Ray's Ramblings - 12-17-09

Ray’s Ramblings
December 17, 2009

Dear Parents,

Please read carefully. I am getting a lot of questions about the Christmas program tonight and the party tomorrow. I have put this information in the last three newsletters, posted the information on my BLOG and have e-mailed it to everyone who has given me their e-mail address. If you are not receiving this information (or if you are NOT on the e-mail list and wish to be), please let me know!

TONIGHT’S CHRISTMAS PROGRAM: Students are to dress nicely, but not overly dressed. We will be sitting on the floor, criss cross so choose dresses carefully! There will be four performances tomorrow night. Our performances are #3 and #4. There are 20 minutes between each ‘showing’. Each class is to meet their teacher in the cafeteria prior to the performance. Parents will then go into the gym and find their seats. After the performance, I will walk the class BACK into the cafeteria where parents will pick up their students. The next group will be held in the front hall until the prior group has been picked up and exited the cafeteria. My AM class performs from 6:50 to 7:15 and PM performs from 7:35 to 8:00. It is my understanding that at 7:15, I will bring my AM class BACK to the cafeteria where parents will pick them up. PM students will be held in the front hall until all AM students are picked up. At that time, you will bring your children into the cafeteria to me and proceed into the gym to get your seats. We will be on the front row, facing the bleachers on the left side (your right as you look toward the stage). After our performance, you will pick the children up in the cafeteria, where you drop them off.

FRIDAY’S CHRISTMAS PARTY: Students are to wear their pajamas to school on Friday. Robes and slippers are fine, once they arrive at school. (Regular shoes and coats must be worn to school.) We will have our meal, as usual at 8:28 and 12:28. Once we return to the room, the students will sit in a circle on the floor with their Christmas gift bag set up in front of them. (EACH CHILD MUST HAVE A GIFT BAG TO COLLECT THE PRESENTS). Children will take turns distributing their gifts to each child around the circle. These gifts can be anything you want. There is no price limit, just so you bring the same thing to each child in the class. (AM has 24 students, PM 22) I have received everything from little boxes of nerds, to pencils, to handmade craft bags filled with goodies to homemade goodies, to personalized gifts. There is no guideline and the price limit can match each individual budget. Each child will pass out their gifts and every child receives the very same bag of goodies! It's wonderful! There is NO other gift exchange. Be sure to send in a large gift bag to collect the presents in! There is no need to put names on the presents unless they are personalized in some way. In fact, it will be easier if there are no names! Once the presents are delivered, we will sing Christmas songs while parents get the tables ready for our treats. We will eat, look through our goody bags, and then return to the carpet for a Christmas story. At 10:00 and 2:00, we will go to the computer lab where we will “board the Polar Express” for the North Pole. We will view a video of the book, The Polar Express. We will return to the room at 10:30 and 2:30 for Motor Mouth and be dismissed at 11:10 and 3:10. We will be putting our Christmas presents for our families in the gift bags, as well as our Gingerbread houses and our Christmas count-down bells.

I am very sad to tell my PM friends that we will be losing two friends over the Christmas Break. Abriel Phelps and her family are moving to New Mexico. And Gabe Hetherington will be moving to Lexington. We will miss these friends terribly but wish them both well in their moves. This will bring my PM number down to 20 but will also put me at the low end number-wise. This means that we will probably welcome any new children who move into our school!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday. We will return to school on Monday, January 4. This Friday is the end of our second nine weeks. Report cards will be going home on Thursday, January 7.

December 10, 2009

Ray’s Ramblings
December 10, 2009

Dear Parents,

We are really enjoying our last days before Christmas Break! We are as busy as elves making things!

Christmas Program: Our Christmas program is next Thursday night. AM performs from 6:50 to 7:15 and PM performs from 7:35 to 8:00. Dress is casual but nice. We will be sitting on the floor criss-cross so dresses may not be appropriate. Use your discretion. If the dress covers the knees when sitting, ok. We are on the first row! If your child will NOT be at the performance, please send a note to let me know!

Gingerbread Houses: Many classes are decorating Gingerbread Houses. The class is very excited about doing this. I had originally planned for us to do this on Monday. However, I am required to give our mid-year math assessment on Monday. This gives us no time to decorate the houses. We have dress rehearsal for the program on Thursday at 10:00 and 2:00. We will be able to decorate the houses at 9:00 and at 1:00. I will need parents to help BEFORE Thursday! The graham crackers need to be hot glued onto the milk cartons PRIOR to Thursday. That way, the children can just decorate on Thursday. I need lots of volunteers. Please let me know if you are able to volunteer prior to Thursday OR on Thursday to help with the decorating.

I am officially “grounded” by Mr. Ray!!! I am overspending – on the Holiday family last week and purchasing all the craft supplies we are working on over the next week! I need your help providing the supplies for the houses. Here is a list of suggested decorating supplies:

Graham crackers (need lots!!! 6 squares per house for 48 houses!!!)
Vanilla cake frosting
M & Ms, red hots, peppermint candies, Gummi bears, small jelly beans, pretzel sticks, pretzel twists, pretzel squares (make great windows!!!), gum drops, Hershey kisses, skittles, mini marshmallows, etc. Anything else you can think of is great!

Christmas Party: The children have asked to have a pajama party on the last day. This is a great chance to show off our Christmas PJs!!! Our party will be on Friday, December 18 from 9:00 to 10:00 and from 1:00 to 2:00. At 10 and 2, we will go to the computer lab to hear the Polar Express.

All children need to send in a LARGE Christmas shopping bag to collect presents!

All children need to be sending in treats for each child in the class. You may send these in at any time if they are not perishable items.

Our Volunteers are having trouble getting to school during this holiday season. For this reason and since we need assistance with the Gingerbread Houses, we will NOT be checking out the independent books until after Christmas. After Christmas, I will be moving ALL children up a level in these books. Look for a possible challenge!!!

Assessments: It is now mid-year and we are going to be doing our mid-year assessments – (Math on Monday). After we return in January, we will be giving the Early Literacy Assessment again, and Dibels. Report cards will go home soon after we get back to work. At this point, ALL CHILDREN should be half-way through achieving goals in our kindergarten skills. The hope is that all letters and sounds are mastered by this report card and we can spend the rest of the year working on reading sight words, word families and kidwriting. Please don’t forget to work with your child over the Christmas Break!

Thank you to all the parents who helped me with the Holiday Family! This was a tremendous opportunity to help one of our own JELV families during this Holiday season!

I will have volunteer moms “spot call” to get treats for our party on Friday. We do not need much – just drinks and a treat, plates and napkins. The goodie bags will be the highlight!!! If you would like to get a gift for the classroom, we need more 8 packs of crayons and large glue sticks!!! We also need treasure box items!

Personal Update: My grandbaby is showing signs that she may be here very soon! I am excited and looking forward to possibly being a grandmother before Christmas!!! I will keep you posted!