Due to weather conditions and low temps, tutoring today (January 29th) is cancelled.

Please see the following post from the PTA regarding spirit wear:

SPIRIT WEAR ORDERS

I feel like a lot of stuff came home today (please check folders or backpacks), so let me just highlight a few of them:

• save the date:  2nd graders will have a concert on March 28th at 7 p.m.
• spirit wear:  there is an order form for Howard t-shirts/sweatshirts, please return by Friday
• book orders:  everyone gets excited about a book order 😉  You can order online by going to scholastic.com and clicking on parents.  Then enter our classroom code MK4VL.  OR you can send in your order form to me with a check made out to Scholastic.  Please place your online order, or send me your form, by Monday.

Also, new spelling words came home today.  Students are now expected to have a total of 4 activities completed when they turn their notebook in on Mondays.  We will start one of those in class (10 times each) and then they need to do 3 more at home.  I have also noticed that many of us are almost out of pages in our spelling notebook.  If possible, please grab your student a new red notebook (it does not have to be spiral).  If for any reason you are not able to get a new one, please let me know.

Some of us are still struggling with no headphones.  A huge THANK YOU to Hadi’s mom for donating 2 pair to the classroom!!  Please consider getting your student a pair of their own headphones if they don’t have them.

Finally, today was the end of the 2nd cardmarking.  Please don’t look for report cards before at least Friday.  It may even be early next week before they come home.  I will make sure I blog (and we will write it in our planners) on the day they come home so you know to take a look for them 🙂

Math homework came home today.  It is due Thursday.  I did tell them that they could skip #3 (the true and false) if they wanted to 🙂

• PICK-UP AND DROP-OFF CHANGES:  The traffic for pick-up and drop off will change starting Wednesday!!  (N. York will be ONE WAY in front of the school) There was a note sent home today with most classes, but our class was already in ART by the time it was put in mailboxes.  The note will come home tomorrow, but  Click here to read about the changes starting on Wednesday.
• Math books:  students brought home the math workbooks we used for Modules 1-3.  We are all done with those.  You are welcome to have students go through and do the pages we skipped, or you can recycle them, LOL, but I don’t want them to come back to school.
• Reading Calendars:  Some students do a monthly reading calendar because it was discussed at conferences.  Today I had about 10 students who asked to bring it home because they want to do it.  The process is easy, please sign each day that your child reads for at least 20 minutes.  Students who return the calendar on Feb. 1st with at least 18 days signed will earn something small.  This is not mandatory for most students.
• Headphones:  Please ask your child about their headphones.  We have some that are not working and some students with no headphones (or earbuds) at all.  It may seem like a silly thing to worry about, but we use our headphones every day when we are in Daily 5 and we often use them during math also.  If anyone is willing to donate a pair of headphones (not earbuds)  that we can keep as “extra”, that would be totally amazing!!!
• Reading groups:  Each of my groups will get a new book this week, but groups may not meet on their normal schedule because we will also begin DRA testing.
• Pics:  just a few pictures from before break:

Tomorrow is PAJAMA DAY 🙂

We wrapped a day early, so any gifts your student bought from Holiday Boutique are coming home today.  A super big thanks to our parents who helped with wrapping 🙂

• Holiday Boutique:  Our class will visit the boutique on Wednesday morning to shop. All items are $2.  There was a form sent home on Friday, but if you don’t have it, please just send them with a list of people to shop for and the correct amount of cash or a check made to Howard PTA.  The gifts they purchase will not come home until Friday because we are going to wrap them Friday afternoon 🙂  If you do not want us to wrap the gifts your child purchases, please send me an email and let me know.

• Water bottles:  we seem to be having some spills lately.  If your child is using a water bottle, it needs to be the reusable kind where they do not have to take the lid off to drink from it.  We do have a drinking fountain in our classroom that students can use if they need a drink.

• CONGRATS to our Students of the Month for November:  Ava A. and Houda H. 🙂

We’ve had a lot to celebrate lately – an awesome field trip, Box Top champions, and the PBIS reward.  Here are some pictures of our smiling faces 🙂