I was shocked to see no one brought in turkey sandwiches for lunch! I hope everyone had a wonderful break. Thank you to everyone who came to the Thanksgiving Luncheon and Art Show. It was great to see you all there with your child.

This morning I switched out our books from Thanksgiving books to Winter books. In December, we'll learn all about different holidays celebrated during this month. If you and your family have a tradition in your home for a holiday, please let me know! We'd love to have you come in and teach us about your tradition. Your tradition can be anything from celebrating Hanukkah to my family's simple tradition - hiding a pickle ornament on the tree. Another tradition in my family is making cookies together. If you and your family do this during the holidays, please feel free to come in and make cookies with us! ;) We have a very diverse class and would love for our class to not only get to know one another better, but also learn about their classmates' culture.

This morning we worked on a journal page. I read If you Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff. We then talked about where we'd take a mouse if we had one of our own. The children had wonderful stories to tell! Some of them would take their mouse to school, while others would treat them to an ice cream stop or a shopping spree.

Please remember to change out your child's spare clothes if you haven't already done so. Many children have tank tops and shorts for their spare clothes still.

*A couple of students came in without a sheet or blanket today. No worries! They used extra sheets, so I'll continue with those sheets through the week. However, do send in their blankets tomorrow. I know it is hard to remember things after a long weekend!! :)

Happy Friday everyone! It sure is amazing how happy the sun shining makes the children. We started this morning off with our morning meeting and Anna Grace's show and share. We then enjoyed an early fruit break and headed to Spanish class. Afterwards, we made some turkeys out of our hands. We'll hang them in our room until Tuesday, and I'll send them home then. 

Sleep items will not be sent home today. I'll send them home on Tuesday as well.

Also on Tuesday, November 24th, our class along with many others we will have a Special Reading Day. We will spend extra time reading and enjoying books on this day. We would like for this to be a cozy day so please send your child in their favorite pajamas (we WILL still play outside!). They will have special time throughout the day where they can get their blanket from rest time and snuggle up with a book. We will also have books read to us by older elementary students. Half day students are encouraged to bring in a small baby blanket or towel to snuggle up with, however, full day students already have blankets here and will use those. Let me know if you have any questions!

Please refer to my previous posts about the Thanksgiving Luncheon and Art Show. It is coming up next Wednesday! :)

Please be sure to check out Quick Notes for this week. Information about the Barnes and Noble book fair is provided. Vouchers for Barnes and Noble purchases are attached. Be sure to tell your friends and family about the vouchers; using them will help raise money for our school. Thanks! :)

Have a great weekend and I'll see you all next week. :)

Thursday

This week has really flown by! We've been working hard on our art projects for the art show next week. We'll be completely finished tomorrow. I hope you've all marked our Thanksgiving Luncheon and Art Show on your calendars. It is next Wednesday, the 25th. Bring your child to school like always, and we'll eat our Friendship Mix that we're making on Monday for Fruit Break, followed by our walk over to the Hollins campus. We'll start walking over at 11:00am. The children's art work will be on display from 11-1pm. Lunch is from 12-1pm. Dismissal is at 1:00pm FROM THE HOLLINS CAMPUS. Each of our early learner families is asked to bring in one main dish and one side dish to feed 10-12 hungry people. In addition, Community School is asking for your help with a food drive for the food bank in Roanoke. We are requesting that each family bring in 2 non-perishable items for this food drive collection. Thank you for your help and support!

Items needed for Friendship Mix must be brought in by Monday, November 23rd. We're making it Monday morning and eating it on Wednesday. Your child does not need to bring their bag, folder, or lunch box on Wednesday, Nov. 25th.


Items needed:
Charlie - 1 cup of raisins
Tallulah - 2 cups of goldfish crackers (or something similar)
Ashlynn T. - 2 cups of pretzels
Ashlynn C. - 1 cup of Craisins (or another dried cranberry)
Anna Grace - 1 cup of chocolate chips
Jahanvi - 2 cups of chex cereal
Alessandra - 1 cup of dried apples
Andy - 1 cup of pistachios

Please let me know as soon as possible if you're unable to bring in your child's item for the Friendship Mix.

