Group 1 Announcements:

• Group 2 is selling NCCL car window stickers after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They are $1.00. Buying one for your car will help to publicize our school!
• Please sign and return the parent permission slip to allow images, audio, and writing samples of your child to be shared for our Writing Symposium and future presentations. You should have received information about this and the permission slip by e-mail. You can talk with Paula or your child's teacher if you have questions. Thank you.
• 'Tis the season to send in sunblock for your child.
• Family Bingo Night - Wednesday, March 28, 5:30 - 6:30 or 7 - 8PM. Admission is a toiletry item or canned good. All will be donated to Newark Senior Center for their bingo games. Please sign up for either session on the Group 4 classroom door or contact Volunteer Club leader Verena Joerger.
• Friday, March 30 is Grandparents Day. A grandparent or significant adult in your child's life may be invited to spend time with your child at All-School Meeting (where the children will sing for them), and for a short visit in the classroom. Group 1 is hosting a "report-in-a-box" museum at this time, where they will share their research and report on a polar animal. We have talked to the children to help them understand that all families are different and have different circumstances, so it is not necessary for all children to have a grandparent or significant adult present!
• Spring Concert will be held on Thursday, May 3, from 7 to 9PM, at the Newark Methodist Church on Main Street. It would be very helpful if parents can help their children to learn the words of the Star Spangled Banner by then. It is one of the concert songs that will be performed by the whole school, chosen because the children love it so much. Group 1 students need more time to learn it, so your help would be appreciated.

News from the week of March 19-23:

• MONDAY: We worked on our reports, had reading and math, and then went to Movement Class at the University of Delaware in the afternoon.
• TUESDAY: We had a long reading and math session, practiced skills, and played games. In the afternoon, we had an extra-long Spanish class.
• WEDNESDAY: We had writing class and independent reading time, in addition to reading and math. Everyone got a new Weekly Reader. We started our new unit on the Human Body. We read two books together about the human body and then had activity time after lunch. We turned the dramatic play area into a doctor's office, got a new book on tape in the listening center, put together a huge skeleton puzzle, played a hangman game with a skeleton, made Spring glasses, looked at specimens under a microscope (butterfly scales, a feather, plant tissue, microorganisms in water, and wood), and did experiments with optical illusions.
• THURSDAY: After our morning jobs, we read more material about the human body, practiced singing some songs for the concert, and had a spelling assessment. We began to learn the names of the bones in our bodies. After lunch, we had independent reading and another activity time with the same activities, because most people did not get a chance to try everything. Reading and writing were also an option. This time at the microscope, we could also look at cheek cells and pieces of hair from both A.J. and A.
• FRIDAY: After All-School Meeting, we practiced some of our songs for the Spring Concert and then did our morning jobs. We had Author's Chair and some people were able to share their reports with the rest of the class. We were practicing how to speak loudly enough to be heard so we would do well at our Museum. Everyone was so fascinated by the information that they took turns telling the Author what their favorite part was and what they were surprised to learn about that animal. Lots of applause accompanied each presentation. In chorus we learned a new song. Some Group 3 kids and their teacher Sean ate lunch with us today. After lunch we had independent reading, and then learned about the sounds of frogs that will be emerging from hibernation and calling. We all made frog calls and learned which frogs are in our area and the order in which they emerge.

Writers in the class have been working very hard on their American Revolutionary reports. We read examples of leads and introductory paragraphs from published American Revolutionary biographies. Then students worked on their own ideas for how to draw their readers/listeners into their reports. One of the ideas I've been trying to emphasize to the kids is that the reports serve to help each of them learn a lot about one person, but also that through sharing them, they are helping other people learn about their person, too. "What do you want to teach the class about your person?" can serve as a guiding question for them.

In math, we worked with a problem related to tetrominoes: how many ways can you arrange 4 toothpicks if they follow these two rules: a) they can only touch at the ends, and b) they must meet in a straight line or at a right angle. Kids worked diligently in pairs to try to find all the possibilities, and they came up with... well, I'll let you ask. We then played a group game with the toothpick arrangements: given a starting arrangement of toothpicks, can the group take turns moving the position of just one toothpick at a time to create all of the other arrangements? After arriving at a stalemate a number of times, we talked about strategies for being able to complete a game. This is an activity that requires visualization and planning.

In history, we read about the Continental troops crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Day, 1777, to surprise the Hessians in Trenton, N.J., giving Washington a much-needed victory after a summer and fall of defeats and retreats. The book we read used period quotes, "letters" from a soldier to his wife and reflections from a modern-day visitor to Washington's headquarters to tell the story, capturing the desperation that Washington's plan entailed. We are also in the midst of reading about the Continental Army's winter at Valley Forge in 1777-1778. The author clearly portrays the deprivations suffered by the troops.

Looking ahead, Sue got us a videotape of a PBS program about mills in America, featuring artist (and MacArthur prize winner) David Macauley. The program traces the development of mills in America, looking at the technology involved, as well as the social consequences of mill development. The program served as a good overview of this topic for the kids.

Members of Debra Darrell's English Language Institute class came to share some stories with our class. In return, several Group 2 students shared their stories.

We visited Group 3 to view their Human Body Museum. Our kids were very involved in trying the experiments and demonstrations conducted by the Group 3 students.

The Open House on Tuesday, March 20 went very well, and we appreciate all of you who talked up the event to community members. Group 2 will have several prospective students visit in the next week or so.

Thanks again to all those who scheduled and attended spring parent conferences. If you have not done so yet, please sign up for a conference on the sheet on the Group 2 lockers.

Happy Spring!

Upcoming Events!

