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.