The Spirit of the Season

During the holiday season, it has been a tradition at Chets Creek to create a holiday wreath/decoration to auction off. Each class created some kind of holiday craft and the highest bidder received the wreath. This year, things are a bit different. Each class was told to decide on some kind of volunteer project or donation drive to help our community. After brainstorming, the children voted on helping out the Jacksonville Humane Society. As the best way to help them out would be to adopt all their pets, we realized this was a bit unrealistic. After explaining to students that their parents could not properly adopt 343 cats and dogs, we did bit of researching on how else we could help.

Ways to Help the Humane Society

The Humane Society has a website that lists all the items they are in need of. Also, you can even make donations right there on the website.

Dog Crates (Medium & Large)
Kuranda Dog Beds (40x25)
Cat Carriers (Small & Medium)
Dog Treats
Cat Treats
Cat Toys
Stainless Steel Food & Water Bowls (small & large)
Towels
Blankets (no stuffing)
Paper Towels
Clorox Bleach
Dawn Dishwashing Liquid
Laundry Detergent
Playtex Rubber Gloves
Tug-a-Jug Interactive Dog Toys
Hard Rubber Dog Toys (Kong or Nylabone brand)
List of Treats for Kong Toys
Meaty Bone Flavor Treats (18 oz)
Lamb Meal & Rice Biscuits (24 oz)
Milk Bone Crunchy Mar-O-Snacks (24 oz)
TBonz Filet Mignon Flavor (22 oz)
Milk Bone Chewy Chicken Drumstix (9 oz)
Liver Treats Hollywood Stars (4 oz)
Pup-Peroni Original Beef Recipe (25 oz)
List of Needs for Maintenance
Shovels
Rakes
Power Blower
Lawn Mower
Weed Eater (w/blade attachments)
Chain Saws
Wheelbarrows
Pitch Forks
Rack Hooks (for hanging equipment)
Upright Tool Box
Hatchet

Pretty neat! These items do not have to be brand new. If they are in a decent condition, they accept them as well. However, if you purchase an item, try to have your child with you as you purchase it. I will be delivering all the items over the holiday break. As a result, all items are due Tuesday, Dec. 15.

Happy Holidays!

Main Idea

How do you find the main idea of a story? This was the question the students have been working on in Reader's Workshop this week. They were taught that every paragraph has a main idea, and many supporting details to back it up. However, students frequently mistake details with the main idea. They learned that the main idea is what everything is about. Unlike details, which are the tiny events that only happen once in a story.

For example: In the Tree Little Pigs, the main idea is that 2 pigs realize they should have worked harder and built a strong house like their older brother pig when the wolf ruins their houses.

A detail is that the first house was made of straw and the second house was made of sticks.

See how a detail is small part that happened and the main idea is what the entire story is about?

Here are some practice websites and games to test your child's ability to sift through the details and discover the main idea.

Main Idea questions

Test yourself!

Finding the Main Idea in Paragraphs