Appaloosa's Homework Senseis

Congratulations to the Homework Senseis of the Appaloosas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?  I would love you to share your family traditions or your family plans for Thanksgiving. My family and I spend time with both families and share the day. It's a busy but fun day celebrating the many blessings we are thankful for. We have many American traditions with my family, and we celebrate Mexican traditions with my husband's family. Happy Thanksgiving!!! Enjoy the break and time with family and friends.

Homework Senseis

Congratulations to our first week of Homework Sensais for the Clydesdales. These students turned in their homework on time all week. Keep up the good work!

Early Dismissal Wednesday at 1:20

Sorry for the wrong time! Our dismissal is at 1:20 pm on Wednesday.
If you have $2 for skating money please send that in as soon as you can. Also, Mrs. Etnyre is looking for volunteers to come in and help assist putting on skates and tie laces. If you can volunteer please let us know. The time would be 12:05-1:05 Tuesday-Friday. Thanks so much!
Please try to do Xtra Math at least once over the Thanksgiving break. Thank you so much!
Mrs. Montes

Student of the Week Clydesdales

Congratulations!

Happy Friday

Student of the Week
Congratulations to HM3 and DS5 for being the first students of the week. These students show great character every day. They are excellent role models for the class, and they work hard with their best effort! Keep up the good work!

Next week is a short week. We dismiss on Wednesday at 1:20 pm for the Thanksgiving holiday.  We will be talking about WHO we spend Thanksgiving with, WHERE we spend Thanksgiving, WHAT we eat on Thanksgiving, and other Thanksgiving things. Please discuss this with your child over the weekend so when we create our feast to share with our families it will be accurate. Thanks!!! I can't wait for you to see them. We will not have any spelling or vocabulary tests in English. Enjoy the break and special time with your family and friends.
We are learning about nouns and verbs this week. We will continue this next week and add adjectives. We are working hard to notice make juicy sentences with details! We are also trying to improve our handwriting and capital letters where they should be in a sentence. We learned Proper Nouns get a capital letter!!!!
There's so much to be thankful for this time of the year and always. I'm thankful to spend my days with your children. Have a great weekend.
Mrs. Montes

Six Flags Great America Read to Succeed

Read to Succeed!!!

For the month of February we are participating in Six Flag’s Read to Succeed Program. We challenge each child to read 30 minutes a day ~every day to earn this free ticket. Each child who reads 6 hours or 360 minutes by March 1 will receive a FREE Six Flags Great America ticket. These minutes will also be transferred to our Book It Club. You do not have to read double, but please record the minutes on Book It each month and on Six Flags. Please keep this sheet and fill out the minutes read each night until you have 6 hours or February 10 they are due. You will get the ticket in May before school gets out. Remember, participating in Book-It and Read to Succeed are optional, but reading is NOT optional, it's expected! Thanks for reading, and good luck!!!  Mrs. Montes & Ms. Salas

Young Author's Booklets

Young Authors Book  

The Young Authors time of year has come yet again. This is an opportunity for your child to create his/her own story and get it published. If you choose to do this project, you will be given the opportunity to purchase your child’s hard covered book and the original one will be put in Olson’s library for all of the students to read. This is an optional activity; it is a large commitment for both you and your child. This project needs to be completed at home. Before returning the book, please make sure everything is filled out and ready to be published as is when returned. Your child will need help brainstorming ideas and editing his/ her work. Keep in mind it should be your child’s main ideas and work with some guidance. I have ordered enough book kits for each student so please discuss this project with your child and then return the slip below to get your book pages. The winter break will provide the perfect opportunity for your child to work on this project. If you decide you would like to participate in the Young Authors program, please MAKE A COMMENT FOR THIS POST TO TELL ME. Then, I will send your child’s Young Author’s packet home which has specific directions for you to follow. All books need to be written, illustrated, and returned to school by Monday, January 16^,  2012.  I hope to see many of the students in our class participate! Please remember if you commit to the project now, it will need to be completed and returned in January.   – Mrs. Montes

