March Newsletter

Endeavor Hall Volunteer Organization

March 2011

We had an AMAZING February at Endeavor Hall! Spirit Week was filled with activities that unified our student body. Literacy Week promoted reading and writing in multiple ways. We had another fabulous Book Fair, and our teachers loved their meals during SEP’s. We owe a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped during these events. We love our Endeavor Hall family! Thank you.

Upcoming Events

Has your student told you about the things they have been doing with our authors? Our unique and incredible Writer in Residence program is going very well. We know that many of you would love to meet the authors involved. Please mark your calendars for Friday, May 18^th. Endeavor Hall will present its first annual Author Night that evening. Planning has already begun and we are so very excited! More details will come soon.

Because of Spring Break, the next Casual Conversations breakfast will be held on the 2^nd Friday in April, April 13^th from 7:45 – 8:45am at the McDonalds on 5600 W and 3500 S. We’ve enjoyed visiting with those who have so far been able to come. We’ll be hanging out near the play area. Hope to see you there.

The State Inspirations award assembly will be held on March 30^th at Providence Hall. If your student will be participating at this level, you’ll receive details about the night as soon as the hosting school passes them on to us.

We will be holding elections for our Volunteer Organization officers in May. Anyone who has, or will have, a child attending Endeavor Hall for the 2012-2013 school year may run for office. Watch for more information on how to apply in our April newsletter.

Volunteer Opportunities

Has your child brought home an “A for Applebee’s” card yet? There are so many restaurants and businesses that give schools gift cards for free meals, treats or other rewards to use as incentives for our kids. We are looking for someone dynamic who will solicit these businesses and keep track of who is participating. If you are interested in helping, please leave a comment.

We are always looking for help with drop off and pick up traffic. If you can help even one time, please leave a comment.

Reminders

Has your child had a chance to join the Birthday Book Club? To celebrate their birthday, have them give a copy of their favorite book to our library. Or, ask our amazing librarian for a suggestion. Birthday Book Club labels are available in the front office and in the library. If you have questions about this “club,” please leave a comment.

There is always a Box Tops collection bin in the front lobby & our Green Fiber Recycling bin has plenty of room in it! These are easy ways to generate funds for our school.

Thank you for all you do! Have a stellar month!

Your VO officers, Celeste, Pam, Debbie, Brittney & Chantelle

Eraser Racer

The object of this game is for the eraser holder to get back to her seat without being tagged by the eraser racer.

Randomly choose a student to be the eraser holder. The eraser holder walks quietly about the room and gently places the eraser on another student’s head. This student is now the eraser racer.

The eraser racer and the eraser holder are now in a walking race to the holder’s desk. The eraser racer tries to walk quickly to the eraser holder’s desk and tag her before she sits down.

If the holder is tagged, she loses, and the eraser racer becomes a new eraser holder. If the holder makes it to her desk without being tagged, the eraser racer sits down and the holder chooses a new eraser holder. The game begins again.

The catch to the game is this. The eraser racer must keep the eraser balanced on his head through the entire race without touching it with his hands. If the eraser falls off, he must stop, place it back on his head, and continue the race.

With older students, the game may be played with up to four eraser holders and eraser racers. When more students play, it becomes harder to navigate around the room and tag holders, making it faster paced and more exciting

Alibi

The object of this game is to find the perpetrator of a crime.

Send one person out of the room. This person will be the detective. While the person waits outside the room, think of a simple crime. An example of a crime might be that someone stole the teacher’s lunch. Another example might be that someone broke the classroom CD player. Each of the students in the room must think of an alibi for where they were or what they were doing. It can be silly or serious.

Before the detective comes back into the room, choose a criminal. The criminal must think of another alibi, different from the first one, but similar enough to be confusing. For example, if one alibi is, “I was eating fries at the Burger Barn,” the second alibi might be, “I was eating fries at Burger King.”

Have the detective come into the room. The detective moves around the room, asking each student to state their alibi. The detective can ask students their alibis up to three times. All students except the criminal must repeat their alibis exactly the same every time. The criminal must "lie" and change her alibi each time she is asked.

If the detective suspects someone of committing the crime, he can accuse that student. If he guesses correctly, he wins that round, and he gets to choose the next detective. If he doesn’t win, the criminal confesses, and she becomes the next detective.

Four Corners

The object of this game is to be the last person standing.

Name the four corners of the classroom room before beginning the game. Examples of names are computer corner, art corner, door corner, teacher’s desk corner. Pick one student to be “It”.

The person who is “It” goes to the front of the room, and with eyes covered, slowly counts to ten. While the “It” is counting, the rest of the students quietly move to a corner of the room. All students must be in a corner by the time “It” finishes counting. Any students that are halfway between corners are out and must sit down at their desks.

“It” keeps his or her eyes covered, and calls out the name of a corner. All the students that are standing in that corner are out and must sit down at their desks. The game continues until only one student is left standing. That student becomes the new “It”.

Once the game is down to four or less students, make the rule that they must each choose a different corner. That ensures that there will always be one winner.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Pick one of your students (the leader) to stand at the front of the classroom while the rest of the group stands in an open space facing her. Tell the leader that she must try and confuse the other students by telling them to perform one action while she acts out another. For instance, while she tells the students to bounce on one foot, she rubs her stomach. The students all have to perform the action she tells them to perform. Any time a player performs the same action as the leader, he gets eliminated from the game. The last person standing, having only performed what the leader said throughout the game, wins.

Drawing Together

Prior to the start of the game, print out several copies of a simply drawn picture you can find on the Internet. Group your students into pairs and seat them down in their desks as they face each other. Put up a poster board or some other form of partition in between the pairs so they can no longer see each other. Hand one of the players---the leader---the picture and give the other player---the drawer---a piece of paper and a writing utensil. When you say "Go," the leaders have to give instructions to the drawers to recreate the picture. After about five minutes, tell everyone to stop and hold up their pictures. Survey them all and pick out which of the pairs did the best job working together based on the similarity of the recreated version of the picture to the original.