Dear Parents,

We were so proud of the Older Kids and what they came up with to represent their Mesopotamia City-State. If you have time, stop in to see all of the different civilizations outside of our classrooms. Creativity flourished in this project as they were joining forces with other civilizations, commoners revolting to dethrone their Kings, and exporting and hatching baby Dragons to name a few. Here are a few examples:

Topic:

We will wrap up our unit on Mesopotamia this week by discussing the big picture of what is necessary for a civilization to be considered successful. We will transition into our next unit, Simple Machines by making a simple yet ingenious invention known as the Archimedes Screw.

Literacy

This week we will continue writing a legend that explains an aspect of the city-states the kids created for the recitation. This was a terrific tie-in to their recitation as it was easier for the kids to create a story now that they could imagine their characters in their Mesopotamian setting. For Reader’s Workshop we will focus on the skill of “drawing conclusions.”

Vocabulary: Lesson 4 – A-D

Latin American Market

The Latin American Market will take place on Wednesday, November 19th from 9am – 11am. Students should be working on their specialty items to sell at the market.

St.Martinstag Coat Drive

Just a reminder that our coat drive is still going on until Friday, November 14. MK performed an inspiring skit during group sing and our collection bins are filling up. Please check your closets and consider donating gently used coats of any size. All donations will benefit the Crossroads Safehouse in Fort Collins.

Danke,

Beate

Note from Mary:

Winter is coming!  

We love for students to play outside! We believe students need that time outside not only to burn some energy, but also to balance their day with the high expectations we have for them in the classroom. We expect students to have proper snow clothes every day during the winter months (hats, snow pants, boots, jackets, gloves).  Our students go outside as long as the weather isn’t “dangerous.” We typically say we go outside if it’s 15 degrees or warmer, but we try to be flexible with that number as there can also be other factors to consider (wind chill, sunshine, etc,). YK, MK, and OK students have  thirty minute recess each morning and an hour for lunch. When it’s cold outside, students eat inside and then go outside to play for the remainder of their lunch break.

Rivendell’s Weather/School Cancellation Policy

*Always check the Rivendell Website for information about school closures.

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, November 19th – Latin American Market

Friday, November 21 – Field trip to see Seussical the Musical at the Lincoln Center (If you haven’t already, please send $8.00 to cover the cost of this field trip.)

Homework

Monday

• Read 20 minutes

Tuesday

• Read 20 minutes
• German Homework

Wednesday

• Purple Math (2 pages or 20 minutes)
• Read 20 minutes

Thursday

• Read 20 minutes

Have a wonderful week!

The OK Team

October 27, 2014

Dear Parents,

We hope everyone enjoyed the fantastic weather this weekend. Thank you for coming to conferences. We really enjoyed spending time talking about your children. They are wonderful students and we are lucky to have them with us. Thank you for all the help and time that you gave to make the Rivendell Fall Fun Fest such a success. It was a great time and we know the effort it takes to put this all together.

Literacy: This week in reading we are looking at context clues and identifying words in our texts that are unfamiliar. We are asking the kids to use specific strategies in order to decode their meaning. In writing we are finishing up our spooky stories. The kids will be adding similes and metaphors to their stories and we will share them on Friday – perfect timing!

Topic: Our unit on Mesopotamia is well under way. The city/state planning sheet was due today. We are simply conferencing with kids to make sure they are on track. Final projects are due on November 7th. This week they will be participating in a Cuneiform writing activity in science using clay tablets. We will be reading articles about daily life in Mesopotamia in small groups and presenting our information to each other.

Halloween: Thank to Jody Steger for coordinating our Halloween party on Friday! Please remember to send in your treat or craft before then.

Halloween Day at Rivendell

Kids love the chance to dress up in their costumes on Halloween day and participate in our annual parade.  Here are some guidelines and information:

• Costumes should come to school in a marked bag, NOT WORN TO SCHOOL.  They should be easy to put on and in good taste (they should not involve blood or violence).  No weapons or extremely frightening masks are allowed.
• The costume parade starts at 2:00!  We will start dressing at1:45.  Parents are invited to come watch the parade.
• Weather will influence the parade route.  We like parading outside, but if this is not possible we will parade through the school.  The parade will circle several times so you can see all  the fun costumes.
• Classroom parties are being coordinated through each individual classroom.  Contact your child’s teacher if you’d like to help or donate treats and supplies.

