december07

If you have not been by the school in a while you’ll be glad to know that the foundations have been poured for the new front addition and the classroom addition in back by the gym. The steel is also starting to go up. I’m hoping for good weather so that the progress can continue.

The PTA is hosting their annual Breakfast With Santa on Saturday, December 8^th from 8-11:00. This is always a big event and I hope you can attend. There will be notices coming home in the Monday folders with details for this fun morning. Special thanks to Teresa Adams for all her hard work in coordinating this event.

We are about to finish our second quarter of school and it is important that you continue to monitor your child’s grades. Please make sure you stay in communication with your child’s teacher and that you as parents carefully review the Monday papers. We want every child to succeed and completing homework on time is a vital part of learning. The homework the teachers send home reinforces what is taught at school.

Every year, we have many jackets that are never claimed by students. We end up donating these unclaimed jackets to charity. Please help us out by doing the following:

* Please help teach your child to be responsible with his/her coat. If you know they did not come home with their jacket, ask them to bring it home. If they say they can not find it, have them check the lost jacket area.

We had a great turn out for “Donuts with Dad”! The children had a wonderful time showing off their dads, uncles, grandfathers or special man and eating all the donuts too. A big thank you to Kim Schnautz and all the moms who helped make the day special.

Don’t forget to pre-order your 2007-2008 Armstrong yearbook. The yearbooks are currently priced at $17 and they will be on sale until December 3rd. The price will be $22 in May when the books come in.

The holidays are fast approaching and Santa’s on his way to Armstrong. Mark your calendars for SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8 from 8:00 – 11:00 a.m. Come and enjoy a free breakfast with Santa and get your picture taken with him, too ($5). There will also be lots of fun and games. This year we will have “Build A Reindeer” for $10. We hope to see you there.

Remember to keep your child home if he or she has a temperature of 100.0, vomiting, and/or diarrhea. This indicates a good possibility of an infection that could be passed to others. If fever is present your child should not return to school until fever free for 24 hours without fever reducer. This ensures the health of other students.

Also, I have had students bringing medications from home. This is not allowed. This is a district-wide policy and for the safety of every child. It pertains to prescription, over-the-counter, and even cough drops. A parent must bring medications to the clinic and sign a permission form so I can dispense it to your child. If you have any questions please call or stop by the clinic, I'll be happy to speak with you.

Thank you so much for your support during Children’s Book Week. We had a great time discussing and sharing books with our students. Hopefully you had a chance to talk about your favorite books with your child. Congratulations goes to Montana Smith, Ciera Miller, Jessica Haas, Jesse Adams, and Austin Nash for being winners of the guess the book contest that was held each day. These students received a free book.

Our shelf elf, Skoob has awarded the Golden Shelf Elf Awards for the first nine weeks. Students earn Skoob Sparkles for their class by listening quietly during storytime and putting books where they belong on the shelves. The following classes received the Golden Shelf Elf Award for having the most Skoob Sparkles in their grade: 1^st grade – Mrs. Laura Meijer’s class, 2^nd grade – Mrs. Penny Baker’s class, 3^rd grade – Mrs. Paola Gorman’s class, and 4^th grade – Mrs. Pam Frazier’s class.

With the holidays just around the corner, I would like to ask that you to help your child keep up with their library books during the break. This is the most common time of year for books to become lost or damaged. Often, they get left behind at relatives’ houses or in cars while traveling. If your child chooses to take a library book on a trip, please double check to make sure it comes back home.

We will start breaking words into syllables and following conversational rules. Daily reading will help our students understand that illustrations carry meaning and that books have a title and an author. They will also be able to predict what will happen next in the story.

In mathematics our children will learn to count in ones until ten or higher, and to recognize the concept of zero.We will work on the proper use of words such as “today” and “tomorrow” and link yesterday’s activities with what will happen today.

December is a wonderful month for Kindergarten students. We are learning about holiday and family traditions and different customs. We will be reading lots of holiday stories and doing different holiday activities that represent every custom. In literacy, we will be learning about the beginning sounds of a word, reading high frequency words and the meaning of words. For math, we will be working on 2-D and 3-D figures and comparing attributes. We will be sharing stories which we have written in the past and will be writing fantastic holiday stories.

Keep your eye out for more information about our parent involvement day. We will be watching Polar Express and drinking hot chocolate. You will receive more information on this fun day in our weekly newsletters.

Remember that by the end of December our students need to know all sounds and letters of the alphabet, around 13 sight words, be able to recognize and write numbers 0-20 and be able to count to 50. Keep working with your child and he/she will get there!

