Monday, November 24, 2008

December

Seasons Greetings, Parents!

I’ve finished planning our schedule for the month of December, so I am well aware of the brief time we have before Christmas. It is ironic that what seems like such a short amount of time to us seems like an eternity to the children!

I enjoyed meeting with so many parents at our November conferences. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to support your children’s education.

Thanks, too, for working with your child at home to trace and cut your feet for our thankful turkey feathers. I hope you saw the beautiful bulletin board turkey outside our room. It was quite a sight! We have a lot to be thankful for.

Our Thanksgiving Feast was a fun time! Your generous and delicious donations were so helpful and appreciated as we enjoyed the opportunity of a recreation of that first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Again, a big thank you to our volunteer parents who were able to spend the morning with us preparing and sharing the meal. We couldn’t have managed without you!!

Our Star Student weeks have gotten off to a good start. It’s been fun for all of us to see and hear about the children when we read their completed bio, and we have enjoyed making the Star Student books for each child. Our most recent Star Students were Savannah and Tyler.


SPECIAL DECEMBER DATES

Dec. 1 Start attaching beard on Countdown Santa at home
5 Nicole’s birthday
15-19 Bring small stocking stuffers
18 Cooking Day - Gingerbread men
19 Assembly and Holiday sing – 10:15
Dec. 20-Jan 4 Winter Break
Jan. 5 Return to School
On Monday, December 1, the children will color, trace numbers 1-24, and glue on the first cotton ball of Santa’s beard on their Christmas Countdown Santa. They will bring Santa home with 23 additional cotton balls to glue on one day at a time. When they have glued on the 24th cotton ball, they will know the next day is Christmas!

On Monday, December 15, we will be making paper stockings and “hanging them with care”. Your child is invited to bring in a small item for each classmate’s stocking such as individually wrapped candy – Kisses, Hugs, Tootsie Rolls, Smarties – a stick of gum, stickers, homemade cards or other non-edible items may be sent as well. We have 23 students. They will be taking their stockings home on Friday, December 19.

We will be cooking on Thursday, December 18. We will decorate and bake Gingerbread boys and girls. During that week, we will be reading a few different Gingerbread books, comparing and contrasting the stories. Hopefully our cookies won’t run away!

On Friday, December 19, we will be having an assembly and holiday sing-along in the gym, beginning at 10:15. All family members are invited to join us if your schedule permits.

Have a wonderful, peaceful winter break with your precious children. We will look forward to seeing you in the New Year!


Happy Holidays,



Denise Zahradnik

November

Hi-
I'm finally entering this century by starting my own blog. I'll be sharing information about the classroom, upcoming events and whatever other exciting news I can come up with. Stay tuned!

Dear Parents:

Eight weeks are behind us already! We have been enjoying lots of reading and writing. We are singing about the days of the week and lots of seasonal songs, too. We are counting by 1’s, 5’s and 10’s and increasing our pattern knowledge from “ABAB” to “ABBABB, AABAAB, ABCABC…” patterns. In Social Studies, we are continuing our study of our surroundings and recognizing our role and our family members’ roles in our community. We are studying life cycles in Science.
Our Alphabet Bag has been going home with a different letter enclosed each week. The children have enjoyed sharing all the words they thought of and, in some cases, the words they wrote themselves on the letter. There have been so many fun and unique items in the bag as well. Thank you for taking the time to help your child complete this task.
Our Bridges math homework has been going home as well. I hope you have been having fun with these games that reinforce concepts learned at school. Thank you for remembering to sign and return the empty envelope for future homework activities.
Our field trip to the pumpkin patch was a success! The weather was just right, the activities were fun and the donuts and cider were yummy! We were so fortunate to have 20 dads, grandpas, grandmas, and moms join us!! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to share in this day. We know it is not always easy or even possible to rearrange your schedules, but we were delighted that so many of you could.
We began our Star Student weeks. Congratulations to our first Star Students, Noah, Heidi, Ethan, Sydney M. , and Jacob. We will continue recognizing all our Star Students through the year. If you have not already done so, please complete the Star Student biography (attached to this letter if we do not currently have one for your child) and return it to school as soon as possible so it is on file when their week arrives.


SPECIAL NOVEMBER DATES
Nov. 3 LSAC/PTC
8 Savannah’s birthday
10 No School – Elementary Grading Day
11 No School – Veteran’s Day Holiday
13 Katelyn’s birthday
19 Thanksgiving Feast
20-25 No School – Conferences
27-28 No School – Thanksgiving Holiday
28 Noah’s birthday


We will be reading/learning about the first Thanksgiving and working on Pilgrim and Native American projects. To enhance our experience, on Wednesday, November 19, the children will have an opportunity to dress as Pilgrims or Native Americans for our own Thanksgiving feast and share the meal. Each child will contribute something to our meal. If you have a preference, please let me know right away. Otherwise, the children will choose their item and you will be notified the week prior so you can send their contribution to school on or before Tuesday, the 18th.
Our kindergarten conference days will begin on Thursday, Nov. 20 and continue through Tuesday Nov. 25. A conference slip will come home prior to the 20th indicating the date and time of your child’s conference.
We look forward to each school day and our class time together.

Sincerely,



Denise Zahradnik