Happy Halloween!

Everyone loves a little fun, so I hope you'll enjoy this selection of Halloween amusements: 

• 17 Frightful Facts 
• Pets in Costume 
• Really?! (more interesting facts) 
• The history of Halloween (short 2-minute movie)

**Updated Schedule**

Here is the latest and greatest 3LN schedule with just a few minor changes. Please print it out and refer to it as needed and let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for your flexibility and support! 

Let there be pumpkins!

Pictures Posted!

~ 3LN Photo Corner ~ 

A little pre-celebration for Eid was good fun! We are especially thankful to Yasmin (Alia's mom) for coming in to teach us about the significance behind this important Islamic holiday and leading in some engaging related activities. Be sure to check out the album under the "Photos" tab. 

I recently added a few albums of our lovely 3LN students, so be sure to click the tab "Photos" to the right and then click on the link to view them. Also, if you prefer to see them as a slideshow, then once you open the link, you'll see a little down arrow on the far right at the top. Simply click and the slideshow will start.

Saving images to your computer is as simple as a right-click on the image you wish to save. 

I hope this method of sharing, viewing and saving our class pictures will be easy and efficient, but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Day

Thank you for sending in contributions for our Breast Cancer Awareness Day. The students and I had a good discussion (yesterday) about this serious disease and ways we can help. I explained terms like "awareness" and a few children shared stories of women they know who were battling this disease and had lost their hair. 

I'm very impressed with how maturely the class handled such a sensitive topic and hope that we in 3LN will always be mindful that we can make a small difference. At the very least, our class is more aware of this disease and now know a few ways to show compassion and empathy. 

This is a great video to view with your child and discuss. If you want to make a bracelet, I will collect them and then send them to this organization in Michigan once I have a few collected. 

Thanks in advance. Even one really can make a difference. 

{Sewa Day News}

The class really enjoyed learning about Sewa Day this morning and especially enjoyed making a list of things we can do to show kindness. We also viewed a great short movie about the reciprocal effect of kindness. (It even made a few of us get tears in our eyes, but I won't name names. Lol.) The students actually wanted to watch it twice, so we did as they worked on their thank you notes for the various helpers around the school. 

Funnily enough, in the middle of our discussion, one of our own helpers, Mr. Swamy, came in to fix our broken blinds. They were all very excited to see him walk in and immediately thanked him! Needless to say, he was touched that we were so thankful. It was very sweet.

This year we in the Elementary School will celebrate SEWA by ‘bringing a bit of joy’ to our workers as they do so many things to help keep our school looking its best.  

To name just a few, they provide support to us on a daily basis in the form of: 

• monitoring buses
• making copies
• repairing things
• delivering desks and chairs
• painting walls 
• cleaning our cafeteria, bathroom and classrooms

We will engage in a year-long project of service and gratitude in order to show our workers that we appreciate their work in and around the school on a daily basis. This will also underscore our emphasis on building a “Culture of Kindness” in the Elementary Division that includes the people whose work can seem to go unnoticed or under-appreciated.  

Our mission is to begin with a simple note of thanks to workers and eventually build relationships with them as they become part of individual class communities.  Over the course of the year, we will also create projects, activities and events that will allow students to interact with our support staff, and at the same time, enable them to become more selfless and service oriented young people.

We hope to keep this spirit of kindness and unconditional love going for the whole school year and not just limited to one day or week. 

 “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

*For more info. about this special day, go to the SEWA website. 

News to Note

Happy Thursday! It's been a very busy week as ASA's began, I was in a training, we began MAPS testing and we gained a new student, our dear Soyeong. Thankfully, everything went very smoothly the weekend is here. (And all the teachers said, "Ahhhh...") :) 

Here is the plan for next week. It's going to be another full week of good learning and activities and then we will enjoy our Eid al Adha holiday. Please review this Assignment Sheet and News and let me know if you have any questions. 

One more thing, Sunday, Oct. 6th will be the kick off for something called "SEWA Day." Sewa (a Sanskrit word) is a commonly used term in South Asian cultures to denote a service that is performed without any expectation of result or award for the person performing it. It is pronounced as Se-Va (‘Se’ as in ‘se’llotape and ‘Va’ as in ‘va'se). 

This is important day for all of our students and is a great opportunity to bring a little joy to others and grow in their appreciation for the work people do in our building. This is the presentation I will be sharing with the class: Sewa Powerpoint 

We will be writing thank you notes to express our gratitude for the work that goes on day in and day out in our school to keep it clean, safe and lovely. What would our school be like without all of their hard work? 

Please keep this spirit of gratitude alive at home over the course of the next week, in particular, by modeling your appreciation for those in your life who help you (housemaids, nannies, drivers, gardeners, etc.) 

Thanks so much for all of your wonderful support at home and have a restful weekend. :)