Ruth Ann's Class Blog

Sometimes it all comes together! The morning started with everyone returning from vacation and being heartily greeted by their classmates. Then Daniel pulled off his jacket to expose his blue m&m shirt. He could not have known that yesterday afternoon I loaded our letter bag with objects beginning with M.

When I began pulling out the objects he quickly realized the new letter was M. I had forgotten about the old pack of m&ms until I pulled it out and the children squealed with delight. They discussed whether they should eat the old candy or Daniel. I had to intervene with a "rain on your parade" no to both. When it came time to retrieve my fruit break I was again surprised by a package of m&ms in my lunchbox. My husband packed for me today and must have snuck them in. I don't eat them as as rule but even I know when to seize an obvious opportunity! So each child got three m&ms before recess to celebrate listening (to the letter sound), learning and being sweet.

We are currently do a Jan Brett unit and read "The Mitten" this week. Since we are still collecting mittens and gloves we had examples available and discussed how mitten designs usually match each other if you turn the mittens so the thumbs face each other. I gave them blank paper mittens to create their own design for hanging up with the real mittens. As you might guess, our Mitten Match designs are very colorful and would never be in danger of being lost in the snow.

Are you catching the whole M theme here? They even learned the "Monkey' song and how to dance the Macarana in music!

We are also beginning to make "100" crafts as we near our 100th day of school. Today is day 73 and I announced they would do a project at home to surprise their classmates with during our celebration. Each child needs to make something with 100 items included. This could be as simple as pinning 100 ribbons to a shirt to wear on that day or making a collage poster with 100 pictures. They will of course need your help and should keep it a secret from their classmates. Keeping the secret from me is optional and sometimes impossible.

While we are about a month away from the big day it probably would be helpful to begin talking with your child. I find they will begin with 0 ideas which evolves to numerous ideas, many of which are time intensive, and will need more time and discussion to pare it down to a few practical ideas.

During our Jan Brett unit we will take out about a week to prepare for the Lunar New Year. We will have crafts, food and learn about the ways many Asians celebrate. I will be taking a Chinese approach to this holiday so you will hear reference to the "Chinese" New Year and the foods I prepare will be the recipes used by my Chinese friends.

Wow, I always think of January as the longest and more boring month of the year. If this January is any indication, this will be a very busy year. Fasten your seat belts because we're going to move full speed ahead!