Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Thank you for all of the Christmas gifts.  I am overwhelmed by your generosity.  I received a gift filled with many amazing presents from the class (gift cards, a bracelet, a coffee mug, and cookie mix) as well as many gifts from individual families.  I am feeling extremely blessed!  It is such a gift to work with your children each day and for that I am super thankful!

Christmas Fun

A HUGE thank you to Jessica Troost (our room parent) for organizing a great Christmas party for the class.  Also, we couldn't have done it without the MANY other parent volunteers that helped out or contributed to our supplies.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  

At the party students made an adorable snowmen ornament, decorated cookies, played a fun game with candy canes, and tried to get a bunch of jingle bells out of a Kleenex box by jumping and bouncing around.  Check out our fun!

Newsletter: December 16

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday, December 19: Winter Wonderland 

Wear silver, white, light blue, snowflakes - anything that reminds you of a winter wonderland 

Tuesday, December 20: Festive Attire

Red/Green Day, Festive Attire

Classroom Christmas Party 9:30-10:30...We hope you can join us for the fun!

Wednesday, December 21: Christmas Morning 

Wear Pajamas or Comfy Clothing

Thursday, December 22: No School Christmas Break Begins

Tuesday, January 3: School Resumes

OTHER UPDATES:

Thank you for all of the Kleenex boxes donated to the classroom.  We have a good supply again.  However, we won’t turn any donations away if you still would like to contribute.  

This Christmas, our class will be exchanging gifts between boys and girls.  We would like to do a book exchange!  We are asking that each child buys a book that is age appropriate and does not cost more than $5.00.  Boys will buy a book for a boy and girls will buy a book for a girl.  The morning of our Christmas party day (Tuesday, Dec. 20), we will play a fun game and exchange our books.  Please have the wrapped book, along with a tag for boy or girl, to school by Monday, December 19.  If the cost of buying a book for this exchange is a problem, please let us know and we will take care of it for you.  Thanks and we look forward to some fun reading!

Also, beginning in January I am looking for five different parent volunteers to work with students in their reading.  Students will be reading short sentences to build their fluency and accuracy.  I am hoping to have one parent volunteer each day from 8:45-9:15 (9:30 at the very latest).  Please email me know if you are interested in helping and let me know what day works best for you.  If you would like to help, but that particular time doesn't work, we can find another time that is better for you! 

Just let me know!  At this point, I don’t have any volunteers.  Soon I will begin to beg!

READING:

Please look for a new SRC goal coming home after Christmas break.  Your child will have until the end of the year to accomplish his/her goal.  However, please make sure to watch for the dates when students should be at 25%, 50%, and 75% of their goal.  It will be important to stay on track so your child does not have a lot of catching up to do in May.  

Next week we will wrap up our informational reading unit.  We will also spend sometime getting into the Christmas spirit by reading Christmas books and making special Christmas presents.  

WRITING:

Next week we will wrap up our informational writing about communities.   We will spend time revising and editing our writing as well as sharing it with a writing partner.  

MATH:

Due to our recent snow day, we will be postponing our Unit 3 math test until after Christmas break.  Please look for a review coming home the first week of January.  

Also, don’t forget to have your child practice Xtramath at home. This week we had four students practice throughout the week!  We have a few students that are getting very close to earning their certificates for addition and will soon move into practicing subtraction.  Keep up the great practice!!!

Newsletter: December 9

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday, December 19: Winter Wonderland 

Wear silver, white, light blue, snowflakes - anything that reminds you of a winter wonderland 

Tuesday, December 20:Festive Attire

Red/Green Day, Festive Attire

Classroom Christmas Party 9:30-10:30...we hope you can join us for the fun!

Class Book Exchange (Bring in a new, wrapped book under $5)

Wednesday, December 21: Christmas Morning 

Wear Pajamas or Comfy Clothing

Thursday, December 22: No School Christmas Break

Tuesday, January 3: School Resumes

OTHER UPDATES:

Unfortunately, the last few months have been filled with many colds in the classroom and our supply of Kleenex boxes are dwindling.  We would greatly appreciate it if you could donate another box or two.  Thanks!

