Pizza Party Make Up Date - Wed 2.11

The Pizza Party sponsored by Hills Bank has been rescheduled for Wednesday, February 11th during lunch time. Please plan to send a drink and any fruit or vegetable sides that you want your child to have for lunch that day. Also, please send normal morning and afternoon snacks.  Let me know if your child plans not to eat the pizza. 

Willowwind students' receipt of the Charlotte Bacon Acts of Kindness (CBAof K) award is a wonderful acknowledgment of the joy our children are bringing to our community. This recognition was inspiring to a community business, Hills Bank and Trust.  The Hills Bank community was very excited and proud to see children in the Willowwind community participating in promoting kindness. They feel that our students' actions align with a corporate initiative they have to identify and celebrate people in our community who go above and beyond to serve others. 

As part of their own pay-it-forward campaign, representatives from Hills Bank will be visiting Willowwind on to provide a pizza party lunch for all PK - 6 students. This is specifically to recognize the CBAoK Award and to say, "Thank you!" to the Willowwind community for making Iowa City a wonderful place to live.

Secret Valentine Week: Feb 9-13

Valentines' Day is right around the corner and Willowwind friends are excited to celebrate in a number of ways. Valentines' Day brings another beloved Willowwind tradition - the Secret Valentine Exchange. Your child will learn more about this K-6 fun this week, but I wanted to communicate to you what it entails to give you time to prepare.

THIS Tuesday, February 3rd, students will "draw" a slip that will highlight who they will deliver secret Valentine gifts to the week of Valentine's Monday, February 9 - Thursday, February 12.  Tomorrow, I will tape your child's slip detailing their secret recipient in their Take Home Folder and will further communicate home with you who your child selected via email.

Then, beginning Monday, February 9th your child will deliver four HOMEMADE daily gifts to their recipient's Valentine mail sleeve. Along with this HOMEMADE gift they must also deliver a clue that hints to their identity. The Kindergarteners will deliver these daily gifts to their Secret Valentine recipient throughout each day. On Friday, February 13th they will reveal their identity with one last gift - a new or gently used book.

Here is where your help is needed!

Please help your child prepare FOUR HOMEMADE GIFTS and FOUR CLUES. Then, on Monday, February 9th have your child bring their FOUR HOMEMADE gifts and clues to school to deliver throughout the week. Please do not include food items due to food allergies.

Along with these HOMEMADE gift your child will also need to bring 4 clues to attach to each gift. Clues can be simple, such as, “I have brown hair,” or, “I am in the Cottontail Rabbit class.”

On Friday, February 13th we will have a big Secret Valentine Reveal where child will reveal their identity and they will also learn who has secretly delivered gifts to them throughout the week. To prepare for this your child will need bring one final gift for the big reveal. This gift must be a book no greater in value than $5. This book does not need to be brand new and can be gifted from your own library if it is like new condition.

All in all, your child will be delivering four clues and five gifts total (four HOMEMADE and one $5 book). You are welcome to bring all your gifts to school ahead of time (your child can keep them in their blue cubby) or bring them in day by day. The choice is yours.

Please note that 100% participation is required in this school wide tradition.

Do you need some ideas to get started on your homemade gifts?  Here are a three websites with fun, homemade Valentine crafts:

Enchanted Learning

Kaboose Crafts

DLTK's Crafts for Kids

Our own Book Fair is an excellent places to find books for your child's Secret Valentine. In addition, both The Haunted Bookshop in downtown Iowa City and Defunct Books in Sycamore Mall have reasonable prices, a good selection, and are locally owned.  Thank you for participating in this beloved Willowwind tradition!

100 Days Smarter

Thursday, January 29th brought us our 100th Day of School.  We had so much celebrating our first one hundred days together and all that we have learned.  Take a look at a few photos from our day.

Counting out our 100th day snack.  10 sets of 10 yummy treats = 100 pieces of 100th Day Trail Mix.  Yum!  Thank you to those that volunteered to bring in a snack contribution.

Filling in a 100s chart.

How can we use the 100s chart's patterns to help us with our counting?

Yay, we're 100 Days Smarter!  Decorating flags to hang in the class

and completing the sentence, "I can..."

Coloring and graphing shapes found in the number 100.

In addition, we drew self-portraits of what we might look like in 100 years, too.  It was fun to see how they think they'll age....gray hair?, glasses?, a cane?.  In the coming days, take a look at this completed activity on display in our classroom.  A fun surprise awaits as we display not only our drawings but photos, too, that portray what we might look like in 100 years!

All in all, it was a busy day where we also read a variety of books about the 100th day of school and completed 10 sets of exercises including:
10 sit ups
10 squats
10 right hops
10 left hops
10 one foot balances
10 push ups
10 knee touches
10 kick boxes
10 ski sliders
10 jumping jacks

100 times the fun was had!  What a great way to end the month of January!

