Halfway through another busy week!

Jump Rope For Heart
We will Jump as a whole school on Friday.  All students will go to gym that day for specials.  Please have your child wear tennis shoes and comfy clothes on Friday!

Homework Sheets
I have noticed the past couple of days that several folders were missing homework sheets.  Don't forget to keep those in folders all week.  This way they don't get lost and I can see who is completing nightly homework.  Thank you for your help with this! :)

Art to Remember
Yesterday your child brought home an Art to Remember order form.  Your child made this artwork with Mrs. Garrett.  If you are interested in purchasing any items with your child's artwork on it, please read the below information from Mrs. Garrett:  Students may order items online or return the form and money to school.  The due date for orders is March 9th.  Thank you for your support!  Part of the profits come right back to Creekside and allow us to purchase new art supplies!

Carnival T-shirts
Today in folders there is a t-shirt order form in case you are interested in purchasing carnival t-shirts.  You can order for the whole family!  The Creekside Spring Carnival is Friday, April 13.  More information will be sent home about the carnival soon!

National School Breakfast Week
National School Breakfast Week is March 5-9.  Once again we will be offering a free breakfast to all students.  Our free breakfast is Thursday, March 8.   Obviously, your child doesn't have to eat breakfast at school this day if they don't want to, but this free event will be open to all!

Donuts with Dad

Creekside is holding Donuts with Dad events on Wednesday, March 7th and on Friday, March 9th. These events are free. Because we believe turn-out will be huge, we have two events:

·  K-2 students with dads - Wednesday, March 7th from 7:00-7:30 AM

·  3-4 students with dads - Friday, March 9th from 7:00-7:30 AM

Both mornings will be in our gym.  We ask that dads try to attend the event that corresponds with their child's current grade level. However, dads that have children in more than one grade can choose the event that works the best for their schedule and attend one event with their children. Also, if one event works better than the other, dads can attend either event with their son or daughter.  The menu will be donuts and fruit along with fruit juice and coffee.

Book it calendars
The March book it calendar will come home tomorrow.  Please send in the February calendars when completed!  March is the last month for the book it program this school year!  Don't forget, any student who turns in a completed book it calendar at least 5 of the 6 months will get to come to a special pizza party with me one day during lunch in April!  Keep up the good reading at home!

Writer's Workshop
This week in Writer's Workshop I introduced 5 new posters on our writing wall to help students remember the 5 parts of a great sentence.  They are:

• capital letter at beginning of sentence
• lower case letters throughout sentence
• sight words spelled correctly
• finger spaces between words
• correct punctuation at end of sentence

As students are writing, if they remember all 5 on their own without my help, they have started getting a sticker on their notebook page.  I know a sticker doesn't sound like much, but they LOVE it!  It's great motivation for them to write their sentences correctly.  As you watch your child write at home, please help them remember the 5 parts of a great sentence.

Sight Words
The sight words for this week and next are: one, two, three, four, five.  The week of March 12 there will be quarter 4 sight words on the homework sheet.  The grading period ends March 9th, and report cards will come home March 16th.  Make sure to review all quarter 3 words next week before I assess!

Math
Next week we will be making a graph based on a collection of items.  Our class will be collecting BOX TOPS!  Please keep sending those in!  We collect them anyway, so for the next week or two in math we will get double use out of them. :)

Children's Museum Science night
This amazing FREE event for our students and families is upcoming on Wednesday, March 14th from 5:30-8:00 PM. There is even a free pizza dinner!

Guest Day
Mark your calendars!  Kindergarten Guest day is March 21st at 1:30pm.  It is important for all students to have at least 1 guest to do the scavenger hunt with them.  There will be a form coming home soon to let me know if someone can attend guest day for your child.  If no one can attend for your child, please fill out the form with "no", so I can pair them with a Creekside staff member or another parent.

SNACK CALENDAR--March

Don’t forget when sending in snacks, please send in something for the whole class.  Please don’t send in drinks, something that requires utensils or eat, or anything that needs refrigeration.  Items like cereal, crackers, fruit snacks, and granola bars are always popular snack choices.    If you could, please send in a package of small Dixie cups with the snack, if it is not individually wrapped. We have 24 students if you send in something individually wrapped.   You do not need to send in one thing per day, just one or two big boxes of something.

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
			1	2
5 Coltyn	6	7	8	9
12 Cynthia	13	14	15	16
19 Cadence	20	21	22	23 NO SCHOOL—SPRING BREAK

Thanks for your help!

Rainy Week Ahead!

Superkids
Yesterday we got our next Superkids' Club book.  In this book, we will be working on N and M.  The Superkids have cleaned and painted the bus, and now it's time for their club activities to begin!  Stay tuned for the boss of the club, and how the kids decide what to do each day.  

Math
This week in math we are working on:

• adding
• decomposing numbers
• representing teen numbers as 10 and 1s
• 3-D shapes

Play

I am still missing about 6 permission slips for our trip to see the play Go, Dog, Go on March 13.  Please get those turned in as soon as possible.  Reminders--we do not need parent chaperones for this trip.  Your child will need to bring their lunch that day so we can eat when we get back to school about 12:30--we will be missing our normal lunch time so all students will need to bring their lunch on the 13th.

