Valentines

With New Years and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday under our belt, we now have Valentines to look forward to. I will be sending a list home with each of the student's names as early as next week. If your child would like to participate in the Valentine exchange, I ask that he or she brings one for every student. I also would request that each child's name be on a Valentine. We will be doing an activity with the Valentines where they will practice alphabetical order.
Our Valentine "mailboxes" will be made from a gallon jug. I need each student to bring in one clean, dry gallon jug as soon as possible. If you are able to send in more than one, that would be wonderful in helping us reach our goal of 21.

100th Day

The 100th Day is coming soon (7 school days to be exact)! It will be on Monday, February 2. We will be commemorating the day by doing 100th day-themed activities that correlate with our reading, writing, and math. In addition to the many activities we will be doing in class, I have a project I would like your child to complete at home. They should take 100 of any one thing and make something with it! I have had some creative projects in the past and I know this year's group will not disappoint. Some examples are 100 pieces of pasta, 100 Q-tips, 100 stickers, etc... The project should be brought in on that Tuesday to share with the rest of the class. We will have a gallery of 100 things on display. Depending on the size, I would like to keep it in the room for the week. The idea behind the project is to show the kids that 100 things can look VERY different. I will be sending a note with next week's homework to re-state the directions. Contact me with questions regarding this project (sooner than later :)).
In addition to our project, I've always had the kids partake in a 100th day snack. Each child would need to bring in approximately 100 pieces of a small snack food or candy. They will practice making 10 rows of 10 on a 100's chart, so the items should be relatively tiny. Some ideas are miniature marshmallows, tiny crackers or cookies, licorice bites, raisins, peanuts, cereal (such as cheerios), skittles, etc... This can be brought any time between now and the 100th day. I will need everyone to participate in order to make it a success.

STAR Student

Myah was our STAR this week.  Myah lives with her mom, dad, cat (max), and dog (dirty).  She loves riding her bike and her favorite books are Curious George books.  Myah recently took a trip to Disney World and got to go up on stage to help with a performance with the Who's from the Grinch who stole Christmas!  Her favorite toys are her Barbies.  On a side note, Myah will be celebrating her 7th Birthday this Saturday (1-17).  Happy Birthday Myah!!

Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair is officially set up at school! I went to a special teacher preview today and there are SO many books to choose from! I highly suggest you come and check it out. The PTA has set aside two evenings in which families will be invited to browse and purchase books: Thursday, January 22 and Tuesday, January 27. Both family nights will be from 3:00-7:00. Credit Cards will be accepted. The Safety Patrol will be selling pizza (from 5:00-7:00) to raise money for their upcoming field trip to Washington D.C.
Our class will be browsing the Scholastic Book Fair on Thursday, January 29 around 12:20. If you would like to come purchase books with your child at that time, you are more than welcome to join us. You may also send money with your child. Students went home with a flyer that listed most of the books that will be at the fair. Please keep in mind that their will be an additional sales tax charge. If you do not plan on coming to shop with your child, I encourage you to send in a list of the items they are allowed to purchase with the money you send.
All money spent at the Book Fair benefits the school.

Field Trip

We will be going to MOSH (Museum of Science and History http://www.themosh.org/) on Tuesday, February 24. Permission slips will be sent home on Tuesday and MUST be returned no later than Thursday, February 5. We must submit the money and final counts by this date in order to keep our reservation. All of the Loretto first grade will be visiting the museum on the 24th. The total cost of the trip will be $8.25 ($5 for admission and $3.25 for transportation).
We will leave Loretto around 9:15 and return by 2:00. We will be eating lunch at a nearby park (weather permitting), so it is important to send your child with a sack lunch on February 24. We will be allowed to have 3 chaperones accompany us on the field trip. I will collect all interested names and put them in a "hat". I will draw a name by January 30 and send paperwork home for the chaperones to complete. They will also have to have money and forms returned by February 5. The cost for chaperones to attend is just admission, $5.
Contact me with any questions or concerns and PLEASE return money and forms as soon as possible.

STAR Student

Anna was our STAR student this week.  Anna lives with her mom, dad, and older brother and sister who also go to Loretto.  Anna takes gymnastics classes and even showed us a "bridge".  She went skiing with her family for the first time over the holiday break.  Some of her favorite books are in the "Black Lagoon" series.  She brought in "The teacher from the Black Lagoon" for us to read.  For Christmas, she got a special baby doll that feels like a REAL baby (which she brought in on Friday).

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back!  I hope everyone had an enjoyable break with their children.  I'm glad to see everyone back safe and healthy.  I know I enjoyed my break, but was very excited to see the children on Monday.

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for my beautiful gift card tree.  I was very surprised and enjoyed opening every card (especially the hand-made ones).  You were all very generous in your giving and I really felt appreciated.  I love being with your kids each and every day.

You may have seen an extra hand-writing sheet attached with this week's homework.  Please use it for the practice spelling test you will give your child.  They know to write the first five numbers on the left side and then numbers 6-10 down the middle.  The handwriting has been very disappointing and this would be a great opportunity for your child to take the time to form each letter as it is supposed to be.  It's gotten so bad, I may resort to sending ABC handwriting sheets to some.  I always encourage the children to do their best work and I hope you will help me in this by reviewing weekly work coming home and discussing it with them for correctness and neatness as well.

Thanks for your support!  Looking forward to a wonderful 2009!!

STAR Student (Week of 12-15)

Grant was the STAR the week before we left for our break.  Grant lives with his mom and dad, but loves to go to his Nana and Papa's where he plays with their two dogs.  Grant is quite the reader.  One of his favorite books is "The Polar Express"... Just like Ms. Downing!  He enjoys playing with Play-doh and his trains too.