Wanted you to know . . .

Hello!  I hope everyone had a safe & Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a blessed New Year!  Since Christmas Break came early, I wanted to send along some helpful information:

 

1)     Christmas Party – We will celebrate Friday, January 4^th in the afternoon.  I realize that those of you who signed up to help out may not be available.  I could use a couple of parent volunteers though, so please let me know if any of you are available (those on the original list or those who were not).J  We will keep with the same sign-up for snacks/supplies (I have the snacks/supplies that were sent in early safe and sound).

2)     I have the January Snack Calendar completed.  Stephanie, Katy, & Kathy – I have you on the calendar for volunteering; if you find that the dates don’t work out for you, just let me know. J  I like to double check with you before sending it out, but unfortunately that wasn’t able to happen this time.

3)     I made some additions to our snack calendar for the first 3 days back since 2 students missed their helper dates in December and Dominick missed out on his B-day treat:  Wednesday – Lydia as planned, Thursday – Dayvi & Dominick (1 snack each), Friday – Aaron & Ashton (1 snack each) + Party in the afternoon

4)     Since winter is upon us – in the event of future snow days, we will have 2 helpers on the next day of school and each one can bring in 1 snack and they will share the ‘helper jobs.’

5)     Pajama Day – I have one scheduled for January as well as a sledding party.

 

If you have any questions please feel free to send me an e-mail.

See you soon!

Sherry Brinks

Christmas Sign-Up - Updated

Christmas Party

24 Plates                                                 Dayvi

24 Napkins                                             Jazmine

24 Cups                                                  Maisie

1 container of Raspberry Sherbet        Max

1 container of Raspberry Sherbet        Max

2 Liter Bottle of 7-Up                              Aidan

2 Liter Bottle of 7-Up                              Aidan

24 candy canes                                    Aaron

Finger Jell-O (Sugar Free)                    Henry

Snack Mix                                              Jazmine

Cheese & Crackers                               Teagan

 

Parent Volunteers—Thursday, December 20th

Dana Baas

Megan Cornell

Erin Koetje

Katrina Christie

**Please plan to arrive by 12:15.  You are welcome to come early and have lunch with your child.

 

Newsletter Updates for the Week of December 17th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thursday, Dec. 20th—Christmas Party @ 12:30

-Fri., Dec. 21st—Pajama Party, Sing-a-long, &  Library

-Wednesday, January 2nd—School Resumes

 

 

CHRISTMAS PARTY: 

For our class Christmas party we are planning to have a gift exchange.  We are asking that girls bring a gift for a girl and boys bring a gift for a boy.  Please select a gift that is between $3.00-$3.50, and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM.  If this presents a financial burden for your family, please be sure to contact me in confidence and we will work it out.  Our party will be held Thursday, December 20th beginning at 12:30.  Parent volunteers, please plan to arrive by 12:15, or you are welcome to come early and have lunch with your child @ 11:40.  Our Christmas tree is up and ready, so you may send in the gifts for the gift exchange anytime on or before Thursday. :)

PAJAMA DAY: 

This Friday we will celebrate our last day before break in our Pajamas.  Students are welcome to wear their PJ’s and slippers in the classroom.  We will be having our annual Sing-a-long with Mr. Smith in the elementary lunchroom @ 9:10, as well as a movie, and a visit to the library in the afternoon. The students are very excited!   We will still be going outside for recess, so please be sure to send boots and snow pants for recess!

 

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week the students will take a short assessment from our Science Unit on the 5 Senses.  They have really enjoyed exploring with their senses—the smelly jars, feely boxes, sound games, and taste tests have all been a hit!  They are also enjoying role-playing in the Bakery Shop during free choice time.  This week we will read several stories in anticipation of Christmas!

 

READING: 

Our focus text for this week is Listen Buddy which we will use to practice making predictions, drawing conclusions, and describing character traits.  Our focus letter for the week is Hh, and we will introduce the sight word me.  We will continue to work on rhyming, stretching out words as we read and write, and reading and writing our sight words.  When we get back from break it will be time to begin assessing the students’ growth for report cards. 

