Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school! A few new changes for everyone to be aware of:

• Jack is back! Jack was gone for a few months and has come back to us safe and sound, so our class number is back up to 26 and we are a whole class once again!


• Our class has been chosen for a very special opportunity - having a student teacher! Miss Maggie Sciales (pronounced ski alice) comes to us from Boise State University and will be with us all semester. She will graduate with her teaching degree this spring. She is excited to be with us and the kids are equally excited to have two teachers to love and adore them.


• New schoolwide expectations will be rolled out next week. There will be an assembly next Thursday to explain the new expectations for the students.

That's all for now - have a great weekend!

Christmas Party!

Our Christmas Party will be held on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 from 12:45-1:45. Each student needs to bring a wrapped dollar store gift that would be appropriate for a girl or a boy. We will then be able to play a gift exchange game and everyone will end up with a prize! We will also need treats and volunteers to be here. Please let me know in advance if you want to bring something or if you want to be here. The kids really enjoyed decorating a cookie last time so we could do that again to. I really appreciate all of your support.

P.S. I know in these economic times it may be difficult to provide a wrapped gift - please let me know as soon as possible so that I can find another way for your child to have a gift. If you wait until the last minute to inform me, I won't be able to help out and they may not get to participate.

Christmas Food Drive

Every year our school likes to donate "kid friendly" food items to the Middleton Food Bank. This year we are focusing on Peanut Butter, Jelly (not homemade), and Cereal. Of course, you are also welcome to donate any other non perishable items as well. These donated items go to helping our community's families. Send items to school this week and next. Thanks in advance for your donations!

Apangea Challenge

There is an Apangea Challenge going on for the month of November. The more kids log on and participate, the more likely we will earn a prize! Apangea is a great math website that kids can earn individual prizes and now for the month of November class prizes as well!

Book Club Online

Miss Young, one of our Gifted and Talented teachers, has set up a book club blog online for the kids at Mill Creek. Any student can participate at any time. Check out the books, read, and respond!

http://msdgtfamilies.blogspot.com

Have Fun!

Book Orders

I sent home a number of book order packets. There are a few ways to order. You can send the order form back to school with a check attached made out to Scholastic. Or you can order online! Go to http://www.scholastic.com/ and follow these steps:

1. go to book clubs page and sign up. Register and pick a password. When prompted, use the one time class code: HDX4T. This code ensures that the orders are sent to my class which earns us free books for the classroom!

2. Select the books you would like to order. There are many more books available online than just the ones I sent home.

3. Send your orders to me by the due date written on the paper orders sent home.

Progress Reports

Progress reports were ready last week, I hope you had a chance to see them. We have a great class this year and I hope it continues! We are learning a lot about how to respect each other, our teacher, and all the other teachers in the building. Let's make it a great year!