Cookie Day

We got into the spirit of the season during our Class Cookie Exchange.  Each student brought in cookies to share with the class.  The best part was taking turns to walk through our 'bakery' to make a platter of goodies to take home to share with our families.

Mystery Reader

MC's mom was our Mystery Reader on Pajama Day!  Mrs. C. wore her PJ's to school and read a book about pajamas.  It was a fun addition to our special day.

Pajama Day

Pajama Day was a HUGE success!  We had fun dressing in cozy PJs.  Not only did we have fun, but we also collected and donated over 30 pairs of pajamas which were donated to Person-to-Person.  These pajamas will help children in the area stay warm and cozy this winter.  Thank you to all of the parents for being so generous!

Field Trip Photos

Check out some photos from our Maritime Aquarium trip.  We saw an amazing IMAX movie about dolphins.  In the movie we saw how dolphins move and communicate.  We were able to see penguins, meerkats, sharks, turtles, seals, seastars, crabs and many different kinds of fish.  It was a great trip!

November Superstars

CB, LD and SS were excellent friends and students and were awarded their Superstar certificates at the November Pep Rally.

Mystery Reader

AB loved having his mom visit our classroom when she was the Mystery Reader.

Mystery Reader

HB's mom and little sister were great Mystery Readers!

Peek at the Week of December 20-23

We will have our class breakfast party and grab bag this Wednesday morning. 

Thursday is an Early Dismissal day. There is no school on Friday.  Enjoy the long break!

Homework
Monday 12/20
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Gingerbread House Candy Graph

Tuesday 12/21
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  No Homework---Merry Christmas present from me!

Wednesday 12/22
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Grab Bag Thank You letter

Have a very Merry Christmas

and a wonderful New Year!

See you in 2011!

Peek at the Week of December 13-17

We will have our class cookie exchange this Thursday afternoon.  Everyone is excited to see our class transformed into a bakery!  We will be doing the exchange after art (2:35).  All are welcome to come and help!


Homework
Monday 12/13
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Winter Word Work

Tuesday 12/14
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Candy Counting

Wednesday 12/15
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Make 24 cookies for tomorrow

Thursday 12/16
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week December 10

• We had pajama day today.  (AB)
• Mrs. E brought munchkins for pajama day.  (MM)
• We donated over 25 pajamas to Person-to-Person.  (KK)
• We will have a Mystery Reader today.  (KE)
• AK was a great captain.  (KS)
• We went on a field trip.  (MC)
• We saw an IMAX movie about how dolphins swim and 'talk'.  (SS)
• There were lot of animals at the Maritime Center.  (KL)
• We saw penguins.  (AS)
• There were meerkats there too.  (AK)
• We saw sharks swimming.  (KE)
• The seals swallowed their food in one big gulp.  (Miss D.)
• There were lighthouse models all over the Maritime Center.  (MM)
• We will finally have computer today.  We haven't had it in 2 weeks.  (GS)
• People started bringing in Grab Bag gifts and it is making the classroom look very festive!  (Miss D.)

Field Trip

Don't forget to bring your lunch to school for tomorrow's trip to the Maritime Center.  It should be a great day!

Pajama Day

Don't forget to wear your PJ's this Friday, December 10.  You can also bring slippers and a robe to change into when you get to school.  

Please try to remember to bring in a pair of PJ's to donate.  Some warm PJ's will help keep a child warm this winter!

Peek at the Week of December 6-10

Thank you for meeting with me last week during Parent-Teacher conferences.  It was great to touch base with all of you.  If you have not signed and returned the large white report card envelope, please do so. 

This Tuesday is our trip to the Maritime Center.  Please make sure your child has a fully disposable lunch because we will be eating there and do not want to worry about lost lunch boxes and water bottles.

This Friday is our class Pajama Day.  A flyer went home last week with details.  Your child can wear PJs to school and also has the option of bringing slippers in their bookbags.  Your child should wear regular shoes/sneakers for the bus and lunch/recess times.  Also, remember that we are collecting pajamas to put together as a class donation.

