• Wednesday:  late start

• Thursday:  PAJAMA DAY and student book exchange.  Students who would like to participate in the book exchange should bring in a new, wrapped book.  If you are unable to get a book but would still like to participate, please let me know.  I asked the kids today for some ideas, just in case you need an idea of a book they would like.  Some of their favorites were:  Roscoe Riley, Turkey books by Wendi Silvano, books by Mo Willems, Magic Tree House, and Good Crooks.  Also, joke books are super popular!!!

Also on Thursday, STAND students will be selling Santa hats for               $2 each.  They plan to take orders at lunch, then put names on                 them, and pass them out at the end of the day once they have                   dried.

• Friday:  Our holiday party is in the afternoon from about 12:45-2:00.  We will then attend the school sing-a-long at 2:30.

• It is very possible that it took us longer to put on all of our stuff than we actually stayed outside, but I think most of them would agree that it was totally worth it 😉

Just a reminder that we are shopping on Tuesday.  Please make sure you fill out the envelope and include the money if your child plans to shop.  If you don’t have the form/envelope, you can just make a list of people your child is shopping for and include that with the money in a baggie.  We are still in need of wrapping paper, tape, gift tags, and parents 🙂

I know this is longer than normal, please don’t give

up half way through 😉

• Holiday boutique is coming up next week.  If you are not familiar with it, this is a chance for your child to purchase gifts for family members. Every item is $2.  An envelope and note came home today! Please mark the envelope with the people (or pets) your child is shopping for and include the correct amount of money. We are shopping on Tuesday morning.

• I would like to give the kids a chance to wrap their gifts before they come home. We will wrap gifts Tuesday afternoon.  If anyone is willing to come in around 1:30 to help the students wrap their gifts, that would be amazing!!!!!!  Shoot me an email if you can help.  We also need donations of tape, wrapping paper, and gift tags if anyone can help with that..

• Please make sure your child is fully prepared for the cold.  A winter coat, gloves, and a hat are a must.  A scarf, boots, and snowpants are also good. We go outside as long as it is above 15 degrees with the wind chill.  When the snow is sticking, only students with snowpants and boots will be allowed to go in the grass. (all other students will be required to stay on the blacktop).  Along with boots for outside, please remember to send shoes for inside the classroom.

• Late start:  December 20th

• Book exchange:  Ms. Philips and I are planning a book exchange with the students on the Friday before break.  Students who would like to participate should bring in a new, wrapped book that they think their classmates would enjoy.  Chapter books are very popular, but it could be a picture book also.

• Our holiday party will be on Friday, December 22nd from 12:45-2:00.  Following the party at 2:30 will be our whole school sing-a-long and annual Children with Hair Loss event. We have 2 students from our class (and my daughter, Avery) who are donating their hair for this great cause 🙂

• Congratulations to our November Students of the Month:  Takwa Munasser and Zora Gabrish

A few pictures from today 🙂

We did it!!! Thanks so much to everyone who helped by donating.  We rocked with over 500 food items!!  The Cans for a Cause food drive was sponsored by Yogurtopia so everyone is bringing home a $5 gift card today as a reward for our class donating the most!

• The last day to donate cans will be this Monday, November 20th.  We have been doing great so far (thank you!), but we are battling it out with Mrs. Korte, LOL!

• Picture Retakes will be Wednesday, Nov. 29th.

• No school on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday next week.

• Friday, Dec. 22nd is our school sing-along.  The organization Children with Hair Loss will be here again.  Any adult or child with at least 8 inches of hair to donate is able to participate for this great cause.  The hair will be donated and used to make wigs for sick children – free of charge to their families. We already have 1 student in our classroom who is donating 🙂  If you, your child, or a family member or friend, would like to participate, please let me know.

• Next Tuesday I am planning for our class to make cornbread muffins in the morning and then shake, shake, shake some whipping cream into butter to go along with them.  Below is a list of items that we need to have our special Thanksgiving snack on Tuesday.  If you can help by sending in an item below, please comment on this post so I can plan accordingly.The items we need are:

UPDATE:  We have all the items needed 🙂  Thank you to all of our volunteers!

• 5 boxes of Jiffy Vegetarian Corn Muffin mix
• 5 eggs
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 pints of heavy whipping cream

The students will go to lunch like every other day.  This is an afternoon snack!

• Thank you to everyone for making it to conferences!  I enjoyed seeing everyone 🙂  Your students are so lucky to have you!

• These pictures are from our last few science investigations:

Congrats to our Students of the Month for October, Gus Gabrish and Nora Khuja.  Being chosen as Students of the Month means they have shown great behavior choices and responsibility in the classroom throughout the month of October 🙂

I was so excited to read the story Turkey Trouble and send Turkey home with your child today! We brainstormed many ideas as a group for how to disguise him. I am posting a picture of some examples of turkeys done in the past.

Turkeys should be back to school in disguise by Monday, November 13th. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Tomorrow is the last day to turn in October reading calendars.  These are counted as a grade.

November reading calendars came home yesterday.

• Social Studies test tomorrow.

• 1/2 day of school on Friday.  Students are dismissed at 11:45

• Our goals:  each student has set a school goal and a personal goal.  They have been hanging in our classroom, but I wanted you to be able to monitor them along with me, so today we added them to the back of our planner.  There is a spot under each goal where we have brainstormed ways to work on our goal…these are just examples – feel free to give them other ideas also.  If your child works on either of their goals at home, there is a spot for you to date/initial. When they show it to me, they get a star to put on the banner at school.

• No school on Tuesday, November 7th.

• Please look for conference reminders in your child’s home folder on Friday.