Welcome back and Happy New year!  I am so excited to be back with all of your children.  We started off our week with lots of new things, the most important being the addition to our class.  Ray has joined us and will be with us Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday half days.  Jeff and Ange are his parents and he has two older sisters at Morris.  Welcome, Ray!

Tuesday we learned that it is a new season, winter; it is a new month, January; and it is a new year, 2010(we are saying twenty-ten).  The children also noticed that our class has its own message every morning.  Please take a moment at drop off to read this with your child and answer the daily question or complete whatever the directions may say.  We then reread the message at our Morning Meeting and compare the date on the message to the date on our calendar; check the daily schedule, and go over the ‘findings’ from the questions.  The message will remain the same pattern until after March break, then I will add another simple sentence.

Wednesday we enjoyed playing in the gym and in our classroom.  We made some beautiful foam art that is hanging in our math corner.  We used colorful strips of paper, foam shapes of all colors, and gooey glue.  The children had fun selecting each foam piece as they glued them on.  We talked about just using a dot of glue for each foam piece.  Next week will count the number of foamies on each child’s paper strip and add them up to see how many we used for our creations. 

Thursday we had fun playing out in the snow on the playground!  It was chilly out, but everyone had all the right clothes on to keep toasty warm.  During our activity time we made foamie creations again.  The children had so much fun making them the first time that they wanted to make some to bring home!  We read the book, The Mitten, which is about a boy and his lost mitten.  A bunch of wild animals find the mitten and squeeze into in!  The book ties in with our homework, decorating a mitten.  Please return these by January 12th.

In French class, we have been working on colors and the weather and clothing.  The children really enjoy going on our French scavenger hunts!

Important Reminders:

  • please be sure your child has outside clothing: hat, boots, snowpants, mittens/gloves, and a warm jacket
  • please be sure has child’s lunch has utensils if needed
  • please replenish clothing when wet ones are sent home
  • slippers or extra shoes that can be left at school are a great idea during this very wet season
  • reading at least 15 minutes everyday is recommended

Dates to note:

Pizza Friday: Friday January 15

No School, MLK, Jr Day: Monday January 18

Have a great weekend!  Joni