Looking Ahead

Some important dates to add to your calendar:

• 2/23--PTO movie night
• 2/23--February Scholastic book orders due
• 2/26--Jump Rope for Heart $ due
• week of 2/26--Dr. Seuss week (stay tuned for pics of all our themed activities!)
• 3/2--Jump Rope for Heart day (wear comfy clothes and tennis shoes--we will be jumping rope in the gym during our specials time).
• 3/6--PTO meeting
• 3/7--K-2 Donuts with Dad @7am
• 3/8--Kindergarten Registration 4-7pm (for any incoming K students in the 2018-2019 year)
• 3/9--3-4 Donuts with Dad @7am
• 3/9--end of 3rd 9 weeks
• 3/9--Creekside Spelling Bee @1pm
• 3/13--Clowes Hall field trip
• 3/16--Report Cards home
• 3/21--Guest Day @ 1:30 (more info TBA)
• 3/23-4/1--Spring Break-NO SCHOOL

Have a great week!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Leveled Readers
Last week your child brought home the leveled reader and accompanying worksheet for homework. We read the story several times during reading groups, with the children each taking a turn reading a page, so they are familiar with the story.  Please have your child read the story when they come home in RED folders on Tuesdays. Children should be able to read the words without too much trouble. The words and sound combinations are ones that we have been working on during Superkids and reading groups. If you notice your child struggling with the words on the pages, please let me know.  Watch as your child uses the "slide and blend" technique. Listen for the correct sounds, and then be sure your child rereads the sentence with fluency (smooth, not choppy). There are three levels (challenge, on level, and easy).  If you think the book is too hard/easy, please let me know and we can work together to move up or down a level.

Superkids
After having introduced the letter 'b' last week, there are now a lot of children who are reading the /b/ sound for /d/ and vice versa. Don't be alarmed if your child is one of them. Simply point out the correct letter, and move on.  

field trip permission slip
You should have received a yellow permission slip for the play Go, Dog, Go that we will be going to on March 13.  We will not need parent chaperones to go on this trip.  I noticed today that there were several slips signed, but no money, so I left them in folders until the form and money are together.  Cost of the ticket is $8.  Please let me know if you need the school to help cover the cost of the ticket.

President's Day
Don't forget that this weekend is a 3 day weekend--no school Monday due to President's Day!

IOWA Testing
Monday and today we completed the IOWA test (for high ability screening).  We are all done with testing!  YAY!

PE Facebook page
Check out the new Creekside PE Facebook page! The page is called Creekside Cougar Gym News. https://www.facebook.com/Creekside-Cougar-Gym-News-1912415…/.

Kindergarten Registration
If you know of anyone who will have a student coming to Kindergarten next year, please tell them to come to Kindergarten Registration March 8, from 4-7pm at Creekside!

Have a great afternoon!

Happy Monday!

New Homework Sheet
This week you will see some changes on the homework sheet!  I changed three of the five boxes to make it a little different, a different challenge, ect.  In the Monday box--you read the word to your child, and they have to write the word on the back or another piece of paper.  In the Tuesday box--they practice reading the list of Superkids words.  In the Wednesday box--we are working on addition.  Please have your child use their fingers or counters if they need to help answer the problem.  Have them write the answer in the box.  I left the Thursday counting practice and every day sight word practice.  I took off the handwriting practice on the back of the sheet.  Look over the homework this week, and let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  Thanks!

Special Valentine's Homework
Today in your child's folder you will find a special heart writing paper for homework this week.  Please have your child write a couple sentences about the person they are assigned.  Then cut out the heart and glue/tape it to the red paper.  They can then decorate the red paper with pictures, markers, glitter, stickers, ect.  Please return these by Friday so everyone will have a special heart written about them.  We will present them in class during circle time and then display in the hallway.  Thanks!

Valentine's Cards
Please keep working on Valentine's cards for the class.  You can send these in whenever finished.  Please have cards to school by next Tuesday, February 13, so the students have time to pass them out in the special "mailboxes" (we are making today) before the celebration on Wednesday the 14th!

book order home
The February book order is in folders today, if you are interested in ordering.  Book orders are due February 23rd.

progress test home
The most recent Superkids progress test (covering H and U) went home graded on Friday.  Please look these over and let me know if you have questions or concerns.  Overall the class did great and I'm so proud of their hard work!

jump rope for heart
Friday morning we went to a special kick off for Jump Rope for Heart.  All students will be participating in the Jump Rope event during specials time.  Students can also raise money to be donated to the American Heart Association during this event--and they can earn prizes for doing so.  Look for more information to come home this week!

yearbook online orders
Last call for yearbooks!  Online ordering will end on Friday, February 9th.

Recess Reminder
While we didn't go out this morning for recess due to the cold temperature, we did go out a couple times last week.   Our class seems to have many children who are not bringing gloves to recess. Our assistant has a basket of extra gloves for those children occasionally forget them, but it runs low some days. Please remember to have your child wear gloves (and a hat) to school each day. If your child needs gloves, please let me know so I can get him/her a pair to keep.  There are several pairs in our "missing parts bucket" on my desk that no one wants to claim.  Let me know if you think your child's gloves may be at school.

Illness
We have had lots of runny noses lately! Please remind children to get a tissue when needed and teach them to blow their noses. I’ve also had to remind our class not to wipe noses with hands, but to get a tissues instead, and then use hand sanitizer or wash hands when finished. And we are always practicing coughing and sneezing into our elbows, rather than covering our mouths with hands. 

Have a great week!