Mrs. Orr’s Classroom News
February 7, 2008
Dear Moms and Dads,
"Can you make 100 snowballs at recess?" was a challenge Mrs. W. gave to the children on Wednesday. We didn’t get 100 on Wednesday so we may add more today. The children had such as wonderful time building large and small snow sculptures and forts. One of the children said to me, "Hey, we’re just like the kids in the Big Woods story. We are jumping in the snow and making pictures of our bodies!" I feel excited when they apply something we have read or talked about in the classroom to another environment. It was also fun to help them roll those huge snowballs to the fort structure. They were thrilled to have me help them push their enormous snowballs! It didn’t take me long to encourage them to begin rolling the snowballs
toward the structure rather than ending up with a huge snowball far from the structure!Can you think of 100 animals? How many words can you make with the words "One Hundred Days"? "What would you look like on a one hundred dollar bill? What would you buy with 100 dollars? These were some of the questions we explored during the 100th day of school. I was so touched when one child said she would give $50 to a charity, $30 to her college education, and spend the rest on something for herself. Your children made me chuckle to myself when I saw how much some of them think they could buy with 100 dollars.
This week many of your children turned in their fifth reading homework chart. Therefore, they were able to visit my treasure basket to get something such as a pencil. Every multiple of 5 allows them a visit to the treasure box. Thank you for supporting their reading at home.
Due to the early dismissal last Friday, we didn’t get to write in our home/school journals until Monday of this week. We’ll write in them again this Friday.
Today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Due to the delayed opening, we didn’t get to do as many activities as I had hoped today. The Chinese New Year lasts 15 days so we’ll be doing some other activities and a deeper exploration of this topic in the coming days.
Here are some questions to ask your child this week:
Can I see the paper that you drew your picture on a 100-dollar bill?
What were some of the words you thought of to make out of "One Hundred Days"?
Did you help make a snow fort or sculpture outside on the playground?
What are your new spelling words?
How many animals was your group able to think of?
What year (animal) is it for the Chinese New Year? (rat)
What was the animal for the year you were born?
DATES TO REMEMBER:
February 12th: Early Release for students
February 14th: Make up Library Day due to early release on Wednesday. Please send in your child’s library books on this today.
February 14th: Valentine’s Day activities. I e-mailed you a list of children in our class last week along with an ingredient to bring in for the ice cream project. We’ll have the ice cream sundae party for our treat. Therefore, you do not have to send in any other food. Thank you.
February 18th: School Assembly: 2:15. You are welcome to attend.
February 19th: Last day to return Jump Rope For Heart pledge forms to Mr. Drake. He is in our school on Tuesday and Fridays so forms may be sent in on these days.
February 22: PTN popcorn sale at snack time
February 25th: Vacation Begins
March 5th: School resumes
EVERY THURSDAY: Reading chart (homework) is due. We’ll X-Country Ski or Snowshoe depending on the snow conditions and temperature.
EVERY FRIDAY: We’ll try to write in our home/school journals to you. Therefore, please return them to school by each Wednesday.
Below are some photos of 100th day I thought you might enjoy! Make sure to see all 16!