Monday 12/6
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Winter Word Work

Tuesday 12/7
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Maritime Center Trip Review

Wednesday 12/8
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math:  Mixed Review

Thursday 12/9
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Review for tomorrow's assessment

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week: December 3rd

• CH brought in the second Thora book. (CH)
• We started reading Thora for our snack chapter book.  (CH)
• In gym we used scooters to race, do laps and play games.  (AK and DG)
• AH was a great captain.  (KE)
• Jingle, the elf, came to our class and brought us coloring books!  (LMD)
• Jingle is very nosy and keeps trying to read Miss Dineen's emails from the shelf behind her desk.  (CH)
• EW brought in a funny book called Santa Claustraphobia.  (KK)
• AK was put in a bubble at the Bubblemania show.  (Miss D.)
• Bubblemania was a good show.  (EW)
• Some kids went to SoNo Fieldhouse.  (CH)
• We had 4 short days because of conferences.  (KE)
• Our parents were proud of us because our report cards are good.  (DG)
• Our parents are really excited about our report cards.  (KE)
• We started skip counting in math.  We skip count forwards and backwards.  (KK)
• We had our November Pep Rally.  (LMD)
• The Pep Rally winners were CB, SS, LMD.  (KK)
• Miss Dineen told us about all the fun days in December like Pajama Day, Cookie Party, Grab Bag and field trip. 

Peek at the Week of November 29-December 3

This is conference week.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be Early Dismissal days with school ending at 1:25.

Progress reports (aka report cards) were sent home last Wednesday.  Please sign and return the white envelope.  You can keep the progress report.

It is December and there are a few fun holiday-related events happening in the classroom.  I will send home a memo listing the details of each event. I will also list reminders here on the blog each week, but here are some dates to mark on your calendars:
Friday, December 10th:  Pajama Day
Thursday, December 16th:  Class Cookie Exchange
Friday, December 17th:  Grab Bag Gifts Due
Wednesday, December 22nd:  Holiday Breakfast Party & Grab Bag

Homework
Monday 11/29
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Winter Word Work (there are 3 new activities in addition to the usual 5)

Tuesday 11/30
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math:  Mixed Review

Wednesday 12/1
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Following directions/wreath

Thursday 12/2
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review your words for tomorrow's test

Have a great week!

Peek at the Week of November 22-26

Happy Thanksgiving!

This will be a very short week of school.  There is an Early Dismissal day on Wednesday and no school on Thursday and Friday.  I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend.

Report cards will be sent home with your child on Wednesday.  If your child is not going to be here on Wednesday, please email me so that I can send the report card home a day earlier. 

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held the week we return from Thanksgiving.  Your child's report card envelope will have the date and time listed on the front.

There will not be any Word Study list this week. 

Homework
Monday 11/22
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes.
2.  Ripe & Ready (ending sentence punctuation)

Tuesday 11/23
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues.
2.  Gobbling Good (subtraction using a # line)

Wednesday 11/24
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Get ready for Thanksgiving Day!

Have a great LONG weekend!

Highlights of the Week November 19

• This week we went on the back playground.  (JF)
• On Monday we had a field trip.  We saw a play with the Berenstien Bears. It was called "Family Matters".   It was teaching us not to eat too much junk food, not to talk to strangers, always do your homework and be a good sport.  (CH, CF, Miss D.)
• Next week CH will be the captain.  (LJD)
• DG was a good captain this week.  (CF)
• In art we painted and made prints with ink and designs made out of glue.  The designs were all about music.  We didn't use a brush, we used a little roller.  (JF, LMD)
• Today we are going to have a Cranberry and Pumpkin tasting party.  Some kids might be afraid to try the foods.  (KS and Miss D.)
• We will have a Mystery Reader today.  (CH)
• We will have our last 5-word spelling test.  After Thanksgiving we will have 10 words on each test.  (KK)
• After Thanksgiving our Monday Word Work homework will have 8 choices instead of 5.  (CH and LMD)
• In Writing Workshop we wrote snapshots about people.  (MM)
• We will go to the computer lab today.  (JF)
• In music we played xylophones.  We learned 2 new songs. (KE)
• In Reading Workshop we added a new poem to our poetry notebooks.  It is a funny song/poem about leftover turkey.  (CH and Miss D.)
• In gym we jumped to try and touch lines.  We tried to beat our old score each time.  (CB and JF).  In gym we also played basketball.  (LMD)
• We also ran laps during a whole song.  (MC)

Balloon Parade

This Sunday, November 21st is the UBS Thanksgiving Parade in Stamford.  The website for information is: http://www.stamford-downtown.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=133

Tree Lighting

The Annual Tree Lighting will take place on Sunday, November 28th at 5:00pm at the Darien Sport Shop.

http://www.dariensportshop.com/

Mystery Reader

SM looks very happy to see her mom here at school!

