Mrs.

Mays Messenger
January 27, 2011
What We Have Learned This Week: We began a Jan Brett author study this
week in shared reading. We have read many exciting stories and admired her lovely illustrations throughout many books, but our favorite so far is The Mitten. It is a Ukranian folktale that she has retold about a little boy who loses one of his mittens in the forest. Looking for warmth on a cold winter day, nine animals crawl into the mitten. All of the animals are snug and warm until a little field mouse crawls in. After comparing Jan Bretts version of The Mitten to Alvin Tresselts original story, the kids decided that they liked Jan Bretts adaptation better. So, they each made a paper mitten and animal puppets to go along with the story. Your child would like to retell this story to you using their homemade mitten and paper animals. Some more Jan Brett books we read this week include, Hedgies Surprise, Berlioz, the Bear, and Honey Honey Lion! If you would like to learn more about Jan Brett, please visit her website at www.janbrett.com. We have also done A LOT of comparing and contrasting the characters and stories by Jan Brett through the use of Venn diagrams, T charts, and sequencing graphs. Im secretly preparing the kids for a new center that I am going to implement soon. I plan on splitting the Art & Writing Center into two separate centers. Now that your sweet babies are so much more independent in their writing, I think they would love to have the chance to do some creative writing activities. So, in our new Writing Center, I will have some new materials for them to use (i.e., blank letters, lists, Venn diagrams, T graphs, books, etc.). I cant wait!! Ill let you know

Dates to Remember
T 2/7 Chick-fil-a Night (Magnolia Ave.) W 2/8 Valentines due M 2/13 PTA Meeting @ 6:00pm M 2/20 No School (Presidents Day Holiday)
As we continue to emphasize important character traits, such as being kind and generous to others, a parent of one of the children in our class has asked to coordinate a food bank project with the kids. If you would like to participate, please have your child bring a non-perishable item (canned or boxed food) to school during the next two weeks. Our classroom food drive will begin Monday, Jan. 30th, and conclude on Friday, Feb. 10th. Thank you for your willingness to help others.

Valentines Day On Friday, February 10th we will have our Valentines Day celebration. (This celebration will not require parent volunteers or refreshments, however, the students may attach treats/candies to their valentines if they wish.) In class, the children will each make a special valentine mailbox for the cards they will receive. Your child will need to bring his or her completed valentine cards to school by Wednesday, Feb. 8th. The cards should already be addressed for each student in our classroom. For your convenience, a class list is provided on the back.

Have a wonderful weekend!!! ~Mrs. Kristin May

when its fully executed.

Mrs. Mays Class List

20 children Girls Leslie Ann Chase Abby Church Sara Church Mackenzie Farr
Hannah Grace McHugh

Kimani Rudolph Caroline Smith Emma Thornton Lucy Zuniga

Boys Henry Allen Xavier Allen Miles Bernstein Cooper Fain Jordan Franklin Benjamin Godbold Jacob Kent Fredrick Lewis Nicholas Martine Marshall Porter Davis Smith 11 boys

9 girls