Thanks for all you do!!

Friday

We had Spanish class this morning after fruit break. We then worked on our art projects for the Thanksgiving Luncheon and Art Show. Some of the children began painting today. We continued this work until time for recess. After recess we had a picnic lunch with Ruth Ann's class. A few of our friends ate with their buddies from Betsy's class instead.

Community School is hosting a Spanish Festival on Tuesday, December 1st (wow - we're already talking about December?!?). During this festival, parents are absolutely welcome to join us and learn with us about 12 different Spanish-speaking countries. Parents are also welcome to stay for lunch - El Rodeo is on the menu for this day! The lunch is 2 tacos, rice, chips, and salsa for $5.00 each. What a steal! Your child will still need a fruit break and a drink for lunch. Forms for the lunch are being sent home today and Monday for half-day students. Please return your lunch form and money to me no later than Wednesday, Nov. 25th. Checks can be made payable to Community School, and cash is always accepted. Please let me know if you have any questions. :) Gracias!

Scholastic books were finally delivered today! If you made an order, your child's books are in their bag. The checks will be mailed off this weekend, so make sure you've recorded the amount in your check register - let me know if you can't remember the amount and I can look it up for you.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you all on Monday!

Wednesday

This morning we had just enough time to do our morning meeting and Tallulah's show and share before Lynn came in to read to us. Tallulah brought in a classic Winnie The Pooh book by A.A. Milne and I read part of the first chapter to them. They seemed to be captivated with it even though it didn't have pictures! Lynn then came in for Autumn who is still quite ill. Lynn is a teaching assistant here at CS and also works in the After School Program. Lynn read Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss and Where Once There Was A Wood by Denise Fleming. Afterwards we had fruit break and were off to our joint Early Learners music class with Kim. The children got to sing the pizza song and the germ song to a few visitors here for our Open House. After music, we had time for science. We explored different things with magnets, sand, and rice. The children seem to get really engaged in our science time. We had lunch and quiet rest as usual. Today was pizza day so some children may not have eaten everything in their lunchbox.

Our annual all-school Thanksgiving Luncheon will soon be here. It is held at Hollin's College where we have an art show from 11:00-1:00 and lunch from noon-1:00 on Wednesday, November 25th. *PLEASE let me know ahead of time if you know your child/your family will not be able to attend. I will walk the children over to Hollins in the morning. Knowing not to expect someone will be very helpful!* The children's art work is displayed on the second floor of the Moody Center and we eat on the first floor. Early Learner families are asked to bring 1 entree and 1 side dish to feed 10-12 hungry people and 2 nonperishable food items for the Salvation Army food drive. We dismiss from the Moody Center at Hollins at 1:00. Check out the flyer here for more information! PLEASE let me know if you can't prepare/bring food for the luncheon and/or food drive. I will help you any way I can. This is a spectacular, traditional event at Community School and an especially proud day for your child. We really want each family to be able to attend if possible!

Reminder - As the cooler weather creeps in, consider switching out your child's spare change of clothes. Many of them have more Summer appropriate clothing as a backup. You can simply send in a long pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt with your child and I'll switch them out for you.

Tuesday

I wish I had more to tell you, but I haven't really seen the children much today! We did start our morning off with Anna Grace's show and share. She brought in a stuffed animal that sings a song in Russian. The children loved making it sing and dancing with it! We then read a few pages from Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig. We're going to read a few pages out of it a day and do an activity with it when we're finished. We then had fruit break followed by recess. We then were off to drama, spanish, and music class. The children seem to really be enjoying their enrichment classes.

Tomorrow begins the first day of our Fall Open House. For those of you who may not be sure of what Open House is, it is a time for prospective families come to our school for a more personal tour. They will pop into our room to get a feel for how our day and schedule flow.

Thanks so much to Tallulah's family and Anna Grace's family for sending in spoons!!! We greatly appreciate it.

