Ms. Hartshorn’s Classroom News

December 20, 2007

Dear Families,

Here’s the last classroom newsletter edition for 2008! We’ve been busy making gingerbread people in math—a fun project with lots of math involved. Thanks to the help of Mrs. Pam Kathan, school secretary, and Mrs. Elyse Long, nurse’s assistant, we were able to make our own gingerbread cookies. While children took turn cutting out cookies with the adult helpers, other children were figuring out how much it would "cost" to decorate their gingerbread cookies. Pretend prices for red hots, gum drops, chocolate chips and frosting were part of a cost estimate sheet each child needed to figure out after making a decorating plan. Tomorrow, we will actually decorate our cookies and fill out an "actual" cost sheet. What fun! But the best part of all, will most likely be EATING the cookies. One child asked, "Do we really have to pay to decorate our cookies?" Of course not, but it was a way to incorporate math into baking beyond the measuring of ingredients.

We visited Mrs. Jamie Wimble at the Town Clerk’s office this week. She taught us many things about the job of a Town Clerk and Town Treasurer. Did you know that we found many of our own birth certificates in the vault? We also read a few marriage licenses, and saw that someone we know is a Justice of the Peace, and married some of the parents in town. Hmmmm-I wonder who that would be. We learned that the Town Clerk’s office is responsible for holding fair, open and honest elections and letting everyone know about upcoming elections and the results of them. The Town Clerk’s office also keeps many records and has many permission slips for townspeople to fill out if they want to do some things, like build a house or an addition onto their house. The Town Clerk’s office is where the town’s Select Board and Planning Commission meet also. They help make up rules for the town. Many thanks to Mrs. Wimble for inviting us and providing us with so much information. We also got to see Mr. Nelson plowing our sidewalks while we walked to the Town Clerk’s office. He stopped to talk with us for a while, and that was fun, too.

Thank you very much for all of the food donations for the local food shelf. We will happily deliver the generous amount of food to the church next door tomorrow. Mrs. Ella Maynard said she would make sure the food is delivered to the local food shelf in Waitsfield that serves all of the Mad River Valley. THANK YOU!

Please mark your calendars that every Friday beginning right after vacation, January 4^th we will be cross-country skiing or snowshoeing in the afternoons from 1:35 until the end of the day. Your child will need to come to school prepared for this. We have no extra clothing for your child to wear if he or she forgets snowpants, hats, mittens, etc. Your child should bring an extra pair of warm socks on Fridays also. There may not be a newsletter the week we come back from vacation, so please take some time to mark Fridays on your calendar now to remind you to send appropriate ski wear to school with your child. Thank you~ We are still looking for parent help with skiing. If you’re available, we’d love to have you. You do NOT need to know how to ski to help. We have ski equipment and snowshoe equipment for adults if you wish. It’s a great time outside with kids.

When we arrive back to school in January, we will be welcoming a new first grade student to our classroom. Her name is Grace and she visited us for a short while one morning this week. She taught us a new morning greeting, which we all loved—Ask your child about the "shoe" greeting. Grace will make our classroom community an even 16 children—a partner for everyone! If your child happens to say at anytime over vacation, "I’m bored," an option would be to have him or her make a welcome card for Grace to give her on her first day with us. I imagine having to switch schools in the middle of first grade will be a bit scary for her—leaving friends, and having to make new friends in an already-established classroom. I know your children are going to be wonderful new friends to her. They’ve already made her a welcome sign!

Check out this week’s edition of The Valley Reporter for a huge article about your child’s local history unit—lots of great pictures of your children dressed up on Old School Day! They look so somber and authentic as children of long ago.

Tomorrow is our last day before vacation, and we’re quite excited about the little party in the afternoon! I wish you and your children a marvelous vacation and holiday season. I seem to have everything checked off my list of ‘to do’s," with the exception of the holiday cards. It’s looking like they will be New Year’s cards at this point. See ya next year! First day back to school is January 2nd!

Peace~

Brenda