Merry Christmas!

We had a great time at our Christmas party!  Thanks to all of our parent volunteers for your help.  We had a busy morning listening to The Polar Express, receiving our bell necklaces and enjoying some fun Christmas art activities.  We also made adorable ( and delicious) reindeer cookies.  In the afternoon we listened to some Christmas music, made ornaments, got holiday tatoos (!) and ate some yummy food.  The students also took home stockings filled with other goodies and a gift from their teachers.  Remember to save some of your Christmas cash for the Scholastic Bookfair that will be at the school in January!  Have a safe and happy holiday break ....we will see you on Monday, January 5th.

Thanks to everyone for sending their party money in to school.  We have shopped for lots of goodies to make our party fun.  Remember to have your child read and log a book nightly and study their vocabulary words.  This week we will be working on the long a sound in skills block along with final consonant blends.  Today some of the students played a Christmas tic tac toe game with their vocabulary words during center time.  We also have enjoyed "singing" our sight words to the tune of Jingle Bells.  It really gets the students focused and is a fun way to practice these words.  See if they can lay out their word cards at home and sing to you!

Santa's Elves!

Santa's elves have been visiting room 3 for two weeks now.  They seem to be watching us and catching students who are being hard workers and good citizens!  They leave notes and candy on the student's desks for them to find when they come into the classroom.

Jacksonville Zoo

Well, we were very sad today that our field trip to the zoo was cancelled due to the weather conditions.  However, we went on a "virtual" zoo trip in the classroom!  We visited the Jacksonville Zoo website and National Geographic Kids (both websites below on links) .  We watched videos of all of the animals that we are writing our reports on in Writer's Workshop.  Then we went to the Destination Success website and read a story on penguins and puffins.  It fit in perfectly with our reading strategy for this week which was comparing and contrasting.  We also ate lunch in the classroom and after our Math Workshop we made Christmas wreaths.

Just Some Reminders!

Sorry about the delay in getting out the December newsletter!  It should go home tomorrow.  Friday is Spirit Day...remember to wear your red and white.  If you are not busy Friday morning, please join us in the courtyard for our school wide flag salute at 8:35.  The second grade classes will be performing.  Please send in your child's Christmas party money as soon as possible so that we have plenty of time to shop for all of the treats and goodies.  Don't forget that our field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo is next Thursday the 11th.  Label your child's lunch and drink with their name and watch a weather report to dress them appropriately!