Also, beginning in January I am looking for five parent volunteers to work with students with their reading.  Students will be reading short sentences to build their fluency and accuracy.  I am hoping to have one parent volunteer each day from 8:45-9:15 (9:30 at the very latest).  Please email me if you are interested in helping and let me know what day works best for you.  If you would like to help, but can’t come in at that particular time, we can find another time that works best for you!  Just let me know!

READING:

We will take the next week and a half to get a head start on the next round of SRC.  Their goal will be much larger this next time around.  They will have twice as much time to complete their goal, but I encouraged them to get started now!  New goals will be set soon.  Students will continue to take quizzes through the end of the year. Please remind your child to read each night and continue to take quizzes.

WRITING:

Next week we will wrap up our informational writing about communities.  Students will write all of their teaching chapters and a conclusion.  We will focus on writing main idea sentences with many supporting details.  Students will also take time to make sure their illustrations teach about their main ideas and include various text features.  

MATH:

It is hard to believe that we are almost done with our unit 3 math lessons.  This unit is significantly shorter than the previous two units.  We will wrap up our learning about measurement and shapes on Thursday.  That will give us just enough time to review and assess before Christmas break.  Please look for a unit 3 review test coming home at the end of the week.  

Also, don’t forget to have your child practice Xtramath at home. This week we only had four students practice throughout the week!  However, we did have our first student successfully complete all of the addition facts.  Congratulations to Thomas for moving on to subtraction!!  I am excited for many other students to move onto subtraction as well very soon!

VOCABULARY WORD OF THE WEEK:

Determine: to decide or choose something important

Newsletter: December 2

The kiddos did an amazing job at our Christmas Program! I loved seeing them in their fanciest outfits!  I couldn't be more proud of them!!!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Monday, December 5- Santa's Secret Shop 10:30
• Tuesday, December 20- Christmas Party 9:30-10:30am
• Tuesday, December 20- Class Book Exchange (Please see the note in your child's Friday folder for more information)
• Thursday, December 22- Christmas Break Begins- NO SCHOOL

VOCAB WORD OF THE WEEK:

Suggest-to put forth an idea, to say/mention something

MATH:

We wrapped up our 2nd unit in Math and took the test today.  I will send your child's math test home next week.  This was another challenging test.  It covered place value, 2-digit addition, and counting money.  Please continue to practice these concepts at home as well.  Next week, we will dive into a unit on Measurement.

READING:
The students have officially completed their first session of SRC.  I am so proud of their dedication to their reading.  MANY students made it to their SRC goal by reading and passing 10 quizzes.  Congratulations!!!  You can check out your child's SRC report that was sent home today to see your child's progress.  We will start a new session of SRC after Christmas break.  The goals after break will be much higher because students will have until the end of the year to reach their goal.  Students will also be able to take as many quizzes as they want to in one week.  We will not be taking any new SRC quizzes for the next two weeks.  However, please continue to have your child read 5 nights a week at home.  

WRITING:
We moved into a new writing unit-informational writing.  Informational texts teach others interesting and important information and ideas about a topic.  Students will be writing about a topic that they know a lot about or that they have studied.  We will begin writing about communities.  We will use what we have learned in class and information from another book to do additional research for our writing.  We will begin by creating a table of contents and writing an introduction.  Also, we will work on planning our teaching chapters by brainstorming main idea sentences and supporting details.

WORD STUDY:
Look for the letter "o" picture sort coming home next week.  Please continue to practice this sort with your child at home.  Here are a list of fun activities you can do with the sort...
  *Beat the Parent: Parent sorts the words while being timed by their child.  The child then tries to beat the parents time while sorting their words.

*Speed Sort: Student completes the sort while timing himself/herself.  The sort is then repeated to see if he/she can beat his/her previous time.

*Concentration: Students lay word cards face down.  Cards are flipped over two at a time.  The student is to read the words and determine if they belong in the same category.  If the words belong in the same category, the student has found a math and keeps the words.  This continues with students taking turns until all words have been used.

*Students place the words in the appropriate category and spell the words correctly.