December

Just a few quick announcements before I get on to our fun gingerbread pictures:

We will be going on our field trip to the Galt Museum on Tuesday. We will leave at 9:45 so if you volunteered, please be at the school at 9:35.

On Wednesday, we will be going skating from 1:00 to 2:00. We should arrive at the skating rink around 12:45 to start tying skates, so if you can come for any part of it we really appreciate it! There are some school helmets that parents can use if you don't have a CSA approved helmet. Students need to bring:

Skates

Gloves

Coat

CSA approved helmet (if they have one)

For the Christmas Concert on December 18, students will be responsible for their entire costume, including the antennae's. If someone was dying to make antennae's for the whole class, sorry!  Your child needs:

yellow shirt

black pants

headband

mini flashlight

sunglasses

antennae's (headband with pipe cleaners and black styrofoam balls)

I decided to change the book order due date from Dec. 9 to Thursday, December 5. I just want to make sure that the orders get here before Christmas! Remember, if you would like to order something as a gift, just write a note in your child's agenda and I will call you when it gets in.

This week our fish, Lenny, died. I think I was more sad than the kids were and they were more excited to get a new fish that they got to name! The new fish arrived and we had a big vote on what his name should be. After much deliberation, they came up with David. Yes, you read that right. David the fish. If you or someone in your family's name is David, I think there is a fish at Raymond Elementary named after you. What an honor. 

We had so much fun this week wrapping up our Gingerbread theme! Thank you especially to Andrea Leavitt for making cookies for us to be able to do a lesson on "How to Eat a Gingerbread Cookie". Very scientific. We ate cookies, baked cookies, decorated cookies, and read about gingerbread cookies this week. Mixed in are some pictures of our sorting lesson in math where we sorted different buttons!

Have a great weekend!

-Carly

Student-Led Conferences and Skating Info.

I was so happy to see most of the parents come in this week for Student-led Conferences! It was such a fantastic night and it was great to (re-)meet all of you. The kiddos were beside themselves during the day on Wednesday because they were so excited to have their parents come! It felt so good to see how much these little guys are supported and loved. Melt my heart.

We are steadily approaching perhaps the busiest and happiest (in my opinion) month of the year! There will be lots going on with a lot of opportunities for parents to volunteer so please take advantage. This week, there isn't anything major going on other than forms and money for the field trip next week are due on Friday.

Next week, however, is a different story!

On Tuesday, December 3, we will be going on a field trip to the Galt Museum in Lethbridge. We will be leaving at 9:45 and be back around 12:30. If you volunteered, please arrive at the school around 9:35. Thank you to all the parents who can volunteer! Your children were so excited to tell me you could come! Students need to bring a lunch on the field trip day that we will be eating when we get back to the school. Just a reminder, school fees must be paid or arrangements made with the office in order for your child to participate.

On Wednesday, December 4, 11, and 18, we will be skating at the Ice Rink. Each child needs to have skates, gloves, and a CSA approved helmet in order to participate. Bike helmets, ski helmets, and snowboarding helmets generally don't work. Just check to make sure there is a CSA label on the inside. If you cannot find or borrow a CSA helmet, the school does have some that students can use. On each of the three skating days, we need AS MANY VOLUNTEERS AS WE CAN GET! We need help tying skates, putting skaters together, consoling unsuccessful skaters, and skating with the kids. If you can come for any part it would be greatly appreciated. Adults who wish to skate with the kids must have a CSA approved  helmet as well along with skates. We will be skating from about 12:50 to 2:00 on every Wednesday in December. 


On December 18, we will be having a Christmas Concert! My class will be dressing up as the yellow jackets. Each child will need:

yellow shirt

black pants

headband

mini flashlight

sunglasses

If anyone would like to volunteer to put together the antennae's, let me know (pipe cleaners with styrofoam balls on the end-I will provide the materials). 

In Math, we are learning how to skip count by 2's to 20, count by 10's to 100, and count by 1's to 100. If you could practice these skills at home that would be great!

For our Reading Skills, we will be learning about h blends (ch, sh, th,wh, ph). I teach this using the H Superheroes! I will post some adorable pictures next week of our adventures with the superheroes.