Reminders & Announcements

Homework Reminders - As we further build school-to-home routines please remember the following:
Book Bags:  Canvas Book Bags and the Black and White book(s) you find inside this semester must return to school each day.  As a reminder, "starred" books are books that your child should be able to read independently.  "No star" books are books your child may need your help with.  When "checkmarks" appear on our Black and White books, then, they can stay at home and no longer need to return to school.  The new plastic bag of (5) paperback books can stay at home but should return each Monday.  Please help build success in this routine.

Random Acts of Kindness:  Please continue to help your child complete, and journal about, their acts of kindness.  Please return this homework as soon as completed.  Feel free to email me your pictures of your child's acts of kindness.  We hope to create a large bulletin board to spread the kindness word.  Your child and the classmates are eager to be leaders in our yearly Kindergarten Kindness initiative.



Book Order and Book Fair

Don't forget - our class's Scholastic Book Orders are due this Friday, February 6.  To order visit scholastic.com/reading club.  First time users, please use the activation code NCNYY.  Also, Willowwind will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair from February 3 - 6 and February 9 - 13. Students, parents, grandparents and anyone in the local community can shop for fiction and nonfiction books for all ages. For more information about the Book Fair, go to our Book Fair Home Page. There, you will find fair hours and a preview of books being sold. Books ordered on-line will be shipped to Willowwind free of charge. Our school receives credit for future purchases based on total sales. Go to Sign Up Genius and enter the access code, giraffe, to find out how you can get involved.

Because of the Book Fair taking place in the GD space for the next week and a half, BSP and ASP will have new temporary locations.  PreK-2 BSP will be held in the Monarch room.  K-2 ASP will be held in the Racerunners classroom.  Please note these new locations as you bring your students to and from Willowwind.

Willowwind Can Drive
You have an opportunity to support Willowwind's music department, which includes band and general music classes, over the next few days. Willowwind will be hosting a CAN DRIVE to benefit the music program. I would like to provide you with an overview of how the process works for those of you unfamiliar with what a can drive is. The can drive involves families donating their empty, recyclable glass, aluminum, and plastic cans and bottles to the school. All cans and bottles are sorted into bags and then taken to the redemption center. The redemption center then pays the school for the items recycled.

Many of you will be busy this weekend, watching the Super Bowl and spending time with family and friends. We are asking you to save any cans and bottles from this event (or any other day this week) and donate them to Willowwind. Drop off day and time will be released next week. Stay tuned for this information coming very soon. The can drive is a great opportunity for you to donate recyclables you would otherwise get rid of while at the same time supporting Willowwind music programs.
This event closely aligns itself with Willowwind's dedication to being environmentally friendly by using recycled materials to fund-raise. Additionally, 100% of the proceeds will go directly back into the music program and ultimately enhance your child's music experience at Willowwind. We hope you are able to save your cans/bottles in the coming days and donate them to Willowwind.

Specials Newsletter - Jan

Music - w/ Katherine
The monthly music blog has been updated.  Please visit http://wwelemmusic.blogspot.com/ to learn more about your child's Willowwind music experience.

Art - w/ Ryan

Kinders just started their first Visual Arts block of 2015 on Jan. 26^th. Conejitos and Cottontails are now in the Painting Block, where we will focus on watercolors. Given the nice weather mixed with an abundant amount of packing snow on Monday, I sporadically decided to use the opportunity to present a brief presentation on the work of UK Land /Nature Artist Andy Goldsworthy. Then, students went outside and made land sculptors with snow and sticks being the primary mediums.

We started watercolor by re-exploring shape. At this age, I like to associate the use of Line with Drawing, and Shape with Painting. Kinders have also learned brush maintenance and color mixing. This upcoming week will be using watercolors to explore both imaginary and realistic subject matters. Our artist model will be Georgia O’Keefe.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged their child(ren) to participate in the MidWestOne Kids’ Art Exhibit. To my understanding, jurying of the pieces will occur mid-February. I will let you know of any results as soon as I hear them. Please let me know if you ever any questions, suggestions, or comments for me. Looking forward to a productive and creative 2015.

Spanish w/ Megan

Author’s Cocoa Challenge

 All K-6^th grade students used GRIT as they introduced their poems and spoke/sang in Spanish in front of their peers, family, and friends.  We are all so proud of them!

K-2 sang “Buenas Tardes” y “Chocolate” together.  Each student said:

Me llamo __________ .

Owls sang “La Canción de Frutas” together and individually said:

Me llamo __________ .

Voy a leer ___  poemas.

Wolves created their own personalized ways to introduce one another…and recited “The Latino Version of The Night Before Christmas.”

K-6^th students are beginning to use their Spanish manners during the Wolf Café.  ¡Un gracias grande a los lobos!

 ¡Hola!   ___________ , por favor.

Gracias.

De nada.

*A few students are even able to say, “Tengo hambre. Más comida, por favor.”  (I’m hungry. More food, please).

Challenge:    

¿Qué le gustaría? (What would you like?)

“Me puede dar _______ , por favor?”  (Can you please give me ______ ?)

At Willowwind this January, all niños y niñas learned about…

La Tradición Latina del Día de los Tres Reyes Magos

Tasting Rosca de Reyes - ¡Delicioso!