 

Cupcakes and Curriculum Night

Monday, November 3rd from 5:30-7:00 pm

One of our goals at Rivendell is to make sure that parents understand what a truly exceptional education they’re investing in for their child.  To help achieve this goal we are hosting the first of three Cupcakes and Curriculum events.

At our first event, we’ll be focusing on our one-of-a-kind math curriculum and how it helps each student lay a foundation of understanding and mastery at each level of their learning.  From our preschoolers all the way up to our graduating Older Kids, we prepare students for success!

The evening will include a presentation by our principal, Mary Nichols, demonstration by Rivendell Math Specialist, Pat Baker, hands-on exploration of Rivendell’s math books, tools and manipulatives, and, of course, cupcakes!

**Childcare will be provided.  Please sign up in the front office if you will be bringing your child/ren so we can plan accordingly.  Thanks!**

Homework:

Monday:

• Planning sheet is due
• Work on Recitation
• Read

Tuesday:

• Recitation
• Read and study vocabulary for test on Friday
• German homework

Wednesday:

• Recitation
• Purple math – 2-3 pages or 20 minutes
• Study for Vocabulary

Thursday:

• Vocabulary test tomorrow
• Read novels
• Work on Recitation

Have a wonderful week!

The OK Team

Dear Parents,

It was wonderful to connect with many of you last week over conferences. We enjoy this time of year to sit down with you and share information about your child’s’ progress. Please do let us know if you have any follow-up questions after your conference. This is another short week with no school on Friday!

Mesopotamia – Today we announced our Mesopotamia recitation: Design a City-State (see attachment). Students are to pretend they are a city planner for a city-state in the ancient Middle East. They will consider all of the people who live in the city, their occupations, beliefs, etc., and plan their  city. We are giving the students three weeks to work on it and the final project is due Friday, November 7th. Before they can begin building or creating their city-state, they must review different features of their region and write their plan. The Mesopotamia City-State Planning sheet is due Monday, October 27th.

Literacy –  Spooky stories and chilling tales to share with the class on Halloween

Vocabulary Lesson 3 – Students will start Lesson 3 (A-D) in class this week.

EVENTS:

Thursday, October 23rd – Picture Day

Thursday, October 23rd – Author Visit at 1:00pm

We’re thrilled to have Perrin Pring, Rivendell alumna and author of several popular science fiction/fantasy novels, visit with our Older Kids!  Perrin’s books include Appointment at the Edge of Forever, Enabled and Tomorrow is Too Late.

Friday, October 24th – Rivendell Fun Fest! 6pm – 8pm

Have a great week,

Jessica, Karen and Megan

Homework:

Monday:

Work on City-State Planning Sheet (due 10/27)

Read 20 min.

Tuesday:

Work on City-State Planning Sheet (due 10/27)

Spanish – Due Wed (Megan and Karen’s class)

Read 20 min.

Wednesday:

Work on City-State Planning Sheet (due 10/27)

Spanish – Due Thursday (Jessica’s class)

Purple Math 20 min. or 2 pages

Read 20 min.

October 6, 2014

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a wonderful weekend and got to enjoy the beautiful weather. Please read below for our weekly news and assignments.

Topic:

We are beginning our study of Mesopotamia this week. This is a fascinating ancient culture and we have many great activities planned. The kids will be working on a project folder here in school which covers such topics as agriculture, trade, government, religion, society, clothing, inventions and discoveries. They will creating their own city state as a final recitation which should help them to put their knowledge together in a creative way.

State Recitation:

In order to teach students about geography, we will occasionally add recitations that focus on geographical skills. This week we have assigned a geopolitical map of a state that is due on October 15th. We have gone over the instructions in class, given each of them a copy of their map to create and attached the recitation directions for you as well.

