Antarctica!

Keeping with the theme of our weather lately, on Friday we went to Antarctica!  The kids were super excited, although I think most of it was because of my excitement and their knowing it's my favorite place to talk about!  We saw a lot of pictures of the beautiful scenery, along with lots of wildlife.  All this week we are watching clips of video footage that I took while there as well!  It is only our first day here this week, and already, I'm pumped!

First sighting of Antarctica after 2 days of sailing

The ship that I traveled aboard

We saw 3 different types of penguins.  This one is a chinstrap

A minke whale (35 feet long) swimming along side our raft

We saw 4 different kinds of seals.  These are crabeater seals

Iceberg Alley

Another seal.  This one is a leopard seal, the meanest of the seals

Elephant seals, weighing in at an astonishing 3.5 tons

One of several research stations.  This one is Vernadsky and is run by the Ukrainians. 

Homework:

Homework for this week was already printed and ready to go, prior to yesterday's snow day.  I have gone ahead and sent home the papers for yesterday anyway.  Feel free to do those if you would like, in addition to tonight's homework.

100th Day of School:

Because of the snow day, our 100th day of school is now pushed back to Monday, January 27.  Should we have any further snow days between now and then, that day will continue to get pushed back.

Specials:

Whenever we have a snow day, our specials classes do not get skipped.  This means that whatever special your child was supposed to have had yesterday, is the special they had today.  As you look at your child's calendar each night, you will need to adjust each day back one to make sure you are planning for the correct specials class.  If you get confused, just check with your child to see what they had today, and that should help you figure out what comes next.

PE Shoes:

All the specials classes will be meeting in the gym on Friday (January 24).  Please make sure your child is wearing tennis shoes on this day!  In addition, many kids are coming to school in snow boots, which is fine.  However, please make sure if it is a PE day that tennis shoes are also being sent in for them to change into to participate in the activities.

Bingo for Books:

On Thursday, January 30, our PTO will be sponsoring a free event called Bingo for Books.  This is a fun event for the whole family that is free of charge!  More information will be coming home about it soon!

Yearbook Money and Book Orders:

If you are planning to order either of these, the due dates are approaching.  Book order money needs to be sent in or ordered online by this Friday, January 24.  Yearbook money is due by next Friday, January 31.

Sight Words:

Posted at the top of this blog is a link to our Kindergarten Sight Words.  Please make sure you are working on these words with your child at home!  We are currently working on learning the words from Quarter 3. This means your child should be practicing and all ready memorizing the words from Quarters 1 and 2.  These words are very important as we begin to read harder leveled books, especially in connection with our DIBELS testing.

Enjoy the rest of your week and try to stay warm!