• Wednesday, April 4, 8:30-9:00AM: Groups 2 & 4 Breakfast. This is a chance to get together informally before school to share some food and to meet your child's buddy from Group 4. This is a drop-in event: snag a quick bite, or stay and talk, as your schedule allows. We also have Movement at the UD that afternoon.
• Friday, April 6 - Friday, April 13: No school - enjoy your spring break!
• Wednesday, April 18, 7:00PM: NCCL Meeting. Please sign up for childcare in advance.
• Friday, April 20 & Saturday, April 21 (7:00PM, I expect): Group 4 play - "Comic Book Adventures." There is an admission charge of $3 per person, and tickets will be sold in the week preceding the performances.
• Thursday, April 26, 7:00-8:30PM: NCCL Writing Symposium. As a staff, we will be presenting details about our approach to writing in the classroom. You will get the inside story on Author's Chair, conferences, genres, the writing process and more. Although designed primarily for the NCCL community, feel free to invite interested friends.
  ***To prepare for this event, we have been collecting audio, video, and photographic material. We would like your permission to use such materials that include your child. Paula sent home an e-mail asking for such permission. We would appreciate it if you would be willing to return that form before spring break.
• Thursday, May 3, 7:00PM: Spring Concert. The concert will be held at the United Methodist Church on Main Street. We will provide further details about the event, dress, etc. as the date approaches.
• Monday, May 7: No school. The staff will be starting the time-consuming task of working on end-of-year reports.
• Monday, June 7, 10:00AM: Graduation. You are cordially invited to attend NCCL's unique graduation ceremony.

The Human Body Science Museum was a great success. Group 3 students were well prepared to explain their projects and did so many times as the other Groups toured during the afternoon. Ray took photos and we will send some your way once they are loaded into the computer. We will wind up the science unit next week with the students writing answers to a packet of questions about the human body. The students will first answer all the questions they can from memory, then they can use their notes and books in the class. If they still need more information they can ask a classmate, and finally we will go over it all as a class. Our goal is that each student have a basic understanding of the information covered in class and a more specific understanding about her or his report topic.

The first week of April we will begin a unit on the early settlement of the Americas. We have a trip planned to Old Swedes Church in Wilmington for April 4. More info will follow.

In math we have been working with plane geometry concepts. Students have been presented with the beginning definitions of points, lines, planes and polygons. Students constructed triangles, parallelograms, including rectangles and squares and trapezoids on the geoboards charting base and height and determining area. After students gathered this data for several examples of each type of polygon, they were asked to describe the relationship between the base, height and area. Then from the description they learned how to write a formula (the "coded" form of the explanation.) And they were successful! Now we are applying this information to real life situations.

In Writing, we're working on our Interview Project. We're also wrapping up our Storytelling Project in which we'll create a booth in our classroom where you can watch our presentations on the computer. Stay tuned. It's taking us longer than expected to finish up, but they'll be out soon.

Recently in Math the kids learned how to do spreadsheets on the computer and in the near future Ray will be going over tax forms. (Maybe next year, you won't have to hire an accountant and that tuition investment will really start to pay off.) Both groups are learning how to use a graphing calculator. The Grads are learning about quadratic equations. The Non-grads are doing more advanced Algebra and are practicing multiplying equations with variables.

The Chemistry unit is wrapping up and the class will soon be moving on to Biology. The kids just finished experiments, trying to understand Avogadro's Number, which looks at the relationship between the atomic number of a molecule and its mass. Ask your kids to explain more to you.

In Research we have finished looking at what happened to the Native American tribes across the United States during the 1800s following westward expansion. Our class will be doing an activity for Group 2 that will teach the younger kids about Native American culture.

We will begin looking at the events and contributing factors that led up to the Civil War. We will be planning for a "town meeting" debate where the kids will adopt the roles of townspeople trying to decide which side a border state will take in the war. The kids are reading the textbook, Justice for All? They will be reading, discussing and taking notes on a variety of chapters in the book.

In Writing the kids are still working on revising their persuasive essays. They are tightening up their writing and solidifying their positions with stronger examples. There has been a wide range of issues and positions.

While we are continuing to revise the persuasive essays, the Non-grads have begun the process of thinking about the "This I Believe" essay project. We have been doing exercises and debates regarding issues of personal beliefs. Each night the kids have a short fifteen minute writing exercise to get them thinking and brainstorming about their beliefs. We are reading essays from the NPR book, This I Believe - the Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women. If you are interested in looking at examples of essays, there are thousands on NPR's website. In fact, they put all submitted essays on their website and our classes will be submitted when we are finished.

The Grads are working on an independent study project. They picked a subject or project that they want to spend time exploring. Some of the projects are: a documentary on horses, the history of NCCL, veteran's experiences from WWII to the present, the United States experience viewed through the eyes of people from other countries, how to design an on-line computer website and how teens use technology, a profile of each Grad and their educational experiences at NCCL and the history of homosexuality—how far we have come and how far we need to go. The plan is for each Grad to put together a presentation and present their findings at a special ceremony the night before graduation. The Grads will also be writing an essay on how NCCL has shaped their learning and sense of self.

In addition to the reading that the kids are doing for research class, they are all reading independent books. The Grads are also reading the book Write Right!, which is a grammar/punctuation resource book. The kids are gearing up for our "Leave Your Book Project". They are writing book reviews of a book that they have read and loved. The reviews will be posted on the NCCL website. We will then leave the books somewhere out in the world for some unsuspecting reader to discover and enjoy. Hopefully the discoverer of the book will log onto our website and leave their review.

Somewhere in between all of these activities, the kids are still videotaping their plays. Although it is taking a long time due to scheduling challenges, the kids are having a great time with this last piece of the project. We are looking forward to the "bloopers" reel that we hope to assemble when we are finished.

It has been nice seeing everyone for conferences and we look forward to meeting with the rest of you soon.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to call or e-mail.