Reading/ Writing:

We will be focusing on author’s purpose and making predictions in our novel units this week. We have begun a class novel titled Firegirl. We will be using this novel to model critical skills and themes.

Spelling:

We are working in Unit 2 this week and the kids will complete the workbooks in class. They will be taking home their lists of words today to study for the test on Friday.

Upcoming dates:

• Conferences are on October 16 and 24th. Please be sure to sign up on our sheets posted outside our doors if you have not already done so.
• There is no school on October 17th
• October 24th is our Fall Festival at the school. This takes place in the evening and is a great time to get to know our community better!

Homework:

Monday:

• Spelling words go home to study
• Work on State recitation due October 15th
• Read

Tuesday:

• Study spelling
• Spanish due for Karen and Megan’s class on Wednesday due Thurs for Jessica’s class
• Work on recitation

Wednesday:

• Purple math book 2-3 pages
• Recitation
• Spanish for Jessica’s class
• Read

Thursday

• Study for spelling test on Friday
• Work on Recitation
• Read

Have a great week!

Karen, Megan and Jessica

(see Recitation below)

Tourist Map of the States: Due: October 15

How would you know which of the states you would like to visit? By looking at a geopolitical map you can see where cities are located, what natural features are around and other human structures such as tourists attractions.

Create a tourist map of the state you have chosen and include the following key elements:

*A colorful map of your state

*Include the capital of the state, major bodies of water,  the state nickname,  places to visit, and fun facts such as unique land forms and animals to the area.

For example: Florida is called “The Sunshine State” because on average it has 300 days of sunshine per year. Everglades National Park is one of the natural wilderness areas visited by many tourists.

 

 

Dear Parents,
I’m sure your children came home with many action-packed stories from our adventures at the Riverbend Ponds Natural Area last Friday. Some highlights included exploring around the ponds and through the trees, picnic lunch with their friends by the river, and documenting their observations by sketching and writing in their journals. It was quite the hike over there and that was certainly part of the adventure with 30 kids!

Please visit our class blog to see photos from the trip.

Here’s our week at a glance:

Literacy:
This week in Literacy we will continue to practice making inferences in our reading by using the text and our background knowledge to put the pieces together. The kids are encouraged to think about their own life experiences, what they already know and make inferences based on the characters in their novels.  Our next writing piece is an expository paragraph where we’ll focus on how to write a solid topic sentence, organize our information and write a strong conclusion.

Peace Circles:
Last week we continued giving our classmates appreciation and gratitude in Peace Circles. This week Kiri will join us and we’ll be adding the component of airing hurts and concerns. The emphasis here is on the person harmed and their feelings, not on the wrong doing. This will help the kids to learn more about others and how to get along as a community.

Topic:
On Monday students will share their recitation on how “Humans Impact the Ocean Environment” which will be the finale of our Oceans unit. nOnward to the cradle of civilization and the study of Mesopotamia!

Conferences:
Outside of the OK classrooms we’ve put up the sign-up sheet for conferences on Thursday, October 16th and Friday morning the 24th. We have times between 8-3 on Thursday and 8-11 Friday the 24th.

Restaurant Nights
This Wednesday is Restaurant Night at Old Chicago on Timberline from 5:30pm-7:30pm. Wear your Rivendell t-shirt!

Homework:
As a reminder, Vocabulary sections A-D will be the first week and section E the second week. That puts spelling on an every third week rotation. This week our students will continue Lesson 2 Part E.

Homework:

Monday:
Read 20 min.

Tuesday:
Vocabulary Section E: due Wednesday
Read 20 min.

Wednesday:
Purple Math: 2 pages or 20 min.
Study for Vocabulary test on Friday
Restaurant Night at Old Chicago on Timberline 5:30pm-7:30pm (Wear your Rivendell t-shirt)

Thursday:
Study for Vocabulary test on Friday
Read 20 min.

The Older Kids had a blast exploring the Riverbend Ponds Natural Area. They took some time to listen to the story of nature going on around them and documented their findings in a variety of ways. Poetry, sketches and sensory logs became field notes while the river and the ponds were explored and observed.