If you made it this far in the blog, give yourself a high five! To finish off, here are some pictures from Student-led Conference night. Don't worry, you all look beautiful.

Student-led Conferences

Upcoming this week are student-led conferences! If you read my post last week, this next paragraph will be a lot of repeating about what we are doing for student-led conferences, but also new info. so please read. SL Conferences will be on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20. The students are so excited for their parents to come so I hope that everyone can make it! You can come anytime between 3:30 and 5:30 and it will take about 15-30 minutes. Since the students will be leading the conference, you will just follow them around! Each child will show their parent(s) their portfolio. If they are not telling you why they chose the work they did and what makes it their best work, please ask them. SL Conferences are meant to be a reflective conversation for students and their parents. After you have seen your child's work, you will fill out a "Two Stars and a Wish" page near the back of their portfolio. Here, you will write down after talking with your child two things they are doing well at and one goal for the next term. Once you have gone through the portfolio, feel free to ask me ANY questions about your child's progress or how we do things in our class. After that, you are done! If you have questions, comments, or concerns that you would like to talk about outside of SL Conferences, I would be happy to meet with you on another day.

Report Cards will go home on Monday. Please sign the report card envelope and send it back to school. 

We sent off our Operation Christmas Child Boxes this week. I am happy to say that our boxes were PACKED full and the shipping costs were covered. Thank you so much! Our school filled 88 boxes to send to children in need. Wow!

Friday was officially "Random Acts of Kindness" Day. After the kiddies got back in from recess, they were so excited to find cupcakes in our classroom! I still have no idea who left them, but on the box was a note that said "Pay it Forward". Of course, we had to think of something we could do to pay it forward. The students thought that it would be a good idea to write a card for each person in Miss Jensen's class and write something nice to "fill their bucket" (ask your child if the bucket thing doesn't make sense!). They also wanted to tape a treat in the cards. They were so thoughtful as they were writing their cards. Such sweet kids!

This week we have been practicing extending patterns. What better way to do this than with colored goldfish! There was a lot of self-control being practiced in the room as students made patterns with their fish before eating them.

Pizza Day will be on Wednesday, November 20.

Surprise cupcakes!!

I am looking forward to seeing all of you on Wednesday!

Carly

Remembrance Day

This week was quite the contrast to last week as we talked about and remembered veterans for Remembrance Day. The students loved hearing stories from each other about their ancestors who served our country. The stories were incredible and students had such a sense of pride as they told them to the class. We were lucky to even have R's grandmother come and tell us about her father and uncle who are heroes. Thank you for coming!

The Remembrance Day Assembly was so well done and I tried not to get emotional as the grade ones were singing. They did such a great job and they were very respectful. I loved seeing a few of them salute the veterans who were sitting on the front row.

We will be sending off our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes on November 14. Thank you so much to those of you who have donated so far! If you would like to donate, here are some potential items you could purchase:
-wash clothes
-stuffed animals
-skipping rope
-flip flops
-slinky
-combs
-one toothbrush (in own packaging)
-hair stuff (girl)
-t-shirt
-multi-tool
-musical instruments (harmonica, whislte)
-play-doh
-part of the $12.00 remaining needed for shipping costs

Student Led Conferences will be on November 20. If you have not been to Student Led Conferences before, basically they are a re-vamped Parent-Teacher Interviews. Student Led Conferences are a way for your child to show you their best work from each term. I like to keep SL Conferences super informal so when you come to the school, your child will show you to their desk and show you their portfolio which will contain their best work. After you have gone through the portfolio together, you will make some goals for the next term. To make scheduling a little easier for everyone, you can come anytime between 3:45 and 5:30. I will be available when you come to answer any questions and talk about successes and concerns if necessary. If you would like to schedule a more formal interview, please let me know and I would love to talk with you! If you cannot make it on November 20, I can send home your child's portfolio with them for you to talk about it at home and them send back to school.

Book Orders are due on Friday, November 15. 

I think that's all for this week! Have a great long weekend!!

Carly