I Want Snow!

The holidays always bring a sense of coziness for me and there is nothing I like more than warming up by the fire with a cup of hot cocoa after a good snowball fight! I have been talking with the students about how much I like snow and how I wished it would snow. Almost every day, I check the window during the weather and begin to dramatically cry due to the lack of snow. The kids are become experts at reminding me to breathe, practice my patience, and try again. Which is a great modeling opportunity for them as we all breathe together and try again. We know waiting is hard. :)

With Thanksgiving finished, we have moved on to all the wonderful winter activities. We have been making snowflakes, Christmas trees, Menorah's, and stars so far. The students love the additional activities and I am always impressed by the pride they take in their work well done!

Upcoming Events: Canned food drive is going on. We are participating in this. It concludes on Dec. 15th so if you can, send 1 can of food in with your child.

Report Cards should be coming home tomorrow along with progress notes from the IEP. Please let me know if there are any questions surrounding this. 

Dec. 18th is the last day of school before winter break. We will be creating some wonderful handmade gifts and wrapping them. We will decorate some sugar cookies and have hot cocoa with a winter video. 

School resumes on January 4th. I'm excited for the new year and the things we will be doing in the classroom. 


We made REAL butter just before our tasting. Each student had a turn shaking the jar of cream. When it had turned to butter, each students had a taste of it on a saltine cracker. Majority rules - butter is good!

It was cold.

It was hard to shake that jar.

But it was fun!

The Thanksgiving tasting went very well. Thank you to all who donated. The sparkling cider, olives, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream were the big hits.  The students were asked to touch the food item, smell the item, and then kiss the item. Most thought this was acceptable, however, some surprise me (as kids can only do). Some hid under the table due to the "icky smells"! Some covered their eyes because it all looked "mostly gross"! hehe Oh my goodness - I was trying my hardest not to laugh - it was extremely difficult. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Good Bye November? Already?

Oh my goodness parents - November is almost done. Where did it go? Who blinked?  Well, all I know is that I am having so much fun with your kids I forget deadlines and such - like sending home homework or spelling words! 

There's a few things that are important for you all to know:

1. Tuesday, November 24th, we will be doing a Thanksgiving dinner TASTING. We have been working on how to properly set a table and polite things we can say when we taste something and we don't like it. The kids have been having fun with this are excited to have the tasting - really they are excited for the pumpkin pie! Who am I kidding? So am I! 

2. During this tasting, your child will NOT be required to taste or eat foods that you have previously told me they cannot eat. These foods will NOT be on their plates. I want to make that very clear. If you have any concerns around this, please let me know immediately.

3. This is the most exciting news for me to share. Your children are such awesome kids! Over the last few weeks we have been talking about really trying our best and if we need help asking our friends for help. We have been encouraging this mostly during specials times when they are with their general education peers. Here's the thing - are ya ready? They have been making buddies in their assigned classes, saying hello in the hallways with their classes, and sitting with them during lunch time (some times)! THIS IS AMAZING! Today, both the 3rd grade and 5th grade won class pride paws for being such amazing friends during their specials class. This is huge for us and my heart just swells with pride to be a witness to what wonderfully caring, thoughtful, interactive students. Seriously brings tears to my eyes. From these experiences, they walk taller. They take more risks in the classroom and outside the classroom. They have more questions and wonderings about their environment and friends. It is simply...amazing. 

So hats off to you parents because without you and all you do, we would not be having the same outcome. 

Looking forward

In December the entire school will be doing a canned food drive to support the Oregon Food Bank. We will be participating in this. I will send more information home regarding this. 

However, please be thinking about this: usually I take the students to the Dollar Store to purchase gifts for their parents. How do you feel about having the students bring in some money and instead of buying gifts, they purchase food for the food drive? Think about it and please email me with your thoughts. Nothing is written in stone.

We will be having a holiday party in December - the 18th - Friday right before break. All are welcome to come and I will be sending home more information as we get closer. 

Thank you so much for your support. Please feel free to email with questions or concerns.

