Twas The Week Before Christmas

I hope that you are enjoy the beautiful snowy week we are having.  Please be sure to remind your child of the importance of their safety while crossing slick roads and sidewalks.  Though it is beautiful this time of year, it is also harder for cars to stop on our icy roads, and we don't want anyone to get hurt.  

Just a head's up about the Christmas concert Thursday at 7:00pm in the Tom Karren Gym.  The grade one's will be performing two versions of Jingle Bells - the Australian version and the Canadian version.  So for costuming we are asking that all of the students in my class come and get dressed in summer gear - shorts, t-shirts, sandals, sunglasses.  Anything that makes them look like they are enjoying the sun on an Australian beach.  We hope to see you there!

Friday will be our class Christmas party, from about 11:45-12:00ish, running till the end of the school day at 1:00pm.

This week in school we are continuing a short unit for physical education that is an introduction to basic gymnastics - the students will be doing a lot of rolling, tumbling and balancing on mats and small beams.  We will finish looking at sorting and classifying 2-D and 3-D shapes in math, and will be working on the short sound of 'o' in language arts.

Spelling words this week are: will, five, what, made, play and candycane.  The try it this week is use Christmas bread or cookie dough to shape your words and bake them.

At this point in the year, you may start to notice more homework coming home with your students.  Please be aware that while I do expect such assignments to be returned to the school, there is no strict timeframe on when they are to be done.  I would rather have students working in 10-15 minute periods over several days rather than a straight hour of additional schoolwork.  I also understand that families have busy lives and schedules.  When work comes home labeled 'please finish', I would just request that it be finished and returned in a timely manner that suits your schedule and your child's best interests.  Sometimes homework may come in order that a student does not fall behind (such as is the case when they have been sick).  Also, I like to send work home on occasion that gives the parent a chance to interact with their child using the same subject matter they are studying at school.  This keeps you more informed on what your child is learning, and gives you a first hand view of their skills and understandings.

There is a new reading program being introduced at the school by the Cheesecake cafe.  Your child will be bringing home a newsletter and cheesecake page that allows them to color in one slice of the dessert for each twenty minutes of reading books that they complete (for a total of 200 minutes).  Please write the name of the books on the slice as you finish them and send them back to school once the whole cheesecake is colored in.  They will then receive a gift certificate for a free kids meal from the Cheesecake Restaurant.  This program is completely optional, and any books count - zippy books, library books, personal home books, etc.

Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to 'bee' good, encouraging the general ability of our students to work at being good, caring individuals.

Take a quick peek back before the end of the week to see some of the special content I will be posting - we've had a lot of exciting activities and experiences this month, and I should have them up on the blog in a day or so.

It's hard to believe, but it is the last week of school before Christmas holidays.  Students finish at 1:00pm on Friday and will not resume until Monday, January 5, 2009.  I hope that you and your families have a safe and enjoyable break, and look forward to seeing you all again in the new year.

Best Wishes!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

The Magrath Elementary Drama Club has the opportunity to perform at the Magrath Community Christmas concert on Thursday, December 4, 2008.  We have been preparing a short skit that follows a snowman theme, and your child is invited to participate.  Grade 4, 5, 6 have been assigned specific roles.  Grades 1, 2, 3 will be singing the song “Once there was a snowman”, and are encouraged to wear as much white as possible (to look like a snowman).  Any student performing that night should be at the LDS Stake center stage by 6:30pm for the event which begins at 7:00pm.  We will be performing second on the program, so the early arrival is important to organize and prepare.  After the students perform, they are welcome to join their families to enjoy the concert, or to leave for other commitments. 

 We have not yet had a chance to do a dress rehearsal on the performance stage, so we are asking all students to meet at the Stake center after school on Thursday, so that we may run through our skit and have one final practice.  Please make every effort to have your child there.  If you have any questions, please contact me at the school.

  We have begun our school Christmas presence project.  Students who bring non-perishable food items to the library will be given small paper Christmas ornaments to decorate and place on the classroom trees attached to each class door.  If we work together, we can help make Christmas a little merrier for every family in our town that needs some holiday cheer this year.

 We have also started a Christmas chain countdown.  Each day is patterned either red or green, and has a good idea for a way to celebrate Christmas or something to do for someone else in the true spirit of Christmas.  The students also completed their own chain, which they can keep at home (some were not quite able to finish, but you are welcome to complete it with them – it is not homework, just a fun Christmas countdown activity).  Each day we cut off one link, with the chain slowly getting shorter until it finishes on Christmas Eve.

            Friday will be our classroom winter party, which is the basis of the new science unit we will be working on until holidays – seasonal changes of winter.  We will be doing several activities related to the storybook The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, which will include watching the animated movie of the same title.  This movie is rated G, and for more detail on its content, you could visit www.kids-in-mind.com, a website dedicated to giving detailed information about positive and negative content in movies.  If you have any objections to your child watching this movie, or any questions, please contact me by Friday by phone, or email, in person, or send a note in your child’s agenda.  I will happily arrange an alternative activity for any child or parent not comfortable with this activity.

