Look what we're learning:  Oh, to be a bear! September 22-29 is Fat Bear Week. In Katmai National Park, in Alaska (the biggest and coldest state), there is a competition to crown the fattest brown bear. The Park Rangers choose the bears that compete, post pictures, and the public votes online. The bear with the most votes wins.  We will learn that bears are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and animals. Some bears eat 80-90 pounds of food per day. Then they sleep for most of the winter. I'll say it again ... Oh, to be a bear!  Our vocabulary words for this unit are competition, brown bear, national park, and vote. We will only be in school for three days this week, so we will continue this unit next week as well. Look for a  Salmon Life Cycle Spinner to come home during this unit as we study the Alaskan Brown Bear's main food source.  During this unit, we will go online and vote for our pick for the fattest bear. If you get a chance, you can go online with your student and vote as well! The site to visit is https://explore.org/fat-bear-week.

Mrs. Deb, the speech teacher, will be here for speech on Mondays and Wednesdays and will meet with the students as their services require. Some students are working on sign language, so we incorporate that into our class. We will start working on basic signs such as yes, no, sorry, please, thank you, and more.  If you have any signs you would like us to work on with your child, or if you would like to learn the signs to implement at home, let me know.

One note about Parent Conference Day. It will be next Friday, September 25. I have daily contact with my parents and generally take care of any issue that arises at that time. I do not need to meet with anyone specifically; however, I will be here, and if anyone would like to meet, I will be happy to accommodate. Please let me know if you would like a meeting that day, or any day. I always want to be accessible.