TRAILS and STEPS fun day!

Today (12/18/14) we traveled over to the MS to visit our friends in the STEPS program.  We had a great afternoon of movie watching and snacking.  This morning, the students in the TRAILS program made "Reindeer Chow" to bring to our little party.  The kids has a great time visiting with their friends and I loved seeing my "old dogs" in the STEPS program!

Here is the Reindeer Chow recipe:
Reindeer Chow

December 15-19

We are in the final stretch before Christmas break...how crazy is that?!?  This will be a busy/exciting week, so please remind your child that we need good workers this week, so we can have fun at our party on Friday! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and friends!  Happy New Year as well!  See you all in 2015!!!

WOW (word of the week): And

# of week: 15

Letter of week: Oo

Stories: What Comes From Plants

 Animal books review/test

Upcoming dates:

12/18/14: Christmas movie @ MS with STEPS

12/19/14: Christmas Hat Day, Christmas Party Day

1/8/15: Annual Review Day

Reminders:

• Dress properly for cooler weather: hats/gloves/warm coats
• Please review the district's policy on illness.  If your child is sick or not feeling well, please keep them home.

• Review math/reading flash cards
• Send a snack with your child daily
• Make sure hw, books, and notebooks come back to school each day
• Tuesday is Library day
• Give your child jobs to do at home

Mall Trip

Our mall trip last Friday was excellent!  The mall was busy with holiday shoppers and a new store opening.  We got all of our shopping done and had a nice visit with Santa Claus.  It was great to see our friends from the STEPS and PATH programs as well!

December 8-12

The kids had a great week last week! This time of year can be very difficult because the kids are so excited for Christmas and break. Simon (classroom Elf) brought the class a new story Friday because they have been working so hard. Tell your kids to keep up the good work! :)

WOW (word of the week): That

# of week: 14

Letter of week: Nn

Stories: The Story of the Statue

  Animal books review/test

Upcoming dates:

12/12/14: Casual Day, Louis-Joliet Mall Trip

12/18/14: Christmas movie @ MS with STEPS

12/19/14: Christmas Hat Day, Christmas Party Day

Reminders:

• Students need to have: hats/gloves/warm coats

• Review math/reading flash cards
• Send a snack with your child daily
• Make sure hw, books, and notebooks come back to school each day
• Tuesday is Library day
• Give your child jobs to do at home

* For the mall trip on 12/12/14, students will need money for lunch or a completely disposable lunch.  Students can bring money and their shopping list to buy gifts for 2-3 people.

Flat Stanley

This school year, we have been reading and learning about Flat Stanley and all his different adventures.  At the end of last school year, I made a Flat Stanley for my brother-in-law, who is a Chemistry Professor at The University of Iowa.  At least once a year, my brother-in-law (Scott) goes out to Stanford University in CA to do research.  When he went to Stanford this past summer, he took his Flat Stanley with him and taught him all about Chemistry and the equipment/machines his team uses for their research.

Here is the link to the Daly Research Group website (look under the Outreach heading).  You can see Stanley's Chemistry adventures!!

Daly Research Group

December 1-5

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving Day and break!  I can’t believe it’s December and Christmas is right around the corner!  Simon (our classroom elf) has made his way back to visit us this year, so I’m sure you’ll be hearing all kinds of stories about him.

WOW: Saw

# of week: 13

Letter of week: Mm

Stories: Garrett Morgan and the Traffic Signal

    Chicken

Upcoming dates:

12/4/14: CC Public Library Trip

12/5/14: Sports Day

12/12/14: Casual Day, Louis-Joliet Mall Trip (more info to come)

12/18/14: Christmas movie @ MS with STEPS

12/19/14: Christmas Hat Day

Reminders:

• Dress properly for cooler weather: hats/gloves/warm coats
• Please review the district's policy on illness.  If your child is sick or not feeling well, please keep them home.

• Review math/reading flash cards
• Send a snack with your child daily
• Make sure hw, books, and notebooks come back to school each day
• Tuesday is Library day
• Give your child jobs to do at home

Goldie's visit

Today (11/24/14) Glen and Goldie the dog came to visit CCIS.  Glen and Goldie have been to CCIS many time in the past.  Glen talked to the students about what he and Goldie do and why it is important.  The students were able to ask questions, and there were some great questions today!  It was great to see Goldie in action and know she is keeping our schools safe!

