Dear First graders and First grade parents,

We have had a very large number of absences in the classroom this past week, including Mrs. Ross'.  Thank you for being sure to keep sick children comfortably at home until they are completely recovered and for informing us about how they are doing :).  Apologies for the lack of updates this week, as Mrs. Ross has spent the week at home recovering from pneumonia and a very bad case of bronchitis, along with a flu-like viral infection.  Updates will be forthcoming next week and should appear regularly thereafter, just as they have been before Mrs. Ross' illness/recovery.  The first graders have been infinitely blessed this week with two wonderful teachers  ~ Mrs. Lyle and Mrs. Johnson ~ who devoted themselves to making sure our students were well-educated and well-taken-care of during their teacher's absence :).  All have been in Mrs. Ross' prayers this week! And, the cleaning crew and Mrs. Lyle have been diligent in keeping our room as clean and germ-free as possible.

Catholic Identity shirts may be worn on Friday, November 6.  Please remember that it is a good idea, especially in chilly weather, to have your child wear a long-sleeved plain white shirt under the t-shirt on Fridays for their comfort and well-being!

Now that we are wearing sweatshirts, sweaters, and jackets/coats, some reminders to help make sure that we don't lose or misplace our cool weather protection:  Please be sure ALL garments that can be taken off during the day are LABELED clearly with your child's first and last name.  Please remind your child that it is HIS/HER responsibility to keep track of his/her clothing items.  It is not up to the teachers or other school staff to keep tabs on dozens of St. John's school children's belongings.  In first grade all students are reminded daily to put shorn sweaters and sweatshirts into backpacks immediately instead of hanging them on the coat hook or putting them in cubbies or seat sacks.  This will ensure that the clothing item will stay safely in his/her possession and not end up jumbled in with the lost and found items.  Mrs. Ross and Mrs. Lyle are unable to be the locators of said lost items ~ there are many other things that need tending to, for which they are responsible in the classroom :). Sweater and sweatshirt preservation and location is up to the first graders.

Parents - please check with  your child to be sure he/she has at least 2 D.E.A.R. books in his/her seat sack EVERY day.  For some reason, we are experiencing a shortage of D.E.A.R. books in seat sacks recently.... Any book(s) from home or the library will do. 

Victoria brought some YUMMY white cheddar popcorn for first grade to enjoy during our snack time!!! We will eat it up on Monday morning ~ we are very excited about that :).  Thank you!  Donovan shared a beautiful package of stickers for our classroom!  Thank you!!! We are very excited to use them! Amarie brought a dispenser of hand sanitizer to school on Wednesday!  Much-needed in the prevention of germ-spreading ~ thank you!!! On Thursday, Manny contributed a BIG container of gourmet jellybeans, which we can use in our candy jar!! Thank you!! On Monday, Rodney donated yummy chocolate bars and little packages of Lifesaver Gummies!  What a great addition to our candy jar ~ thank you, Rodney!! On Wednesday, Bryce treated us to candy corn, which we are now able to earn with our pennies! On Monday, we had a wondrous delivery from first graders!!!  Amarie shared Lifesaver Gummies and M&M's ~ thank you!! Manny, once again, donated lots of goodies ~ more chocolate and juice boxes!! And... Victoria shared lots of golden chocolate coins to add to our treasure chest!! Wow, wow, WOW!! Thank you for your generosity! On Friday, Bryce delivered a big bag of yummy Teddy Grahams and pretzels, along with some sanitizing wipes!  Thank you so very much for the generous donation to our wonderful first grade classroom! Manny's most recent donation to our classroom was a GIANT bag of miniature chocolate bars!  Thank you for your family's generosity, Manny!!! Muchas Gracias, Bryce, for the delicious bag of tiny Twix bars for our candy jar! We are so grateful to Corey for the awesome HUGE Teacher Reward Kit, which includes beautiful rewards/awards and stickers for our 1st graders to enjoy! Thank you, Amiya, for the delicious apple-cinnamon muffins we SO enjoyed for snack on Monday, October 5. Thank you, thank you, Manny, for the many amazing contributions to our classroom!  It was like Christmas!!  Lots of classroom cleaning supplies (perfect for keeping those germs at bay!), many boxes of kleenex (which we can never have too many of!), a huge bag of individual Wet Ones hand wipes, and an enormous box of Chex Mix for snack were tucked into two large shopping bags, as well as a large container of apple juice for snack and napkins.Thank you very much, Afomia, for bringing in an extra large bag of goodies for the candy machine AND a big thank you to Amiya for the Kleenex donations and two big containers of hand wipes!  Emily contributed a HUGE bottle of hand-sanitizer to help keep our hands germ-free, as well as a big bag of Skittles. Sanaa brought colorful boxes of Kleenex to school, as well as disinfecting wipes to keep our classroom clean as a whistle!  Jayna contributed even more wonderful wipes (we'll be the cleanest classroom in town!), and Joshua contributed Starburst and Skittles. Rodney also contributed Skittles and Starburst, and our friend, Amanda brought some individually wrapped Lifesavers and hand sanitizer!! Donovan contributed some much-needed wrapped sanitizing towlettes on Monday as well. We so appreciate your generosity. 

Love, hugs, and prayers, 

Mrs. Ross and Mrs. Lyle

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 A Peek into the Classroom:

To be continued on Monday, November 9. . . . . .

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Special Alerts for the week of November 2:

Table point winners ~ For Monday, all tables were rewarded, as table 3 was in first place and all other tables tied for second!   On Tuesday, tables 1, 3, and 5 were champs!  Wednesday's winners were tables 1 and 2. Tables 1, 3, and 4 were the winners on Thursday. Way to go, first grade!

Buddy visited Hailey and Manny on Monday, Emily and Donovan on Tuesday, and Sanaa and Joshua on Wednesday! He selected them because of their wonderful first grade manners. Buddy is now going to receive another bath and de-germing, esp. in lieu of our recent bout of illness and will return, fresh and clean and germ-free next week!

Amanda is our "Beary" Special Person of the Week this week.  We loooved her bulletin board pictures!  Ask your child to tell you what she wants to be when she grows up.... Have your child tell you all about her favorite sleeping buddy and about her birthday picture (hint: it involves singing!) :).  Victoria will enjoy her turn next week!

First graders have earned 17 recess points so far this week.

Duties for the week:  RR helpers ~ Daphne and Joshua; Hallway Monitor ~ Corey  Prayer Leader ~