I hope all of you are staying dry out there!  We are having some interesting weather this week. While the temperature was beautiful this morning please continue to send all necessary winter items with your child each day. The rest of the week is going to be cold and possibly snowy.  Even if there isn't snow or is extremely cold we still will go outside. With that being said it is imperative that your child has boots and snow pants each day.

This week ends our Jolly Phonics run. This is both exciting and sad.  Your child will be finishing up with their writing homework in the coming week(s). Once they have reached #48 they have completed all of the lists and their notebook can be "retired." :-)  I know that JP was a lot of work on your end as well so I want to take the time to say THANK YOU for all of the TIME and EFFORT you put into it with your child. 

This is the first time Mrs. O'Rourke and I have ever taught JP or Jolly Grammar.  Just like in the beginning of the year we ask again that you be patient with us as we are learning with both you and your child. We do know that JG will be review of sounds and spelling patterns that we have already introduced, students will have a spelling list each week and we are looking at the possibility of making another sound book for the digraphs and blends. Again, more details will be coming home as we continue to work through it all. 

Math- We are cruising right through Unit 5.  The kiddos have done an awesome job of catching onto addition facts, place value and greater than/less than.  We will continue with these skills the rest of this week and end with our Unit 5 test on Monday.  Any extra work you can do at home with simple addition facts will help out as well as continuing to count money with your son/daughter.  

Science- This week we started our new Science Kit, Balls and Ramps.  This is my favorite Science unit to teach and I believe it is the favorite of all students. So far we have made a list of different kinds of balls, wrote about our favorite, discussed and investigated movement of balls and compared different sets of balls.  The kiddos are doing great at using our vocabulary words and working cooperatively with groups or partners.

Live Healthy Iowa (LHI)- Yesterday was the kick-off of LHI!  I will be keeping track of the minutes my students are physically active here at school as well as the amount of fruits each student eats here at school. I will continue to send home a half sheet of paper each night (hopefully I remember) and I need you and/or your son/daughter to record the amount of MINUTES they were physically active at home as well as how many SERVINGS of fruits they ate at home both for breakfast and supper/dinner. I will only send one sheet home on Friday. If you could use that sheet for the entire weekend I would appreciate it. You can total up all fruits and minutes for the whole weekend or separate them by day. Whatever works best for you. It is very importance for your child to bring this half sheet back to school each day to record on their tracking sheet in the classroom. If you have any questions please let me know. 

Tomorrow is Day 100! Hard to believe we have been here for 100 days!  We will be spending the day celebrating with Mrs. O'Rourke's class. Thank you for contributing to the supplies needed. Don't forget to send 100 pieces of a food/snack with your child to add to our 1st Grade Trail Mix.

Quiet Critters- I am sure many of you have heard talk about this quiet critter business!  A few classrooms are using these critters to help students stay on task and quiet.  The students have come to love these little guys!  We use them during our Literacy Centers work time and SSR time. Students get to keep this critter at their desk while working quietly. If they are off task or talking their critter gets put away. At the end of each time frame if you still have your critter you get a ticket. Upon receiving a ticket you get to pick a coupon for your reward. The most popular rewards so far has been being able to bring a stuffed animal to school. :-)

~Ms. Stumpf