Pumpkins

The students in the TRAILS program have been learning all about pumpkins.  To wrap up the pumpkin unit, the kids did an experiment with candy pumpkins and different liquids.  We wanted to see which liquid would make the candy pumpkins dissolve or change the fastest and slowest.  

The students had to make a smart guess on which liquid they thought would be fastest (written in brown marker) and which liquid would be slowest (blue marker).  The liquids used were: cooking oil, vinegar, Sprite, water, and milk.  One cup of each liquid was used.  The candy pumpkins were dropped in the different liquids and we waited for about 25 minutes before taking them out.  

The results were very surprising!  We found the candy pumpkin in the water was the most changed and the candy pumpkin in the cooking oil had the smallest change.

November 24-28

Since this week is such a short week, we will NOT have:

• story
• number of week
• word of week
• letter of week

Please read nightly on own.

Upcoming dates:

11/26/14-11/30/14: Thanksgiving Break….School resumes 12/1/14

12/4/14: CC Public Library Trip

12/5/14: Sports Day

12/12/14: Casual Day, Louis-Joliet Mall Trip (more info to come)

12/18/14: Christmas movie @ MS with STEPS

12/19/14: Christmas Hat Day

Reminders:

• Dress properly for cooler weather: hats/gloves/warm coats
• Please review the district's policy on illness.  If your child is sick or not feeling well, please keep them home.

• Review math/reading flash cards
• Send a snack with your child daily
• Make sure hw, books, and notebooks come back to school each day
• Tuesday is Library day
• Give your child jobs to do at home

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy the time with your family! :)  I'll be heading up to Wisconsin to spend Thanksgiving with my family, and I can't wait to see them! 

November 17-21

WOW: Fly

# of week: 12

Letter of week: Ll

Stories: Firefighters

    Chicken

Upcoming dates:

11/18/14: Grandparent’s Day in Library 1:20

11/21/14: Community trip to Morris Wal-Mart/Morris Diner (more info to come), 80’s Day

11/26/14-11/30/14: Thanksgiving Break….School resumes 12/1/14

Reminders:

• Dress properly for cooler weather: hats/gloves/warm coats
• Please review the district's policy on illness.  If your child is sick or not feeling well, please keep them home.

• Review math/reading flash cards
• Send a snack with your child daily
• Make sure hw, books, and notebooks come back to school each day
• Tuesday is Library day
• Give your child jobs to do at home

Library visit

If you get a chance, stop over at the Coal City Public Library and take a look at the TRAILS book display.  We went over to the library on Thursday, November 6th to listen to Ms. Renee's favorite story and set up a display with some of the student's favorite books.

November 10-14

Because this week (Nov 10-14) is such a goofy week (Tuesday off, Wednesday ½ day, me gone Friday), we are not going to have a Word, #, or Letter of the week, nor a weekly story.  We will do other reading/math activities.

Upcoming dates:

11/11/14: Veterans Day-No School

11/12/14: Early Dismissal

11/14/14: Scholastic Book orders due, CCIS t-shirt day

11/18/14: Grandparent’s Day in Library 1:20

11/21/14: Community trip to Morris Wal-Mart/Morris Diner (more info to come), 80’s Day

11/26/14-11/30/14: Thanksgiving Break….School resumes 12/1/14

Reminders:

• Dress properly for cooler weather: hats/gloves/warm coats
• Please review the district's policy on illness.  If your child is sick or not feeling well, please keep them home.

• Review math/reading flash cards
• Make sure hw, books, and notebooks come back to school each day
• Tuesday is Library day
• Give your child jobs to do at home

Brookfield Zoo

Today (11/4/14) was our trip to the Brookfield Zoo.  The sky was cloudy and the air was a little chilly, but it was a rain-free day!  The zoo was the most empty I've ever seen it....it was kind of nice, because we were able to see the animals really well.  We all had a great time visiting the animals and enjoying the fresh air!

                                          Rino

                                          Polar bear

                                          Upside Down Jellyfish (looks like little snowflakes)

                                                   My new pet....Fluffy! ;)

                                          We got to see the seals training session.

Grizzly Bear enjoying a watermelon

Gorillas lounging around!  The baby was laying on the mom!

Lounging around Polar Bear

Bison 

Lazy cats!

The ride back to CC! :)