Thank you!

"Happily Ever After"

Thank you to all the parents who organized and contributed food to the Cinderellabration event this week.  Your generosity made the night a big success.  Also, from the students to the parents:  "Thank you for coming . . . your attendance meant a lot!"

Extra Socks, Please!

We need LOTS OF SOCKS for our upcoming Sock Puppet Party!  When The Manatee Party Chain reaches the floor (very soon), the students will celebrate by making sock puppets.  Please send in any stray socks you can spare. Zany, colorful, crazy striped or polk-a-dot patterns make the most creative puppets!  Thanks for your donations! 

BUGGY ABOUT INSECTS

Our science unit on insects will begin next week.  The students will have the opportunity for hands-on learning with live specimins.  They will care for and observe the body parts, behaviors, and life cycles of mealworms, milkweed bugs, crickets and butterflies. We're looking forward to lots of fun and learning as we explore the world of insects!    

Update on Upcoming Events

National Read Across America/Dr. Seuss Day is Tuesday, March 2nd! To celebrate Purdy is having a crazy hat/hair/sock day! Wear your favorite hat, or do your hair up in your best Seuss style, don your craziest socks and bring a favorite book to READ, READ, READ!!!

In addition, the manatee class is  celebrating with a Pajama Read-in!  Students are encouraged to wear pajamas, bring in quilts, pillows and stuffed animals to help increase the "cozy" factor of our Read-in.  Feel free to send your child's favorite Dr. Seuss books for them to read during our Read-in.
We would love to have guest readers come in to read their all-time favorite Dr. Seuss book aloud to the class. If you are interested, please let us know ahead of time. The students really love guest readers!

Cinderellabration!
Wednesday, March 10th, 6:30

The students are very excited about our Cinderellabration.
They have been writing their own unique Cinderella stories to share with their families and friends on the big night!  Students are invited to dress up in the likeness of their favorite Cinderella or Cinderlad character.
We will also be serving food from the Cinderella cultures which we have read about.
If you are interested in helping out with this event, please contact Jocelyn Norris at norrisgh4@yahoo.com.

Purdy Elementary Auction
Manatee Class Project

This is our class project for the Purdy PTA Auction,

Saturday, March 6 at 6:30.

You can purchase this adorable ABC book online at

http://www.purdypta.org/.
There is a page for each letter of the alphabet. Student pictures and
manatee classroom highlights adorn each page.
If you purchase a book at the auction, it will include a bedtime read-aloud for your child at your home, by your child's teacher. 

Welcome Back!

Hope everyone had a marvelous mid-winter break. 

We are looking forward to the next few fun weeks filled with exciting classroom events. 

100 Day Celebration!

Thursday, February 25th

Please send in 100 pieces (or an estimate) of snack to contribute to the
Class 100 Day Snack Mix. 

Ideas for ingredients include goldfish, chex cereal, pretzels, peanuts, M & M's, raisins, etc. 

Students will be sharing their ingredients with the class to create a snack mix. 
Also, please send in 100 pennies to contribute to our class Haiti fund. 

These pennies will be counted by the students, added to the other groups of 100, and then contributed to the Purdy Elementary Haiti fund to be donated to Red Cross.

                              

Dr. Seuss Read Across America

Dr. Seuss Day is coming on Tuesday, March 2nd. 

Our class will be celebrating with a Pajama Read-in.  We will be reading all day!  

Feel free to send your child's favorite Dr. Seuss books for them to read during our Read-in.  

We would love to have guest readers come in to read their all-time favorite Dr. Seuss book aloud to the class.  If you are interested, please let us know ahead of time.  The students really love guest readers!   

Cinderellabration!

Wednesday, March 10th, 6:30

The students are very excited about our Cinderellabration. 

They have been writing their own unique Cinderella stories
to share with their families and friends on the big night!

Students are invited to dress up in the likeness

of their favorite Cinderella or Cinderlad character. 

We will also be serving food from the Cinderella cultures

which we have read about. 

If you are interested in helping out with this event,

please contact Jocelyn Norris at norrisgh4@yahoo.com.

February Events

Field Trip - Thursday, February 11th

Please have your students at school by 9:00, as our bus is leaving promptly at 9:10.  After the play, we will be stopping for lunch at Godfather's Pizza in Tacoma.  Please send $4.00 with your child to pay for their lunch. 

Valentine's Day

On Friday, February 12, from 2:25 to 3:25 the Manatee class will have a Valentine's Day party.  Students will enjoy cherry floats and decorate cupcakes and/or cookies while they open their Valentine's cards.

