How time has flown!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Families,

How time flies! Here we are only about eight weeks from the end of the year. What an adventure we have had and we're not done yet!!!

Some of your children have chosen to make an excursion to Egypt and Japan with me. We'll float along the Nile River and discover that Japan is composed of many islands. Do you know how many? This is the new Monday Mini-Project. To start, students will be playing a Who-Done-It game that will have them uncovering all kinds of facts about their country. We will also be exploring the music, food, traditional clothing, some history, language of the country, etc....as well as creating an environment within my classroom representing each country. My goal is to also visit "The Museum of Man" in Balboa Park for the Egyptian Exibit and the Japanese Tea Gardens to experience a Japanese snack! I will keep you updated on the field trips as we will need drivers and I love including you all in your child's education.

During our social-emotional lesson-time, all teachers are currently introducing our "Keys to Achieve". These are behaviors we want all IA students to learn to be more effective not only in the classroom, but in life. Examples, of the topics include making eye contact, active listening, spreading happiness, ect...a list of our "Keys" is available upon request. I have been integrating these new "Keys" with our "8 to Great" program students have been learning from the beginning of the year. They work well together!

Your children and I are currently engaged in some test preparation for the STAR test. It seems that some of the students are worried about the test. I have told them that their score is not something that follows them their entire life and if they do well - great! They are all unique in their abilities and that even if they were in school 24/7, we may still not cover all of the questions asked on this particular test. Please encourage your children not to worry.

Please join us at an Italian Dinner Fundraiser on Thursday, April 23rd from 3-6pm. For all of us busy working parents, BMH Italian Restaurant is offering a dinner for four that even includes dessert for $20.00.

On Sunday, April 26th, we would like to invite all families to an exciting event in Balboa Park, called "Servapalooza". Servapalooza will feature hands-on service projects hosted by 50 community organizations, a Parade of Wishes for youth groups, youth performers, raffles, silent auction, food, vendors and much, much more!
We plan to march in the parade with a banner from IA, and are committed to getting involved with the many service-based activities.

Tickets are available for three Civic Center Off-Broadway productions for families of IA. This is a fantastic opportunity to expose your children to the acting-out of well-known stories most of your children are familiar with. Contact michelle@innovationsacademy.org.

That's it for now,
Kim