December is packed with exciting activities for first graders. We will explore natural resources and how trees can be used by people and animals. Also, we will learn and write about different cultures and customs around the world during the holiday season. In reading, students are practicing to retell the characters, setting, problem, and solution along with the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Please have your child practice retelling stories that they read with you, including the books they bring home in their book bag. In math, students are solving addition and subtraction equations, counting pennies and dimes, telling time to the hour, and constructing and interpreting graphs. Please remember to send a coat to school with your child to keep them comfortable during recess if the weather is cold outside.

In First Grade we have learned about the 5 food groups. You need mostly grains! Grains are healthy for you and give you energy that lasts a long time. My favorite grain is bread. Learning about the food groups will keep me healthy for the rest of my life.

The grandparent celebration was a huge success. We were happy to visit with those who could attend. Your child will have a math benchmark on December 13. The test is to measure what he/she has learned so far this year. Please keep practicing your addition facts, sums to 18. Also, we are beginning our 100 problem speed test using subtraction facts, differences to 18. In science we are studying the human body. Your child will learn how organs help each other to make his/her body work. All that valuable time spent reading with your children at home is paying off! Many children are now beginning to read chapter books. Hopefully, all will achieve the goal of 25 AR points by December 15!

We have been busy in second grade. We've been getting ready for Grandparent's Day. We wrote autobiographies, we made cards, and a time line for our grandparents. In Science, we watched ladybugs grow from larva to adults. Then we let them go free. In Math we are learning to add two digit numbers. We have had fun learning!

During the month of November our third graders at Armstrong Elementary School were hard at work.~ In science we have been studying earthquakes and volcanoes.~ The children have absolutely loved the hands on models!~

What an exciting way to get students prepared for the TAKS test with our Reading Literacy Centers. The students are busy analyzing characters, settings, plots, solutions and many more story elements. They are also constructing words and stories to read and share with one another.

In math we are studying money.~ We are busy adding up different coin and bill combinations and making change for our “purchases”.~~ Each day we also try to solve an addition, subtraction or multiplication word problem.~ The students really like to figure which type of operation they will be using to solve the problems.~ We are also trying to master our multiplication facts.~In social studies, we have been learning and researching interesting facts about famous inventors. In conclusion, students had the opportunity to make a card for a soldier thanking him for protecting our nation.

I really love third grade! I can’t believe that we have been in school for almost four months. Reading is one of my favorite subjects because we do activities and projects that help us understand what the writer is talking about. We are also studying important writers like Barbara Park author of Junie B. Jones and how our imagination can help us write interesting stories. In math we have been counting faster by using our multiplication facts. For social studies we learned facts about famous inventors who helped design city, state and country maps. Finally, we also learned that earthquakes and volcanoes change the way our land looks.

As we approach this holiday season, we are reminded that our school year is half over. In this short time, the children have matured, grown and developed better skills.

This month in science, we are studying weathering, erosion, and deposition. In social studies, Texas heroes and the Texas Revolution will be our main objectives.In writing, we are enjoying developing different types of creative stories by using better word choice, figurative language and using our five senses. In reading, the students are studying different types of genres and discriminating whether a written piece is fact or opinion. Please continue having your child read at least 30 minutes nightly and check his or her homework.

A special thank you to all our parents who volunteered their time to help make J.A. Biztown a success. The fourth grade teachers would like to wish you and all your family members a safe and joyous holiday season.

This last month we have been working on really cool stuff! On November 1^st, we went to J.A. Biztown. It was so awesome! I worked in the newspaper shop that day. I got to pretend I was a young adult. That has been the best day ever so far during the school year. In language, we got to design a house and work on our description. I built a workshop house and I got to decorate it. I colored mine with markers, and put chairs, a bed, and a mini table. I made it really colorful. That was a lot of fun.

In art we are looking forward to December and some fun holiday projects. Many students will be putting the finishing touches on their western art. Then, Mrs. Sharp will have the most difficult task of selecting 8 western

art pictures from over 500 to go to the Western Art Show in January. A special group of 4^th graders have been creating murals set to music by composer Richard Strauss. One of the murals will be chosen to represent Armstrong at The Woodlands Symphony performance in February. Happy holidays to all!

All is going well in the land of music here at Armstrong. The fourth graders are working on their program that will take place on Dec.18 at 9:00 am in the cafeteria. It is sure to be a wonderful musical experience, so I hope that

you plan to attend. In third grade we will begin learning the fundamentals of reading music in preparation for playing the recorder. Second graders are working on expanding their understanding of the Solfege method of singing,

while kindergarten and first graders are starting to learn the basics of singing. Kindergarten and first graders will also continue to work on keeping a steady beat and simple rhythms.

Last month we had a great time doing the heart challenge and learning about the heart. This month we will be working on hand eye coordination in our Frisbee unit. Our mileage club continues on Fridays, so please make sure your child is dressed appropriately, wears tennis shoes, and brings a water bottle. Doing these things help to ensure that your child has fun, is safe, and stays hydrated. We wish you and your family Happy Holidays!