We had a busy December. We always seem to be short of time especially with the snow days. We had a nice Hanukkah party on Monday and a combination Christmas/birthday party today. Thank you to those who have provided things for our parties.

The children played outside in the snow today. Thank you for sending their outdoor things. They have been very anxious to get out and play. Be sure to send all their outdoor clothes when we return on January 4th.

We appreciate the gift card we received from the class. It was very generous. We loved the drawings the children made.

We wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Winter is here! Please remember to send snowpants and boots with your child. We try to go outside to play if the temperature cooperates. Be sure to label everything with your child's name. An extra pair of socks is a good idea too. Your child can practice getting ready to go outside--snowpants, boots, coat, hat and gloves in that order. If you want to leave the snow clothes here during the week, we will send them home on Fridays.

Our class spent the first week of December learning a little about Europe. This included reindeer, wolves and wild boars. We also read some fairy tales. This week we are learning about Hanukkah with our party taking place on Friday. Next week we will spend on Christmas. Our Christmas party will be Friday, December 18th.

Winter break begins December 21st with school resuming January 4th.

We are learning about First or Native Americans this week. Each of the children chose a Native American name that we will use on headbands, etc. The children really seem to enjoy this unit. We spent the first part of the month learning about North America and a few of the animals that live in our continent. We studied turkeys and bears.

Our Thanksgiving feast will be on Tuesday, November 24th in the morning. Your child will bring home a note that tells what item we would like you to send. We will make corn bread and butter at school for the feast.

We are looking forward to the Halloween party tomorrow. Please remember that the children do not wear costumes. They are very excited about Halloween.

We have learned about some animals that you sometimes think about around Halloween. Mrs. Sheldon brought Bob the Bat (a puppet) to visit last week and share some information about bats. We learned that bats are mammals and eat insects. We talked about owls and how they swallow their food whole then cough up what is not digested. Owls also have very good hearing and eye sight and can fly very quietly. We spent the last couple days on spiders. Spiders are not insects because they have eight legs and only two body parts. All spiders spin silk and use it to catch food, build nests and make egg sacs.

Don't forget that next Thursday, November 5th is Open House. Our room will be open from 5:30-6:30. The children will show you some work they do while they are here. We hope to see you then.

We had a great trip to the pumpkin patch. It was worth rescheduling for the perfect weather. Thank you to all the drivers who went with us. A special thanks to Zoey for the cute treat bags.

Pictures went well this morning. Everyone was happy and hopefully the pictures will be good.

October 30th will be our Halloween party. Just a reminder that we do not wear costumes.

We will be sending home fall reports next week. Be looking for them.

We will be learning about bats, owls and other things related to Halloween.

Just a quick note---We postponed our field trip until Monday, October 19th. We will be leaving school at 8:45 a.m. Be sure to have your child dressed appropriately for the weather. Boots would be a good idea because it will still be muddy. Have a great weekend!

We are off to the pumpkin farm tomorrow. We will go unless it rains so be sure to bundle up. Boots are also a good idea because it will be muddy.

School pictures are next Wednesday morning at 9:20. If you are ordering, please remember to send the envelope back.

We love to watch the birds outside our windows. We would appreciate donations of bird seed--wild bird seed or finch thistle seed.

We will be learning about pumpkins and bats. We will also have lots of Halloween fun the next couple weeks.

We finished up talking about trees and leaves last week. Mrs. Sutton presented air, land and water to the class. We also talked about living/non-living. We will learn about pumpkins next week before our field trip on Thursday morning.

Some reminders about the field trip:
--It is always colder there. Be sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. We will be in the pumpkin patch getting pumpkins. It can be muddy so boots are a good idea too.
--Your child will be bringing home a permission slip the end of the week. Please try to return those with your money on Tuesday if possible.
--If you are planning to drive, we need a copy of your driver's license and proof of insurance. Stop by the office to take care of this.
--If you are not driving, be sure to leave your child's car seat at school on Thursday morning. Make sure that it has their name on it.

With the change in weather, many children are wearing coats. Make sure your child's things are labeled with their name. We sometimes have more than one of the same coat.

If you have extra plastic grocery bags that you would like to get rid of, we always can use more.

There is no school on Monday, October 12th.

We started a unit on trees and leaves. We learned that deciduous trees lose their leaves and coniferous trees do not. We have collected leaves and saw that different trees have different shaped leaves. We also talked about the seeds of different leaves. We will be learning why leaves change color tomorrow and Friday.

Mrs. Sheldon told the children about squirrels. They heard a couple stories about people who raised orphan squirrels. The children learned what kind of food squirrels like and where their summer and winter homes are.

I will be sending another book order home on Monday.

I hope everyone had fun at the carnival. The weather was perfect and I saw many children there.

Just a quick note to let you know that we have scheduled our trip to Howell's pumpkin patch on Thursday, October 15th. There is a sign-up sheet posted outside the room if you would like to drive.

The class learned about Johnny Appleseed at the beginning of the week. We will begin studying trees and leaves on Thursday.

This week we have been learning about apples. We tasted different kinds of apples and learned that bees are important in an apple orchard. We saw the different parts of an apple and today we are making applesauce. We also have learned a little rhyme:
Way up high in the apple tree, two little apples smiled at me.
I shook that tree as hard as I could. Down came the apples, mmmm were they good!
We will learn about Johnny Appleseed next week and begin a unit on trees.

All our butterflies emerged from the chrysalis. We are letting the last one go today.

We hope to see you at the school carnival next Tuesday from 5-7.

We are finishing our unit on insects. We learned about grasshoppers, dragonflies, bees and ants. Next week we will start a unit on apples. The children especially like to taste test. We had our first Spanish class on Wednesday with Senora Mendoza. We will start music next week with Mrs. Ward.

Thank you for your book orders. It will take about a week to receive the books.

Natalie Becker and her family welcomed a new baby boy this week.

We had a great week of normal hours last week. It is nice to be able to get into a routine. We talked about the importance of the sun -- which included herbivores and carnivores. We also began to learn about insects. Insects have six legs and two antennae. We counted spider legs and learned that it is not an insect. We also learned about ladybugs and butterflies. We will learn more next week. We have 5 painted lady caterpillars that may have made chrysalis over the weekend. I was also able to find a large monarch caterpillar that I hope will stay a caterpillar until Tuesday morning.

We put some activities in our courtyard area which the children are able to use in the afternoons. They enjoyed their time there.

We had a great first week of school. The children are busy trying a lot of the practical life and sensorial materials. They have been happy to see old friends and are making new ones.

We will learn about the importance of the sun next week along with herbivores and carnivores.

Don't forget parent orientation on Tuesday night.

Welcome to our classroom blog.



I will use this spot to update you on happenings in our room. I will post happenings in our classroom community, songs, information on units we are studying and reminders. You may become a follower of our blog and be notified when there is a new post.

One change from last year for returning students: When your child brings home the surprise bag, they can bring it back the next day with their surprise and also bring a snack to share with the class.

I will try to make a new post at least once a week. Parent orientation is Tuesday, Sept. 1st.

I am excited about the new school year.