It's hard to believe that November is here!!!  It will be Christmas before we know it.  We have a fun month planned…a little less hectic than October, I hope.  Fall Festival was fun, but it sure is a lot of work! Our kids had a great time decorating our booth.  We had live models to trace for Alvin and the Chipmunks…what fun!  Then, they carefully cut each one, made curly chipmunk hair and dressed the characters.  So much work, but a lot of fun, too!  Our booth was definitely a crowd pleaser that night.  Over 900 children played our Pitch-a-Dish and Book Nook games.

The next week, we spent lots of time preparing for our roles in the Book Character Style Show.  Mrs. Hoskins does a great job organizing this special event.  Our whole class was Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang.  

This month, we will be reading Stone Soup.  We'll collaborate with Mrs. Slade's class to cook the soup and have a little get together later next week.  From there, we'll study nutrition with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  We'll sort foods into food groups and learn to tell the difference between healthy and unhealthy food choices.

October will be such an exciting time in our classroom!  We have two trips planned…one to Evans Orchard with our third grade friends, and another to see "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" later in the month.  At the orchard, we hope to find apples and pumpkins, and will take a picnic lunch with us.  

We are still making plans for the outing to see the play.  Check our newsletter and blog to see the details soon.  We are going to see the 10am showing and will have lunch before we come home.  We have friends at another school who will be busy building a playground that day…and, oh, how we would love to visit them! 

Remember, the fall festival will be October 23rd!  Please make plans to come and tell all of your friends!  You should have received an orange paper with details about how you can help.  Lots of parent help will be needed to make this festival a success.  Thanks in advance for all you do for our kids!

Mark your calendars:

Oct. 1st……………………………………………………………….. Safety Day (4th grade)

Oct. 7th………………………………………………………………. trip to Evans Orchard

Oct. 8th………………………………………………………………. CATS celebration

Oct. 11-15th………………………………………………………….. Fall break

Oct. 18th………………………………………………………………. PTC meeting @6:00pm

Oct. 20th………………………………………………………………. play "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"

Oct. 23rd………………………………………………………………. Fall Festival (with chili supper and games)

Oct. 27th………………………………………………………………. Book Character Dress Up Day

Oct. 29th………………………………………………………………. Halloween parties (see grade level letters)

 A huge thank you to every grandparent, parent, teacher and friend who visited our yard sale a couple of weeks ago.  We had a tremendous crowd, and learned so much along the way.  This experience helps prepare us for life in the 'real world'.  We spent days sorting items, making signs, baking goodies, mixing lemonade, carrying boxes, folding clothes, and best of all…communicating with the public.  Everyone was so patient and we are once again very grateful to be living in such a warm, caring community. 

FYI  Our sale helps supply our classroom with books from our book fair, groceries to use in our new kitchen, an occasional lunch in town (to practice menu math and reading) and much more!  Thanks for your generosity…and look for us this time next year!  Grandparents are something special!

Thanks to many people who have tried to make our hot days more bearable.  Ms. Marshall and Mr. Slade have donated fans…Ms. Tutewiler and Ms. Hoskins have offered cool spaces for us to hang out.  Our trip to the Country Club pool came at a great time!  Mr. Maintenance Man has stopped by to work on the air many times, and we are hopeful that tomorrow will be the last.  We'll keep our fingers crossed…

I know that this hot weather has caused problems throughout the county and we are not the only ones who have suffered. The kids have been real troupers, though, and our colleagues have been great. We are grateful.

We are finally getting settled in and are off to a great start.  The kids have done a beautiful job with the transition back into school.  They are thrilled with our new space…we just can't even believe it's ours!  We have already hosted Ms. Slade's class for a little Back to School celebration.  We performed the play "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and baked chocolate chip cookies for our friends in our new kitchen.  Of course, our timing could have been better…with our A/C not working, it was probably 112 degrees in that room!  But,we had a good time and look forward to many more Read It and Eat It parties.  Visitors are always welcome!

On the calendar:

  August 21st…………………………………………………………………………………………………………Happy Birthday, Aaron!

  September 4th……………………………………………………………………………………………………..Happy Birthday, Phoebe!

  September 7,8 and 10th……………………………………………………………………..Our annual Yard Sale (and Bake Sale, too)

  September 8 and 10 (Wed. and Fri.)…………………………………………………………………………………Grandparents' Day(s) 

As we approach the last weeks of school, please take note of the following trips/events:

May 20th 5th grade to Boone Tavern

May 21st  PTC hosts Staff Appreciation luncheon

              Thanks to our parent volunteers for giving their time and enthusiasm so we can enjoy lunch!

May 26th  Dylan's birthday!

May 27th   1st grade to Galactic Alley

May 28th  Field Day  (for all grades)

June 1st   3rd grade to Galactic Alley

June 3rd   Awards Day at 1:00

June 4th last 1/2 day of school

Dylan will celebrate his birthday on May 26th.  Happy Birthday, Dylan!

We will acknowledge all of our summer birthdays the last week of school! 

 Those are:  Ms. Donna Gayle, Ms. Megan, Dustin, Ella, and Alicia!

We are so grateful to Fifth Third Bank for sharing their Lexington Legends box with us!  Plus, the abundance of food was magnificent!  It is the absolute best field trip we take and we will post pictures soon so you can enjoy it, too!  We are always hopeful that our team will win, but the magic of the day remains the same.  Wow…

This is one of two scheduled conference times throughout the school year.  Please sign up to visit with us in the next week or so. 

Ashley and I just finished our second evening of conferences, but we'd love to see every family during this time.  Just fill out the sign-up sheet that we sent home, or call school to let us know.  We can meet during the school day if that is the only time you can come in…we just need to know ahead of time. 

Thanks so much to every parent who has taken time to see us so far.  Your involvement is so important to your child's success in school and we value your input.  After all, you are the expert on your child. 

This month brings a lot of fun themes our way.  We have already celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd, and enjoyed many "Seussical" activities along the way. 

Last Friday, we went to the high school to cheer Eastside students in the Battle of the Books.

Due to weather and illness, we rescheduled our bowling trip for Friday, March 12th.  We will leave school just before 10:00 and return by 2:00.  We will order at the grill and eat lunch there.  It's a perfect opportunity for the kids to order and pay for their food in an unhurried environment. 

Wednesday, March 17th is Saint Patrick's Day!  Please wear green!  We will have green snacks and drinks to celebrate.  Parents, you are welcome to send in something green if you wish…broccoli, celery, cucumbers, green pepper, kiwi, spinach leaves, green grapes, etc.  We'll make green jigglers at school.  It's a great way to get kids to try something green for the first time!  Yum! 

Ms. Ashley and Ruben will celebrate their birthdays on the same day…March 23rd.  Although Ruben moved in December, we still miss him and wish him a very happy birthday! 

On March 24th, Bill Meck will visit Eastside's 4th graders! 

Natalie Kinsey Warnock will be Eastside's featured author on Wednesday, March 31st.