Updates

Thank you to those of you who have donated and participated in Operation Christmas Child. We have only a few things so far. Remember, this is an optional giving opportunity for collecting shoebox items to give to children around the world. Optional giving items are: toothbrush, toothpaste, crayons, coloring books, pencils, small action figures, bouncy balls, small balls, stamps, markers, yo-yos, small cars or dolls, etc. The boxes will be collected on Friday and set off over the weekend so please send in your items by Friday morning. Thanks for participating.
Our room has not had a functional heater for a few days now. They are still trying to fix it. It almost feels like the air conditioner is blowing. Please send your children dressed for 40 degree weather for the playground with hats and gloves. Please keep a sweater or sweatshirt in the locker for the classroom when it is chilly. Thank you.
Thank you so much to the volunteers that continually come into our classroom. I really could not do it without you. Thank you for your time and commitment to our classroom. I appreciate it more than you can imagine. I know how precious your time is, and we are so blessed that you give it to us!
I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving already. It snuck up on me. I'm trying to get my family healthy so we can enjoy the holidays. Of course siblings share, so my youngest son caught the fever bug over the weekend. I apologize for missing Monday, but I was home with him.
Have a great week.
Mrs. Montes

Operation Christmas Child

Dear Parents,

Your child has a unique opportunity to participate in a worldwide global service project.  It is called Operation Christmas Child.  What is so awesome about this project is that it’s kids helping kids!  I would like to invite you and your child to bring the joy of Christmas to a needy child this year by demonstrating love, hope, and joy through a gift filled shoe box.  Each year caring individuals, families, businesses, organizations, and schools fill shoe boxes with toys, school supplies, and other items and send them to collection centers.  From the collection centers, the boxes are delivered to millions of children worldwide affected by war, poverty, disease, and disaster.

This past year more than 9.4 million shoe boxes were collected in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and delivered to children in over 100 countries.  The 5.4 million shoe boxes collected in 2002, if stacked one on top of another would be more than 56 times taller than Mt. Everest.  An estimated 329,000 rolls of wrapping paper, or about 10.5 million square feet, were used to wrap shoe box gifts last year.  That’s enough to cover 219 football fields!!  Every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan has packed a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child.

Here’s how it works:

1. Our class has set a classroom goal of packing 2 gift filled shoe boxes, one for a girl and one for a boy the same age as us.
2. We carefully consider using our allowance money or money we have saved to help other kids who really need our help. (My children use 10% of their allowance money to create a shoebox for a child)
3. We bring appropriate items to school to pack in our shoe box (please see list)
4. We pack our box and send it to the collection site to be inspected and sent to a child in another country.
5. We feel AWESOME about ourselves, because we shared love, hope, and joy with a child who needed it!!

This is a totally voluntary project designed to raise the self-esteem of children.  When kids feel that they can make a difference in their world, the possibilities are endless.  What a great way to talk about and find out about people, their customs, geography,etc.  What is life like for a child in that country?  What would it be like to live in a war torn country? 

I ask you to carefully consider participating in this very worthy cause, and bring Christmas joy to children around the world!  We will be collecting the boxes and delivering them to a drop off center.  All items must be brought to school by Friday Nov. 18^th.

                                                                   Sincerely,

                                     

                                                         

Suggested Gifts

Toys:  small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos, small Etch A Sketch, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries) Slinky, etc.

School Supplies:  pens, pencils and sharpener, crayons or markers, stamps, and ink pad sets, coloring books, chalk, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, etc.

Hygiene items:  toothbrush, toothpaste, bar soap, comb, washcloth, etc.

Other:  hard candy lollipops, mints, gum, sunglasses, flashlights with extra batteries, ball caps, socks, T-shirts, toy jewelry, hair clips, watches, small picture books, etc.

Do Not Include

Used items, toy guns, knives, or other war-related items, chocolate or perishable foods, liquids of any kind (shampoo, lotion bubbles, etc.), medicines of any kind (vitamins, cough drops, etc.), breakable items (china dolls, snow globes, etc.)

                                                          

November 7-10

Sorry for the lonely blog this week! My son has been sick since Thursday and I have been home with him. He still has a high fever and tonight broke out in a rash. We are hoping this fever will break soon. The Dr. did chest X-Rays and a Strep test and all are negative. I am hoping to be back on Wednesday. Thank you for your cooperation and patience with the subs. I hope all has gone well. Please remind your child of appropriate, respectful behavior when there is a sub in the classroom. Parents that come in to help -thank you! Please continue to help in small groups when students are working on their center work. I appreciate your consistency and commitment to our class.
Just a reminder Ms. Salas is eating lunch with the October red ticket winners on Wednesday. :) Congratulations!
No School on Friday to honor our Veteran's. The Veteran's Day Assembly will be Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
Thank you!
Mrs. Montes