            Besides our new science unit, we will also be switching gears in math, and taking a closer look at shapes that are 2-D and 3-D, their names, and various everyday objects of those shapes.  We will be examining, finding and sorting these spheres, cubes, pyramids, etc.

            In Language arts we will be completing a lot of activities related to Christmas, and in phonics this month we are focusing on the short sounds of vowels.

            Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to ‘bee’ giving.  Part of the magic of Christmas is learning how good it feels not only to receive a gift, but also to give one.  Gifts can be more than material as well.  We are all capable of giving of our time, talents, friendship and respect.  This is lifelong goal we can all strive to be better at.

            Now that winter is setting in, it is very important that students have proper winter gear.  Please be sure that you student comes to school each day with a warm winter coat – even if the weather seems fair.  Gloves and a hat and scarf will also help protect our students from standard winter weather.  Also, we are having an issue with students not bringing proper shoes to school – students should have a pair of inside and outside shoes.  Outside shoes (such as snow boots) are to be left on the boot racks at the front foyer, and inside shoes in cubbies, to prevent mess on the library carpets and in the cubby bins and hallway.  We appreciate your assistance in this matter.

            One last reminder to return the yellow report card envelopes with your signature.  Please keep your child’s report cards, and remember, if you have any questions feel free to contact me.

            Have a great week!

Once, Twice, Thrice!

At the beginning of the month the students set a goal in math to learn to count by 3’s to thirty.  Current research suggests that the reason so many individuals struggle with certain times tables in upper elementary math (like 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, etc.) is due to the lack of practice counting with these numbers in the formative years (think, on the other hand, of how often we encourage young children to count by 2, 5, and 10).  We therefore decided to work on a variety of counting methods.  This month we have chosen  ‘3’.  Take some time each night to make counting by three’s fun and engaging.  Maybe you could count the peas on your dinner plate by three’s…yum!

Honesty is the Best Policy

Already the last week of November!  Today we celebrated our 57^th day of school.  We enjoyed our celebration of no T.V. week that just ended, and hope that the good habits of reading we enjoyed the last several days will continue on in the weeks to come!  We are grateful for all of your support in making last week a success.

 This Thursday is another milestone – our first report cards.  As a result, there will be no school for students on Friday (P.D. Day) so that students can enjoy their last long weekend before Christmas.  I am so grateful for each of my students and appreciate the hard work they do.  It is so fun to watch each of them grow and progress, and I hope that each report card accurately reflects where each individual is at in their learning and where they need to go.  If you have any questions, concerns or comments, be sure to contact me at the school or by email, and I’ll be happy to talk or meet with you.

There is Drama club again on Tuesday for any students in our class who have joined, however due to an overwhelming response for Lego club, our class only goes every third week, so no grade ones will be attending this week or next. 

In math this week we are taking a closer look at numbers up to 12.  It’s an important skill to easily recognize and print numerals, their words and identify at a glance group of numbers (think how easy it is to recognize the value on any face of a pair of dice).  We are also taking at look at how to be better citizens by taking care of our earth.  We’ve been studying water and air pollution, as well as collecting litter and trash.

Our spelling words this week include four, over, saw, like, you.  Our try-it at home for this week is to cut the words up on paper into puzzle pieces, and then try to put them back together before challenging a family member or friend to read your word!

Our spelling program is going to change slightly starting this week.  Along with the regular spelling activity I will be adding a sight word recognition activity.  This will involve students underlining key words (the same words as we use in our spelling activities) in a simple paragraph based on instructions I give.  This should help my understanding of the way the students are learning and interpreting the words they are seeing and using each day.  We will also be adding a ‘star’ word each week.  This is an extra word of the students’ choosing that does not count toward the total of any spelling activity, but is a chance to increase vocabulary and sight word recognition.  The star word the students selected this week was Christmas.

Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to ‘bee’ honest.  We are discussing the importance of telling the truth and knowing when it is okay to imagine stories and when it’s more important to say what really happened.

Have a great week!

No Television???

This week is turn off the T.V. week and read.  To kick of the event, we held a school wide read-a-thon on Monday morning where every adult and child in our school read for half an hour, and we totaled up the number of pages.

Here are the grade results...

Mrs. Thomson's Grade One read......   2107 pages!

Magrath Elementary School read.....  16 028 pages!

Way to go readers!!!

No TV week newsletter

Today our school begins its annual turn off the TV week.  Take the opportunity for the next couple of days to encourage your family to put aside television and video games in favor of reading and spending more time together.  Students who participate each night have the chance to enter their name into a draw for prizes.  Friday is the last day of no TV week, as well as our November student of the month assembly.  The lunch available this week is pizza.

