Important To Know

There are Several important dates to be aware of going forward.

This Wednesday, February 3 is a late start day.  School will start at 11:30 and dismiss at the normal time of 3:40.

There is no school on Friday, February 12.  It is a no-student contact day.

There's no school on Monday, February 15.  It is President's Day.

To make up for lost time, the children will be at school all day on Friday, February 19.

There is no school on Friday, February 26.  It is a no-student contact day.

Wednesday, March 2 is a late start day.  School will start at 11:30 and end at the normal time of 3:40.

Valentine's Day

We will celebrate Valentine's Day from 3:05-3:30 on Wednesday, February 10.  The children are welcome to bring in Valentine cards for all their classmates.  We have 25 students in our class.  Please have your child write their names on the back of the Valentine, but do not worry about writing the names of students they are giving the Valentine to.  The reason for this is that it is too difficult and time consuming to guide 25 students through trying to find specific Valentine bags.  I appreciate your understanding and cooperation with this.  

Parents are always welcome to join us for the party.  I would love to have the kids decorate cookies with frosting and sprinkles during the party.  Would any one be willing to donate heart shaped sugar cookies?  Pink or red frosting?  Sprinkles?  Drinks?  Valentine paper plates and napkins? Thank you for your help!

Parent Teacher Conferences

I look forward to meeting with everyone on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of this week for Parent-Teacher Conferences.  If you are not sure of your conference time, please let me know or call the school office.  If your scheduled time will not work, let me know or call the school office to reschedule. 
                                                    

Scholastic Book Orders are due.  During conferences, the book fair in the library will be running.  This time it is an Usborne Books fair instead of a Scholastic book fair.  Funds raised in the book fair in the library will help us buy new books for the library. 

Important dates

We have several important dates coming up.

No school on Friday, January 15.  It is a no-student contact day.

No school on Monday, January 18.  It is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Students will come to school ALL DAY on Friday, January 22 to make up for the holiday.

Please put these dates on your calendar.

More of The Mitten

Last week we read and studied The Mitten by Jan Brett.  This week we continue studying The Mitten.  Two groups are reading a version of The Mitten during small group reading instruction (other groups are focused on alphabet recognition, letter sounds, and writing simple words).  After lunch, we read The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt.  After reading the book, we talked about how the two versions of the story are similar and different.  We made a Double Bubble Map to help us organize our thinking as we compared and contrasted the stories.  

Mrs. Finally, our counselor, came in and taught a lesson about Accepting Responsibility.  This behavior is a focus for our school this month.  

Snowy Friday

After centers, we decided it was too cold and snowy to go outside for recess.  Instead, we had free time in the classroom.  The children played with blocks, large Legos, magnet plates, and fun pages of dot-to-dots, mazes, and hidden pictures.  The kids had a great time!  

The Mitten

This week we have been studying The Mitten by Jan Brett.  This is a wonderful story about a little boy who convinces his grandmother to knit snow white mittens for him.  When he goes outside, he drops one mitten.  A series of animals finds the mitten and decides to use it as shelter from the cold.  Ultimately, the boy finds his mitten in the snow and returns home to show his grandmother that one mitten is stretched out and much larger than the other.  It is an excellent story!  

On Monday, after reading the story, we created a Brace Map and listed all the characters in the story.

Today, we reviewed the story and created a modified Multi-Flow Map which helps us think about cause and effect.  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone is enjoying time with family and friends. I'm looking forward to seeing the children on Monday.  In the meantime spend some time playing games and reading books with those close to you.  

Happy Holidays!

We had a wonderful day in kindergarten! Today we decorated Gingerbread Houses!  The houses ARE NOT EDIBLE.  They are put together with hot glue which is toxic.  The gingerbread houses are for decoration only.  The children worked hard on their houses.  It was a lot of fun!  

I hope  everyone enjoys a wonderful holiday with friends and family.  Happy New Year!  We will come back to school on Monday, January 4.  See you then!

Wintery Wednesday

It was nice to see everyone after a snowy day at home on Tuesday.  This morning, we worked at centers.  We are wrapping up our Gingerbread Man unit.  The children were able to go to the library to check out books, but I ran out of time to pass them out.  I will send the library books home on Friday.  The children did not go outside for recess today because it was so cold.  Hopefully we can go out on Friday.  Please remember to send appropriate warm coats, gloves/mittens, and a hat on these cold days.  If your child does not have an appropriate coat, please let me know.  We have resources available that can help.  

At the end of the day, our 4th Grade Buddies from Mrs. Melaney's class visited our classroom.  We decorated pine cones.  These can be beautiful pieces of art for a table top, or you can add a string and  make it an ornament.  Either way, they are exceptional pieces of art!  

Friday we will decorate gingerbread houses.  We could use additional containers of frosting and candies.  Parents are welcome to join us.  

Message from the PTO

Parents and students,

Due to the snow day, the Holiday Shop will only be open on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  The classes who were already assigned shop on Wednesday will still shop on Wednesday.  The Tuesday students will now Thursday.  Thursday will also be a make up day for anyone who does not get to shop on Wednesday for whatever reason.  Students will still shop at the same time following their lunch period.  

Since we are now reducing the days to two days, we need more volunteers.  If you are able to help us out, even for a hour we would really appreciate it.  You can sign up through volunteer spot on the PTO webpage.  http://www.volunteerspot.com/group/12265581240127?utm_source=group-badge-volunteer-green

Thanks for your support,

Legacy PTO

Friday frenzy

What a busy week!  We have been reading different versions of The Gingerbrad Man and discussing how they are similar and different.   

Report Cards-I apologize for not letting you know sooner.  Report cards are available for viewing on Infinite Campus (https://ic.svvsd.org/campus/portal/stvrain.jsp).  If you do not know your log in information, you can contact Lynette Frank in the office and she can help you.  

Gingerbread Houses-Next Friday we will be decorating our gingerbread houses.  I am looking for volunteers to come in Monday and Wednesday to glue the graham crackers together.  If you can help, please let me know.  We did not receive a lot of Halloween Candy, so we will need to supplement with other goodies.  We need a couple of bags of M&Ms, mini marshmallows, waffle pretzels, stick pretzels, gum drops, candy mints, and several containers of frosting in a variety of colors.  If you can help with any of these, it would be greatly appreciated.  

Assessment-This week we also started the winter literacy assessment.  We are assessing letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming words, beginning sounds, and concept of word (we talked about this assessment at conferences).  In January we will also assess the level each child is reading at.  I know this is a busy time of year, but it is really important to read with and to your child.  Most children are bringing books home for the Take-Home Reading program.  MyOn is an online option for reading books. 

Wiggly Wednesday

It was a short day, but we made the most of it.  We read The Gingerbread Man by Jan Brett. We compared and contrasted the two versions of the story we have read so far.  

After a fun recess on a beautiful afternoon, we met with out 4th Grade Buddies from Mrs. Melaney's class.  They helped us write letters to Santa,  if the children were not comfortable writing to Santa, we encouraged them to write to their parents.  The letters are absolutely adorable!  I will send them home soon.  

Please remember to send your child to school with an appropriate jacket each day.  We do go out for recess every day.