Dear Parents,

We are excited to have our first field trip planned for this Friday! We will be hiking to the Riverbend Ponds where the students will have an opportunity to explore their local environment, document and make sketches of their findings and collect objects from the area. An official field trip permission slip will be coming home on Tuesday to be signed and returned by Friday.

Peace Keeper Circles:

We will continue to practice giving our classmates appreciation and gratitude in Peace Circles this week. The kids are learning how it is important to express how we feel while giving details and making eye contact when speaking directly to a person.

Literacy:

This week in Literacy we will continue to practice making inferences in our reading by using the text and our background knowledge to put the pieces together. The kids are encouraged to think about their own life experiences, what they already know and make inferences based on the characters in their novels. We will be practicing using word choice and voice in our writing.

Science:

Last week in science the kids learned different ways to clean up an oil spill in the ocean. This was the perfect segway for our next recitation on how humans impact the ocean environment. The kids will be choosing an article or video on how humans impact the ocean and share important facts as well as a possible solution to the problem.

Homework:

In an effort to help balance the amount of homework our kids are working on throughout the week, we have decided to do vocabulary for two weeks instead of one. This will allow the kids to work on A-D the first week and then Section E in class the second week. That puts spelling on an every third week rotation.

Homework:

Monday:

Work on Recitation Due: Sept. 29

Read 20 min.

Tuesday:

(M/K class) Spanish Homework due: Thursday

Work on Recitation

Read 20 min.

Wednesday:

(Jessica’s class) Spanish homework due: Thursday

Purple Math: 2 pages or 20 min.

Work on Recitation

Read 20 min.

Thursday:

Work on Recitation

Read 20 min.

Wear Purple shirts on Friday

September 15, 2014

Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe but we have already completed an entire month of school! The Older Kids are such an intelligent, kind and engaging group of students. We feel so fortunate to be able to listen to their thoughtful conversations, answer their compelling questions and learn from their vast background of knowledge.

The students completed and presented their recitations last Friday and did an amazing job. They presented on everything from Orca Whales to the Blobfish. This is such an important time for them to share what they know and to practice presenting information to others. We were impressed with their confidence and poise.

We will continue our study of the Oceans this week and will conduct a simple but helpful experiment that teaches us about waves and currents. Polly engaged the kids in an activity involving the salinity of ocean water.

Reading/Writing

 

We are finishing up our personal narratives and sharing them with each other. The kids did a great job focusing on a specific event or moment in their life and working to add detail, emotion and description. This week we will work on sentence fluency in writing and making inferences while reading.

 

Homework:

Monday:

* Spelling – take home words to study

* Read 20-30 minutes

Tuesday:

* Study Spelling words

* German homework

* Read

Wednesday:

* Purple math – 2-3 pages

* study for spelling test

* Read

Thursday:

* spelling test tomorrow

* Read 20 minutes

* Study math facts

Please remember that all of the OK have small group math homework for Pat each week.

Upcoming Events:

*Nursing home visit for some volunteers on Wednesday

* Peace Circles with Kiri on Thursday

Have a great week!

Karen, Megan and Jessica

Dear Parents,

 

It was wonderful to see many of you at Back to School Night!  If you were unable to make it and didn’t receive the information, please see one of us this week and we’ll get you copies. Next time you stop in, please take a moment to check out our ocean bulletin board outside the music room. Our students created an advertisement to persuade someone to visit their feature of the ocean floor. They really enjoyed each having a different role working on a team to research, plan, design, and create their final product.

 

Reading and Writing:

This week we will continue to identify  the characters, setting and theme in our independent novels and other writing examples. We are beginning to edit and peer edit our personal narratives focusing on a small moment or important event that took place in our lives.

 

Topic:

We’ll continue looking at different features of the oceans and studying currents, waves, and tides. On Friday, students will share their sea creature recitations.

 

Vocabulary:

This week we’ll introduce vocabulary and students will do Sections A-D in class on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday evening, students will take their vocabulary books home to finish up section E which is due Thursday. On Friday, students will take the fill-in-the-blank vocabulary test. We are providing the words and students just need to study the meanings of the word.

