Thank you all soooooo much for coming to today's performance. I know it meant the world to your child. I am as proud of them as you are. They did a wonderful job. Thank you for sticking around to have refreshments. I enjoyed spending time with you. Please have a safe and happy holiday. With love...

Tomorrow's the big day! I know the students are excited about performing for you all. I just finished decorating 4 dozen cookies. Our show will be short, but don't skip the treats afterward! See you tomorrow at 1:45!

I know how important it is to be consistent and to keep a regular schedule. I'm not sure who gets most upset when things change--the students or me! I think the students did a good job of adjusting to a lot of changes to their schedule this week. We have 2 more fairly chaotic days coming up, then things get back to normal in January.

Thanks to all of you terrific parents who are so willing to help out! Those of you who come in during center time may not feel like you are doing much, but you cannot imagine how much your presence frees me to meet with small groups. Without you, minor interruptions by students can take up 75% of my time, making reading and math groups nearly impossible. If anyone is willing to come in from 10-10:30 Monday or Tuesday, we have a lot of fabric wreaths that need to be completed. (They got sick of tying very quickly.) Because of performances, we will not have afternoon centers next week. Speaking of performances, is anyone willing to bake a batch of cookies to bring to our kindergarten performance on Tuesday at 1:45? I will bring a punch bowl and ingredients for punch if I can get some help with cookies.

Next week is Ian's VIP week. Have a great weekend!

We had a super duper fun day! We began by practicing our sign language songs with Mrs. Hanson's class, then Mrs. Summers combined the 2 kindergarten classes with the 2 first grade classes to watch the movie Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. After recess, we started working on the gingerbread houses. Students used royal icing to stick graham crackers to the outside of an empty milk carton. We let the icing dry during lunch, then put the finishing touches on after lunch. They turned out really cute! We squeezed in a writing assignment, but the kids had a hard time focusing. We enjoyed Nick's birthday treats at the end of the day!

Tomorrow at 3:45 the sign club is performing Christmas songs in sign language for the residents of St. John's nursing home. Even if your child is not in sign club, they know most of the songs and are welcome to join us. They need their own transportation. I don't think we'll be there for more than 20 or 30 minutes. St. John's is located at the corner of Rimrock and Shiloh. Go into the main entrance, under the red awning. We will perform in the main lobby. I know that someone from the media will be there to cover the event. If you have questions, please call or email me.

It was so nice to see so many of you at the music program today. I know it meant a lot to your children to know you were there in the audience. I thought they did a really good job as did Mrs. Summers, the music teacher.

Today we learned about cause and effect. I stated the lesson by blowing up a balloon and holding up a tack. I asked what would happen when I touched the tack to the balloon. They all knew and were cringing in anticipation. We talked about causes and effects, giving examples. Next, we read If You Give a Pig a Pancake. It is a circular story, which ends the same way it began.

Students watched a video before their afternoon performance to help calm them. After the show, they continued work on their fabric wreaths. For math, we read the book Counting Cats and did a worksheet in which students drew lines from groups of objects to the coordinating numeral.

I apologize for being a little late today. We watched the entire Christmas music program, and then had only a few minutes to tidy the room. Tomorrow is our public performance. Please send a pair of street shoes for your child. They have to sit cross legged on the stage and snow boots make that awfully difficult.

I hope you had a chance to read the weekly newsletter (at the bottom on the web site). In today's Monday envelope, there is a permission slip for your child to go to Alberta Bair Theatre on January 28th. The $5 ticket fee is due by Dec. 22nd, our last day before Christmas break.

I changed a few of the centers today and the students seem pleased with the changes. One of the new centers is "housekeeping." At this center, students may use a Swiffer duster or a carpet sweeper to tidy the room. They are also in charge of sharpening the dull pencils.

We played what I was afraid might be a difficult game. In this new version of BANG!, students pulled a stick with a letter written on it. They had to think of a word that started with that letter but also had our letter of the week (n) in the word. For example, if they pulled a stick with the letter H, they might say the word hand or Hunter. They did incredibly well at this!! I told them they are little genuises.

In science, we interactively wrote words for the way things taste, such as bitter, sweet, sour, salty. Next, students drew a picture of a tongue, tasted a variety of foods, and drew where on the tongue they felt those tastes. You should have seen them run for the water fountain after tasting the unsweetened baker's chocolate!

Thankfully, students were able to go outdoors for lunch recess. In math, we learned about estimation and comparing the sizes of containers to determine which ones would hold the most. Students estimated how many plastic counting bears would fit into three different sizes of containers. On one try, I made it interesting offering a sucker to the person whose guess was closest to the actual number. I had them write their estimation in ink so they couldn't change it. Then, I filled the container one bear at a time as students counted. Hunter and Ian had the EXACT number! (I had to find another sucker!) Way to go, guys!

Information will be coming home on Monday about our field trip to Alberta Bair theater. We don't go until January 28th, but we need money turned in before Christmas break (Dec. 22) in order to hold our reservation. The cost per student is $5 (cash). We will be watching Stellaluna.

Don't forget to bring something to taste tomorrow! Your child needs 17 bite-sized pieces of something sweet, salty, sour, bitter, etc. to share with the class for science. Thanks to the elves who cut fabric last night! There were a few students who finished their wreaths today and took them home. They were so proud of their work.

