3 More Things

Please do not wear your costume to school tomorrow. If you choose to dress up, please bring it in a bag and we will change into them before the party. Remember, no weapons, please. We will start lining up for the parade at about 1:10. All are welcome to watch!

Turn in your October Pizza Hut Book It! calendars. A November calendar will go home today. If you ever lose a calendar, just make another one or find one online. Students need to read 25 minutes a day for 20 days a month in order to receive a coupon for a free personal pizza.

There is no school next Friday, November 6th in honor of Veteran's Day.

What's New?

Today Opera for the Young came to Longfellow. Students have been learning songs from "The Elixir of Love" in music class so they knew some of the songs from the opera.
We are working in our 2nd reading unit: Shadows. This also ties into our first science unit we'll start soon. If you don't know all your letters yet, keep working at home. We are now putting sounds together with the letters.
In math we've started a new game called "Buzz" to help us with our skip counting. We're pretty good at counting by 10s, but counting by 5s is difficult for many.
Reminder: if you do not come in the building with our class, you are late. Please go around to the front and check in with the office for a tardy slip. The office has been repeatedly reminding teachers to send children around to the front. Thank you for your help with this.

UNICEF boxes

Our Student Council is sponsoring the UNICEF boxes that go home today. Money collected helps kids around the world! You choose if and how you want your family to participate. Some students just ask friends and family for donations; others take it with them trick-or-treating. They are due back by Thursday, November 5.

Halloween

Are you ready?! (I'm 0 for 5 on costume stores in search of my costume - no luck yet!) Please don't include any weapons (swords, guns, light sabers, etc) as part of your costume at school.

We will celebrate Halloween on Friday, October 30th. The whole school will be on a different schedule that day:
The morning is from 8-12.
Lunch is from 12-12:55.
The afternoon is from 12:55-2:55.

We start lining up for the all school parade at 1:10. Because we have P.E. and music the last hour of the day, our party will be in the morning. We'll start around 10:30 - thanks to Macy's mom and all the room parents for organizing! Students may wear their costumes for the party and the parade, but NOT for lunch, which means they will have to get in and out of them. Parents have volunteered to help with that - thanks!

Many Longfellow families do not celebrate Halloween. If your family does not celebrate, please let me know if I can make alternative arrangements for your child.

The Pumpkin Festival is Thursday, 10/29, and Friday, 10/30. Look for details in the Thursday packet.

Conference Week

I look forward to meeting with families this week! Students are welcome at the conference, but it is your choice whether or not to bring them. Please do your best to be on time to your conference as many are back-to-back. A few things to remember this week:

• Thursday and Friday are half days. Students will be dismissed at 11am.
• Check out the Book Fair until 7:30pm now through Thursday and until noon on Friday.
• There are MANY items in the Lost and Found, which is currently on a table in the front hallway. If you've lost anything, check it out!
• Friday morning is our Staff Switch Day. Our class is looking forward to 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Lorenzi (formerly known as Miss Martin) being the teacher that morning. I will be the librarian for Mrs. Pearce!
  

Sight Words

Our Word Wall has 9 words now: a, an, and, here, I, is, see, the, we. Students don't have to worry about spelling them; I want them to read the words at first "sight." I checked students today to see which words they knew and sent notes home accordingly. Practicing those words just a few minutes a night would be a big help! Reading the paper decodable books help students practice these words.

Book It!

An orange calendar went home yesterday, marking the beginning of the Pizza Hut Book It! program. Your regular kindergarten homework is to read 20 minutes every night. If you can read an extra five minutes a night for 20 nights of the month, you will earn a coupon for a free personal pizza. Mark you calendar with a smiley face each night you read for 25 minutes; this could mean the child is reading, or an adult is reading to the child. Turn it in to me at the end of the month. If you ever lose the calendar, just make another one on your own or find one on the web and mark it as you would the orange one. Students who earn a coupon all five months (Oct-
Feb) will also be invited to a pizza lunch at school in the spring! Happy reading!