Peek at the Week of November 15-19

This week we are going on our first field trip.  Thank you to Mrs. D. and Mrs. H. for coming with us.  It should be a great trip!

Checks for our second field trip (in December to the Maritime Center) are due on Tuesday, November 16th. A $17 check made payable to "Ox Ridge".

Thank you for the paper towels that many of you have sent in.  I appreciate it!

This Friday is our Pumpkin and Cranberry Tasting Party.  We will be sampling some delicious things like pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, dried cranberries, cranberry juice and a few other things.  Thank you to the families who signed up to bring in these items.

Homework
Monday 11/15
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work

Tuesday 11/16
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Thanksgiving ABC order

Wednesday 11/17
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Thanksgiving Word Sort

Thursday 11/18
1.  Read for at  least 15 minutes
2.  Review your words for tomorrow's spelling assessment

Have a great week!

Peek at the Week of November 8-12

The weather is getting colder...please remind your child to wear jackets/vests.  It's a good idea to write your last name inside the jackets since so many of the coats look the same!

Thank you for all of the great books from my Wish List.  I sent Thank you cards home with students last week, but am mentioning it here as well just in case a card didn't make it home.

This week we will learn about Veterans and will be able to watch the 5th grade assembly on thesmartboard while the show is happening live in the Common Room. 

Math:  Counting with coins is a BIG challenge!  Please practice counting with coins at home.  Starting with 1 nickel and adding on pennies (ie: saying "5-6-7-8) and then try the same with 2 nickels ("5-10-11-12-13...).  This week we will be measuring the length of many different items.

Reading Workshop:  We are going to continue to look for patterns in books.  Last week we explored "word patterns".  We were able to find many examples of this in our books.  This week we will look a little deeper at the concept of patterns in a story's plot.  This will include noticing things like characters and how he/she solves the problem.  Many of our favorite books follow the pattern of a character facing a challenge, trying to fix it and ending with the problem solved. 

Writing Workshop:  We had a great time writing descriptions of some objects last week (shoes, backpacks).  This week we will write descriptions of places.  Basic sentence structure of beginning with a capital and ending with a period is being reinforced and reviewed. 

Homework

Monday 11/8
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work Homework

Tuesday 11/9
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Book Report:  Falling for a Good Book

Wednesday 11/10
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math:  Counting Coins "Nuts for Sale"

Thursday 11/11
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week November 5

• CF was a great captain.  (KE)
• JF is the next captain.  (CH)
• We had a pacer test in gym.  (LMD)
• In art we finished our pictures that we made out of leaves.  (MC)
• At snack time we started a new book called "The BFG".  It was written by the same author who wrote "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". (MM)
• We started writing snapshots in Writing Workshop.  (AK)  It is when you describe what something looks like.  (LMD)
• In Reading Workshop we learned about book patterns.  When you see a pattern in a book it helps you be able to read it better and you become a stronger reader.  (EW)
• EW was very excited this week to tell us that she has a new baby brother.  She brought in pictures and the new baby is very cute.  (Miss D.)
• We had gym.  We ran laps.  (AK)

Mystery Reader

LD's mom surprised our class when she came in to be the Mystery Reader.  LD was so happy to have her mom here at school.

Mystery Reader

MM's mom came and read a great book to our class.  It was a fun visit.

Publishing Celebrations

A few weeks ago we finished writing and illustrating our 'Small Moment' stories.  The stories were so great that we decided the Kindergarteners would want to hear them.  Here are some pictures of us reading our published stories to a Kindergarten class.