 

Homework:

We are continuing to practice writing our homework for the week into our planners each afternoon. The kids are encouraged to bring their planners home each night as a reference.

 

Monday

*Work on Ocean Recitation – due Friday

*Read novel 20 minutes

 

Tuesday:

*Work on Ocean Recitation – due Friday

*Work on Vocabulary Part E – due Thursday

 

Wednesday:

*Work on Vocabulary Part E – due Thursday

*Practice Ocean Recitation presentation – due Friday

*Read novel 20 minutes

 

Thursday:

*Study for Vocabulary Test on Friday

*Read novel 20 minutes

*Practice Ocean Recitation presentation – due Friday

Upcoming Events:

 

September 11 Running Club starts!  3:30 – 4:30 – Please email my personal plug for this 8 week class below.

September 15 (8:30-9:30 a.m.) and September 16 (4-5 p.m.)

– New Parent Orientations

 

The Rivendell Running Club starts this week!

The first ever Rivendell Running Club will take to the track and the trails starting on Thursday, September 11th. The Running Club will meet every Thursday from 3:30 – 4:30pm.  The cost is $80 which includes a free Rivendell Running Club t-shirt.  All 3rd-5th Grade kids are welcome to join. The goal is to be able to complete a 5K at the completion of the 8 weeks together. Our goal race is the Veterans Day 5K on Saturday, November 8th.

 

The aim of Rivendell Running Club is to:

• Motivate youth to become fit.
• Help students gain an appreciation of walking/jogging/running as lifetime exercises.
• Have fun in the outdoors

For more information, contact Megan Haynes at megan@rivendell-school.org. Also, I’m looking for 1-2 parent volunteers to help run with the kids if we have different pace groups. Please email Megan if you are interested in volunteering as well.

 

Have a wonderful week!

Jessica, Karen and Megan

Dear Parents,

We hope everyone had a nice and relaxing three day weekend. We are excited to welcome two new students to Older Kids this week! Juan Camilo will be joining Karen and Megan’s class for the next three months from Columbia and Michaela, a former Rivendell student who will be joining Jessica’s class.

Reading and Writing:

This week we will continue to focus on the Six Traits of Writing, and identifying the characters, setting and theme in our independent novels.  In addition, we will be working on our personal narratives focusing on a small moment or important event that took place in our lives.

Topic:

The kids will continue to work in groups to create an ad for a feature of the ocean floor. They are highlighting important information about their area to portray the ocean subsurface topography. This project based learning experience will help them to identify the geological features of the ocean floor while using their persuasive writing skills to convince someone to visit their feature.

Vocabulary and Spelling:

The students will be starting  their vocabulary next week. This will be done both in class and at home.

Upcoming Events:

* Lou Anders, author of Frostborn, will be at Rivendell on Sept. 4th  If your child is interested in purchasing a copy of Frostborn, the cost is $18.24.

* Back to School Night on September 4th. We will be meeting in Karen and Megan’s room from 7:30 -8:00. This will be a great opportunity for you to have a better understanding of our curriculum for the year and to get answers to your questions. Also, Kiri Saftler,Peace Circle Facilitator & Trainer will be here Thursday doing two brief informational sessions about Peacekeeper Circles at 6:30 and at 7:00 in the Music Room.

Also, we would like all parents know that you can read and access Rivendell Board of Directors Minutes on the Rivendell website.

Board of Directors Page

 

Click on the link above, and then scroll down to see the link to the minutes. You’ll be prompted to enter a password. All parents can use the password riv1976bod.

Homework:

We are continuing to practice writing our homework for the week into our planners each afternoon. The kids are encouraged to bring their planners home each night as a reference.

Tuesday:

*Ocean Recitation is assigned: due Friday, September 12 (see attached)

*German Homework: due Wednesday

*Read novel 30 minutes

Wednesday:

*Read novel 30 minutes

*Work on Recitation

Thursday:

*Read novel 30 minutes

*Work on Recitation
Have a wonderful week!

Jessica, Karen and Megan