Week of December 10th
Dear Parents,
Can you believe that we are almost half way through the school year!! We have been quite busy in class reading and preparing to make our Gingerbread boy or girl this week. Thank you to all of you that have sent in supplies for this project. Your child will do two writing activities with his/her gingerbread person---one will be to describe and tell about the person they made/decorated and the other one will be to write their own gingerbread boy/girl adventure. We have ready both stories---The Gingerbread Man and The Gingerbread Girl. We have done a compare and contrast on both versions and learned some new vocabulary along the way: for example---sly, devious, and outfoxed describe the fox and then what the gingerbread girl did to the fox---she outfoxed him. 
I look forward to you seeing your child's creations!!! We''ll be eating gingerbread cookies on Monday when we are working to create our own gingerbread person.
Also, a big thanks goes out to those of you that baked for the 1st grade Relay for Life Bake sale. We did very well and were sold out before the bell at 7:55 that morning!!! Please send in your can good for the Can-a-Thon which starts on Monday, the 10th and continues until the 18th. We will start lining our cans up along the wall just outside the classroom door and hopefully collect lots of cans and boxed items (cereals, etc) for needy families.
On Monday, I will send home a conference note to help me plan out our times/days together in January. Conference week starts on Tuesday, Jan. 22nd and continues until Monday, Jan. 28th. My note will be asking you which days/times you ARE NOT available for a conference. This will help me out in early Jan. when I sit down to make out my schedule for that week. For those of you new to Garrison Mill, the children are released early that entire time just like an early release day....usually by about 12:20 each day. Then, teacher will schedule 20 minute conferences starting about 12:40 or 1:00 each day. I will share the 2nd nine week's report card with you at this time. Please be thinking about anything you might want/need to discuss with me and make a note on your conference letter I'll send you in early January.
Now, for some curriculum news......
Reading - I have rearranged some of the students into different reading groups starting last week. One group started reading a holiday story and learning about different traditions for different families; another group is reading about a girl making holiday cookies with her mom; and the third group started a story on the winter solistice and the tilt of the earth at this time of year. We are highlighting new and interesting words in each of these stories and later this month, they will be able to share all of these with you at home!
Math - we finished up our chapter on graphing, tally marks, and understanding "more" and "less". Last week our new chapter began with comparing and ordering numbers---greater than, less than, equal to, numbers between/before/after a given number. I also gave a substraction timed test last week--25 problems in 3 minutes--and I could tell many need to go back over substraction and review problems. I will continue to give addition timed tests, also.
Phonics - I continue to see an improvement in your child's writing using many of the phonics rules I have introduced. These are the ones we will be working on in the coming weeks.....long "e" spelled with ee or ea as in see, meet, each, and scream; kw spelled "qu" as in quack, quick, quiet; long "e" also spelled "y" and "ie" as in field, chief, party, duty; review "bossy 'r' as in fire, care, share; and plurals different from adding just an "s" or "es"---words like baby/changing the "y" to an "i" and adding "es" as in lady, story to get babies, ladies, and stories.
Science - we are learning about normal body temperature (98.6 degrees), a fever when your body temperature goes up, and then, the freezing point of a liquid at 32 degrees. This is of most interest to the children as we talk about when rain CAN turn into snow and THEY ALL WANT SOME SNOW!!!! 
The class did very well in November with north, south, east, and west directions on a map and naming the oceans east and west of the United States as well as the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
This past week you should have gotten your child's American Symbols booklet in his/her folder. They thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about different symbols that represent American---the grand, old flag, the bald eagle, the White House, the Statue of Liberty....and others we talked about such as the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Uncle Sam, and the Lincoln Memorial. We will add to that list as the year goes on.
November Reading logs found many stickers being given for each ten minutes read at home. Our top three readers were Jamie (86), Hana (73), and Jamal (65)....each with more than 65 stickers....way to go, guys!!! Honorable mention should also go to Brenden, Bryce, and Shelly with 55 or more stickers!!! Yea, keep up the good work, everybody!!! In January, I will be increasing the nightly reading to 75 minutes a week on the Reading Log.....as always, thanks for your help at home----you do make a difference! FYI- please total out each week's worth of reading your child does---it helps me out tremendously Thanks!
Just a reminder that our class holiday party will be on Wednesday, December 19th from 12:30 -1:30. Thanks in advance to Stephanie Daniels, Shari Eggart, and the other parents that will be helping plan and carry out the fun activities.
We have two more week of school before Winter Break and please remind your child that we still have lots to do at school. Listening and following directions is a part of our daily work and I would ask you to emphasize this to your child.....thank you.
Have a great week and try to imagine that this warm weather is not happening in December!!!
Sincerely, Peggy Snook 
