From my family to yours, wishing you a very merry Christmas. May 2015 bring you all health and happiness.
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I am experiencing difficulties with the camera I borrowed to get photos of our Friday activities. I am hoping to have them solved and our last few videos of 2014 posted within the next few days. Enjoy your time with Team Awesome!
 Winter holidays are here, although its not looking much like winter out there and while I once thought that I would dislike Christmas without snow, right this minute it isn't bothering me that much. I do enjoy the lights and glitz of the season but mostly I love spending time with family, baking special goodies for my boys and catching up on my reading. And not one of those things requires snow.
As Team Awesome came off the stage from our dress rehearsal this afternoon one of the little peeps excitedly asked," Were we beautiful Mrs. Bowden? Were we beautiful?!" And I had to admit that yes, they were. They were beautiful little snowflakes. I couldn't stop smiling their whole performance and I thought my heart would burst with pride. And it was too much to keep to myself so I thought I would share a sneak peek with you. You are going to want to make sure you have your cameras at the ready if you are attending the afternoon concert at 1:00 or the evening concert at 6:00. We are the first class on stage and I wouldn't want you to miss out on snapping a gazillion photos of our first Winter concert. Just for your information, if you are attending in the afternoon you can pick your child up from our classroom as usual after the bell. For the evening session the school doors will open at 5:15 to allow time for perusing the raffle baskets and bake sale in the library. You can leave your child with me in our classroom by 5:45. Please pin a snowflake to the front and back of your child's shirt before you leave. Supplies will be in a blue bucket by the door. Thank you. See you tomorrow! Mathematics is the science and language of patterns. Thinking about patterns helps children make sense of mathematics and young children are naturally interested in them. They enjoy patterns in rhymes, chants, songs, poems, and stories, and they experiment with creating patterns, using play materials. They examine patterns in wallpaper, fabric, and geometric designs, and recognize patterns in their lives (e.g., the sequence of daily routines) and in nature (e.g., the cycle of the seasons). When students enter school, they continue to explore patterns in mathematics and in other subject areas. Developing an understanding of patterns and relationships is central to learning mathematics. In the primary grades, students identify, extend, and create a variety of patterns, using objects, actions, sounds, pictures, letters, and numbers. Through experiences in exploring and discussing patterns, young students begin to make conjectures and generalizations about mathematical relationships. Team Awesome has been using a variety of materials while exploring patterning activities and having a great time doing it- its almost like a party but with math! The school is required to conduct two lock down practices during the year and our first one will be done before the end of the week- more specifically, Thursday afternoon. During the procedure an announcement will be made over the PA system that just says, "Lock down." Because we are required to keep our classroom doors locked at all times in case this procedure needs to happen for real, all that needs to be done is shutting the blinds, closing the doors and keeping the children as quiet as possible. I will be explaining to the children that we need to practice in case there is an emergency in the school that requires us to stay inside our classrooms. Because they are four and five year olds and have active imaginations they will inevitably come up with all sorts of situations in which this procedure might happen. Please rest assured that at no time will I be elaborating on reasons for which we might have to activate the lock down procedure. If you have any questions please contact Mr. Hembling at the school.
 I'm sorry for the lack of posts this week. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day this time of year. Actually, there never seems to be enough time regardless of the season, does there? We have tons of exciting things happening next week and the children vacillate between the events they are most excited for. First its the Winter concert, then its PJ Day, then its more gingerbread activities and back to the concert. Regardless, we are looking forward to all the fun happenings and holidays coming up.
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