Welcome to the middle of October! We have been really busy these last few weeks.  Our class has finished our novel, The Hunger Games  and are going to be watching to movie to compare the two. We already know the book is going to be much better than the movie (as it usually is)! Our class has started talking about compassion, as this is something our school finds really important. We are a compassionate school, our class named a number of things we do that falls under the category of being compassionate:

• Food Drives
• Cleaning up the playground
• Saving aluminum for a person in need of a wheelchair
• Breakfast program
• Reading with younger students

Those were just a few that we came up with as a class, but it shows that our school knows how important it is to understand and show compassion.  We are also going to set some goals as a class to be even more compassionate.
Our class has begun looking at early people in Social Studies, we have learned about Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens. We are now talking about interesting historical mysteries such as the Nazca Lines and Stonehenge.  In Science we are continuing to study cells and took some time to use the microscope in class.  Math has us finishing up Integers, we are looking forward to the next unit!
We Day is coming up on October 30th. For those that don't know what We Day is, it is an educational event that focuses on young people 'being the change' for the future. It is a day-long event that spends time talking to youth about the many positive things that are happening in our world thanks to them and also about the many positive things young people can do to help make our world a better place. We only have a limited number of tickets, so unfortunately not everyone can go. Students who are interested in going are asked to submit an essay on why they think they should go to We Day, how they will help others and how they plan to make a difference in our school, community or world! The deadline for We Day essays is Friday, October 18th. 
The Halloween dance is also coming up, it is on Thursday, October 31st in the afternoon. Students are welcome to take part in the dance, watch a movie or enjoy time on the computers on this afternoon - if they are all caught up on their work.  Students must be caught up in all subjects in order to take part in this fun afternoon. 

Finally, our school is taking part in "We Scare Hunger" this year. This is where students will have an opportunity on Halloween to take action and collect non-perishable food items at either our school and in the community.  Students would be responsible for going trick-or-treating to collect as many canned goods as they can to help support our local food bank and raise awareness about local hunger. All food donations will be given to Evergreen Basic Needs to help those in need in our community. For more information about this cause please check out: http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/campaigns/we-scare-hunger/