 *The only place to purchase Rosca in Iowa City is “Acapulco” (near K-Mart) during late December/early January.  It was a special treat for todos los niños in PreK-6^th grade during both Spanish class and ASP.  Dos roscas fed over 200 people!  One Willowwind student even took her family to la tienda “Acapulco” to purchase rosca for her family!  How fun to learn and share traditions around the world!

Los Tres Reyes Magos

visitando a ASP…¡sorpresa! ¡Muchas gracias, Reyes, por la visita!

¡Los camels! Some students took “camel rides” during Tres Reyes week.

PreK and K-6 enjoyed being together during ASP to share rosca y chocolate after a special visit from “Los Tres Reyes Magos.”  They also enjoyed tasting Mrs. Hwida’s special African rice for the celebration! ¡Delicioso!

Scholastic Book Order Due Fri 02.06

Orders Due:  Friday, February 6                           First Order Activation Code:  NCNYY

 Log In To Order at:  scholastic.com/readingclub

Valentine’s Day is near!  Buy books and support reading for the ones you love!

Our Winter Book Order is here and we are gearing up for Willowwind’s annual Book Fair.  Take a sneak peek at some of the titles that may be available at this year’s Book Fair and get a jump on ordering.  Browse the catalog and order in your PJs from the comfort of your home.  See below for ordering details.

Encouraging reading is one of the most important things we can do to help children succeed.  Sometimes the right book is all it takes to nurture a child's love of reading.  During the school year, your family will have the chance to order inexpensive books for home.  Doing so, our class is able to earn points to enhance our class library.

With Scholastic Reading Club:

•  every book you buy earns FREE books for our classroom library

•  you can choose from grade- AND reading-level specific books

•  find the best values on a variety of formats, including eBooks

To shop online:

1)  VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub

2)  Here it will ask you to set up an account for your profile for your family.

To do so, ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (NCNYY)

3)  SHOP from a variety of inexpensive books.  Online ordering allows you to order books for any age infant to middle school.  Looking for gifts for family, friends or all those birthday parties?  Shop here!

4)  SUBMIT your order online by Feb 6th to earn FREE books for our class.

To shop via flyer:

1)  SELECT books to order from each flyer.

2)  FILL OUT each flyer's order form.

3)  MAKE check payable to Scholastic Reading Club

4)  TURN IN order form(s) & payment by Nov 12th to earn FREE class books.

When the ordering deadline (February 6) has passed all classroom orders will be collated, gathered, and shipped directly to our classroom where we can continue to celebrate the joy of reading together!  Have a special gift that your ordering for your child?  Let me know and I'll be sure to stow this book away from their excited attention.

In our classroom's online shop, you will also find book recommendations that I have personally selected for the classroom.   I have also recommended some great books that revolve around our curricular focuses  You will also find a classroom wish list in our online shop where your family can select special gifts to help our classroom library grow.

The Book Fair is here!  The book fair will run Tuesday-Friday, February 3-6, and Monday-Wednesday, February 9-11. Volunteers are needed to help with this event.  If you can volunteer, click here to sign up on Sign-up Genius. 

For more information and to access Willowwind's online fair, visit our Book Fair home page. The on-line fair will be open through February 18 and is a great way for friends and family outside of Iowa City to support our school. You can also download a Book Fair app from the home page.

While at the fair, be sure to check out our teacher wish lists. Your child can buy a book for a teacher and personalize it with a book plate. You'll receive a receipt for tax purposes.

Questions? E-mail Katherine House, Book Fair Chairperson.

Enjoy and have fun shopping!  Thank you for your support!

Paying it Forward

Willowwind students' receipt of the Charlotte Bacon Acts of Kindness (CBAof K) award is a wonderful acknowledgment of the joy our children are bringing to our community. This recognition was inspiring to a community business, Hills Bank and Trust.  They feel that our students' actions align with a corporate initiative they have to identify and celebrate people in our community who go above and beyond to serve others.   As part of their own pay it forward campaign, representatives from Hills Bank will be visiting Willowwind on Monday, February 2 to provide a pizza party lunch for all PK - 6 students to recognize the CBAoK Award and to say, "Thank you!" for making Iowa City a wonderful place to live.

Please plan to send a drink and any fruit or vegetable sides that you would like your child to have for lunch that day. Your K-6 child will also need to bring his or her regular morning and afternoon snack items. Of course, should prefer that your child not participate, please send him or her with the lunch of your choice. 

In addition, your child and their Kindergarten classmates have presented their desire to spread the love at home, school, and in the community.  We have set a goal to achieve 300 RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness) in 30 DAYS!  Help your child spread the love.  With each act of kindness they complete have them fill out a flashcard (paper from home or flashcards are available at school), snap a picture of the act and share them with Stacia or me.  We want to create a school wide displays that highlights all of our acts.  With each act turned in, we also hope to share our kind acts on Facebook.  Please help your child with their excitement to make a difference with small acts.  Let us know if you have any questions.