Click HERE to see the full schedule for the Fun Fair tomorrow. Please come support the school!  

We learned a lot about Abraham Lincoln after his visit.  You'll see our Abraham Lincoln's in the classroom next time you visit.  One of the things we learned about Lincoln was that he used his hat to hide notes that he did not want to forget.  We wrote some things about Lincoln that we did not want to forget and tucked it in his hat.  Pictures to follow!

It was great seeing all of you last week for conferences.  I enjoyed the opportunity to share your child's work with you and answer questions about your child's daily life at school.  Please do not hesitate to follow up on our conversations if you have lingering questions.

I can't wait to see you all at the Fun Fair this Saturday!  Be sure to buy those tickets after school tomorrow to save yourself some time in line!  Also-don't forget to send in those quarters from the couch cushions so your child can vote for the Pie in the Face competition!  Finally, it's not too late to contribute to the Dancin' for Desserts!  This is an easy one!  You can buy an item and drop it off!

We had a special visitor on Tuesday!  Mr. Abraham Lincoln came and told us about his life.  He taught us a lot and I think he was impressed by how much we already knew.  Thanks, PTO for funding this great event for all of Kindergarten and First Grade!

Reading:  We are focusing on main idea and details this week. We read a Rosa Parks book and watched a video of this brave woman.  We will continue to work on visualizing while we read.

Math:  During math we are working on writing number sentences and on comparing two numbers.  As you can see from the homework we are also working on writing our numbers.

Science:  We continue to look at water and we will learn how water moves in waves and in plants!

100s Day

Thanks to all the parents who came in to help with our 100 celebration.  Due to the snow days, our actual 100th day of school is next Tuesday.  We will do a few things to extend our celebration of the number 100! Pictures and Video coming soon.

Reading:  We finished up our Mo Willems author study with some opinion writing about our favorite book.  The students did and excellent job giving reasons why their favorite book was the best.  You will see these at conferences.

Writing:  In addition to doing our opinion writing and some narrative writing during our Writers Workshop time, we have been focusing on adding details to our stories.  Do you remember when we had our curriculum night and I said our writing stamina was six minutes?  Can you believe we are up to 22 minutes of writing??

Math:  Obviously our focus this week was on the number 100.  We also started a new daily calendar and we will explore concepts such as making 10, odd and even, subtraction and describing the attributes of shapes.

Science:  Finally!  We have caught up with assessments and can finally begin our study of water.  We will learn about the properties of water, how water is attracted to water, how water moves and the states of water (solid, liquid, gas.)

Dates to Remember:
PLEASE CHECK THE LINK FOR YOUR CONFERENCE TIME.

Feb. 12 and 13:  Half days for Parent Teacher Conferences
Feb. 16:  No school Presidents Day
Feb. 18:  Silent Auction Online Portion begins at 6:00 pm.  There will be a link on the PTO site.  Some parties go fast!
Feb. 20:  10:00 pm  Online Silent Auction closes.
Feb. 21:  Fun Fair  (See Glossary of Fun Fair definitions.)

Fun Fair Glossary of Definitions

Is this your First Fun Fair?  If it is, you may be confused about all the different emails and flyers that are coming home and will be coming home.  Here is a crash course in our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Silent Auction-- There are two parts to this.  

Teacher and Parent Parties

These are parties or events hosted by teachers and parents.  There is usually a "flat fee" for participating.  The spots can fill up fast, so be sure to check out the online portion right away at 6:00 on February 18th.  There are a lot of great events.  Together with the Kindergarten teachers, I am hosting a games and giggles and pizza party.  It should be lots of fun!  With a few other grade levels I am hosting a movie party and I'll also be doing a "Dancing with the Stars" with my talent show team.  It would be great to see lots of my students at these events. 

Teacher events

These are separate from the parties.  This is usually an individual teacher with just one or two students.  These are bid on at the silent auction.  The winner is the highest bidder.  For this one I will be walking with a student to Pete's for lunch.  Yum.

Fun Fair---There's lots going on this day, too!

Tickets

You pay for almost everything with tickets.  There are advance ticket sales the week before the Fun Fair after school.  You can also get them at the door.  The more you buy, the more you do.  

Carnival Games

These are in the gym.  Each game usually costs one or two tickets.  This is great especially for the younger kids.

Cake Walk

This is the traditional cake walk game.  Music is played.  When it stops they call a number.  If you are on that number you get to pick a cake. PLEASE CONSIDER MAKING COOKIES, CAKES, CUPCAKES, ETC FOR THE CAKE WALK!

Staff Talent Show

This is the highlight of the Fun Fair for lots of people.  Many teachers participate in this fun (humiliating) event.  This is at the end of the Fun Fair.  It is loud and crowded and lots of fun.  It is in the auditorium.  Yes.  I'm in the talent show.  I dance (poorly) with Ms. Collins, Ms. Noonan, Mrs. Solomon,  Ms. Kekatos and Mrs. Sak.  We're kind of a big deal.  :)

Silent Auction

There are many items and events in the auction.  Our community is very generous.  This is also where the class baskets are.  Ours is sure to be a big hit!

Pie in the Face

Groups of teachers are on teams.  Your child decides which team gets a PIE IN THE FACE!!!  Kids bring in pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars...you get the idea!  The team who raises the most money gets the pie...in the face!  I'm on Team Pie Schmie.  The winner of the Pie in the Face contest is announced at the end of the Fun Fair after the Talent Show.

How awesome is our school???!!!!