The Final Countdown to Christmas Begins

• The children did such a wonderful job at the concert today! I was very impressed. Thank you to all the families who helped support the costume effort. Everyone sounded and looked terrific.
• We are down to our final 5 school days of 2012! We will still be working hard right up until Thursday, but Friday we will leave lots of room for fun with our Gift Exchange, a movie, treats and an afternoon skate.
• Permission Slips for the skate will be sent home at the first of the week. All students must wear a helmet.
• We will have our 2nd Class Spelling Bee this week and a big review test of our words.
• We have done so well with 2 digit addition we are moving up to the 3 digit problems this week. I see a HUGE improvement in the student's math facts since interview time. - Thank you for the support at home.
• I would strongly suggest to keep reading and practicing facts whenever you get a chance over the holidays. Two weeks is a long break and with such great gains lately, I would love to see the student's maintain their current skill levels.
• Happy 8th Birthday to Jeanna! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas to you all and
a Very Happy New Year!

Concert Week

• I hear that the Wizard of Oz Play was outstanding! Unfortunately I was at a Math Inservice and didn't get a chance to see it.
• This is Concert Week, so we would like everyone to start to take in any part of their costumes that they would not be just wearing to school on that day. It would be ideal to have everything at school by Wednesday.
• The concert begins at 1:00pm pm Friday.
• We have been working very hard on our Christmas Magazine - "Cocoa" and it hopefully will be ready to go to press next Weekend.
• A lot of our extra time spent on Mental Math strategies and place value seems to be paying off as we started 2 digit addition this past week and everyone is doing AWESOME!!!
• We picked names this past week for our Class Gift Exchange so if your child has not told you who they have- please ask them. It would be great to have all gifts to the school by next Monday, Dec.17th. (Just to make sure everyone has a gift to open on the last day of classes.)
• I believe that the plan is for the school to go skating on the Dec.21st. No time has been set, but if you are free we would love to have you join us.

Decemberrrrrrrrrrrrrrr has Arrived!

• Monday is Drink order day for the month of December as well as for the Food Orders for the Week.
• I am very excited to share that when the children go to the Wizard of Oz on Friday there will be no charge to parents for the play. The cost is being covered by the school and the Home and School Committee. We will be stopping at a restaurant for lunch so that will be the only cost to families or students can take a packed lunch. Food Order forms and permission slips will be sent home at the first of the week.
• Thank you for returning the Dental Forms so quickly everyone. Our class is scheduled for their follow-up appointments on Tuesday afternoon.
• We will be picking names for Christmas on Monday. If you do not wish to participate please let me know and gifts are set at a $5.00 limit. ( I can't believe there are only 15 school days left!)
• Happy Birthday to Darra this Week!! We hope that your day is very Special.