Jan. 12

It is almost conference time again!  My, how the year is flying by......  Hopefully the times that were given earlier this year work with everyone.  If you cannot make your time, please let me know now so we can work on rescheduling.  The schedule will be posted in Quick Notes on the 17th.  If you do not remember your time, email me and I can tell you.

We are working on bears!  Everything bears!   Reading bear books, studying habitats for bears and doing some science activities involving cold and hot.
We have worked on time to the half hour, and quarter hour for those that were ready.  We are working on subtraction of numbers through 19.  I have really tried to get everyone comfortable with their addition facts.  If you have time in the car, practice doubles through 10, sums of 10 and 9 plus.  The memorization and understanding of these facts will really help with subtraction.
We are reading daily here at school and you are reading at home as well.  I am really seeing progress in their reading skills.   They are also doing a great job with their journaling and are better able to spell what they hear in their writing.

Friday is a field trip to Hollins for the local hero award ceremony in the afternoon.  Monday is a holiday and there is no school.

Welcome back! Where did the warm days of December go? Only a few more days of extreme cold to go, for this round anyway! That being said, remember that we are outside for at least a part of every day. Please send in gloves, hats, warm coats, etc that they can wear outside. I invested in a huge parka and really warm boots last year after spending a few cold recess duties freezing. We are so glad to be back together. We have welcomed Flint and Gerald to our room, well outside actually! They are the bunnies that are in the pen outside of our classroom. The kids are sharing their leftovers with them and waiting to have a chance to hold them. We will learn about animal care and animal adaptation through the care of our bunnies. We are also working on telling time to the half or quarter hour. If you happen to have an analog clock, have your child practice. We are working on our decoding skills with word study. We will work as a group this week, and next week each child will have their own list of words to work on. Remember to continue to read with your son or daughter daily. They are really making progress with their reading. Let me know if you have any questions about what we are doing. There is no school on January 16th. Conferences are January 27th.

This Week, December 12-16th

A look at our week! 

Monday:  We go over to Hollins for the Winter Carnival from 2-3

Tuesday:  We go to the Taubman to see Christmas Cookies.  We then come back to school to bake and decorate cookies. 

Wednesday:  Normal schedule.

Thursday:  We bake and decorate more cookies.

Friday:  Winter Break Celebration!!!  Breakfast at 9 am.  We will make pancakes!!!!  We will read Pancakes! Pancakes! By Eric Carle and also Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie Depaola.  We will celebrate in our pajamas. 

In the afternoon, we will listen to a reading of Polar Express and drink hot cocoa.  We will still be going outside, so dress warmly enough.  

December is flying by!!!!!!

We had a great turnout for our luncheon today!  Everyone enjoyed some great cookies and wonderful gingerbread (thanks Jacinda!).  We had a few stories read by our class and then went into RuthAnn's class to watch them perform Skippy John Jones.  What a treat!  Many have had a time to visit the book fair and get some great books.  Every child has filled out a wish list which is kept at the book fair just in case you were looking to do some holiday or birthday shopping.  Every book sold supports our school!  There is also a class wish list of books that our class would love.

 A big thank you to Anna's grandparents who contributed to the new filter system for our turtles.  The turtles got rather stinky, and a new system will hopefully keep that from happening again.

We are busy learning and playing and crafting away.  With a little over a week left before break we are trying to fit in all of the neat activities that we want to get completed.  We are reading the Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks and the Three Bears over the next week.  We are making gingerbread next week and  doing lots of activities that go along with those stories.

This week.....

We are working on fact families and how addition and subtraction facts are related.  We are playing some fun math games and relying on addition facts to help us remember what the answers are to the subtraction problems.  As you are out and about, ask your child to tell you ways to get 10 and if 4 plus 6 is 10 what must 10 minus 6 be.
In reading, we are working on short and long vowels and how to tell them apart.  We are working on doing some independent reading as well.
We are journaling daily, and beginning to work on editing our work.  We are looking at proper letter formations, punctuation and spellings of familiar patterns.  When you see them writing at home, encourage them to sound it out, think about how it should look and then to read what they wrote to see if it reads how they meant it to.
I am really seeing some great progress in the kids!  It feels good to see the excitement in their eyes as they spell a word on their own or read a book that they couldn't at the beginning of the year.

December, oh my!!!!!

December, I can not believe that it is here!  Our schedule is packed with lots of fun activities.  
*We are hosting a luncheon for Grandparents on December 7th, along with a cookie party for family and friends the same day.  (Invitations are coming home today.)  Feel free to come with us to the book fair to browse for some great books while you are here.
*We are going to see Christmas Cookies on December 13th by Roanoke Children's Theatre at the Taubman.
*On the 13th and 15th during science,  we will be making cookies to drop off at the Rescue Mission.  We will also be making blankets to take as well throughout the week.  Feel free to come and help with any of those projects.
*We will be having a special holiday breakfast on December 16th at 9 am.  Muffins, pancakes, juice and milk will be served.  I would love some help with organizing that.  If you are willing, give me a shout.  We will also do a craft, a special story and a game.  This will be along with Emily's class.   So come on out and enjoy the morning with us.  You can also come and read later during that day.
*We are celebrating the break with pajama day on the 16th and will spend the day reading special stories, drinking hot chocolate and finishing it off with some special games.  

Thanksgiving luncheon

This Wednesday: Art Show 11:00 - 1:00 Ballator Gallery 2nd floor, Moody Center Lunch Noon - 1:00 Moody Center Dismissal from Hollins, no ASP Do not send backpacks to school on Wednesday. Send a fruit break only in a small disposable bag You should plan on meeting us at Hollins at 11. I will hand off your child to you there in the lobby. We will begin walking over at 10:40. Please bring the following: Early Learner, Elementary & Middle School Families: 1 entree and 1 side dish to feed 10-12 hungry people. Please have all food ready to serve at the buffet. We suggest using disposable containers to avoid loss of serving dishes. With thanks for all we have, we are asking each family to also bring two 3 or more nonperishable food items for the Salvation Army food drive. You can send this to school today or Wednesday. Thanks!