History Fair, Just a Little Over a Week Away!

The History Fair is just over a week away and the Wolves are busy making last minute preparations for this exciting event. A few reminders:

• Treats
• Please sign up on our treats sign-up sheet to bring in a treat to share with the Willowwind community.
• Because of the size of the event, we need treats, a drink, napkins, and cups to serve 175 - please therefore include on the sign-up sheet how much of an item you will be bringing.
• We are still in need of a volunteer to coordinate set-up, service, and clean-up for the treats; please email me if interested

• RSVP via email by this Friday
• Please include how many family and friends will be joining us so that we can plan out space accordingly.

• Schedule
• Please have your child back at school and ready to present (i.e. dressed in costume for performances or in business casual for websites) by 3:30pm on Thursday, March 8th.

• Pizza on the day of the event
• Judging will take place from 3:30 - 5:30pm. Since your child will not be with a judge for the entire time, we will have a room set up with pizza so that students can eat and relax while they're waiting their turn.
• If you would like your child to have pizza, please send $4 to school by next Monday, the 5th of March

• Presentation Boards
• Every student will be asked to make a process board that depicts the work that they did to come to their final product.
• If you would like to purchase a board from me (I have enough boards for every student), please send them to school with $3.50 by Thursday, March 1st.
• You are also welcome to purchase your own board. If you do, please email me so that I can give you the dimensions of our boards (I'd like all of the boards to be the same size); please also have these boards at school by Thursday of this week so we can begin work.

Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Can't wait to see it all come together!

Literature Circle with Janet is Back!

After a short break, our 6th graders have returned to their weekly discussions of Little Women with board member, Janet Freeman. These conversations give the students the opportunity to really dig deeply into the text and make important inferences about characters and plot development. I especially enjoyed hearing one student dissect the character of Laurie and his relationship with Jo.

Author's Cocoa

What a wonderful event! The students had the opportunity to present their writing to the Willowwind community. While reading personal work in front of a large audience can be extremely daunting, our students preserved through their fears and all did a beautiful job of reciting their work and helping their younger partners do the same. Check out the photos tab for more pictures of the event.

Thank you to all families that made donations including the Codds, Rice-Terrys, and Aults as well as a special thanks to Inara for helping with serving the wonderful treats!

Newsletter has been updated

Check out the newsletter tab for the March edition of the newsletter.

Conferences

Wolf families,

Conferences are just around the corner. Please take a moment to add your name to the Conference Sign-Up. Conferences are scheduled for February 28th and the evening of March 1st. Unfortunately, I will be headed to New York City on the 1st (after school) to present at a conference. I will therefore be holding conferences on the evening of February 22nd (in addition to the 28th). I hope these dates do not inconvenience anyone. If none of these times work for you, please email me and we can schedule another time. Thanks for your understanding,

Shanti

Author's Cocoa

Author's Cocoa will take place from 1-3pm on Friday, February 24th. Students from K-6 classes will have the opportunity to read a selection of their written work from the year to the Willowwind community. This is a great chance for students to practice their presentation skills and proudly present some of their work. We'll also have cocoa and a small treat after the readings. Hope to see you there!

Details for Our Community and Beyond Night (History Fair)

Wolf families,

As Our Community and Beyond night (History Fair) approaches, I wanted to send out some details that will help you and your child prepare for this exciting evening.  This is quite a bit of information but it's a pretty intense day and the more prepared we can be, the better!  I will resend some of these details as the fair gets closer but wanted you to have it ahead of time.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.  I truly want this to be the best experience possible for the students.  

RSVP

We will be using several different spaces in the school building that night and it would be helpful to have an idea of how many people will be attending.  Please let me know by Friday, February 24th how many family members will be joining us for that evening's events (including siblings, grandparents, friends of the family, etc.).

Timeline 

The students and I have worked together to come up with this timeline.  Students will be completing the bulk of this work at school but I thought it may be helpful for families to know what we're doing when so that you can help your child stay on track.

• Monday, February 13th: Outline due
• Monday, Feb 13th - Friday, Feb 17th: Working on draft of paragraphs for websites or draft of script
• Tuesday, Feb 21st - Friday, February 24th: Working on revising and editing (paragraphs or script)
• Wednesday, Feb 29th - Friday, March 2nd: Working on visual (for performance, costume, props, backdrop; for website, actual website design)
• Monday, March 5th - Thursday, March 8th: Practice, practice, practice!

