Sharing our habitats....

Welcome back!

We are celebrating Earth Day this week by learning about ways that we can save the Earth! We now know that we should save water by turning water off while we are brushing our teeth, that taking a shower instead of a bath saves water and that we should turn off and unplug things when we at not using them. We read "Ready Freddy saves the Earth" and learned about recycling, reducing and reusing. We are practicing what we learned in our class and hopefully at home too! In math we are comparing numbers, working on addition and subtraction and drawing word problems. Do not forget to sign up for Strawbery Festival volunteer shifts! Each parent is expected to put in 12 hours of volunteer time. It really is a lot of fun! I am volunteering Thursday, Friday and all day Saturday with kids games. feel free to sign up for kids games and help me out! Don't forget to sell your advance tickets or just plan on using them yourself! You may send in one for your child to use on Friday the 4th when we go to Hollins to get our own strawberry shortcakes. Our last field trip has been designed to include families. We are going to my farm in Wirtz, 30 minutes from Roanoke. Siblings and parents are invited and encouraged to attend. We will pet the horses and goats, look for crawfish and take a walk in the woods to see a yurt! We went in the Fall and had a blast! The date for this trip is May 25th and a rain date has been set for the next day, May 26th. We will make this an all day field trip and you can meet us there or we can leave from school. We will do picnic lunches. More details will come. We are practicing for the play every Monday from 1:30 - 3:00 and on Fridays from 9 - 10:00 during the month of April. In May we will practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please make sure that your child is here for these practices. A note went home this week requesting items for costumes. If you did not get yours, please contact me or Louise Montgomery. the kids are very excited about the play. This will be performed on May 18th, so mark your calendar to be here for it. Invite friends and relatives to see your child shine! We will also have an art show that morning showcasing their work.

Disappearing Egg

This Week:

Reminders for the week:

*We are going on a fieldtrip to the library tomorrow to hear Matthew Faulkner read.  We leave at 9 and return by 12.

*Tuesday is “zero waste” lunch day.  Please use disposable containers or recycled materials.  Also, pack a fruit break that can be easily taken with us on our field trip.

*On Friday, we will have our “thinga-ma-jigger” parade at 10:30.  It should only last 15 minutes or so, but all are welcome. 

*Portfolios come home today and should be brought back with you to the conference on Thursday.  Remember, no school Thursday due to conferences.

Also this week and next.....

Just a reminder that we will be going to Cycle Systems on Thursday and we are leaving right around 9.  Please bring in a bag of cans if you have any so that we can turn them in to be recycled and get paid for the aluminum.  

We are also beginning work on our thing-a-ma-jig.  We need all sorts of recyclables.  We will be incorporating these into a big contraption during our science time.  We will also be reading the Lorax and beginning our seeds inside for our small garden.  Due to construction, we may be gardening in a large container and only planting things that will mature before end of school.

We will read "Eyes Wide Shut", "If I Ran the Zoo", "Oh the Places You'll Go" and the The Sleep Book this week.  We will all wear sunglasses on Monday for Eyes Wide Shut.  We decorated these last week.
Feel free to dress up as your favorite zoo animal on Tuesday and on Friday, wear your pajamas to school. If anyone wants to come in and read to us on Friday, they are welcome.  We will also have a few teachers come in to guest read as well.

Next week, we read the Lorax on Tuesday and it will be "zero waste lunch day".  School will be closed on Thursday for conferences.  Portfolios will come home on Monday.  On Friday the 30th, we will have our parade of Thing-a-ma-jiggers.  Feel free to come and watch.  

Don't forget to sign up for Baking Day this Friday.  The sign up sheet can be accessed via our school web-site.

Eggs and more eggs! And other odds and ends...

We are short on paper towels and glue sticks.  If you could each send in a pack of paper towels and glue sticks, we will have enough to make it through the rest of the year.  We could also use some erasers.  We keep eating ours.  (really!)  The pencils erasers keep disappearing and the erasers that we put on them keep getting torn apart.  If anyone has more “junk” that we can use next week for planting and building out thing-a-ma-jigger please send it in.  This may be a great time to clean out that closet or go through the recycle bin.  We will begin building on Monday. 

The egg drop experiment was a huge success.  We all did a great job!  There were many successful drops and many learning experiences as well.  We also enjoyed our naked eggs and the disappearing egg trick.  These are experiments that your child can replicate at home with some help.  Ask them about them. 

Today we ate “green eggs and ham”.  We also had some fried hash browns and a green cookie to celebrate St. Patricks Day.  All in all, it was a magnificent day!!!!!! 

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

March, In like a lion........

Okay, get ready, get set, GO!  March is taking off and we have so much planned that I have my running shoes on just to keep up.  With the celebration of Dr. Seuss, we have all sorts of fun days planned.  A calendar was sent home yesterday which lists the stories that we will be reading and the fun days that we have planned.  Be sure to look at it so that you don't miss out on crazy sock day or sleep day.  

We will also be having Green Eggs and Ham on the 16th.  I can not wait for that and for the Egg Drop which will follow.  If anyone has an extra dozen or so eggs that they would like to send in, we can use them.  We are also doing "eggsperiments" that week.  It should be "eggspecially" fun!

We will heading to Cycle Systems to learn about recycling on the 22nd.  Please save all cans and send them in that week.  We will take them in and turn them in for money when we go to Cycle Systems.

The kids should be filling out their reading logs.  We will record these weekly on Fridays.  So make sure that they come back each Friday.  

We are saving items that we might be able to use to build our "thing-a-ma-jig".  If you have items around your house, do not throw them away, send them in.  We will start building the week of the 19th.  These items can be packing peanuts, cardboard, plastics, anything that might be useful.  

Thanks!!!!!!

Oh, and today we read Bartholomew and the ooblek.  Check their backpacks if they have not already brought out their ziploc bag of goo.  We had a lot of fun with Tulie and Beth's class today when we mixed up cornstarch and water with some food coloring.  What a strange mixture it makes!  

Enjoy!!!!!!