 

 

WRITING: 

This week we will use both the book and the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas to discuss Word Choice, Voice, and Ideas.  The students will complete a couple of journals related to Christmas to wrap up their December Journals.  They will also be drawing a map to their house for Santa:)  This week we will celebrate our growth as writers—we will be reading our I Can pattern books to the Jr. Kindergartners before bringing them home to share for the holidays.

 

 

MATH: 

This week we will be working on our ‘tricky teens.’  We will practice building them using base 10 blocks.  We will also finish up our December Calendars and bring them home to share.

 

JUST A FEW REMINDERS: 

**We will visit the library this Friday.  Please be sure to return your child’s library book on or before Friday so that they can check out a new book over break.  We had a 100% return last time!

**The December Snack Calendar goes through the first week in January.  I will send home a complete January Snack Calendar after break.

**Keep reading and filling out your Book-It Calendars.  I will be awarding December Certificates after break.

 

Thank you for sharing your children with me each day; what a true blessing they are!  I wish your family a very Merry Christmas filled with joy, hope, love, and laughter!         

 

Sherry Brinks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newsletter Updates for the Week of December 10th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, December 10th—Elementary Christmas Concert @ 7:00 (K-4)

-Monday, December 17th—Delayed Start (10:00)

-Thursday, December 20th—Christmas Party (pm)

-Friday, December 21st—Sing-a-long

 

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM: 

The Elementary Christmas Program is tonight @ 7:00.  Students should plan to arrive by 6:45; the parking lot will be crowded, so allow yourself some extra time to park and walk in. :)  Students will gather in the multi-use room and the concert will be held in the High School Gym.  Students are asked to dress up for the event, Christmas colors are optional. :) Also, please have your child use the bathroom before the concert, so that we don’t have a ‘chain reaction’ once we get into the gym:)

 

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE: 

I know that many of you have started your Christmas shopping.  For our class Christmas party we are planning to have a gift exchange.  We are asking that girls bring a gift for a girl and boys bring a gift for a boy.  Please select a gift that is between $3.00-$3.50, and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM.  If this presents a financial burden for your family, please be sure to contact me in confidence and we will work it out.  Our party will be held Thursday, December 20th in the afternoon.

WINTER CLOTHES: 

The students are doing a fantastic job of getting dressed and undressed quickly for recess!  Please continue to send everything to outfit your child for recess. Also, please be sure to pack shoes for the classroom; and of course . . LABEL everything please! :)

 

READING: 

Our focus text for this week is Bunny Cakes which we will use to identify cause and effect relationships.  Our focus letter for the week is Ll, and we will introduce the sight words look & in.   We will incorporate color words and several 5 senses activities into our literacy stations this week.  Our new beanie baby this week is Peekin’ Poodle; she ties together several of our accuracy strategies.  She will teach us a cheer to use when we come to a word we don't know: Check the picture, check the word, does it look right, does it sound right, keep TRYING!!

WRITING: 

This week we will continue working on writing pattern books; we will read our I Like books with partners and then bring them home to share.  We will also begin writing a new pattern book: I Can.  We will complete a Type 3 Writing about things we smell at Christmas time, as well as a couple of journal pages related to Christmas.  We have really been working on sounding out words, writing the sounds that we hear, and putting spaces between our words while writing.

MATH: 

This week we will work on adding and subtracting to ten.  We will also begin skip counting by 10’s, and counting objects in the tricky teens.  We will also create a graph our favorite colors and analyze our classroom bar graph together.

 

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will continue our Science Unit on the 5 Senses.  We will be using our sense of touch to identify objects and textures.  We will use our sense of hearing to distinguish sounds in our environment and later in the week we will taste test some different foods and describe them.

 

Christmas Party Sign Up:

24 Plates                                        Dayvi

24 Napkins                                    Jazmine

24 Cups                                         Maisie

1 container of Raspberry Sherbet ______________________

1 container of Raspberry Sherbet ______________________

2 Liter Bottle of 7-Up                     Aidan

2 Liter Bottle of 7-Up                     Aidan

24 candy canes                           Aaron

Finger Jell-O (Sugar Free)           Henry

Snack Mix ___________________________

Cheese & Crackers                    Teagan

 

Parent Volunteers—Thursday, December 20th

Dana Baas

Megan Cornell

Erin Koetje

Katrina Christie