Newsletter 13

2005-2006                          Room 302—Newsletter 13              http://room302.blogspot.com

Friday, January 06, 2006


Dear Families,

I hope everyone enjoyed the time off of school.  It seems to go by so fast, but it’s good to be back.  Here’s what’s going on…..
In reading….
I watched my boys at home during the past two weeks.  I’d call them readers, but I rarely saw them pick up reading material on their own.  I’m not sure why, since our house is filled with things for them to read.  It reemphasized for me the importance of reading to them each day.  I wish they would initiate more, but I’m not waiting around for it to happen.  And when they do choose to read, I notice they usually choose things they’ve heard before, which is just one more reason to make sure they get lots of exposure from us.
In writing….
Our special project this week is writing thank-you notes to people.  It seems like a good time of year to do this.  It’s also a perfect way to practice lots of important writing skills, including thinking about purpose and audience.  
In math….
We made new calendars again for January.  The art technique we used was collage.  This is favored by the illustrators of many popular picture books, including Eric Carle, Leo Lionni, and Lois Ehlert.  This also was a good way to review some of our previous concepts, like contrast, horizontal, vertical, and shapes.  You may want to point out different types of collages as they occur in your read alouds at home.
Party …
Our holiday party was excellent.  Thanks to everyone able to contribute in some way.  It just feels like a very nice vibe to have the room filled with people involved in purposeful and enjoyable activity.
Current Chapter Book Read Aloud…
Winnie the Pooh  by A. A. Milne (we’re very close to the end)
Calendar…
Tuesday, January 10—PTA Meeting, 6:30
Friday, January 13—Early Release for School Planning
Monday, January 16—No school
Friday, February 3—Jesse’s Birthday
Tuesday, February 7—Levy Vote
February 20-24 –Mid-Winter Break
Wednesday, February 22—Aubree’s Birthday
Friday, February 24—Kayla’s Birthday
Sunday, February 26—Lukas’s Birthday

Sincerely,

Jeff

Week of Monday, January 2

Tuesday, January 03, 2006 Busy, Busy Christmas Weeks Today was our first day back from the winter break. We did lots of interesting things while we were off school. Jeff went to the ocean for New Year’s Eve and stayed at a hotel with a big water park. Savannah went to a hotel with a pool next to the Family Fun Center and got to see lots of relatives. Taylor went to Canada and there was a whole bunch of snow that he used to make snow blocks. The snow blocks were 2 feet wide and 35 inches tall, and he used them to make a snow fort. He also made a big slide, and when he went down it a bunch of snow got inside his jeans and froze his legs. Before Christmas, Rien went to dinner at his grandma’s friend’s house and had lots of candy, and he got to see his uncle who is only six years older than Rien is. Kaelyn went to a sleepover party and her friend had lots of friends there and they got to stay up until midnight and do fireworks. Cameron and her dad went to her grandma’s house and set off about ten packs of fireworks. Mckayla went to her cousin’s house to sleep over because her parents went snowmobiling with her aunt and uncle and Mckayla didn’t want to go. Ashley played with her new toys from Christmas: her favorite one is a little television with a DVD player. On December 27, Justyn went skiing without any poles down the bunny slope, and he was a “bullet down the hill.” Donna went all the way down to Georgia to see her cousin. They ran out of gas, but luckily there was a gas station nearby. And they finally got there and her cousins were so happy to see them, and Donna felt the same way. Shelby went to Jesse’s house and played Play Station 2 with Jesse. Jesse went to his grandma’s house (but not when Shelby was visiting him.) He drove all the way to Yakima to see her. When he woke up on Christmas morning, there were billions of presents. His grandma and his poppa got him a little quad: it was a 90. Kevin got a brand new dirt bike from Christmas. Then he went up in the mountains to drive in the snow in it. Then he bumped over a rock and did a wheelie, but he didn’t crash—he kept going. Jasen went to spend the night at his grandma’s house on New Year’s Eve. He got to stay up until midnight and bang pots and pans together. Everyone had fun, and we’re glad to be back together. Thursday, January 05, 2006 Different Collages Yesterday we made different collages to go with our January calendars. It was cool. It looked awesome. First, Mrs. W.-R. showed us how to make the collages. Then after she showed us how to make the collages we went back to our classroom and got all our stuff ready and made our collages. Everybody made different ones. We cut out little scraps or we could draw a picture and then cut it out, and then glue it to the paper. Some people glued their pieces onto a piece of paper that was peach-colored. Other people didn’t use the peach-colored paper. They just glued theirs onto the black piece so it would look like it was night time. Some people even made doors, and when the people opened the door, there would be something inside it, like a firefly, people, turtles, hills or writing. After everybody was done with their collages, we all sat down on the carpet and got a picture of the collages.