The students have earned a board game party, which we will be having after recess on Friday morning.  Students may bring whatever games from home they choose.  If your child chooses to bring a game from home, encourage them to bring one that other students will be capable of playing.

Our spelling words this week include she, call, run, big, may.  A fun try-it at home would be to use colored markers or crayons to copy your words in as many different color combinations as possible.  That could make a pretty collage!

We have two new clubs starting at the school tomorrow.  If your child has signed up for either drama or lego club, be sure to include a lunch in their backpack tomorrow.

This week we have begun looking at colors in science.  Take opportunities to point out colors that occur naturally in the world around us, and the beauty they can bring to this world.  Also point out color words in books you read so that they become very familiar to your budding reader.  We are also finishing up our unit in math that looks at how objects can be equal and unequal.

I have sent home December book orders.  They are due back quick this time – by next Thursday, November 27.  You are welcome to order anything if you choose, but I don’t know if they will arrive before Christmas.

Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to ‘bee’ patient.  We are learning to patiently wait our turn to speak and give our ideas, and patiently wait in line, or for help from a teacher, parent or friend.

Hope you have a great week!

Lest We Forget - Remembrance Day Newsletter

It is a short but important week because of the Remembrance Day services to be held Monday and Tuesday, with the 11^th being a statutory holiday.  If you live in or around the town of Magrath, there will be town services being held beginning at 9:30am on Tuesday at the Tom Karren Gym.  One exciting piece of news we have is that one of the students in our class, Kari, participated in the recent Magrath Lions Club speech competition, and as a result, earned the opportunity to speak at town Remembrance Day services.  So be sure to go out Tuesday morning and give her and two of our grade six students a show of support for their hard work and a job well done.  We are so proud of you Kari!

 Take the chance this week to honor our veterans by having conversations with your family about topics related to this special occasion – war, peace, freedom, democracy, etc.  You might be surprised how much even young children understand and respect these principles and are grateful for them.  If members of your family have been involved in any sort of military endeavors, share their stories and experiences. 

 What other things are happening this week?  Friday is library book return as well as Deli Sandwich week.  Forms are coming home with this newsletter, so send them back Wednesday for any week to week orders.  Book orders are also due this Friday.  Anything ordered this week should be here by the first week of December.

 We also have some exciting new lunch hour clubs beginning next Tuesday – an engineering exploration club (lego) and drama club.  Both will run over the Tuesday lunch hour and are open to any students.  Please return signed consent forms with your child.  If you did not receive one, there additional forms in the office. 

 Our busy, buzzy goal this week is to ‘bee’ respectful, in light of Remembrance Day.  Help encourage your child to show more ways to be respectful of all things and people.

 We had a contest on our class website for various pumpkins we had designed in math class.  The winner was pumpkin #1 belonging to these students: 

 Great job group!

 We are working on fun games in gym this week, as well as continuing to help students develop a ‘number sense’ of numbers 1-12.  We are taking a closer look in social studies at citizenship, and how we take part in a community.  We are also beginning a new unit in science about creating color, and our new language arts theme is magic!  If you know of anyone who can perform several simple magic tricks, please let Mrs. Thomson know.  I would love to get someone into the classroom before the end of the month who could dazzle the students, and maybe even share a short simple trick for them to try on their friends and family.

 Spelling words this week include can, all, are, and, his.  The spelling try-it for the week is: stamp letters using a variety of colors or papers.

 Because of the Remembrance Day show and tell we are hosting today (Monday) there will be no news minute this week.  We will return to our regular schedule next Monday.

 A big thank you to all who have donated classroom supplies and craft materials over the past weeks.  Our closet is now at full capacity for recyclable materials, so for the time being we do not need any more sent to our classroom.  We will let you know when another need arises.  However, if you are ever in the process of getting rid of something and are unsure whether we could use it in our room, just ask!

 Also a big thanks to Mrs. R for the presentation she gave our class last Friday – this classroom mom recently returned from Paris, France, and came to talk to the students about her trip.  Students learned all about the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, the Catacombs, the Euro dollar, and tasted some French bread and chocolate.  What a neat experience!  Thank you!

 Every day after lunch our students participate in DEAR – drop everything and read.  We have been slowly working up our time each week, and we are now reading as a class for 10 minutes!  This is an exciting accomplishment, and in celebration, your student will be bringing home a book today that has been donated by TD bank to all grade one students in Canada.  Thank you to them, and congratulations to all our budding readers for their hard work!

 Our grade one class has set a goal this month in math to learn to count by 3’s to thirty.  We are taking as many opportunities as possible to find patterns of three in our daily lives and to learn to count by this fun number.  Please review counting by 3’s once or twice an evening with your child in a fun way.  It just another chance to build emerging number sense, and gets our class one step closer to their goal!

 Have a great week and a meaningful Remembrance Day.