of them and then sand the edges. I am sending this message out to ask for some parent volunteers to help us work on the logs on Thursday morning (June 9) and/or Friday morning (June 10) this week.

The maintenance department will be at Aspen next week to start the process of installing the benches behind the school in the circular area. We need some parents to help out to prep the log benches first. Please see if you can give Aspen an hour or two on either Thursday or Friday this week. All you need is some gloves. You can bring a belt or palm sander (if you have one at home).

PAC viewed the logs today and they are beautiful! They are going to look great once they are installed. If you can help out on Thursday or Friday, it would be very helpful. Thank you in advance.

Recently, we have started a novel study on “The Cay” by Theodore Taylor with our student teacher Mr. Binnersley.  Students will be reading the novel in class and be working on different activities as they progress through the novel.

from the back cover:

     Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed.
     When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: “They are different, and they live differently.”
    But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip’s head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.

Welcome back from Spring Break.  I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the lovely weather and get some rest and relaxation.  A few students (and teachers!) looked a little blurry eyed this morning, but we jumped right in and got down to work.

It was a clean sweep this year for the Aspen Park Spelling Bee. Yesterday, Division 10 ended up taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd place with our super spellers. Congratulations to all contestants for making it to the school competition level. A special congratulations to Kieran, Darren and Ashlyn for representing our class and doing a great job. They will be off to Brooklyn Elementary February 16th for the District Spelling Bee.