December 18, 2014

The words of the day this week have included: shrug, fragile, seek, concur, and frequent.

There is no golden envelope reading tonight.  Students can read their own books from their own libraries for their own enjoyment! We'll resume the golden envelope program in January.

  The students wrote letters to Santa last week. I mailed them on their behalf, due to time constraints here in Room Four. Replies should be coming in any day! Check the post office soon!

Thanks to everyone who sent food for the food bank. Your generosity is appreciated!

  The lost and found has been set up in the music room. Please drop in and check through it. You never know what you'll find there. (This might be a good time to mention that writing your child's name in EVERYTHING is a good way to get lost possessions returned to them. It's amazing how many good quality items make their way into the lost and found every month - and how many of these items are never claimed.)

Here are some photos from last night's Christmas Concert Red Carpet. (Hmm. That just gave me an idea. I think I'm going to invest in a real red carpet - for occasions just like the one last night...) Enjoy!

December 9, 2014

The latest two words of the day are: intrepid and rapid. We're going to the seniors' residence (across the street from the school) Thursday morning at 9:30 to perform our "Chamber of Commerce songs"; if you missed the show last Friday evening(or if you'd like an encore!), you're most welcome to join us! Just a reminder that we're going to try wearing sunglasses for our Christmas concert piece; please send a pair asap so we can begin practicing with them. (Please don't feel compelled to buy sunglasses if you don't have a pair. I have some extras I can lend to students.) Also, remember that your child doesn't need any special clothing for the concert. They can just wear their Christmas finery. If that means jeans and a shirt, that's fine. Our concert is next Wednesday (a week from tomorrow). Students should be at the school by 6:45. The concert will begin at 7:00. I'll be in the room at 6:30. Our dress rehearsal will be next Tuesday morning at 9:00. Some of the Christmas books that are going home in the golden envelopes are longer than others. I want your child to read every night, but I also want them to LOVE books, so if the longer books get too tedious, parents can alternate sentences (or pages) with the students, to keep things moving along. Thanks to those who've sent food bank items. We're continuing to collect non-perishables until the end of next week. Please avoid sending glass jars, if possible, as we're going to have a "fire bucket" brigade type of delivery service - passing the food from student to student along Geikie Street to the food bank collection site. Last year some packages were dropped - and the glass jars that were inside created quite a mess.

December 5, 2014

Here's the swim photo I neglected to add!

December 4, 2014

Our Word of the Day repertoire now includes: initial, facetious, repast, famished, fragrant, boughs, ecstatic, and ancient.

Reminders for tomorrow:

1. Students will be dismissed at noon tomorrow to allow teachers to attend a professional development session.

2. We'll have our weekly spelling test in the morning.

3. Book orders are due tomorrow. 

4. The students have some pretty funny jokes for their at-home reading assignment tonight. Enjoy!

5. We'll meet at 6:45 at the Sawridge in Boardroom #2 (aka the Green Room) for our Chamber of Commerce presentation tomorrow night.

Thanks to those who have supported our Food Bank Drive!  We're still accepting donations, which will be on display in the front hall of the school.

Thanks, too, to the parents who came and helped out with the swim program this week.  We really appreciate you taking time out to assist!

Here's a photo of our class, ready and waiting for aquatic action!

December 1, 2014

Happy December - and Happy Birthday to Hanna!

Reminders for this week include:

1.  We'll be swimming in the morning this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; remember to send swim gear and a warm hat for our walk back to the school.  Thanks to all the parents who volunteered to help out in the change rooms and escorting us to and from the pool!

2.  Our school concert night is Wednesday, the 17th at 7:00.  (Doors open at 6:30.)  The dress rehearsal for our concert is Tuesday the 16th at 9:00 am.  Our first grade students will be performing with the grade two class.  Nothing special is required for clothing; students can just dress in their Christmas finery. However, we have a boogie song (yeehaw!) that would look great with the students wearing sunglasses.  Please send a pair of sunglasses asap so we can begin practicing with them.  Thanks.

3. Our performance for the Chamber of Commerce is this Friday at the Sawridge.  Please have your child at the Sawridge by 6:45.  We'll meet in the Green Room (boardroom #2) - in the basement of the hotel. We sing at 7:00 and should be finished by 7:15 or 7:20, but there'll be milk and cookies to enjoy after we sing, so leaving the Sawridge by 7:30 or a bit later might be a realistic prediction.  Parents: thanks for driving your singing sensation to the Sawridge!  Of course, parents are most welcome to watch us sing - and to join us for milk and cookies post-performance!

4. The book that went home in today's golden envelope does not need to be returned to school.  Your at-home libraries just got a little more valuable!

5. We've begun a "word of the day" program in Room Four.  Words introduced so far include: initial, facetious, repast, famished, and fragrant.  We'll be jotting the new words down in the agendas, so prepare to be dazzled daily by your youngster's growing vocabulary!

November 24, 2014

Just a couple of reminders/points of information:

1. Report cards went home today - yehaw!  Please return the report card's envelope, the comment sheet, and the interview request sheet.  There is no need to return the report card itself.  I request interviews for all my students for the first reporting period; just indicate which day you'd like me to meet with you on the interview form.  If you have a specific time you'd like to see me, you can jot that down, too, and if you can't meet within the dates on the form, I can arrange another time to see you.

2. There will be a "Jersey Day" this Friday.  Students are invited (but not required!) to wear some sport-themed clothing to school to show their love and allegiance to the world of athletics!

3.  There will be an early dismissal this Friday.  Students will finish at lunch.

4.  Drop in and have a look at the students' pig bios on the bulletin board outside the classroom if you get a minute!

Here's a photo of our Roots of Empathy mom and baby:

November 20, 2014

Sorry for the long wait between posts - it's been chock-a-block around here lately.  Here's a photo I couldn't pass up posting, though.  We had a visit from Piglet today and thought everyone would like a gander at Piglet and her new friends!

November 3, 2014

We've just received news from the pool that more instructors are down and out with the flu, so swimming has been cancelled once again.  The pool staff has now decided that the whole set of lessons will be held sometime in December.  We'll let you know the dates when we know them ourselves.

The first and second graders have been invited to go to the high school this Wednesday morning to work on a Remembrance Day project with the Grade Twelve class. We'll leave the school around 10:00 and plan to return by recess.

Here are some photos of the spooky first graders' Hallowe'en finery!

November 2, 2014

I hope everyone had a great Hallowe'en!  It was nice to see lots of familiar faces at my door on Friday!

Please remember that we start swimming tomorrow morning.  We leave the school around 9 and begin our lessons at 9:25.  We'll be swimming Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week.  Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help out.  Volunteers are welcome to walk to the pool with us, or meet us at the pool. 

October 30, 2014

Thanks so much to Hanna's mom for coming to help out with our spooky science afternoon.  The class performed lots of experiments and scientific discovery - check out the photos at the bottom of this post.  Please be aware that there is vinegar and baking soda in the balloon/bottle creation.  The goblin goo is made from cornstarch, water and food colouring.  You might want to keep it away from carpets.

Remember to study for the spelling test tomorrow.  Also, remember that we're having our Hallowe'en costume parade (right after afternoon attendance), followed by our class partay.  Please send a small juice box for the party.  We have some treats left over from yesterday, but if anyone would like to send something else for the treat table, I'm sure the class will do their best to eat everything ...

We watched a cool video on walking stick creatures - just click here to see it.