Week of 1/7

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful vacation & are rested and ready to get back into the swing of things!

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for all the help I received with the Nutcracker performance. From applying the make-up and helping children get dressed, to providing food-- every job was covered! The kids did a wonderful job and they all looked amazing! We had a great cast party afterward, thanks especially to Claire for coordinating and to those who donated cookies & drinks. Finally, a huge thanks again to everyone for their generosity and thoughtfulness with the wonderful gifts I received. Thank you so much! I am looking forward to a fun & productive 2019 with all of you.

There are still just a few openings in our helper calendar for the first part of 2019. Most immediately, there are no helpers scheduled for the Tuesday after MLK Day. Please check the Sign-Up Genius if you can help.

School Gates
If you haven't already read it, please see this important letter about the school's new gates.

Smart Start:
We are excited to start the year off with a district-wide fun day of hands-on learning. Children will get to make play-doh and play with it, as well as participate in a school-wide art project. The idea behind this day is to ease into the school year after two weeks off with some engaging, hands-on learning.

Language Arts:
This week, we will focus on the story Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson. We will also read some non-fiction texts about bears. We will put together a fact book of our own with information we've learned about bears. Our sight words this week are here and big. We will also be focusing on the digraphs sh and ch this week.

Math:
We are finishing Module 3, Comparison of Weight, Length, Capacity, and Numbers to 10. Parent tips for this module can be found here. We will be focusing on comparing numbers this week.

Upcoming:
Now that we are coming up on our half-year mark, we do need to refresh a few of our supplies.  Especially needed are glue sticks.  If you can donate any glue sticks, we'd appreciate it.

Blue bags will go home on Wednesday, with a new component. From now on, the blue bags will contain a "book report." Very specific directions about our expectations with the book report will be in your child's reference folder this week. Please leave the directions there for your continued reference. Basically, your child will use the journal page (in the reference folder) to respond to the book that's in the blue bag. Children need to write at least one sentence about the book-- what they liked/didn't like, who their favorite character was, etc. If it is a non-fiction book, they will be writing a fact they learned. We DO NOT want children to copy a sentence from the book or copy a sentence that you have written for them. This is their chance for developing writing skills, which will help their confidence when we take our first writing assessment in February. A sentence written: "I like the fune got" for "I like the funny goat." is great and is what is expected from them at this time. If you would like to go over spelling with them once they are done, you can pencil it in underneath their words and show them what the conventional spelling looks like. However, do not make them correct their writing at this time. We want to encourage them in their thinking before we start focusing on the mechanics.

Enjoy your final days of vacation, and I look forward to seeing your children on Monday!

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Smart Start Day (Elena, Barbara S.)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Claire & Sarah)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Trip to MakerSpace, Blue Bags w/ Journals go home

Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Brandie & Karla)
Friday: Daily 5, STEAM Centers (Rob & Barbara)

Upcoming Events
Monday 01/07: School Resumes: District-wide Smart Start Day
Friday 01/18: Professional Development Day: No School
Monday 01/21: Martin Luther King Day, No School
Friday 01/25: Snow Day
Thursday 01/31: 100 Day
02/18-02/22: President's Week Vacation