Long Term Sub, Box Tops, and Updates

Hello families! I hope you all had a wonderful winter break and are staying warm in all this cold weather! After a winter full of cold temps and lots of snow, I think we're all looking forward to Spring! We've had too many indoor recesses I think!

I wanted to update you all on important news for our classroom. I'm now in my last month of my pregnancy, and my due date (January 27th) is fast approaching! We found out that Angela Sweeney will be our long-term substitute teacher. The kids had her for one day at the beginning of the school year, and I have every confidence that she will be great! The kids loved her, and she has the perfect personality for first grade. Her plan is to continue with all the things we've been doing in our classroom and helping the kids continue to learn and grow both academically and socially. She will be sure to either continue updating our blog, or send home other forms of communication so you can get an idea of what's been happening in our classroom. I will be taking 12 weeks off and most likely return right after spring break. If the baby comes sooner, then I'll likely come back sooner too! All of our students have been doing such a great job and I'm sure this transition will be an easy and positive one! Don't hesitate to reach out to her if you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress...she will gladly update you and answer any questions!

 The Box Tops & Labels for Education Contest is upon us again! Starting Monday, January 6th, please send any Box Tops or Labels for Education to school with your child. Each correctly cut Box Top and Label will be counted as two points for our classroom!  The winning classroom in each pod will earn an ice cream party, and the winning classroom in the school will win a pizza party!  This is an exciting contest for students and great for our school, as we can raise so much money!  Please continue sending in any Box Tops and Labels you have through the end of January...the contest ends Friday, January 31st.

As we are nearing the mid-way point in our year, please remember to continue encouraging your child to read at home every night!  Reading is our most important homework, and students should be spending 30 minutes most night engaged in a reading/talking about reading activity.  Kids can read the just-right books in their book bags, as well as books from their own bookshelves, library books, books on an ipad or tablet, or even magazines!  This habit promotes strong reading behaviors that will continue over extended breaks away from school, which will lead to a strong literacy base for the rest of their lives.  I know many students only read a day or two over winter break, and while I understand that the breaks get busy fast, it is important to try to incorporate reading into some of each day...even if it's only for 10 minutes!  Please do your best to remind your child to read each and every night...they can read aloud to you, you can read to them, or they can read by themselves!  (You may not believe it, but we are reading for 45 minutes independently each day at school...I know they can do it at home, too!)

In class, we've been working hard in reading and working on reading nonfiction texts...we are really working on developing our comprehension and problem solving tricky words.  The kids are really enjoying reading nonfiction text!

In writing, we recently finished up our unit on writing informational texts--you've probably seen some non-fiction "chapter books" that came home before break.  The kids expanded their writing abilities greatly, and did an awesome job writing more and more.  It's amazing what they can do!  Until I leave, we will be reviewing some small moments writing as well as focusing a bit on handwriting and word study.  Once Mrs. Sweeney takes over, she will begin teaching the class about Opinion Writing.

Our current unit in math is all about developing more subtraction strategies.  I'm happy to see that these things are beginning to get easier and easier for us...we've come a long way since the beginning of the year!  Please continue to help your child with his or her math homework at home as well!

In Science we will begin learning about Penguins in January, and in Social Studies we talked a bit about New Years Resolutions.  Near the end of January we will begin learing about famous African Americans for Black History Month (February) and we will also celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Thanks for all your support at home...all your efforts with your children are really making a big difference...they're doing great and learning so much!  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me!