Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! As a reminder, THE CHLDREN DO NOT HAVE SCHOOL ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30! It is a Teacher Collaboration Day.
We are in the midst of probably one of the busiest times in our school year – I cringe to think of everything I’d like to accomplish between now and December 18. In this posting, I’ve tried to let you know about the major projects and activities that will be going on in our classroom. We have lots to learn about in relation to F.O.R.T. and FORT COLLINS’ HISTORY! There are several opportunities for you to spend time with our class and help...we’d love to have you!
With this holiday season, if there is any reason you that you would prefer for your child not to participate in an activity, please let me know. I’d be happy to work with you. As always, please feel free to contact me by phone, note, or email if you have any questions or comments.
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FIELD TRIPS PLANNED…PERMISSION SLIPS DUE BY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4!
o Thursday, December 10 – Avery House
We’ll have a guided tour of the Avery House – and learn who Franklin Avery was and how he was an integral part of Fort Collins’ history. The Avery House is a classic Victorian style home that is decorated for the holidays.
o Thursday, 12/17 – City Hall & Austin's American Grill
Our plan is to visit City Hall in the morning. We will meet with one of the Fort Collins' City Council members. In years' past, the children have been able to tour the council chambers, as well as have an opportunity to sit (and speak) from the council bench. It's a rather cool for the children to see where the City Council does their work for our community!
Lunch at Austin's (downtown) will be our Holiday Luncheon in lieu of a party on Friday afternoon. (We’ll still have fun on Friday!) Children are invited to dress their best – we’ll review what it means to use our best manners and basic etiquette for eating in a nice restaurant. More information to come...
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! If you are able to come in to help, please let me know!
o Wednesday, December 2
Tetrahedron Kites (9:10am - 12noon)
We will be making tetrahedron kites in class. They are rather complex (as creating them forces the children to use almost EVERY geometry vocabulary word we've learned!) - and the children LOVE them. If are are able to help at any time during that morning, please let me know. PLEASE HAVE YOUR CHILD PRACTICE TYING TIGHT KNOTS (Just a plain old knot!) AT HOME!
o
Wednesday, December 9
Graham Cracker Community (9:10am - 12noon)
As our summative assessment, we're having the children create a graham cracker community in class. We will address the needs of having residential, rural, recreational, industrial, and commercial areas within our community. We will then 'build' the City of Fort Carey in our classroom!
We are also in need of some materials for the graham cracker houses. If you are able to donate graham crackers, white frosting, or assorted small candies – we would be grateful! Some candy ideas...small candy canes, gum drops, red hots, candy corn, M&M’s, jelly beans, etc...or anything leftover from Halloween!
PLEASE SEND MATERIALS TO SCHOOL BY MONDAY, DECEMBER 7 - Then I'll have time to run out and get anything else we may need. Thank you.
o Wednesday, December 16
Victorian Christmas (ALL DAY!)
We are going to recreate some of the items that will be on display at the Avery House. Our Victorian Christmas will include POMANDER BALLS, CORNUCOPIAS, NUT ORNAMENTS, SOLDIERS & ANGELS.
We are in need of the following supplies:
- small oranges
- lemons
- thin ribbon
- cinnamon
- whole cloves (LOTS!)
- used holiday cards
- wrapping paper scraps
- assorted small candies
- walnuts (IN SHELLS!)
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WE ARE THANKFUL...
...for the GOLDEN PLUNGER! New to our school this year - the Golden Plunger is awarded to the cleanest classroom. When a class carries the Golden Plunger through the school - folks are supposed to stop and salute them.We are proud to say we are the first class to have earned the right to carry it TWO WEEKS IN A ROW! Our City Manager is our line leader and gets to carry the plunger proudly. (We are also thankful that Mrs. Flemister let us spruce up the GP. Creativity runs rampant in our room!)
...for MRS. LAMONT
We are fortunate to have Mrs. Lamont working with our class during our Literacy block. Mrs. Lamont teaches 1st grade in the afternoon. She helps me do small group instruction - so all of our children have direct instructon in reading 1-2 times per day, everyday. We are able to accomplish A LOT with Mrs. Lamont's help. She recently celebrated her birthday. We munched on chips & salsa (Her favorite snack!) and shared a birthday book that we made for her. Talk about HILARIOUS! The kids had some hysterical things to say.
...for MR.KULOVANY & THE THANKSGIVING POTATOES
Mr. Kulovany (aka as 'Uncle Bob' to short members of my family) came to read Big Bob and the Thanksgiving Potatoes to our class. It's a silly little book about some 2nd graders who question their teacher about making turkeys as a class project.
We used the story to help us learn how to do PERSUASIVE writing. I posed the question - 'Should turkeys be eaten for Thanksgiving?' The children were invited to choose 'yes' or 'no'. We also learned the word of the week - MNEUMONIC. Our mneumonic was a hand. Each appendage represented a part of the writing. We learned it this way:
- Take A Stand (State your position)
- Reason 1
- Reason 2
- Reason 3
- Final Plea
It was fascinating to observe the children think through their position. Many of them changed their minds (one way or the other) when talking through their reasons. I had a proud teacher moment. :) We also made our own Thanksgiving potatoes - just to give us a little incentive to do a great job on our writing!
...for EDIBLE TURKEYS
In our quest to learn while having fun - we also made some edible turkeys out of crackers, candy corn, caramels, chocolate kisses, and frosting. We used this project to help us learn to do EXPOSITORY writing (How-To's). The children wrote how-to make an edible turkey. Our mneumonic was a staircase - each step is critical or you fall down!
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS & FAMILIES... Everyday I count my blessings for having such incredible volunteers! This is an extremely busy time of the year – and I am grateful for all of you who have been able to spend some time with us to help us with projects and activities in class!
While I know that it is not possible for all families to volunteer their time (I feel that way with my own son, since I am a teacher and cannot easily leave my classroom to go to his!) – I also appreciate the support many of you give to our class by sending in items needed for our projects! I value your contributions because you help to make it possible for us to have unique experiences that I might not otherwise be able to afford (since we have to multiply everything by 24)! Contrary to popular belief, we have minimal budgets at school ($200 for the entire year!) - and most of the 'extra' materials/resources we need come out of teacher's own pockets.
Every family in our class has really made a difference! Thank you sooooo much for your constant support! I appreciate you!
