Happy New Year! Over the years I've learned how much kids want to see their friends after a long vacation. That makes it a little more difficult to buckle down and produce a hard day's work. So........our first school day of 2009 was very active. 

First of all, we shared exciting moments from our Christmas break, then we mapped out a new design for our classroom. We created a reading nook (John named it the Book Nook) and eliminated a few pieces of unnecessary furniture. The kids submitted designs for the desk layout. We haven't decided which to try first, but we're leaning toward trying to create the number 2 with our desks. Of course, this was my sly way of getting help with reorganizing our books and cleaning behind big pieces of furniture! Alex, Noah, Nate, Moriah, and Michael dug right in and deserve special mention. 

We took a spelling pretest, had a math review lesson, and introduced our new science unit on weather. Our special concentrations this week will be the three major cloud types and the water cycle.

Homework: It's a good thing we've started making less copies because the copier is down AGAIN! Each child copied the homework schedule in their Home/School Connection Notebook, but here it is just in case.

Monday - Please write our new vocabulary words in descriptive sentences. 

Tuesday - Please write a Star Student letter to MacKenzie describing things you know and appreciate about her.

Wednesday - Please bring a book you've read to share on Thursday. You'll be asked to give the title, author/illustrator, a brief summary, and recommendation.

Thursday - Please write your spelling words three times each (I'm impressed with how many of you write them five times each!)

Friday - This will be assigned later in the week when I know I can make copies.

It was great to see the kids again - I think we're glad to be back!

Mrs. Groff