Week of December 17, 2012

Dear Parents:

First, I want to say thank you to everyone for your wonderful participation in the gift drive. Our bins (and there were many) ended up overflowing! You were all so very generous! You helped your child to "see" and "feel" the true meaning of giving. Even though the load was heavy, the children had such joy in carrying the gifts to the athletic center Friday! What an awesome sight to see piles and piles of gifts for all of the families! Thank you for making the holidays of our adoptive families brighter!

In case you haven't heard about our class elf, Buster, I've included a couple of pictures of the ways we have found him when we get to school in the mornings! He is quite the character as you can see! The children are excited each morning to find out what he has been up to!

On Wednesday, we will be making gingerbread houses after lunch with Dr. Hosseini, Mobi Pennock, and Mary Hind. How exciting!

Our holiday party is this Thursday! Remember that your child should come to school in jammies ready for our Pajama Breakfast Party! You can come in your jammies, too! All parents are welcome! Remember that the children will be having PE that morning, so if your child prefers not to stay in their jammies, please send in a change of clothes for after the party They will need sockd and sneakers either way! We also have our lower school holiday sing-along in the theater at 11:00. Again, you are welcome to join us if you like! Dismissal is at noon.

Volunteers this week:

• Wednesday - Library Check-out - 2:00 - Kim Gross and Mary Hind or Deborah Shipley 

Reading/Language Arts: As readers we continue to think and talk about what we read with our partners as well as with ourselves. When your child reads with you at home, please take the time to let them talk about what they have read. Sharing ideas is an important part of understanding what we read. Retelling bookmarks came home last week. They can be used to help your child with retelling a book after reading it.

Math:  Please continue to practice the basic addition and subtraction facts with your child for automaticity. Fact Power cards came home on Monday this week. Please return them on Wednesday! They must be returned before the holiday break. Several children did not return them to school from last week. Please help instill in your child,  the responsibility for practicing and returning the cards to school. This week, the children are making up and solving number stories involving relation symbols (<, >, and =), addition, and subtraction. We'll also be working on addition of 2-digit numbers, with the children using several different strategies for solving these problems.

The children played Animal Weight Top-it, some using base-10 blocks to help figure out the animal that weighs the most.

Ryan, Matthew, Avery, and Natalie play the game, "Tens and Ones Trading" with Mrs . Gross.

Daven, Carson, Kaja, and Leni work on a time matching activity.

Writer's Workshop: We are finishing up our realistic fiction stories and getting them ready for publishing. We plan to celebrate our writing with you on Thursday after our pajama party! The plan is to get comfortable with our pillows that we make at the party, and enjoy reading our stories with you! Who doesn't love to settle in a comfy spot and read a good book?

Science: As our solar system unit continues, this week we continue to learn about stars and constellations and the galaxy that we are a part of... the Milky Way!

Can you believe this is our last week together in the 2012 school year? The time is flying by! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah with your family! The break from school is a great time to read, play games, and just enjoy your time together!

I hope to see you on Thursday at our Pajama Breakfast Party!
Susan