Welcome November

Well Folks - I can't believe it's November already. The saying "time flies when you are having fun" comes to mind. Your kiddos are absolutely the most fun group. They make the adults laugh every day and I wish I could remember to write some of the funny things down, but there is little time.

There is a cough/cold bug going around the classroom. We are sanitizing at lunch breaks and in the afternoon. There is also a stomach bug floating around the school. Although in our classroom, it has only effected two students and doesn't seem to last very long at all.

Remember we do not have school on Wednesday, Nov. 11. It's odd because it is right in the middle of the week but I'll take it!

Grades will be coming out the first of December. I want to reiterate that the report cards are NOT a true reflection of your child's progress. I will write some notes on the report card, but they will be very general. Please read the progress notes that come home with the report card. They are a much more accurate picture of your child's academic progress.

I am sending a list home on Monday, November 9th of some grocery items that are needed for the classroom so we can do some Thanksgiving cooking this month. If you can donate anything off the list, please email me. Thank you in advance.

I want to take pause for a moment and thank you all for your participation in your child's academic careers. This class is truly blessed to have such wonderful supports around them. A true, heartfelt, thank you parents. Job well done!

Now the fun stuff!!

We had a blast at the pumpkin patch. The rain didn't seem to slow any of the students down. It did cut our trip a bit short but it was fun nonetheless. Thank you to all the parents that helped on this trip. It is always a pleasure to see you.

The holiday celebration was fun as well. We dressed in our costumes. We made bat windsocks. We practiced trick or treating and we decorated cookies. We watched Halloween videos and read Halloween books. What a grand time!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Updates

Hello Parents!

There is a lot of information coming home tonight. Please be advised of information overload!

1.     Notice of Team Meetings are coming home – this is your date and time for your annual IEP meeting and/or 3-year re-evaluation and IEP. Mark your calendars and let me know as soon as possible if the date listed will not work. You will be getting additional notices as time passes.

2.     Homework and spelling words for next week.

3.     Recipe that we talked about today. Most of the kids were very interested in in even though it is a vegetable dish! I was impressed – very impressed.

4.     Permission slips for the field trip on the 30^th.  Each student will need to bring a sack lunch and $5

 Permission slips and money are due OCT. 26

5.     Please let me know if you’d like to go on the field trip with us. Space is limited.

6.     Conference times (if you’ve signed up) if not, there is no slip for you. There is still time to sign up if you feel the need. Also know, I am available for meetings any time if there are issues you would like to address.

7.     Additional Reminders

a.     Following the field trip we will change into costumes and have a holiday celebration.

b.     I will need a few parent volunteers for the party – so if you’d like to volunteer please see the office and make sure you can!

As always, please remember that you can call or email me with questions, comments, or concerns.

Spooktacular October

Hello and happy October.

Let's get the housekeeping items out of the way.

Oct. 8 - Author Nick Bruel will be visiting McKinley
Oct. 9 - No School
Oct. 21 & 22 - Conferences
Oct. 22 & 23 - No School

OCT. 21 - PICTURE DAY! (forms are coming home this week!)

Oct. 30 - Pumpkin Patch Field Trip and Halloween Celebration

We are excited to have an author visit and have been reading his books in class. We will get to meet the author and have him read some of his work to us. He writes the Bad Kitty books.

Conferences will begin Wednesday, Oct. 21 after school at 4:30 pm until 8 pm. On Thursday, Oct. 22 conference times will begin at 9:00 am. They are 15 minutes in length. Please email me privately with your top 3 choices. I will send out a confirmation list as we get closer to those dates.

Picture day! Who doesn't love picture day?!! Forms will be coming home on Thursday, Oct. 8th. Watch your communication notebooks for them!

Pumpkin Patch field trip will be Oct. 30th. I know it's late but I thought it would be fun to have that Friday be filled with special holiday activities. We will be going to Lakeview Farms located in North Plains. (Yes, I have connections there!) I have room for 5 parents to join us. The cost will be $5 per student and the students only will be able to bring pumpkins home. We are getting a great price break. The trade off is that only students will be able to bring pumpkins home. Watch for more information to come home as we get closer.

