I am looking forward to meeting with you all next week.  If you haven't signed up for a conference time yet, please do so...or contact me about an alternate time.  Students were sent home with a little homework assignment for you -- a series of questions to think about before attending your conference.  I have attached a copy of it to this email in case the copy meant for you got lost in the middle school fray.  Here's the link again for the conference schedule http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0844A4AC22A20-2012

Students have been assigned a project that will be displayed at the Forest Festival on December 7.  They turned in their plans for their projects yesterday and I came in to meet with them about it.  Everyone has a solid idea of what they want to work on and how they are going to display it.  Their goal is to highlight a SECRET of the forest.  The 'little people' have been revealing the SECRETS to us this fall -- each letter represents a concept important to forest ecology.  Here is a link to the google doc that explains the projects  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zSdOQArzDEq_9SJMBt9Zw8qr1V6bJfot0NH_sbMWHH8/edit

It is due December 6.  So students have plenty of time to make extraordinary projects.  I encouraged students to challenge themselves with the content and with their design/construction. Please read over the assignment and brainstorm ideas with them. Challenge them to go beyond "the food chain"! Please let me know if questions or needed help arise as these projects come to fruition. 

In addition, we will start a student choice novel assignment as we return on the 26th. Please have your child have a book on Monday, it should be one that they can successfully complete between the Nov 26th and Dec 14th. Of course they can read more than just one book in that time, (I know we have some voracious readers amongst us!)