I hope to send out another F.Y.I. soon to give everyone more details about the Thanksgiving Luncheon this month along with other topics of interest pertaining to our classroom. Be on the lookout!

Wednesday

I guess they all missed their friends yesterday, because the children came in this morning roaring and ready to go!  We had our morning meeting followed by Jahanvi's show and share. She brought in a Disney Princess book with twelve princess stories inside. The children had magic in their eyes as I read the story of Aladdin. Soon thereafter, Pattie came in to read to us. Autumn has been quite ill for a few weeks and Pattie has been her substitute. Pattie read Thanksgiving Mice! by Bethany Roberts and Doug Cushman, Clifford's First Autumn, by Norman Bridwell, and Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories. After being an awesome audience for Pattie, we washed up for fruit break, followed by our Fruit Break Recess.

Our class went to Music with Kim along with Tulie's and Ruth Ann's classes for our Early Learner Music class. They learned a song about germs, be sure to ask your child to sing it to you! When arriving back at the room, I had a new activity the children have never done before. To strengthen their fine motor muscles and control, I had  play rocks (much like ones you find in beta fish bowls), an ice tray, and tweezers (a kid-friendly kind) sat up at the tables. The children were to fill up their ice trays with the rocks using only the tweezers - no fingers allowed. They all did awesome! We'll continue to do things like this when we have extra time between activities. We then scooted out for recess followed by Lunch-A-Month. Today's LAM was a hotdog, chips, jello, and lemonade. Several children decided to take their chips home and eat something out of their lunchbox instead. We had a wonderful, peaceful afternoon.


REMINDER:

• Conferences tomorrow, November 5th:
• 3:30 pm - ANDY W.
• 4:00 pm - TALLULAH W.
• 5:30 pm - ASHLYNN T.

See you all tomorrow!

Monday

We've had an awesome past couple of school days! Friday was full of excitement as the children got dressed in their Halloween costumes. Thanks again to Rita Patel for coming in to help us get dressed. We then marched outside and gathered for our Halloween Parade. Our class, along with all of the other elementary classes, had a parade around campus to show off our awesome costumes. After the parade and a couple photo shoots (be sure to check out our Halloween Fun album) we gathered back in the room for a special treat from Michi. Michi and the Bolivian students served us apple cider and doughnut holes. We then began our Halloween Party. The children rotated through activities in our room, Tulie's room, and Ruth Ann's room. In our room, we made Halloween cards and iced homemade pumpkin muffins with cinnamon cream cheese icing. Yum! Only one child didn't like the pumpkin muffins, so I guess one out of twenty-six isn't too bad! :) While in Tulie's room, the children played a spooky, yet fun version of musical chairs. Ask your child how they played. In Ruth Ann's room, the children beaded a bracelet with Halloween beads and assembled a jack-o-lantern. After recess we had a picnic in Ruth Ann's and Tulie's rooms.

Good thing we're at the beginning of the month because morning meeting had to be quick today! We went to Emilie's room in middle school for a puppet show on energy this morning. We learned about different types of natural energy and how to preserve it. Emilie's class did an excellent job and had all of the children captivated by their voices and beautiful puppets. We then had fruit break and fruit break recess before heading to Kim's class for Music. Ask your child what instrument they got to play today.

SEE YOU AT CONFERENCES TOMORROW!

Note:

• Please check out the post below to double-check your conference time. Keep in mind that your child should come with you to their conference. Their conference is their time to shine and show you what we have been working on! 
• Our playdough maker for the month of November is Ashlynn C. You can bring it in anytime this week!
• We're in need of plastic spoons!!! We've run out and need more. If you can send some in that would be awesome! Many of our classmates use them with their lunch. We also use them during food activities. Thanks in advance.

Updated Conference Schedule

UPDATED Conference Schedule

TUESDAY, November 3rd, 2009

8:30 am – Ashlynn C.

10:30 am – Jahanvi P.

11:00 am – Alessandra M.

2:00 pm – Charlie B.

2:30 pm – Anna Grace A.

THURSDAY, November 5th, 2009

3:30 pm – Andy W.

4:00 pm – Tallulah W.