During music, Mrs. Summers took all the kindergarteners to the stage to show them how they will line up for their performance next Tuesday. Performances are at 9am and 1pm. Attend the one that best fits your schedule. During reading block, we read a story about a bear who discovers that winter is on the way. She tells her friends to hurry and get under ground. We talked about dreams and what the animals in the story might dream about while they are hibernating. They had some funny ideas. They drew a picture of the animal and a "dream bubble" which contained a picture of what the animal was dreaming. I encouraged them to label their pictures and was very pleased at how many of them were able to do so without my help.

In math, students counted 14 small straws and used the straws and balls of clay to build a structure. Then, during writer's workshop, they wrote a describing sentence about it. I have been very pleased with everyone's progress during reading groups. The students are doing a nice job of pointing to the words as they read, and they are pros at finding familiar words in text.

Some of your lovely children voluteered you to cut strips of fabric for our wreaths tonight. If you are one of the "volunteers," you will find a Ziplock baggy with the fabric and a sample strip so you can see how long to make it. If you don't have time, don't stress out about it--we'll probably have enough. We started the project today. It is great fine motor practice and through this activity, they are learning to tie!

For math, we reviewed teen numbers and showed the number 13 on a 10-frame. Students went to their tables, traced and cut out 13 triangles, and glued them to a sheet of paper to make them look like Christmas trees. Those who wanted to decorated their trees with sequins. The paper that came home with magazine pictures glued to it was a project in which students searched through magazines for things that had the /n/ sound in them. If the word started with n, students were to write an uppercase letter under the picture. If the n was in the middle or end of the word, they were to write a lowercase letter under the picture.

I told students that they could bring a board game to school tomorrow for indoor recess. I also said they had to have your permission in order to bring it. IF your child is responsible enough to keep track of all the game pieces, knows how to play the game, and would be able to teach the game to a peer, they are welcome to bring a game that's appropriate for 2-4 players.

Friday is Mrs. Swan's last day with us. If your child wants to make her a going away card, please do so and bring it to school by Friday.

I thought I should mention that there IS sign club today, even though I will not be there. Book It Pizza certificates went home on Monday. Check your child's backpack. If you haven't submitted your child's hours of reading (or being read to), you still have a chance. The Book It program goes through March. Your child must have 300 minutes of reading per month in order to get the certificate. You simply fill out and turn in the bottom portion of the newsletter to me each Tuesday, when you return the Monday envelope.

Wow! What a cold day! Needless to say, we stayed inside for recess today. Students had free-choice centers and at lunch recess, our class joined Mrs. Hanson's class to watch a Magic School Bus video. The kids were so quiet during morning recess that they earned a popcorn point!

We read the book Time to Sleep and learned about hibernation and how the heart rate of the hibernating animal slows to 4 beats per minute. We counted our own and found that our hearts beat much faster.

We practiced counting to 30 by tens and learned that it would take 3 people in order to hold up 30 fingers. We reviewed teen numbers and noticed that they all have a one in front of them.

We played a listening game in which the first student said a word or phrase, the second person repeated what the first person said and then added their own word or phrase, etc. The last person had a lot of information to remember, so I divided the class into two groups for this activity.

Tomorrow I'll be gone. I have a dentist appointment. Mr. Wheeler will be their guest teacher. I left the package of fabric on my desk if anyone wants to take some home to cut into strips and send back on Wednesday for our wreath craft. See you on Wednesday!

Mrs. Waples, our school librarian, shared this site with me. You can listen to cheldren's books being read in other languages. Give it a try.
http://www.professorgarfield.org/toon_book_reader/index.html

Your child is probably driving you crazy by singing Christmas songs. We sang/signed this morning, then they sang some more during music class. I brought birthday treats and the kids were amazed that I made them all by myself ?! Students really used their listening ears today to re-tell a story and tell the beginning, middle, and end of a story without pictures.

Thankfully, the weather allowed us to have outdoor recess today. During journal time, I gave students free choice to write about the topic of their choice. Having so much freedom was difficult for many of them. I'm really pushing them to sound out words without my help because they are so capable-just need a little more confidence.

In math, we reviewed ordinal numbers, missing numbers, and growing patterns. Tomorrow Mrs. Swan has a fun 5 senses lesson. Don't forget to send your child with a hidden "smell" object for tomorrow.

We bagan the day by practicing handwriting and spelling. Our social studies lesson was about families. We talked about how families are different--different numbers of people, different interests, different living situations. Students drew pictures of their families.

Since the wind chill was below zero, we stayed inside for recess. Afterward, we reviewed "verbs" and students were tape recorded saying a complete sentence that included an action word. Some examples of their sentences are, "I like to swim." and "I like to build with Legos." They enjoyed listening to their voices on tape.

Lunch recess was indoors, too, so students worked together on a mural. We started an author study of Jan Brett by reading The Hat. We talked again about ideas in writing. Another way to generate ideas is to make lists. Today, students made a list of 4 items they want for Christmas. I promised to send the lists home tomorrow so you all can mail them to the North Pole. :)

Students took a math test today, to see what they remembered about growing patterns. I stood folders between students to act as privacy barriers. After the test, students paired up to play the card game Top It (formerly known as War).

For afternoon recess, our birthday boy, Christian, chose a video for us to watch. We followed the video with a speed reading test, then students drew a growing pattern in their math journals. We ended the day by learning the signs to the song Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas in Hawaiian). For more videos on how to sign Christmas songs, see the sign club blog (link is on the right).