Hello, morning class families. The children returned to the classroom from winter break rested and ready to work. There has been a buzz of activity in the classroom. The children are working together beautifully and everyone is making great individual work choices. Mapmaking has been especially popular this month. It is wonderful to see the motivation and enthusiasm of the children.

Last month our baking project was gingerbread cookies. Owen’s grandmother assisted the children with rolling out, cutting, and decorating the yummy gingerbread men. Our baking project this month was chocolate chip cookies. The children had fun making them, and they were delicious eaten warm from the oven. Next month the baking project will be Valentine’s Day cupcakes.

We will be exchanging valentines in class again this year. If your child would like to give valentines to friends, you can send them in on Monday the 13th or Tuesday the 14th. There are 21 children in the class. Please do not address the valentines to individual children.

We read stories and talked about Dr. King earlier this month. We celebrated the Chinese New Year by decorating the classroom and giving the children red envelopes for good luck.

Thank you to all of our mystery readers. The children have been enjoying your visits and stories. We had fun learning some words in Spanish when Isabel’s dad visited and read Spanish language stories to us. We were amazed by the delicious and beautiful melon blossom carved by Tinnha’s mom during her mystery reader visit. The children enjoyed learning about Thailand, Thai food, and chefs.

Brrrr. The winter cold has finally set in! Thank you for sending your child to school with a winter coat, hat, gloves or mittens, and scarf. Your child will also now need pants and snow boots when there is snow on the ground. These items make playtime much more fun. We will shorten playtimes on extra cold days to prevent anyone from getting too cold.