Monday, November 26, 2012

November 26, 2012

Sorry that our class newsletter is coming home a day late. I just couldn't bring myself to do any school work over the long weekend. I was having a great time with my family and catching up on some personal projects that I decided to just wait until today.

I hope you all had as great of a weekend as I did, but now it is back to work. My goal is to completely wrap up our life cycle by the end of next week so we can concentrate on the Holidays. We have so many fun things to learn and do.

I am also sending home a note explaining my "Emergency Box" idea. Spending another good part of the day with no power really shook me up. I would like to be much better prepared to take care of your child in the event of an emergency. Watch for that note. I will explain more after it comes home in an email. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Also our book orders are due this Wednesday. Getting the order sent in promptly is priority number 1 for that day. Online orders are much easier for me, plus our class earns a lot more books when you do.

Thanks again for letting me teach your children, they are the best!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

November 12, 2012

Last week we spent some time learning about amphibians and their life cycle. We realized that they had some similarities with fish. This week we will learn about reptiles.

Friday was another crazy morning without power. Your kids were great. Our biggest challenge was using the restroom, but thanks to our marvelous PTA volunteers we were provided with some lanters. The schedule was shot, but we managed to get through what I had planned and even squeezed in some extra work. Fingers crossed for no more power outages! (I bought a small lantern for our classroom, just in case.)

Winter has arrived in full force. (I don't think I have felt warm since Thursday.) Please make sure your children are dressed appropriately. We go outside for recess whenever possible, (I have packed my beanie and gloves for recess duty this week) the break in the sunshine does wonders to rejuvenate all of our brains.

Please make sure that your children are practicing their spelling words at home. Our schedule is so packed that sometimes we are unable to practice our spelling during the school day. I am counting on your support to help them learn to spell these words. It helps them to be better readers and writers.

I will be sending home another book order this week. It will be due on November 28. Please try to order online. It makes sending the order to Scholastic so much easier for me. All I have to do is click a few buttons and off it goes. Ordering online also earns our class even more books than if you were to order with a check. I also need to meet a minimum order amount or I will have to pay shipping, unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I can no longer pick up the difference or the shipping costs. If our class order does not meet that minimum dollar amount I will cancel the order. I hate to do that, I know that I used the book orders to fill my own children's shelves with books. Sorry.

Thank you for letting me teach your children. They are truly becoming little students and growing. It is fun to watch them grow. Each day I am reminded of how grateful I am to be teaching first grade.