Past, Present, Future

Dear Families:
What a crazy month of January we had. Hopefully Feb. will be a little calmer with more routine! I have broken up this blog post into three sections: past, present, and future.

Past

We had a great time at the end of January attending our first play and field trip at the Lied Center. The play was an amazing puppet adaption of three books by the author Leo Leoni. The kids loved the show - however, I am pretty sure the bus ride was the highlight of their day!
We also celebrated Kansas Day at the end of January. Students learned all about the state symbols, where Kansas is located in the United States, and the animals that are indigenous to our state.
At the beginning of Feb. we finally were able to celebrate the 100th day of school! We had a lot of fun making headbands, counting math manipulatives to 100, making and eating our 100 stew, and collecting 100 stickers.

Present

Currently the Book Fair is going on at Langston Hughes. I took the class the library today to preview the book fair and make their wish lists. These should be in the back packs tonight. You still have one more day to make it to the book fair! Don't forget about the pancake feed tomorrow night. This is a great way to socialize, support the PTO, and buy some great books at the fair!
Friendship Week is also taking place this Tuesday through next Monday. A pink flier went home today in the folders about what kids should wear to participate each day.

This week students also began learning about the Daily 5 and how this helps them learn to read. We began practicing "Read to Self" where students are expected to sit in one spot, and "read" for an extended period of time. We began workiing on this Monday and have built our reading stamina up to 3 minutes today! The other four parts of Daily 5 include: Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work.

Future

Our Valentines party is coming up next Monday. If children would like to bring Valentines cards for their classmates they may begin doing so this Thursday. We will make bags for students to collect their cards in Wednesday. Don't worry about students writing their friends names on each card, just have them write their own name so we know who the card comes from. This also saves us from having to find each students bag! We are very much looking forward to the party!

Read Across America Week! This is coming up February 28 - March 4. We are planning some fun activities to promote reading. We are asking for volunteers to come in and read each day to the class. This won't take long (10-15 minutes max). This would be a great opportunity for moms and dads who don't often get a chance to visit the classroom. Pick a book that you loved as a child or one that you like to share with your child at home. Let me know if you are interested and I will put you on the calendar!