Christmas Program and Polar Express Day

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas.  I have been thoroughly enjoying my precious time with my family.  Now that all of our gatherings have come to an end, I am slowly getting things put back in order.  I still have my trees up though.  I typically wait until after January 6th (the Epiphany) to take down all my Christmas items.  I also love to enjoy my holiday break and taking down all of my Christmas decorations well... isn't something I look forward to spending my day doing.

Since I have spent so much of my time preparing for Christmas and all of the family gatherings I haven't put the pictures up that I promised I would add of all of our December activities.  So I am doing it now!  :)  You will find pictures of our wonderful music program.  The program was fantastic.  The kids worked so hard and Mrs. Friedrich did such an amazing job (again!!!) with the kids.  You will also find pictures of our Polar Express Day.  The students really enjoyed their day.  Please enjoy the pictures.  Happy New Year to you all!!!  May 2015 be a year of blessings for your family!

December Update

I apologize for my delay in posting this month.  As I've mentioned before, I typically post during the weekends and my previous weekends have been filled with family birthdays and lots of traveling...which has left me utterly behind in my work.  Last weekend, we celebrated my daughters 3rd birthday!  Really??!!!....I can't even believe that I can say she is 3 now.  Where has the time gone!!  I'm sure you all feel the same about your precious first graders.  So our last week before winter break is already here.  I can't believe that either!  This year seems to be flying by.  It is true that once your child gets into school your life will fly before your eyes!!!  It seems to be happening to me!  S-L-O-W down time!!!!!  Maybe this winter break will go at a slower pace so we can all enjoy the time with our families.

Here is a quick update of what our week is shaping up to look like.  I apologize for the drab no picture posts...but I promise you after our music program I will load you up with all the prettiest little pictures!! :)

*There will be no homework this week.  If your child has a line for the music program, please have him/her practice it nightly.  Also, don't forget to continue to read for December Book It.  Those will be due when we return on January 5th.

*Wednesday and Thursday your child will travel by bus out to the performing arts center at the high school.  Wednesday the students will be at the high school from 8-11:30 practicing for our music program.  Thursday will be our dress rehearsal.  Please allow your child to bring their costumes to change into for the play.  We will be at the high school from 8-9:30 on Thursday.  

*Thursday night is our music program.  Your child will need to come dressed and ready for the music program at 6:30 p.m. in the high school band room.  There will be signs directing you where to go.  The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the high school performing arts center.  After the program, you can pick your child up in the band room.

*Friday is our annual Polar Express Day.  Your child may come to school wearing their pajamas.  They may also bring a pillow and a blanket.  I've expressed to the students that I would like them to bring something small enough that they are able to carry.  In addition, please do not wear any slippers.  The students will still have recess and they will need to be able to go out with tennis shoes.  Friday will also be our class winter party at 2:00 p.m.  If you would like to bring a snack/drink item, please do so by today.  Remember all snacks brought to the party must be store bought.

I promise to be back sometime this week with pictures from our program.  I am so excited.  I hope you are too!!!!

Upcoming December Events

I am so sorry for the delayed post.  It seems I am saying that a lot these days.  We have a lot of family birthdays this time of the year, so I am typically very busy.  I am sure you have also noticed that my posts are rarely added to the blog during school hours.  I usually write the updates and add photographs when my sweet little ones are sleeping (when I'm at home on the weekend).  This weekend we celebrated my sweet nephew's third birthday.  We also celebrated our own daughters third birthday.  Her official party isn't until next weekend, but you can imagine that we wanted to make this weekend and today especially fun for her.  Thank you for being patient and awaiting our classroom update.  As a matter of fact, most of this past weeks updates were mentioned in the monthly newsletter that I sent home last Friday.  But... in case you misplaced it or need an easier place to locate all of these upcoming dates/events I will let you know about them again on here.

We will be collecting canned food for the Fill a Ford program.  Please have all canned food items in by December 17th.

December 8th:  This is the first collection date for the Major Savor Cards.

December 12th:  Kindergarten is hosting PTO Movie Night.  The doors will open at 6:30 pm and the movie will begin promptly at 7:00 pm.  There will be several items up for raffle.  In addition, Santa will be there to take pictures with your little ones.  They will be How To Train Your Dragon 2.

