Ms. Jalee and Ms. Vanessa

Hello,

Say hello to our new class pet Humphrey.

She is a baby dwarf hamster. We named her after the hamster from the Humphrey books. We have been able to let her run around in her ball each day for a while. She is still getting used to being held and makes a whining noise that I call yelling whenever I get her out of her cage. The kids call it an alarm and come running to see her when she does that. We are going to give her some time to get used to her new surroundings and then we will start sending her home on the weekends with the kids.

Today the students started filling out their KWL sheets (know, wonder, learn) for their home projects this month. I forgot to give them to the kids before they went home. Many of the picked their subjects but some did not. Some may also want to change later on. Please make sure they fill out a KWL sheet to bring when they present.

We also started learning about artists this week to expose the kids for when they pick their artist for next months home project. We learned about Wassily Kandinsky and Jackson Pollock. We have created art pieces inspired by them as well.

This week is parent teacher conferences. If you have not signed up yet please go to https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/events and find my name under the day you would like to come and sign up. Conferences will be Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday starting at 1:40. On theses days school will get out at 1 pm. During this time, we will also have the book fair in the library. This is a great time to get new reading books for your kids and donate to our classroom if you are able. We love books!

Our Valentine party will be Wednesday the 14th from about 10:45 to 12:30ish. We will have games, food (berry parfait), and fun. Thank you to everyone who has been able to sign up. We love volunteers so please come if you are able. During this time we will be handing Valentine’s as well. If your child would like, they can bring cards and/or candy for everyone. We have 29 students and 3 teachers. Please only put who the cards are from. This makes the handing out much quicker and easier. If your child would like to decorate and bring a box, that is fine. However, this is not required. We will be decorating large paper bags for the kids to put their Valentine’s in. We will be stapling these shut since we will not be eating the candy at school. They can eat their treats at home. You can also provide none treat things for the kids like stickers, pencils, bubbles, etc.

We will not have school Monday, February 19, in celebration of Presidents Day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Jalee

Hello All!

February is here! I need to start by apologizing. I did not do the Ground Hog Day activities I had planned on doing with the kids. I was so excited last week because I had a lot of fun things planned that I just needed to get ready, and I didn’t think about it all week and then when Friday got here, I realized I had not prepared anything to do with Ground Hog Day. For that I am sorry.

The sign-ups for Parent Teacher Conferences are up. To sign up for conference please go to https://www.trackitforward.com/site/mapa. If you already have a Track it Forward account this is where you will sign in. If you do not have one, you will need to sign up and create an account. After signing in, you will need to click on the tab, Event Sign Ups. This will take you to a calendar. On the days of February 14, 15, 16, you will find an event titled Ms. Jalee’s PTC. Click on the day you want and sign up for the time that works for you. You will receive an email confirmation about your sign up. You will also receive an email reminder two days before. Please bring your child with you to the conference. This will allow them to share with you some of the things they have been doing. The book fair will also be up and going during these conferences.

We will have our Valentine Party on Wednesday, February 14 from about 10:45 to 12:15. We will have an early lunch and use the last 45 minutes to clean up and pass out Valentines. If you child would like they can bring Valentine cards and/or treats for the class. This is totally optional. We have 29 students and 3 teachers. It is easiest not to put names on the cards for each students so I will not be providing a list of names. Just prepare 29 cards and put who they are from. We will be decorating bags to put the Valentine’s in at school. I will have the sign-up for the party by Wednesday.

We got the totals back for the money our class earned from your orders of the original works the students created. Our class earned the most money! Thank you for your support. Last year we used this money to buy some class materials and help pay for field trips. This year, I will be putting a portion of the money towards buying a class pet hamster and all the things it will need. I am just waiting on Ms. Rene’s approval.

This month’s home project will be “I Wonder…” As you recall, we did a project like this at the beginning of the year. This one will be similar but we will be adding to it. I will be having the students fill out a KWL chart. The K stands for Know, the W stands for Wonder, and the L stands for Learn. At school the students will fill out the K and W parts. They will then bring the chart home and create their project with you. You will need to help them create their presentation and fill in the what I learned part. This will need to be presented with the project. Please talk with your child and help them figure out what they want to do their project on by this Friday, February 9. This is when we will be filling out the charts. These project will be due the last week of February, the week of the 26th. As always, the students can bring in their project whenever it is complete.

In preparation for next month’s home projects on artists, we will be learning about different artists throughout this month.

As always, thank you for all that you do!

Jalee