Holiday Fun 2015! Have a WONDERFUL break!

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POLAR EXPRESS DAY TOMORROW (Thursday!)

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow DECEMBER 17 is our annual Polar Express Day at Sunflower. Please remember to bring a clean, wrapped mug to GIVE AWAY in our mug exchange and remember that you can wear jammies and bring a pillow and blanket to cuddle up in for a day about this magical holiday story.

Quick Check...

Tuesday: Math MAP test (check) Thursday: Polar Express Day-wear pajamas and bring a pillow or blanket. Friday: Grinch Day-wear green, Grinch activities from 10-11, Holiday party 12:30-1, Grinch Movie 1-1:30, All School Sing-a-long 2:45

Holiday Gift Shop is TOMORROW

Happy Tuesday! Just a reminder that tomorrow Wednesday December 16 is our class's turn to visit the PTO Holiday Gift Shop! An envelope went home last Friday for you to make a shopping list of people to buy for and to enclose your money in so that your first grader has a chance to purchase a gift on their own for someone they love. If you are interested in having your child participate, please be sure to send their money with them tomorrow. Our kids will shop during their specials time in the Library. Be looking for a quick sign-up genius coming your way to help with supplies needed for Thursday's Polar Express Day and Friday's Grinch Day and Class Party. We are cramming lots of work into these first 3 days of the week in order to make way for Holiday fun and memory making toward week's end. Please be sure your child gets plenty of rest during this crazy week before break to keep them healthy and in happy spirits. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help you in any way!

Looking Ahead to NEXT WEEK...

Let the hustle and bustle BEGIN! Next week is FULL of fun, merry making and memories galore. Here is a quick list with more information coming home in Friday folders tomorrow about all of the pre-holiday festivities: Tuesday December 15th: MAPS Math Test Thursday December 17th: All-School POLAR EXPRESS DAY! The children are invited to wear their jammies to school and bring a mug to exchange at our mug trade. There will be crafts, hot chocolate bar, movie and FUN. Thursday December 17th: Holiday Gift Shop! The children will have an opportunity to shop for items ranging from $1-$7 for family members for the holidays. Envelopes will be coming home in this week's Friday folders for their money and shopping list to be completed beforehand. Friday December 18th: GRINCH DAY! First graders are invited to dress in green. We will have all first grade classrooms open from 10-11 for various "Grinchy" activities and crafts. Holiday party is from 12:30-1 and we will be watching the Grinch cartoon from 1-1:30. Finally, our traditional all-school sing-a-long will be held at 2;45 in the commons for any and all who wish to join us. Please be sure to look through your child's backpack on Friday and find all of the information for next week's activities. It is such a WONDERFUL time to be a first grader!

We are learning GREATER than and LESS than...Check this out!

Tune in Tuesday...

Hi families! I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy as we are on the countdown to Winter Break with SO much happening in the next 8 days...I have had trouble with uploading new posts to the blog, so I apologize for the delay in updates...Hopefully, the glitch is fixed and we are back on track. There is SO much happening...Let me start with the exciting stuff: We have begun our economics unit and the kids are working hard to earn "money" by completing tasks and expectations at their job as a student. Your first grader may have wanted to be "early" for school (which translates ON TIME!) so that they can get paid. Our kids are earning (and saving) up their "money" this week for a special Movie Theater activity we will be having in class on Friday. Your child will be saving up this week to purchase their "ticket" to the movie, snacks, drinks, among other choices to make their experience fun! This is a wonderful lesson in economics because the kids will be required to make decisions based on the amount of money their have. They will not be able to afford all of the options available to them, so they will need to make decisions based on their wants and their budget. The kids also know that they will be "charged" for certain choices too and have to "pay" for not-so-good choices (example: incomplete work, no homework turned in, not following the directions, etc.) Please talk to your child about what they have done to earn money and encourage them to share if they have lost any of their money, as well. The kids are very excited about this and are working hard to earn lots of money to spend on their Fun Friday. It is assessment week this week! We are spending lots of time testing and showing off our first grade knowledge this week. That being said, this THURSDAY our kids will be taking their winter MAPS test. We will begin the test at 8:30 and it is very important that the kids are here on time. Also, please be sure your child is going to bed at a reasonable time and fuel their bodies with a good breakfast in the morning so that they are ready to rock their test on Thursday! Looking ahead: Next week is our last week together before Winter Break and it is a BUSY one! Our all-school Polar Express Day is Thursday the 17th and Grinch Day is Friday the 18th, along with our traditional all-school sing-a-long. There will be more to come on these two fun-filled, memory-making days but I wanted to give you a heads up! Please be sure you are finding time to read with your child each night, amidst all of the busyness of the season. It is so important for their continued growth as a reader to have the exposure to text each day! Also, we are working hard at learning our doubles facts in math. Please help your child deepen their automaticity with the doubles facts by practicing daily! Thank you so much for your support. Enjoy this beautiful after together!

We are working hard to memorize our DOUBLE facts! This will help at home!