Welcome Back! November 26-30

I hope you and your children had a fantastic Thanksgiving break, as I did with my family. We are now rested and ready to finish off 2012 with a bang.

I want to congratulate the students again for a wonderful Second Grade Show. I felt so proud of the students. What an amazing job they did. Thanks to all those involved in helping us paint t-shirts and set up and take down the stage. What a great team effort. Please check out the link on November 16 ebytes for some wonderful pictures: http://ebytes.shorecrest.org/?q=ld-11-16-2012

We are currently collecting gifts for the Holiday Gift Drive. Please wrap and label each gift with the Family number and Child's name. A post it or peel away label on the gift with gift content is helpful. On Friday, December 14, the students will carry the gifts to the gym to be sorted by family. Thanks for your generosity for this family in need.


The Lower Division Holiday Sing Along will take place on Thursday, December 20 at 11:00 for grades K-4 in the Janet Root Theatre.

Our Second Grade International Festival will be held on Wednesday, December 19 after lunch. If you would like to share your culture or help out with planning or assisting on the day, please contact G. White or K. Leary who will be coordinating this event.

Current Event sharing resumes this week. Our presenters this week will be: on Tuesday: Auggie and Jackie; Wednesday: Ainsley, Aidan; Thursday: Victoria, Will; Friday: Isabella

Our Parent Reader this week will be H. Kreps (Nov. 30) and M. Emerson the following Friday (Dec. 7).

Just a reminder that for the health, safety, and security of our students, all arriving parents and visitors will sign in at the Lower Division Office to receive a visitor's pass to wear. If you are prefer meeting your child on campus after school, please meet him/her at the lunch picnic tables.

This week the students will learn to log in on Voice Thread and title slides in their Electronic Portfolio. The Electronic Portfolio is a collection of work in the form of a Voice Thread that the students will share with you in May.

Here is what else is going on in our classroom this week.

Literacy
* Phonics: ch, th, tch, sh
* Spelling: cheese, matchbox, toothbrush, starfish, sketch, sandwich, bathtub, shadow, thankful, crash
* Vocabulary: token, collection, clomping, plaque
* Story of the Week: Jamaica Louise James by Amy Hest
* Reading Workshop: Readers visualize what is going on in their books by making pictures in their minds as they read (characters, action, setting); Readers get their "lost" mental picture by going back and rereading; Readers read fluently with talking voices
* Grammar: Abbreviations
*  Writing Workshop: Personal Narrative writing; Publishing our non-fiction book a-z about Antarctica
* Handwriting: Ll down and bump; Kk karate - down, bump, kick and slide away; capitals and commas

Mathematics: Unit 3 
* Review Unit 3 and assessing progress check
Mathematics: Unit 4 - Addition and Subtraction
* Students will solve change-to-more number stories

Social Studies - Europe
The students will locate Europe and start making a fact file about Europe (the second smallest continent in the world),

Science - Changes - A Dissolving Race - Two Forms of Sugar
The students will compare two forms of the same substance - a sugar cube and granulated sugar and how they dissolve in water. The students will record and discuss their observations.

November 12-16

Wow. What a fantastic job the students did last Thursday reciting the poem, The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt. I was so proud of them. Thanks for coming out and supporting us.

We are all very excited about the upcoming Second Grade Program. The students are so excited and have been working very hard to get ready. They will be rehearsing every morning this week in the Janet Root Theater for the big performance on Friday, November 16th at 8:30am.

Mrs Rowe will need volunteers to help set up the stage tomorrow in the JRT from 9:30-11:30am, if you are available.

Please make sure that your child wears blue denim bottoms (shorts, skirts/skorts or pants) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Their flag shirts are here at school for them to get changed into.

Other reminders:
* Holiday Gift Drive - The Holiday Gift Drive will take place December 3-December 14. A container will be placed near your child's classroom door to collect holiday gifts. On Friday, December 14, the students will carry the gifts to the gym to be sorted by family.
* The Lower Division Sing Along will take place on Thursday, December 20 at 11:00 for grades K-4 in the Janet Root Theatre.
* Thanksgiving Break - Nov. 19-23
* Current Events: Tuesday: Claire, Matthew; Wednesday - Noah, Stella Grace; Thursday - Nicolas, Rose; Friday - Nick and Stella D.

Because we are busy preparing for our show, there are only five new spelling words this week. When the students return from Thanksgiving break, we will be back at ten new spelling words every week. As the year progresses we will build the spelling list up to fifteen words, preparing them for third grade.

We will also be finishing off Unit 3 in math, including reading a graph, making change by counting up and solving multistep problems for amounts under $1.00, and,  making chance using nickels, dimes, and quarters. We will also be reading Thanksgiving stories, including Three Young Pilgrims) and do various activities around the Thanksgiving theme and doing some more science experiments as part of our exploration of solids, liquids and gases.

I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving celebration with your family and friends. It is such a special time to come together and to give thanks. How lucky we are to have so many wonderful things in our lives.

First Grade Service-Learning Project

First Grade Service-Learning Project:

First grade's service-learning project for the SPCA is in full swing. They are collecting items needed for the care of the animals. PLEASE help your child experience “giving” for such a wonderful cause. Below are some of the suggested items needed by the SPCA. The collection bins are in the hallways and need filling! First grade will take all the collections to the SPCA on November 14^th.  Thank you so much to those who have donated so far! You may also go to the "Animals Wish List" at the following link to see what they need.

http://www.spcafl.org/

Donate a Dog or Cat Bed

The Book Fair has kicked off this week. Today the students got the chance to preview books and created a Wish List. The fair is open from Monday (Nov. 5) to Thursday (Nov. 8) if you wish to check it out with your child.

The second graders are excited! This year the four classes are combining their talents for Poetry in the Park, which will take place this Thursday, November 8th at 8:30am. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and joins us for this annual event. The students sound fantastic and you are in for a treat. Boys will dress in black, to represent the spider, and the girls will dress in fun, brightly colored clothing, to represent the fly.

The children are also working hard to get ready for our Second Grade Program. Please continue sending in brown paper grocery bags, clear/white gallon milk water bottles (no yellow) for creating the scenery and stuffed jungle type animals labeled with student names (animals can be brought in the week of the show). You should have received a note about this last week. Mrs. Rowe will need help setting up the stage in the JRT on Tuesday 11/13 from 9:30-11:30am if you are available.

Current Events begins again this week, so please refer to the calendar in your child's Take-Home Folder.

I want to thank all those parents who helped prepare the t-shirts for painting today and/or helped the students paint their show t-shirts today. I took a personal day, but heard that the afternoon was a success. I can't wait to see the students on stage representing countries from all around the world.

This Friday is a Professional Work Day for faculty and no school day for the students.

I wish you a wonderful week - Ms. O'Mullane