December 17th:  Today is the day that we will collect all the canned foods for the Fill a Ford canned food drive.  Be sure to have all canned food items in by this date.  In addition, today will also be the day that our first graders will travel to the high school performing arts center to rehearse our music program.

December 18th:  We will travel to the high school performing arts center again today for our dress rehearsal.  Tonight will be our program.  Please meet your teachers in the high school band room by 6:30 pm.  There will be signs directing you where to go once you get to the performing arts center.

December 19th:  Today will be our annual Polar Express Day.  We will enjoy watching the movie and drinking hot chocolate.  Your child may wear their pajamas (NO SLIPPERS PLEASE).  In addition, they may bring pillows and a blanket or sleeping bag for the movie.  Today is also our last day of school before winter break.  Second quarter grade cards will also go home today.  Please check your child's folder.

Thankful

I hope today finds each of you enjoying your family.  I am so very thankful for my wonderful group of firsties this year.  Each one is so unique and I love helping them grow in knowledge throughout the year.  I am thankful for the challenge of teaching each group of students that have crossed my path.  I am so thankful for all of the parents of each one of my students.  Each of you have entrusted me with your child.  You have offered help when needed through your volunteer work, you have donated items for our learning activities whenever asked.  It is such a blessing to have parents that are so supportive.  I am so very thankful for my life and all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me (too many to list here).  Our annual Thanksgiving feast was a huge success yesterday.  Thank you to everyone who made it happen:  all of the parents who donated items and volunteered to serve, Dale Graff and the cafeteria staff for the potatoes, and Burger's Smokehouse for the Turkey.  Here are some pictures of our day.  I hope you enjoy them.  Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Upcoming events

Wow...what a busy few weeks it has been.  Thank you to everyone for supporting literacy night and the book fair.  I have heard that they were both huge successes.  My own daughter was sick the night of literacy night, so I do not have any pictures of this great event.  I was hoping to take my Kindergartner and unfortunately we didn't make it.  If anyone has pictures and would like to share I'd love them to add to our blog.  The book fair was a great hit with the students.  They love the book fair and so do I.  I just love how it gets the kids so excited about reading.  Thank you to all of you that purchased items from the book fair.  This money helps fund our school library.  Also a HUGE shout out to those of you that donated books to our classroom from the book fair.  Charlie and the Christmas Kitty and Junie B., First Grader:  Turkey's We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff) were donated to our classroom.  I can't wait to share these books with the students!!!

This week marks our first quarter auction of the year.  It is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 18th.  The proceeds will benefit the Fifth Grade Circle of Sharing Community Project.  Admission is $5 and gets you pizza, soda, and 1 paddle.  Each additional paddle is $1.  If you have never been to a quarter auction let me be the first to tell you how much fun it is!  Leave the children at home and enjoy a night out.  This event is a blast...especially when you are winning items!  ;) The money is going to a great cause.  So, if you can get a babysitter I invite you to join in on the fun!

Today I sent home highlighted lists of items that we need for our thanksgiving feast (if you volunteered to donate items or time.)  Please send those in by the end of the week or even Monday morning at the latest.  I apologize for not getting them home on Friday.  I had them ready to go and left them sitting on my desk!  Thank you so much for helping to put on such a great activity for our students.

Today I also sent home parts for our upcoming Christmas Program put on by the lovely and super talented Stacy Friedrich.  Please look over your child's part.  If he/she has a speaking or singing part, please practice with them daily.  If you have any questions about the music program itself, please contact Mrs. Friedrich.  I am so excited about their program.  I love that we get to do the Christmas program every year.  It truly is something I enjoy and look forward to every single year!!!!!!

