Wow!

Congratulations to all those who participated in the Mathathon! Longfellow raised $5,157.64 to help the children of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital! That brings our four year total to $23, 209.00. Longfellow is doing wonderful things! Thanks to Ms. Smith for organizing.

Help for Haiti

You can still help! This is an Oak Leaves article about a student at Longfellow who organized a fundraiser to benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti, which included members of her own family - http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/oakpark365/2010/02/feb_5_2010_-_marlene_durand.html

So Much to Talk About!

February is full of special days and celebrations! We've been reading a lot of fiction and nonfiction about all the month's events.

• Ground Hog Day
  
• 2/4 - 100th Day - Don't forget to make a comment on our Voice Thread. So far we have 47 comments from all over the world!
  
• Black History Month - Come to Longfellow's Night at the Museum at 6:30 on 2/26.
  
• Valentine's Day
• 2/14 - Chinese New Year
• Dental Health Month
• Lincoln's birthday, Washington's birthday, and President's Day - No school on Monday, 2/15
• Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, 2/12-28
  

Other February events:

• Coffee with the Principal, Friday, 2/19, at 8:30 at the East Gate Cafe
• PTO Fun Fair, Saturday, 2/20, from 12-4 at Longfellow
  

Valentine's Day

Our class will celebrate Valentine's Day this Friday afternoon. Our celebration is low-key. We will decorate bags, have a snack, and I have some Valentine's Day activities related to our curriculum. Students are welcome to bring valentines and/ or treats to hand out in class, but they do not have to. However, if you choose to pass out valentines, please bring one for everyone. There are 15 students. I recommend only filling out the "from" line with your child's name. If you think your child is confident and capable enough to read others' names independently, you could fill in the "to" line as well. Remember that the first letter is not the best clue as many names begin with the same letter.

2 more things!

• We have a third grade student at Longfellow whose family is Haitian. She and her friends are collecting money to donate to the Red Cross. Cash or checks made out to the American Red Cross are greatly appreciated.
• There is an error on the Pizza Hut Book It calendar, which says conferences and half days are next week. As I think you all know, they are THIS week. Children will be dismissed at 11am this Thursday, 2/4, and Friday, 2/5. Next Thursday, 2/11, and Friday, 2/12, are full days of school.
  

Thursday is the 100th Day of School!

Click on the star at the left to see and hear the Voice Thread of our 100 Day project. We are trying to collect 100 comments from friends and family. Send the link on and encourage grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and neighbors to respond to our writing. They can record their own voices through the phone or computer microphone, or write a response. It's fairly easy to do! Please remember not to use real names when commenting. Students are excited about their pen names and are learning to stay safe on the internet! (Pen names can be seen by hovering over the photo to the left of each writing piece.)

A few students haven't quite finished their work yet, so if you don't see it, we'll hopefully have it up tomorrow.

We've also talked about bringing in a collection of 100 of something, so I hope you can participate. Please make sure the collection fits in your child's backpack.