Happy 2015! Do you have a wonderful holiday break with your family and ring in the New Year together? The two weeks off was absolutely lovely for myself and my family; I feel refreshed and ready for the rest of the school year!
We have a lot of work to do when we get back to class and I know that the kids are ready to go! One exciting new thing we will be learning about is how to utilize Keyboarding Without Tears. Second and third graders have access to this software to prepare them for the AMP test they will be taking in the future. If you would like me to send the information home on how to download the software and utilize it at home, please send me an email and I will get them home as soon as possible for additional practice. As a reminder, we want to encourage the kids to be responsible and independent. At the end of each day, before they depart from class, I remind the kids to take all of their gear and personal items they may need for the evening. I am trying to instill the importance of taking the time to think through logical steps before leaving class which includes packing up all of your belongings you may need such as hats, gloves, boots, and lunch boxes. Once the kids have left the building, they need to wait until the next school day to get their forgotten items. Of course there are always exceptions but this is important for them to learn to be responsible and they learn quickly when given the opportunity to learn from mistakes.
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Only four more school days until our winter break, are you excited??
This past week was kind of a difficult one for our class. We spent a lot of time arguing with each other, we did take care of the environment well, and not a lot of work was completed unfortunately. With the break coming up quickly and the accompanying holidays this is to be expected, however I would really appreciate it if you could take a minute to remind your child of the expectations while at school. Most importantly, being respectful to others is essential at all times. We have a lot of fun activities happening this week, including two Celebrations of Life. Monday and Tuesday will be mostly typical work days. On Wednesday afternoon students will choose two classrooms to visit that will be presenting different activities from around the world. This will include all 8 classrooms in the primary wing and should be exciting and full of great learning opportunities. Thursday will be our classroom winter festival day. In the morning we will be decorating gingerbread houses; if you have not yet supplied decorations we are still in need of graham crackers and small candies. We will also be making a small gift for our families during the morning work period. After music and p.e. in the afternoon we will have a small feast of the foods provided by the kids and enjoy each others company before the break. *Two things I would like to share with you that I request you not share with your child yet. On Monday morning our classroom elf will be delivering 22 stockings to our classroom along with many items to stuff the stockings with. Hello wonderful families!
We have just 9 more school days, holy buckets! Where has the time gone this year? With the end of the quarter wrapping up and the holidays quickly approaching we have many things going on to tidy up before our winter break. Please check out the new Field Trips tab (formerly our Wish List), here I will be listing field trips as I plan them and they are approved by Ms.Dene. I sent home the permission form for our next field trip on Friday, please return it as soon as possible. Again, I know it's far in advance but I must pay in advance once again for everyone and it's just one week after returning from break. I want to make sure that we have everyone ready to go before trying to get back into a normal routine again. *We need 8 drivers (if each driver has three seats) for this field trip, please let me know if you are available to drive. You must be able to show proof of insurance and registration and supply the front office with a copy of this information ahead of time. Thank you! Thank you to those who have already donated to our holiday party fund. We will be making gingerbread houses as part of our holiday party. We have lots of yummy candy but are in need of a lot more white frosting and graham crackers. Our party will take place on December 18th and it will be an all day event. We will be making our gingerbread houses, putting together a gift for our families, stuffing Blessing Stockings for those in need, and last but not least- feasting! Winter Benchmark testing is complete! All of the children were tested in the areas of math and reading and they really did amazing. These tests allow me to see where their skill sets are at versus where we want them to be; they are a great guide for me as to where I need to focus more attention on to help the kids succeed. We are making great strides this year and it's very exciting to see! We have a new visitor in our classroom, have you heard about him? He is our Elf on the Shelf and his name is Taylor. So far Taylor has reminded us to care for our environment, encouraged us to practice our money skills, and has kept his eye out for random acts of kindness in the classroom. If you come and visit our room keep your eyes out for him, he tends to hide in the silliest of places. Sometimes he is hanging upside down or scaling the clothesline across our classroom! Can you volunteer at the Winter Fun Night? Mr.Chuck needs 2-3 parents from our classroom to help guide students during the choir concert. Please get in touch with me if you're able to help out. Thank you from Mr.Chuck and I! Have a great week! Christine Homan Important Dates: Scholastic Book Order due: December 18th Classroom Winter Party: December 18th Winter break begins: December 19th (No school!) Kaleidoscape Play Studio, Field Trip: January 13th, 12-3pm |
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