Orange Day is Friday!

Today we "picked" our pumpkins off of their vines in the class "pumpkin patch" so we could turn them into Jack-o-lanterns! On Friday, we will use them as decorations for our "Orange Day" Party!

• Please dress your child in Orange
• Bring an orange snack
• We will do an "orange" craft and
  
• Have orange "treats" but no "tricks!"

Be sure to pop your head in and see our bats that are hanging in the back of the room. Each child cut or tried to cut the bat wings out! They also worked very hard on creating the orange and black patterned paper chains that the bats are hanging from :) On a side note, if your child has been absent, s/he will not have some of these projects as it is too difficult to try and make up the work after the original class project is finished.

Reminders for 10/26-10/30

Just a few reminders for this week, 10/26-10/30:

• "Love & Logic" Brown Bag lunch is this Wednesday!
• Baby sitting is available - please let Danette (Fletcher's Mom) know if you plan on using it.
  
• Friday is Orange Day!
• Dress your child in orange (if they want to)
• No costumes or masks
• Bring an orange snack
• Book orders are due anytime, turn into me or order online.
• A few still have not turned in the $5 for the Clifford Magazine - please do at your convenience.

On a side note, it was wonderful meeting with all of you during the parent conferences!  I really enjoyed talking to everyone!

Reminders...

Just a few reminders about this week:

• No school on Friday due to conferences.
• Box Tops are due this week
• Please keep sick kids at home... H1N1 hit the kindergartners hard last week and it looks like it's trickling down to the other levels.  If siblings are sick, please go ahead and keep all kids at home or at the very least, do not bring them into St. Matthews - call the office and someone will come to your car to get the healthy child.
• On a different note, I want to thank everyone for extra supplies you have donated to the class and for all of the cardboard tubs!  I am officially out of storage space so please do not bring me anymore until further notified :)
  

"P" is for Pumpkin!

On Friday, Mrs. Carothers brought her class to our room to join in our circle time. We continued to talk all about pumpkins and she even cut the pumpkin open so we could see the pulp and seeds that are inside! "P" is for pumpkin pulp! Please take a look at the pictures in the photo album for a closer look at what we've been doing in the classroom :)

This coming week we only have school on Monday and Wednesday. Friday is Parent/Teacher Conferences. Please make note of your scheduled time. These conferences are very short (20min) and we will be on a very tight schedule. If we feel more time is needed to discuss your child we can schedule another conference.

A few reminders/notes to parents:

• Please don’t forget to send in your Box Tops. The class that summits the most box tops by Oct 23^rd will receive a pizza Party. The money St Matthews earns from the box tops will go to our teachers’ continuous education fund. What a great way to give back to our teachers! Visit http://www.boxtops4education.com to earn more points for our school.

• Book Fair: Erin Brook and Heather Hardeman presented information about our Book Fair. It will happen November 2^nd thru 5^th. Teacher wish lists for their classrooms will be posted at the Book Fair. This book fair will raise money to purchase books for our new library!

• Parent Education Seminars: Danette Koebele will be sending out information soon about our next seminar. She hopes to have an Introduction to Love and Logic session at the end of the month.

• Mentoring: St. Matthew’s has started a new program for new families to St. Matthew’s. If there are any new parents that would like to have mentor family, please get in contact with Missy Ward.

• Box Tops: Please continue to turn in your Box Tops. Our fall deadline will be October 23^rd. The money earned from this program goes toward teacher’s enrichment programs. The class that collects the most Box Tops will earn a pizza party.

• Golf Tournament: Our golf tournament will happen Monday, November 9^th at Lost Creek Country Club. Tee-off will happen at noon. We are definitely in need of golfers and sponsors. It will be $125 to golf per person, which includes a goody bag and pizza lunch. It costs $500 to sponsor a hole for this tournament. Please see Paul Huggins at Fall Festival (he will have a table) if you have any questions about this event. The funds from this program will go toward our financial aid program.

• Our Next Parent Council Meeting will be November 12^th. Everyone is invited to attend!

Fall Fest This Friday!

Be sure to come out and support St. Matthew's during our Fall Fest!  It will happen come rain or shine :)

We have been working very hard on the class pumpkins that will be up for auction!  Here is a sneak peek at the "Witch Carousel"... I cut out the witches and the kids painted them :)

Here is "Miss Gobble" (thank you Lauren, Henry's mom for painting her).  Her tail feathers will be made of the kids' handprints and lollypops!  Thank you Sandy (Allison's Mom) and Jackie (Claire's mom) for getting all of the handprints.  I can't wait to see the final product at the Fall Fest!!!

This is the big fundraiser of the night... Be sure to place your bids ;) 

Fire Safety Week & Reminders

On Monday the firefighters came to visit us, talk about fire safety and show us the firetruck.  It was very exciting especially when they got called away on a "fire emergency!"  We were so lucky that the firemen were able to return later that morning so everyone had a chance to go inside the firetruck if they wanted to :)  A few important things the firemen talk to us about were:

• If there is a fire, do not hide!  It is important to "stay low and go!"
• Call 9-1-1 if there is an emergency.
• Do not be afraid of the firemen - they are there to help (a fireman got dressed in the full gear and mask to show the kids what a fireman will look like)
• If your clothes catch on fire, you should "stop, drop & roll!"
• Please check your smoke detectors at home

Be sure to turn in your money for school pictures by Friday.  You can put them inside the hanging folder that says "Return to office" and I'll turn it in for you or you may bring to the office yourself.

Fall Fest is this Friday @ 5:30-8:00

• Be sure to sign up for a booth slot and the bake sale if you can.
• Come and check out our class pumpkins - they will be auctioned of at the Fall Fest!
• Don't forget to buy dinner, raffle and carnival tickets in advance.
• Sponsorships are still needed so if you can, please "pick a leave" and take it the office to help support this fun event.

I want to thank those of you who have sent in your money for the Clifford class magazine!  If you haven't, you can turn in your $5 any time.  Just put in the hanging folder that says "Mrs. Bonura" on it.

The Fun Farm Unit Comes To An End...

This is the last week of our Farm Unit. We have had so much fun these last two weeks! I think the best was the visit from Farmer Fry and his animals. Be sure to ask your child which animal did s/he like best :) One thing we learned from the animals visit was that not all pigs are pink! Some are brown, red, black and some are even black & white like a cow! If you haven't viewed the pictures, they are picasa. We also learned that not only to farms have animals but they grow vegetables on farms. With some of the vegetables that were grown on a farm but bought in a grocery store, the kids created "Vegetable Prints." Pictures of that process can be found in September's Photo Album. We learned several fun "farm" songs like "Old McDonald" (in music class we sang "Old McDonald had a band!") , "The Farmer & the Dell", "Tiny Tim"... There were several farm themed books that we read(& will read on Friday) - "On the Farm", "Vegetable Soup", "The Little Read Hen"...

During the last couple of weeks I have also introduced the concept of a LINE. We talked about different types lines - straight, curvy, zig zag. Then we practiced drawing all kinds of lines with dry erase markers and we practiced walking in straight lines ;) Drawing a line from top to bottom and from left to right is step one of learning to write letters! *I am not emphasizing that we use the lines to create letters - we are just having lots of fun drawing right now because there should be no pressure on them at this stage.

• On Wednesday, we had fun celebrating Trevor's 4th birthday!
• On Friday, we have a few parent volunteers coming into help the class decorate a pumpkin for Fall Fest's Pumpkin Auction.
• Next Monday, starts a week of Fire Safety along with a visit from the local Firemen and a firetruck!
• Do not forget to purchase your Fall Fest Tickets in advance - Fall Fest is on the 9th!