The Bookfair Blizzard was a giant success!  Thank you to all who shopped and donated to “One for Books.” Through the “One for Books” program, 661 books will be donated to charity plus Horace Mann will receive some wonderful items from Scholastic and money for our library!  One dollar goes a long way! The bookfair wouldn't be possible without AWESOME volunteers - some doing MORE than one job or shift!  Please help me thank:

Sarah Ryan, Kelly Trewartha, Diane Mancini, Kerrin Brelje, Melissa Kestner, Kristi Pohl, Eileen Moening, Anne Rutherford, Anne Parker, Tom Youness, Jules Smith, Michelle Thom, Tara Hennings, Tracy Taubert, Nancy Wagner, Catherine Leimbach, Andrea Nordaune, Tiffany Mattick, Barb Dolven, Tracy Lane, Andi Simon, Renate Amann, Jean Schroeder, Kari Chase, Bonnie Penn, Sheila Dicke, Erin Coscio, Stephanie Hawkinson, Rebecca Escalante, Jolie Frederickson, Andrea McGee, Danica Linssen, Betty Haley, Heidi Tamlyn, Martha Tilton, Karen Aune, and Sandra Immerman.

Another big Thank You goes to Bruegger's Bagels and Caribou Coffee in Highland Village for their donations.  Also, the Girl Scouts, led by Eileen O'Connell-Conzet, helped with wrapping books and receiving donations for “One for Books.”  Thanks everyone! From Chris Aerts, Chairperson

PRE-PAY/ Back ordered books If you prepaid for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Peak, The Homework Machine, Rules, or Bats on the Beach, the books will come!  Scholastic is backlogged from all of the book fairs going on during this season.  When the books arrive, your copy will be routed to your classroom.  Please be patient!  Any questions, please email chrisbillaerts@comcast.net.  Thanks!

Cold Weather Policy for School Patrols School patrol members will be pulled from their lines/ patrol corner when the wind chill is -15 degrees or colder. School patrols will not be available to walk students to school on those days. Please contact Judy Ronnei after 7:30 am if you have any questions.

Feedback Opportunity for Student Planners I will be meeting with the rep from Premier in January to order planners for next year. If you have feedback on the planners, please send an email to jim.litwin@spps.org or leave a voicemail on extension 305.

Parents of Gifted and Talented Students Last year families expressed an interest in starting a support group. This fall there were a few opportunities for families: a Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented meeting at Webster and the National Association for Gifted Children conference in Minneapolis. We would like to hold a meeting to begin the group at Horace Mann. Our initial goal is to determine how we can help each other meet the needs of our diverse students. Any interested parents are invited to attend. The meeting will be held on Thursday, December 6 at 6:00 p.m.

Good luck in Lego Robotics Competition! 2 teams from Horace Mann will be competing this Saturday in the FIRST LEGO lego robotics league tournament. It is Saturday, December 1st, 2007 from 9:30am – 4:30pm at Benjamin E. Mays Magnet School, Rondo Education Center, 560 Concordia Ave. The event is free and open to the public. If you are interested in computers, robotics, and/or legos, you should check it out.

Why Read 20 Minutes a Day? Students at Horace Mann School are being asked to log their reading minutes. The goal is 20 minutes a day—maybe a little less for the younger students and a little more for the older. Why shouldn’t your child skip their 20 minutes of reading? Let’s figure it out mathematically!

Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week; Student B reading only 4 minutes a night…or not at all.

1. Multiply minutes a night times

   4th Graders experienced River Rendezvous in the fall learning about MN history.

   five times a week. Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week. Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes.
2. Multiply minutes a week times four weeks each month. Student A reads 400 minutes a month. Student B reads 80 minutes a month.
3. Multiply minutes a month times nine months/school year. Student A reads 3600 minutes in a school year. Student B reads 720 minutes in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year. Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of sixth grade, if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days. Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days. One would expect a gap of information retained will have widened considerably as Student A makes many more connections with their knowledge. So, undoubtedly, will school performance widen. How do you think Student B will feel about her/himself as a student? Which student would you expect to:

• Read better?
• Know more?
• Write better?
• Have a better vocabulary?
• Be more successful in school…and in life?

(Source: U.S. Dept of Education, America Reads Challenge (1999). “Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader.” Washington, DC)

Books for Schools As you do your shopping and holiday shopping, you can help earn free books for Horace Mann School during December. Red Balloon Bookstore on Grand offers a Books for Schools program. They will credit our school with 20% of any purchases by friends, neighbors, grandparents, teachers, moms, or dads. Books, toys, cards, and gifts qualify. There is no limit to how much we can benefit. When you shop there, just tell them you would like the purchases to apply to Horace Mann School’s program. Judy Connell is our coordinator in the building.