Amos/Snipes

Our children returned from their holidays ready to work, and are beginning to see big results – several of our 5-year-olds have finished writing to 1000, and we have added new readers to our roster. The children have done some paper-weaving and tracing of ocean creatures. We had a special guest visit us for one show-and-share. Keiasia’s Paw-paw Ulysses spoke to the children about ― just saying no to drugs and alcohol, as well as reading a story about responsibility. Thank you for a delightful visit. We are looking forward to February (our heart month). Thank you to parents who have sent special snacks.

Carlin/Reed

We welcomed a new student to our class. Kalynne joined us this month. She is getting used to our routine and her new classmates. Mrs. Reed finished her last weekend of Montessori training in Hammond. She will be busy writing her papers now. Our class is back to work doing reading and math jobs on the circle, and our children are working with those materials. We finished showing our globes and world hemisphere puzzle map on the circle. Ask your children to name the continents if they bring a map home! GO SAINTS!

Clair/Sharkey

January is a very settled time in our class. After the holiday excitement, we are glad to be back into the routine of language, numbers, practical life and sensorial jobs. We have seen a lot of growth in the children. The cold weather has given us the opportunity to experience all things winter snow: Frosty the Snowman, the Snowkey-Pokey, snowflake cutting and punching, and learning to put on our own gloves and mittens. We are all working on those pesky separating zippers so that we can fasten our own jackets. Remember, Mrs. Sharkey is part polar bear — it doesn’t get too cold for us to go outside.

We have a few housekeeping reminders for our parents. Please remember that we have 19 children at rest time. If your child needs a pillow, please make sure it is very small and thin (about 9x12). We have storage issues. The cold wet weather makes very attractive mud puddles on our playground, as well as inspiring more bathroom accidents. Please make sure your child has a change of clothing. We don’t like to interrupt anyone’s day to bring clothes, but we have no extras. Our classroom has tile floors. While some boots are very cute, those with high heels and hard soles are very noisy and distract-ing. They also slip on our floors. We have had a couple of accidents. Let’s stick to soft soles, please. They are better for the playground as well.

Thank you to everyone who attended Parent Education Night. It was great to see such a good response. Welcome to our new student Alayna Jones. Alayna is three-years-old.

Gaiennie/Caraveo

Mrs. Gaiennie’s students have had a busy start to 2010. They got right to work and are keeping their teachers busy! They look forward to new lessons in math, and everyone is busy with new language jobs. Of course, we are preparing for Valentine’s Day projects and Mardi Gras. And, also, GO SAINTS!

Hayes/Rodgers

The class attended the Rapides Symphony Orchestra’s production of Peter and the Wolf, January 25th. The children enjoyed riding a school bus with the 9-12 class to the Coughlin Saunders Performing Arts Center almost as much as they did the performance. We completed reading Charlotte’s Web this week and look forward to our visit from Andrew’s chickens on January 29th. Peyton has begun the decanomials and many in the class have been working hard on New Orleans Saints player, uniform, and mascot research in preparation for the Super Bowl. The class has added When The Saints Go Marching In to their song repertoire.

Voorhies/Runyun/Clabo

The 9-12 class had a very busy January. We have been working hard and accomplishing a lot. We had a Geography Bee on January 8. Congratulations to our winner, Christopher Aguilar. We have collected many items to send to Zimbabwe! Thank you for all of your support. We attended Peter and the Wolf performed by the Rapides Parish Symphony Orchestra. The children enjoyed it. The entire class read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen, and we had a book discussion on Friday, January 29th. We will begin another geography research during the month of February. We will also have another 4-H meeting Friday, February 5th. Byron and Dana Cammack will speak to us about life in The Dominican Republic and ministering to the Haitian people.