Rubrics

• Please look over the following rubric with your child (performance or website, depending on your child's chosen project):

Rubric, Performance
Rubric, Website

• • the judges will use this rubric to assess your child's work on the day of the fair
• • most of the wording comes directly from the rubrics that judges use at the National History Day Contest 
• • we spent a lot of time in class looking over these rubrics; students should have a good understanding of what each category is asking for but it's always a good idea to revisit this
• • on the day of the fair, judges will award 4 special recognitions including 2 awards for websites and 2 awards for performances (students can only receive one award)
• • every child will also receive an evaluation certificate along with the judges' feedback form

• • • this certificate is totally dependent on the judges' review of each project (i.e. every child could potentially receive a Superior certificate)
• • • students receiving scores mainly in Exceeding Expectations will receive Superior, mainly in Meeting will receive Excellent, and mainly in Approaching will receive Good 
• • • Superior, Excellent, and Good certificates will be handed out after the night concludes (i.e. they will not be publicly announced - this is more for your child to know how they did and get feedback from the judges on their work)

Snacks for Students and Visitors

• on the night of the fair, it would be great if each Wolf family could bring in a snack, treat, or drink to share with the Willowwind community
• if any parent is interested in coordinating this effort, please email me (would really appreciate the help!)

Day of Schedule

• 3:30 - 5:30: Judging

• • Students will need to be back at school and ready to present by 3:30pm 
• • students performing should be dressed in costumes and students presenting websites should plan on dressing up
• • since individual students will not meet with the judges for this entire time, I thought that I could order some pizza and have a room for the students to relax in.  

• • • If you would like your child to have pizza, please send them to school on that Thursday with $5.

• 5:30 - 7:30: Our Community and Beyond presentations by K-6 classes

• 7:30 - 7:45: Snacks 

Misc. Details

• If your child is creating a website: 

• • I will be providing each child with a website address (and domain name) 
• • This address will be valid until the end of the school year.

• • • If you would like your child's website to be up for a longer period of time, you would need to purchase a separate domain name and register with a website host - please let me know no later than Friday, February 17th if you would like to do this so that we can plan accordingly.

Thanks and again, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Grey Wolves' Diner, Grand Opening!

Yesterday, I had the immense honor of watching our students navigate through their grand opening of Grey Wolves' Diner as if they had been doing it for years! The students had spent several days working together to plan out every detail. Student leaders laid out exactly what job each student would be doing, where they should be standing, what to do and who to come to if there was an issue, and even where dishes should be placed when customers finished eating. Their planning definitely paid off! I was astonished not only by the dedication with which each student took on their respective positions, but also by the students' ability to resolve conflict and problem solve without any assistance from a teacher. As one student put it, "Go with the flow no matter what happens - we can talk about it later." What a great opportunity for students to truly take responsibility for their work and put the needs of the group before their own (and eat great food!).

School of the Wild

What an amazing trip! Releasing a rehabilitated eagle back into the wild, building a bird blind, looking for river otters, and finding the remains of an owl were just some of the highlights. Since many of our students have visited School of the Wild multiple times, the staff at SOW truly went out of their way to ensure that this year's trip was something special. Please check out more pictures from the trip under the photos tab.

Life After Willowwind

Life After Willowwind Night
Thursday, February 23, 6:30 p.m.
 
Come join the conversation about the move to junior high! The Transition Night on February 23th is an evening for parents of any kindergarten through sixth grade student who are interested in learning about the transition to junior high school.  Third through sixth grade students are strongly encouraged to attend.  

John Bacon, Principal of City High and Cristina Allgood, counselor at Regina Junior & Senior High to talk about the excitement of this next phase in a child's life as provide tips on how to best prepare for a successful junior and senior high experience.

We will have an alumni panel of recent and older graduates who will talk about their experiences and answer questions.

Newsletter has been updated

Wolf families,

Please check out the newsletter section of our website for new pictures and updates on happenings in the Wolf classroom.

Grey Wolves' Diner!

As I'm sure many of you have heard from the excited buzz the children, the Grey Wolves' Diner will begin serving meals next Thursday, March 9th. Over the last few weeks, students have been busily preparing for this opening. Here are some of the exciting activities students have engaged in while creating this business:

- communicating through telephone and email with the Cottage Bakery and other local businesses about possibility of providing catering
- creating a punch card system for keeping track of meals purchased
- exploring sale price and costs and how this effects profits
- using graphic design software to create advertisements and a menu
- creating a detailed Excel spreadsheet with formulas that tabulate the sales and costs involved with a multitude of options including individual meals, unlimited cards, and 1x a week cards
- teaching other students how to use the spreadsheet
- communicating through email and in-person with families about the opening of the Diner

Important Information for Upcoming Weeks

University of Iowa Library Books

Students checked out several resources from the University of Iowa library. Unfortunately, the due date is dependent on the type of book. I have reminded the students about this but please check base with your child about their specific books so that no books end up being late. The fines are quite high! The books will need to be returned the main library which is located on the corner of Burlington and Madison.

School of the Wild

The Wolf class will be headed to School of the Wild at Lake Macbride next Monday and Tuesday. The students will be outside for the majority of these days so please make sure they dress appropriately for the weather on those days. We are supposed to be getting some wintery weather over the weekend so the ground may be pretty soggy. Please make sure your child brings boots and snow pants if necessary. Also, a permission form will be going home today. Please sign it and have it back here by tomorrow (Monday morning at the latest). Students will not be able to board the bus without this form. Thanks!