Happy January!

Hello everyone! We have made it through the first part of January with some more mild winter weather, so I'm happy! Just a few notes in this week's blog!

CBI/Swimming:
I know there has been some confusion in regards to what days we take our shopping trips versus swimming. Please take the top portion of the permission slips when they come home to help remember-that is for you to have. I will also do my best to e-mail the night before to remind you if it is a shopping day. If I do not e-mail, you can assume it's swimming.

Homework:
I do not typically assign too much homework for our students, as their days are packed with different learning opportunities. I do send homework from the Edmark program. Please do your best to complete this homework when it does come home and return it in their folder. This helps me to see that they are completing the work, while also establishing that sometimes we just have to do homework (even though it's not the most fun :) )

Monthly Theme:
This month, we are going to be learning about dinosaurs. We read a book with the students and completed some vocabulary cards. There were two copies of the book, and students could share 1 with someone else. We will continue this throughout January. We will be completing a small research project where each student will have to find information about their assigned dinosaur. We will be working on these for the month. We will also make fossils out of clay since we have been talking about fossils. For cooking, we are making dirt cups and are going to put little candies within to show how paleontologists have to dig for fossils like we dig for candy through the mud and rocks.

As always, please e-mail me with any questions you may have! Please check out the Principal's Message for important information. Something to note:

VALENTINE'S DAY

Please look at teacher’s newsletters for class specific guidelines about sending Valentine’s to school. If you choose to include an item with your child's Valentines, please note that only non-food items are permissible.  Candy, snacks, or any sort of food item will be sent back home with your child on Valentine's day if sent to school.  Non-food items are permitted, and there are many pre-packaged Valentines that can be purchased that include a trinket (i.e., pencil, erasers, book mark, etc.). Card and party stores are a great place to look for these types of items.  Here are some ideas of non-food items if you choose to include something:  pencils, erasers, stickers, plastic or rubber figurines, mini deck of cards, spinning top, or crazy straws to name a few.

Many of our students have medically based dietary restrictions and this does not include students on specific diets of family choice such as vegetarian, low cal/sugar, religious, and so on.  Monitoring the individual needs and requests is not feasible, thus not safe. In addition it is frequently reported that several children eat Valentine's treats on the bus, as evidenced by an abundance of wrappers found.  This poses a choking risk, as well as exposure for students with specific health restrictions. Thank you for your assistance in helping us maintain the health, safety, and personal family preferences of our students.

Have a great week!