We had another full week.  We started Spanish, proved we could follow directions in P.E., began our classroom reading groups and were very excited to start studio Friday.  We are truly getting the feel of what our normal weekly routine feels like.  Reading groups with Ms. Kathy and Ms. Brenda will be starting very soon and with this we should be in the full swing of things.  We have been very busy with individual lessons and understanding the workings involved in choosing work and recording in our weekly work charts.  Ms. Brec is working on getting Montessori Manager up and running.  We hope it will not be too long before we can share this information with our families.

I wanted to remind you of dress code.  We are having several dress code violations within our classroom.  We will have to start writing these violations, and we rather not spend valuable teaching time writing them!  No jeans, except on Friday.  Shorts, skirts, etc, must go to the knee.  Collared shirts must be worn everyday, with the exception of Friday.  Hoods are not allowed anytime during the week.  Shirts must cover the shoulders.  Friday t-shirts can be a bit tricky, no logos, characters, sayings, bands, sport teams, etc.  For example, you can wear a shirt that has a plain bear, but can’t be Winni-the-Pooh.  You can wear shirts that have wording like “Yellowstone”, but not “Bears Rock”.  Clothing needs to be clean and free from holes and tares.  Thank you for your support in this.

I have lots of students ask if they can bring in their pets to visit.  I always ask them to have their family email me and we can make arrangements.  Please let me know in advance of any visitors.  This will allow for us to prepare and plan accordingly.  We are happy to have them visit.

Along with visits, we have several students who have had or are soon having their birthdays.  We would love for you to come and share about your child with our classroom in what we call a celebration of life.  You can bring a picture about each year of their life and share with the class somethings about your child.  This is a great way for us to get to know them better.  We generally can do this at our morning line or our afternoon line.  I do have some flexibility, but ask that you would make prior arrangements with me.  We ask that you not bring in treats, tokens, etc, when it is their birthday, but welcome a book donation to our classroom library in honor of your student.

Reminder about home projects.  We have only had a very small amount of students who have shared.  Remind your student to bring in their project as soon as they are completed.    We hope to see more soon.

We love sharing in your children’s lives and really feel we are establishing an understanding of their unique personalities and gifts.  It is hard to believe we have already been in school four weeks.  We have been incredibly busy and are excited to see the work everyone is now doing on their own.  We expect this next coming week to only solidify the work we have established and to continue to grow as individuals and as a class.