*This year we are having a Valentine's mailbox decorating contest.  Students will use a shoe box to decorate their box at home.  Everyone will receive a prize.  If you are unable to locate a shoe box, or need support with creating a box, let us know.  We are happy to help. 

A class list will go home in the Wednesday Go-Home Folders next Wednesday.  It helps reduce stress if students address a few cards each night.  Please contact Jocelyn Norris at norrisgh4@yahoo.com 
or Karen Walker at Karen@allovus.com if you would like to volunteer to help with the party. 

Upcoming Events:

100th Day of School                              Thursday, Feb 25

Dr. Seuss Day (Read Across America)       Tuesday, Mar 2

Cinderellabration (Evening Event)            Friday, Mar 4, 6:30

Reader's Theater!

Get ready for The Manatee Reader's Theater! 

Reader's Theater introduces the element of drama into literacy learning and magically transforms the classroom into a stage. …….the reader is at center stage.
The reader is a star!

 Readers read from a “script” and reading parts are divided among the readers.

Scripts are held by readers. Lines are not memorized. 

Costumes are not necessary, but simple props may be used.
The focus is on reading the text with

expressive voices and gestures, making comprehension of the text
 meaningful and fun for the students.

Our Reader's Theater presentation will take place on

Friday, January 29th, at 10:00 a.m. in the classroom.

The scripts students will be reading from include:

Big Foot Cinderella

Skippyjon Jones

The 3 Little Pigs

Green Eggs and Ham

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type

For the next few weeks your child will be practicing reading their
lines fluently, with both vocal and facial expression.

Hope you can come to our reading presentation!

Reminder:

Clay in Art Class

Students will be working with clay in art class on Mondays and Tuesdays for the next few weeks. They will need smocks to protect their clothes. Please send in over-sized shirts for them to wear, along with a plastic grocery bag to house them in when they are not being used. Thanks!

Field Trip to Cinderella

If you have already sent in your permission slip and payment
for the fun Cinderella field trip on Thursday,
Feb. 11th at 10:00, we thank you! 

If not, please add it to your list of to-do's. 

Thank you kindly.

 

Cinderella Around the World Social Studies Unit

During January and February our class will be doing a Social Studies unit that revolves around the diverse cultures depicted in different Cinderella stories from around the world. We have a nice selection of different characters and countries, including several male "Cinderlad" characters. The countries we will be studying are China, Middle East, Mexico, Ireland, the Caribbean, and other locations including Alaska, Hawaii, Appalachia, and the Algonquin Indians. We will keep our Shelfari up to date to inform you when we read new books.

If you have any cultural connections to the countries listed above and are willing to share your knowledge with the class, please contact us. We would love to expose the class to additional authentic artifacts and speakers.    

Students will be doing many different activities during our unit.  They will compare and contrast different story elements, learn about different countries and how people live in those countries, traditions, foods and dwellings. They will create character mobiles, mold clay into adobe structures, make collaborative maps, and produce second language dictionaries. Some students will have the opportunity to write stories from different points of view.  At the end of the unit, students will write their own Cinderella story to share at our culminating celebration. 

We will also be bringing in cultural food to share with the students during snack time. Last week when we read Sumorella, the students sampled mango from Hawaii.

Our theme question will be “How do Cinderella stories change when transferred to different cultures?”

In addition, we will be having a Cinderellabration at the end of February (more info to follow). 

We will also be going on a field trip on Thursday, Feb. 11th at 10:00 to see Cinderella Around the World at the Pantages Theatre in Tacoma. Look for a parent-permission slip to come home this Wednesday in your child’s Go-Home envelope.

Clay in Art Class

Students will be working with clay in art class on Mondays and Tuesdays for the next few weeks.  They will need smocks to protect their clothes.  Please send in over-sized shirts for them to wear, along with a plastic grocery bag to house them in when they are not being used.  Thanks!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to our Wonderful Families!

Thank you to all who helped out with the Christmas party. We appreciate all the donations, and the parents who came to help with the cookie decorating and hot chocolate bar.

The children had a blast!

We want to thank you for your generous donations to our 4th Annual Adopt a Family program.
Our classroom Giving Tree is overflowing with Christmas gifts.  Because of your kindness, our recipients received every gift on their wish lists!

We appreciate all the homemade treasures and treats sent in with the students. They are always so excited to watch us open the packages.  We are truly blessed to have so many kind and thoughtful parents. 

Finally, we both thank you from the bottom of hearts for the group gift of massage therapy.  We are looking forward to a luxurious relaxing massage.  You're the best!
 
Love,  Amy & Wanda
 

  Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.

~Author unknown