Hello. I would like to apologize to you for not letting you know in advance that I would not be at school last Wednesday. My husband has been experiencing excruciating back/ leg pain since New Year's Day, and the hospital arranged on Tuesday (our most recent Ice/snow day) to give him an MRI on Wednesday (the next day), so there wasn't any advanced notice. The doctors are trying to reduce the swelling of some disks in his back, but surgery may be on our horizon. Several of you asked if my dad had worsened, and if that was why I was not there. My father (88) broke three ribs several weeks ago in a fall, and has been in a rehab facility recovering since then. He's doing okay right now.
Well, I've looked at the weather forecast, and though there are snow showers predicted for mid-week, it should not affect our being at school for an ENTIRE week! Wow! We will be skiing (RugRats) again this Thursday, as well as for the two remaining Thursdays leading up to February vacation--RugRats ends on the week before vacation. As usual, we will leave school Thursday at 12:30pm, and will leave the mountain at 3:35 pm. If you have not stated on your bus note for the week who is picking up your child on Thursday, and where they are being picked up, you can expect a note asking you for that information to come home on Tuesday.
This past Friday was your child's first spelling test of the year. He or she was given five words on Tuesday (that they needed to learn by Friday) that were different for most kids in the room. If your child was able to spell all five words, he or she will receive five NEW words today. If he or she did not pass all five last Friday, he or she will receive the SAME five words to try to learn again. Hopefully, this week he or she will be able to pass them all. In either case, please put today's spelling work paper somewhere both you and your child can see the words all week (like magnetized to the frig?). We practice these words at school, but even 5 minutes of practice of them at home with you each night would go a long way. Thanks!
You should have received your child's progress report (2 copies) and NWEA scores last Friday. The NWEA report is yours to keep. Please sign one of the progress reports and return it to school for your child's records here. The other copy is for you to keep. If you have any questions about the progress report, please give me a call or write me a note, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Mrs. Raymond is still collecting gallon milk jugs for her intended Reading Igloo project. Please send any RINSED gallon milk jugs (with their covers) to the library. Thank you.
Please find enclosed a copy of the Class Valentines List. Your child does NOT have to make or buy valentines for the class, but if he or she wishes to give valentines, then we respectfully request that they include a valentine for each member of our class. In that way, we hope to avoid hurt feelings of anyone who might get "left out" or forgotten. (Next Monday, we are supposed to get a new student--a boy named Logan Johnson. I have put his name on our valentine list, since he is expected to be here by Valentine's Day. ) If you do choose to do valentines, they may be home-made or purchased from the store. Valentine's Day is on Wednesday this year, so why don't we start bringing them into school on Monday, February 12. The kids will each have made a Valentine's "mailbox" to hold them by then. We will have a very small Valentine's party that afternoon, but this party will be entirely MY TREAT!!! We will have one more party at the end of the year, so anyone DYING to provide treats for a party can do so in June. Thanks.
As you may or may not know, the PTA is sponsoring on a "Someone Special" dance on February 15th. This dance is for families to attend together, in place of a "Daddy and Daughters" or "Mommy and Sons" dance--families are not always organized along those lines these days. The "Someone Special" in the title of this dance is meant to be an adult or adults that are part of these childrens' lives. It is meant to be a family dance, and so at least one adult must be present with their children. Students are not permitted to bring other students as their guest. There is no charge for this event. Refreshments will be available to purchase, and that money will go into the Activity account to bring interesting events to CPS, like "family coding night", or "Amazing Science night", activities coming up in the near future.
That's all for this week. I'll be in touch again next weekend.