I will be out of the classroom on Thursday and Friday of this week.  I am attending a conference at Tan Tar-A and I get to meet the author of the PETE THE CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Can we say I am excited!!!!  That is an understatement!!!!!!!  I will not have the students do homework on Wednesday and Thursday night since I won't be here.  Please just remember to read nightly.  November book its will be due soon!  I didn't take many pictures this past week because I was so busy...but here is one of your first grade teachers.  We dressed up as a book character for the kick off to the book fair and family literacy night.  I was the coconut tree from the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

 

Book Fair

The book fair is coming to California Elementary School next week.  Our class will visit the book fair on Wednesday, November 12th from 1:00 to 1:30.  If you would like to have your child purchase something from the book fair when we visit, please send money in a sealed envelope with your child's name, teacher's name, and money for book fair clearly written on the envelope.  This will help ensure that the money doesn't get into the wrong hands if your child misplaces the envelope before making it to class.  I will collect all envelopes and pass them back out to the class once we arrive at the book fair.  Please keep in mind that book fairs charge tax.  Unlike the Scholastic flyers that you order from in our classroom, books and other items at the book fair will have a tax fee added on to the purchase of the book.  If you look at the flyer or the Scholastic book fair app and find a book that you want your child to purchase, please send a little extra money for tax.  Also, if you have a specific book in mind that you want your child to purchase, please send me a note inside the envelope and I will help your child find the book you wished for her/him to write.

Pumpkin Palooza {A Super Long Post About Our Week}

PUMPKINS, PuMpKiNs, pumpkins…everywhere.  This week we started learning about pumpkins in science for our unit on plants and animals.  In addition, we began reading literature on pumpkins.  Wednesday was our annual pumpkin investigations.  What a fun day!  This is the third year we have had an investigations day and it is always a blast.  For the investigations day we set up several stations that the students rotate to.  The stations consist of weighing, force/motion, sink/float, measurement (circumference and height), and counting.  In the morning, the students made predictions about each of the pumpkin rotations.  Later in the afternoon, we actually began our investigations.

Today was our second trip to The Peach Tree Farm and can you believe it…it rained again!!!!!!  This has never happened.  But…we made it!  It rained on the way there.  Once we got there, it continued for a short while…very light.  Then, it stopped for the majority of the trip.  It rained slightly towards the end of our hayride.  The Peach Tree Farm was so accommodating and we thank them very much for working with us.  They were so nice today to pop popcorn for all the students, parents, and teachers since we weren’t going to be eating lunch at their facilities.  So, before we left, we all enjoyed popcorn in the barn.  We didn’t go into the patches to pick the pumpkins today either.  We tried to save time…just incase it began to rain hard and we’d have to leave.  We wanted to ensure that everyone was able to grab a pumpkin to take home.  The kids did get to walk through the patches and look at the vines, flowers, and pumpkins.  It was cloudy and a little chilly, but overall it was a great day.  Thank you to everyone!  Thank you for allowing your child to go on the trip again!  Thank you to those parents and grandparents that attended the trip again!  We certainly couldn’t have done it without you.  Here are some pictures of our day…

When we returned from the pumpkin patch, we ate our lunches.  Afterwards, we prepared our room and ourselves for our fall party.  To say we had a busy day is an understatement.  The party was a huge success.  Thank you to all of the parents that donated treats for our party.  Also a special thank you to the parents that came and helped out at the party and brought a game for the students to play.  They loved it and had so much fun. 

After the party game, we snacked on our treats and watched the movie Spookley the Square Pumpkin.  The kids enjoyed it.  I’m so glad this day was such a a success, but as I mentioned earlier, it couldn’t have happened without all of you.  So…THANK YOU!

Upcoming Dates to Remember:

11/10 – NO SCHOOl…PD day

11/11 – Family Literacy Night 5-7pm

11/11-11/14 – Book Fair Week (we will visit the book fair as a class)

11/14 – PTO Movie Night (doors open at 6:30)

11/18 – PTO Member Meeting 6:30 pm (cafeteria)

11/25 – First Grade Thanksgiving Feast and Midterms go home today

11/26- 11/28 – NO SCHOOL…Thanksgiving Break

*Be on the lookout for more information pertaining to our annual first grade thanksgiving feast.  This is a fantastic event that we do every year in first grade.  Just a heads up, we will need your help once again in making this happen.  We will ask for parent volunteers to help server our thanksgiving meal and clean up.  We would love to have your help.  We’ll be sending home information soon about this event.  In advance, we thank you for everything you do to help make your child’s first grade year a memorable one.