December 20, 2016

Dear Parents,

We finished our Christmas activities this week.  We discussed K is also for Kwanzaa and made mkeka mats, L - Lights at Christmas, M- looked at Mistletoe, N - made Noel hangers, O - made Ornaments, and went over P is for Pictures and Presents at Christmas time.  We did Q for Quiet Time, R for Rudolph, S we put together Santa’s Sleigh, T we had Treats, U for Under the Tree, V for Visitors, W we made wreaths, X is for X and O (hugs and kisses).  Yesterday we did Y and Z along with watching The Polar Express – Y is for Yule Logs and Z is for Zzzz (we were ready to rest in our pajamas and watch the movie). The kids enjoyed all the Christmas activities and we sent home all the things they have made.  We hope you enjoyed your present and Christmas card. 

Next Week (Jan. 9-13)

Theme: Winter & Weather                         Story: The Mitten   

Word Family: -ip, -ick, -ig                         Nursery Rhyme: Three Little Kittens                 

Reminders

·      Students return to School on Monday January 9^th.

·      Don’t forget to return towels for rest time.

·      Students did not receive their monkey folders today.  We did leave them at school.

·      We did change the homework calendar for the New Year and added some new pages.  You will notice that the front homework letter is different. We also straightened out some of the notebooks and added any missing pages. I did return them so you would have them.  Don’t worry there’s no homework until they return back to school.  Also, don’t forget to continue coloring for each book you read on the reading log.

·      Over the break, if you could save a couple of toilet paper rolls, we have a couple of activities we will do where the kids will need one. 

·      Please check the volunteer calendar, there are always days that we need extra help.  If you see a date you can come, please email me and I will add you to the calendar.

Upcoming

·      Friday January 20^th, we will have Frozen day.  We will have morning centers about ice, snow, winter, etc.  I am in need of 3-4 volunteers that morning, from 8:20-9:45.  I am also looking for someone or some people to help provide snack.  For snack, I’d like them to have a drink and 1-2 things to eat.  Then I also need someone to provide drink and popcorn for the movie time.  If you would like to help provide food or volunteer, just let me know. 

·      Also, I have a book the kids can make on the frozen day that is only 2 pages.  I would love to get it copied in color.  If you are willing to make the color copies of the book, please let me know and I will send it home when we return.

We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  We would also like to thank everyone for the nice Christmas presents!!  We thought everything we received was just wonderful.  We hope everyone has a nice and safe break.

                                                                                    Mrs. Hodges & Mrs. Roycroft

December 9, 2016

Dear Parents,       

It is almost Christmas time.  We have been working on more letters of Christmas things.  We began the week with making our Gingerbread houses for G.  Thanks for sending in everything for the gingerbread houses and for those who came in to help, they turned out great.  We have them displayed around the room to decorate for Christmas.  We will send them home before they get out on break.  We did H and practiced how Santa says Ho! Ho! Ho!, for I – we made Icicles, for J – we made Jingle Bell bracelets, for K – we talked about Kris Kringle and have begun discussing how other countries celebrate Christmas, We have been writing down what we have done for each letter.  You can see that list when we finish up next week.  We also discussed this week some of the different holiday ways people celebrate at Christmas time.  We discussed Hanukkah and made a menorah, and Jesus and made a manger scene.  In math, we have discussed the shape hexagon and reviewed over all the shapes.  In our math books, we have some sheets left we did not do on the shapes.  This is just extra work.  We have done many things with the shapes, so I am sending these extra pages home for you to have.

Next Week

Theme: Christmas                                                      

Handwriting Letters: x, z                                        

Story: The Gingerbread Man                                                                         

Reminders/Dates

·      For my math and literacy volunteers: We will have literacy centers only next Monday and Tuesday and no centers the following week.  We will not have math centers next week.

·      Return homework and notebooks next week on Wednesday.

·      Students will only take home books next week on Monday.  Please return the books these books by Thursday next week.

·      I wanted to let you know that we do not need to collect milk jugs, we are not going to do that craft, sorry.  We will not need any.

·      Tuesday December 13^th: The PTO is having their Parent Unplugged session from 5:30-7:00.  This should be an interesting session about math.  You can register and read more about it at

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unplugged-get-over-it-tickets-27603221980?aff=es2 

• Don’t forget about the book exchange.  Each student needs to get a book for another student.  The price limit is $5.  It needs to be wrapped and have a tag with the name of who it is from.  Girls will exchange with girls and boys will exchange with boys.  I would like the presents sent in by Thursday December 15^th.

• Letter of intent forms are due by next Friday, please send it in by then.

·      Friday December 16^th: Christmas celebration – Students will not need a snack or a lunch. We will have a big day full of fun activities and food.  Here is our schedule for the day:

8:25-9:45         Small group and whole group activities

9:45-10:15       Snack

10:15-11:15     Small group and whole group activities

11:15-11:40     Open Presents

11:40-12:00     Outside

12:00-12:30     Lunch

·      Friday December 16^th: Return any dental letters about the SMILE program

·      Monday December 19^th: Wear Pajamas & watch The Polar Express

·      Tuesday December 20^th: Early Release at 11:45 – We will have a birthday snack today, so students do not need to bring a snack.  Remember, we do not have lunch today.  If you need for your child to eat lunch before dismissal, please let me know.

• Next week, we will be sending home the kid’s nursery rhyme book.  There are about 10 nursery rhymes in this book that we have worked on.  We are only half way done with our nursery rhyme study, so this is the first book of nursery rhymes.  The kids can keep this and review the nursery rhymes and the things they made.

• I am in need of the Polar Express movie for Tuesday.  If you have one I can borrow please let me know.

Mrs. Hodges & Mrs. Roycroft