Happy Holidays!

Firefly enjoyed a walk to Shelburne Wine and Coffee for hot chocolate with whipped cream on Thursday.  Everyone had a terrific time and did a fantastic job of remembering our safety rules.  Our class received many thank yous from Mrs. Nakhleh's class for inviting them to join us.
Lily did a terrific presentation for her Discovery Table about Art this week.  She shared some of her own art work and taught us about the color wheel.
We had a little holiday treat during snack time today which included juice and homemade cookies.  A big thank you to those parents who contributed to our special holiday treat.
A big thank you to everyone for all the beautiful cards and gifts I received.  I hope everyone has a terrific holiday break and I will see you all in 2014!

Our Kids' Reading Blog Is Up and Running!

Our Reading Blog is now up and running.  It can easily be accessed by clicking on Kid's Blog in the upper right hand corner of this blog.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the interest everyone has had in posting to this blog!  My email has been flooded with pending posts from all of my friends. Please take a moment to log on and read some of the posts and leave a comment when you have time. It is very exciting for kids to get comments on their posts, and it encourages them to continue to post.
Our class made approximately $100 at the Craft Fair this past weekend.  We have decided to use our earnings to walk into town for a hot chocolate this week.  We also decided that since we have enough money, it would be nice to include the Firefly first graders.  All my friends should feel very proud of the mature, generous and kind decision they have made to use their earnings to include the entire Firefly Team in this event.
We sent our Flat Stanleys on their adventures around the world today.  We look forward to having them return to us after the new year ready to share about the places they have been.  In the meantime, we will continue to learn more about physical geography and will take some time to learn about maps and practice using different maps to locate information.  We will also spend some time after the new year creating our own maps and spend some time sharing those.
Mr. Madden joined us this week to teach a few lessons in math.  We had a lot of fun learning about standard and nonstandard units of measure and spent some time practicing measuring a variety of things using both kinds of measurement.  We learned about inches, feet and yards and talked about the importance of measuring accurately.
With Winter upon us, I would like to remind everyone to make sure your child comes to school dressed to play outside in the cold.  We have had many children come to school this week without snow pants, boots, hats and mittens.  With the cold weather we have been having, children need to have all their winter gear to stay warm outside.  Please also find a way to mark your child's belongings so they can identify them.  We have many children who have the same boots and have had several mix ups this week.
Friday Folders are coming home with 2 class pictures today.  Please keep both of them.  There was a problem with the spelling of my name so the company printed an extra batch.  Unfortunately, my name is still spelled wrong...
Have a great weekend and stay warm!

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Mindful Movements

Vicky Wideman kicked off a series of lessons this week about Mindful Movements.  She is teaching students a variety of techniques to help them be mindful and feel relaxed.  She will continue with these lessons weekly through the end of January.
Our class has been working hard this week finishing up our creations for the Holiday Craft Fair.  We will be selling homemade necklaces/ornaments, gift boxes, holiday tags and cards, and holiday balloons.  A huge thank you to Anne Marcoe for helping us with these projects.  Many of my friends have decided they want to buy their own creations and have already brought their money to school to purchase them.  We have already earned $22 and the Craft Fair hasn't even started yet! The Craft Fair will take place tomorrow (Sat., 12/7) from 9:30-1:30.  A big thank you to those families who have offered to cover our booth for part of this time.  If you are interested in helping out, we can always use more helpers!
Thank you to everyone for getting our Flat Stanley project addresses back to school already.  We have been working hard decorating our Flat Stanleys and creating a journal to send along on his adventure.  We hope to get our envelopes addressed and in the mail by the end of next week.  With any luck, we may have some mail back when we return from our Holiday Break!
Progress Reports are coming home in Friday Folders today.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.  Everyone has been working hard in school and has a lot to be proud of!
Hope to see you at the Craft Fair!