Ballots arrived in the mail recently and need to be returned by Tuesday, February 8. For more information, please read the LWSD coverage.

News from our 6th Grade Teachers 

Sixth grade is buzzing with all sorts of projects this spring. Just a few of our highlights include going back in time through social studies simulations on ancient China and ancient Greece. Social studies and writing are closely linked through expository and persuasive essays. Writing also encompasses poetry which will be a central focus as students prepare excerpts for a class book. Literacy extends beyond writing to include a heavy emphasis on non-fiction and fiction text including anthologies, novel groups, and independent reading. To support their understanding and comprehension of a variety of text, students create their own group presentations to enhance their group process skills such as writing a script or performing a skit, puppet show, game show or any creative form to explain their thinking. Not surprising, math brings a lot of challenge and opportunity to our students through complex problem solving with number sense, data analysis, and statistics. Online programs, enrichment, Safety Net, and before school choice have been implemented to help students progress at their "just right" level. As the year comes closer to the end, students have a visit to the Seattle Symphony, and overnight fieldtrip, and promotion to junior high to look forward to.

Sixth Grade Team

Josh Benson and Barbara King

Congratulations to the Green Pandas: Hannah Williams, Elle Demeter, Katrina Teo, and Karley Deegan from 5th grade. This team really knows their books and they will represent Einstein at the LWSD Online Battle of the Books in February. 

Thank you to all the students who participated; you are amazing! After reading 12 books, pulling together your teams, demonstrating great teamwork, and answering MANY questions -- your enjoyment was so rewarding to see!

The Book Fair is open during parent teacher conferences and the following hours:

• Fri (Jan 28) and Mon (Jan 31): 10:30-11:00 am & 12-3 pm
• Tue (Feb 1): 11:30 am - 1:00 pm

Individual students, as well as class groups, are encouraged to prepare experiments to display at Einstein's annual Science Expo. Application forms are available in English and Spanish. All parents and students are invited to attend on March 24th to view the projects. Look for more details in future Ottermails!

Please contact our Librarian, Ms. Sandbo, with questions.

LINKS volunteers make learning fun! Want to know what makes you a "gold star volunteer"? Check out the Winter 2011 LINKS newsletter to see how our Lake Washington School District volunteers have helped enriched the lives of our children.

** PTSA NEWS **

Lake Washington School District's levy measure is the only one on the February 8 ballot for voters in our area. King County Elections did not create a separate voters' pamphlet as they normally do for multiple measure ballots. Instead, the voters' pamphlet information for the LWSD measure is printed on the back of the folded piece of paper stuffed with your ballot that has voting instructions on the other side. If you do not open that folded piece of paper and look on the other side, you will miss the information on this proposition. If you have already opened your ballot and overlooked this information, you can read it in its entirety on the King County Elections website.