Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The kids are excited, many elf friends have arrived, and we are counting the days until break. Grab a cup of coffee or tea; I have lots to tell you this week!

Please subscribe!

• If you are reading this blog because you clicked a link in an email I sent you, please take a moment to subscribe for regular updates by entering your email address(es) in the "follow by email" widget to the right!

Odds and Ends:

• We previewed the items for sale at the Holiday Shop yesterday, and students may purchase items next Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.  If your child is purchasing Holiday Shop items, please kindly use the envelope I sent home yesterday to send his/her list and money next Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.  Please remember there is no obligation to buy.
• We will preview the Scholastic Book Fair next Friday.  Book Fair shopping will be the week of December 14 - 18.  More information and details to follow, including the day/time of the Family Shopping Event.  Please remember there is no obligation to buy.
• Please be sure to empty your child's Thursday folder and return it to school each Friday.  Please do not place any papers for me inside the Thursday folder; I simply don't have time to check each folder on Friday morning.  Please continue to put any papers for me in the front clear pocket of your child's homework folder.
• Friday is our Library day.  Because of the upcoming Book Fair preview and shopping days, we will not have Library again until January.  The students checked out extra books today.  Please plan to keep these books until Friday, January 8, 2016.  (Did I just write 2016???)
• If you are traveling over the Holidays, and your child will be absent from school, please kindly notify the school in advance.  You can send a message or note to me, which I will forward to the office.  You may also submit your notification to the office directly by using the "online absence excuse", which is found on the Pinebrook home page.  The link to the Pinebrook home page is here.
• If you have pictures of your child engaged in a fun activity, with a pet, with family, etc....please feel free to email them to me if your child would like to share those photos with our class.
• "Look at Me Now" timelines are due no later than Thursday, December 10th.  If your child is done with his/her timeline, feel free to send it in early.  You can clear a spot on the dining room table for something else, because isn't that what we all use a dining room table for....to store things when we have NO idea where else to put them???  :)
• We are running very low on dry erase markers.  We use them each day for morning work and math.  Please kindly consider donating some black dry erase markers to our classroom.  Thank you!
• I will be out next Friday, December 11th.  Mrs. McKinley will be in for me.  I am taking a personal day to complete some Holiday preparations for my own family.  :)
• Please be sure to check the "important dates" section of this blog for upcoming events / activities / deadlines in our classroom and our school.

Reflex Math:

• We are coming to a close on our addition and subtraction unit.  Now that the kids have learned the strategies for solving addition and subtraction facts, it's time to practice fact fluency!  Fact fluency is the "fancy way" to describe the ability to quickly recall addition and subtraction facts.  I cannot teach fact fluency.  You cannot teach fact fluency.  As with reading, it's about practice, practice, practice.  To promote practice, our school subscribes to an on-line program called Reflex Math.  The program's aim is to help kids build fact fluency.  Your child can now begin to log in to practice fact fluency via fun, arcade style games.  The log on information is in the "online resources" section of this blog.

Make Up Pictures:

• Wednesday, December 9th is Picture Make Up Day.  This day is for students who were absent on Picture Day, did not have their picture taken and want to, or want to have their Fall Picture retaken.  If your child will be having his/her picture retaken, please email me for instructions regarding Picture retakes.

Focus Areas for the Upcoming Week:

• Reading:  We will talk about the different reasons authors write books:  to inform, persuade, and entertain.  We will discuss the Author's Message in books we read.
• Math:  We will finish our addition and subtraction unit and begin a short one-week unit on fact families.
• Writing:  We will continue writing personal narrative stories.
• Science / Social Studies:  We will finish talking about the adaptations humans, plants, and animals make in preparation or winter.

PHEW!  I think that's everything!  If you have questions about anything I've written here, you can email me by clicking the "contact me" tab at the top of this blog, or by clicking the picture of the envelope (it's inside the yellow circle at the top of the upper right hand side of this screen).

Meantime, I can't say enough how much I am loving your sweet kiddos!  It's the time of the school year when I've learned their personalities and their learning styles.  Now, I can really enjoy them and watch them GROW!  :)

Happy Friday!  I hope you have a fun weekend planned.  I am buying ingredients to make more cookies than my family can eat over 2 Holiday seasons, but the older I get, the more blessed I feel to be healthy and well and able to enjoy another Holiday with my beautiful boys. I think instead of "It's the most wonderful time of the year", the song should be "It's the most wonderful time for elastic-waist pants." #cookiesforbreakfastlunchanddinner

I'll be at the Holiday Shop/Pancake Breakfast at school tomorrow too!  Perhaps I'll see some of you there.