Ok - on to the more fun stuff. Last week the students made caramel apples in class. They had fun but - fyi - the caramel is hot. It is not for students to dip their fingers into because they may get burned.  Here are some great photos of their cooking experience.

We also had a great time at the all school Fun Run! You all should be so proud of your kiddos. They ran like champs.  After the run, we took an extended break from learning. Most of the students were excited to tell about their experiences.  One student, however, exclaimed, "That was NOT fun".  The tone the student was using was like, why is it called a fun run when it clearly is not fun! Oh! My! Goodness! These little incidents are exactly why I do what I do.

Lastly, I want to send a quick shout out to all of you amazing parents! I am so impressed with the amount of communication that is happening this year and I am so impressed with the willingness to help the kids succeed. Kudos to you all! You are really very amazing.

Watch for more updates...and pictures! As always, if you have questions, please email or call.

We Are Well On Our Way

Hello All! Hope this message finds you all well.

A few housekeeping items to take care of first - 

*** Please label your child's coats, backpacks, and lunch boxes.*
*** Homework is due on the Friday after you receive it. ***
*** Please let me know if your child may have hot lunch EVEN if they have brought cold lunch.***
*** Please send a change of clothes for your child. ***

We are well into week 3 of school and let me reassure you - YOUR CHILDREN ARE ROCK STARS!!! We have a very confusing schedule happening in the classroom but your children have been adapting to it very well. We have been talking quite a bit about flexibility and how important it is to be flexible because sometimes things don't go the way we think they should.

We are beginning our unit on community helpers. We have already talked about how teachers and adults in the school are helpers. We practiced saying hello to Ms. Pleau our principal and Ms. Reese our assistant principal. We are beginning to talk about police officers, fire fighters, and other first responders. I encourage you to talk with you child about all the community helpers.

Along with community helpers, we are discussing the differences between summer and fall. We learned how some people call fall, autumn. We learned that some of us like autumn and some of us don't. We are all different and that's ok. As we get into October we will begin to talk about Halloween.

We are going thru some staffing changes in the classroom. We started the year off with 2 part time people filling one full time position. That is changing to one full time position with a new person. However, the kids seem to be just flowing with the changes. 

Again, please email or call with any questions or concerns.

Happy Fall!!!

Getting to Know You

Welcome back everyone! 

I hope you all had a great restful summer and are now ready for a fabulous year. I am beyond excited for this year. I have some solid plans for your children.

Some of you know me and some of you don't. Here's a little history. While completing my Master of Arts in Special Education, I taught in the private sector and substitute taught in 6 different districts. In April of 2014 I completed my Masters program and in August of 2014 was hired in the Beaverton School District. This is my second year teaching with the Beaverton School District at McKinley. I have three children, a dog, and a cat - which I do talk about frequently. One of my goals this year is to learn a bit of family history from each of my students.

I am not the only person teaching your child throughout the day though. Our classroom has a total of 6 adults, including myself. Mrs. Suzi Beech, Mrs. Roxanne Rowe, Mrs. Deana Campbell, Mrs. Kim Clemmons, and Mrs. Becky Kamm will all be interacting with your child during the day. Let me assure you, we have the best of the best in our classroom. I am honored to work with these ladies every single day.

I will be updating this blog at LEAST every other week. This is in lieu of a website. I am still trying to set up the email so I can send one email out to all of you when I update here.  Hopefully that will happen in the first week of school! I'm hopeful!

You can locate this blog at the following address: rossettiatmckinley.blogspot.com

 You can also save this link to your tool bar for easy access to our classroom blog.

I hope to see all of you at the Back to School Night on September 10th. I will have a packet full of information for you - which hopefully will answer most of your questions. If you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to email me at christine_rossettisagar@beaverton.k12.or.us. (I know it's long!) You can also call and leave a voice mail at my extension 3181. I check my email frequently throughout the day but my voice mail only after school. Certainly if it is an emergency, the office will ring the classroom immediately.