Tux4Kids - Free Educational Software

How many parents are looking for good educational computer games for our children?  There happens to be a group of developers creating such games and best of all they give them away free for anyone to download!  Tux4Kids has been around for quite a few years and have produced three great games for children:

Tux, of Math Command, AKA TuxMath, lets kids hone their arithmetic skills while they defend penguins from incoming comets, or offers them a chance to explore the asteroid belt with only their factoring abilities to bring them through safely!

TuxTyping - Tux the penguin is hungry, and loves to eat fish. But Tux can only catch the fish if you type the right letters in time! Can you help Tux?

Tux Paint. - New Breed Software and Tux4Kids bring you Tux Paint. This remarkable drawing program empowers kids to be creative in an environment complete with magic tools and sound effects.

All of these program can be fun and challenging for children of all ages.  My 3 year old can match up simple letter and numbers on the keyboard to falling comets or fish, our 6 year old can do the same by typing in words or solving simple adding and subtraction problems that fall from the sky. Keep in mind that these games are not only great for our kids but also for us.  I usually consider myself pretty good at math, however, after working through 30-40 levels of TuxMath I just couldn't keep up.

I would highly recommend checking out Tux4Kids, there are versions for Windows, Mac OS X and many flavors of Linux.  So no matter what kind of computer you have you can have a great time.  

Congratulations to Wascher Readers!!!

As you may have been hearing for a while there has been a Battle of the Books team from Wascher that has been doing quite well.  Last Saturday the team of Ashton Walters, Abe Thornburg, Will Schnepps, Nathan Leid, and alternate Kyle Hampton represented Wascher at the State Battle of the Books Championship.  This group of fifth graders came prepared and were rewarded by walking away with 3rd place!

If you are like me then you may have never heard of the Oregon Battle of the Books, so here is a little bit about the program...

It was created in 2006 and is run completely by volunteers in cooperation with the Oregon Association of School Libraries.  The first competition was during the 2007-2008 school year and 168 schools participated.  This year (2009-2010) the numbers have almost doubled to 334 schools!  You can read more about the history, get the latest book lists or find more resource for helping get involved with the program at their official web site: http://oboblsta.pbworks.com/

Check out the Battle of the Books and get ready for next year!!!

Great Job Wildcats!!!

NewLafayette.org

NewLafayette.org has just added a new section to their website specifically for Josephine Wascher Elementary and our Wildcats!  I would like to thank the organizers at NewLafayette for including, what I feel is the most important aspect or our community, our children.  You can find the new section under the Community Interest menu at the top of their site.

BoxTops Update

A quick update on this years Box Tops
earnings by our Wildcats: $439


Great Job Wascher!!! 
Lets keep it up!

You can keep up on the progress at the Box Tops site.

Time for a Book Fair!!

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to Wascher this week!  Come and check out the great books and pick up something for the readers in your family.  The Book Fair will be running from tomorrow (4/7) through next Thursday (4/15).  Reading is a wonderful way to spend time with your child, whether you are reading to them or they are reading to you.  The Scholastic web site is a great source of information on how to help your child become the greatest reader they can be. Their web site can also help you determine what books are appropriate for your child's age and reading ability.

Book Fair Schedule:
4/7 - Wednesday 2:30-3:30
4/8 - Thursday 2:30-3:30
4/9 - Friday 11:30-12:00
4/12 - Monday 2:30-3:30
4/13 - Tuesday 2:30-3:30
4/14 - Wednesday 2:30-3:30
4/15 - Thursday 12:00-8:00

Family Math Night 2010

This years annual Family Math Night was held on March 16 in the cafeteria, and organized/run by Ms Shilhanek's fifth grade class. There was a large turnout, including students, parents and siblings.

Great Job Ms Shilhanek and Class!

Bringing Experiences Into the Classroom

We recently went on vacation and brought home a freshly picked pineapple for our daughter to share with her classroom. Her teacher turned it into a wonderful hands on learning experience.

The students used their five senses to describe the fruit using sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste.

After they all sampled the fruit, they used these descriptive words to write their own poems, beefing up their writing skills in the process.

It was such a simple and easy action to grab a little something from our trip to take to the class, but the joy and knowledge they received was unmeasurable. You don't have to go on a tropical vacation to bring variation to your child's classroom. Share your heritage, your knowledge, or your experiences with the students, you can't imagine what these young minds can glean from something as simple as a piece of fruit.