Christmas Stockings

Each student in our class decorated a Christmas stocking that was hung in our classroom. Anyone who wishes to can bring a little something to secretly put in them and we will open them the last morning of school, December 19.

If you choose to participate, you can send whatever you’d like, but some ideas of things for the stockings include:

· Holiday stickers

· Mini oranges

· Small candies (Kisses, candy canes, individually wrapped)

·  Pencils or erasers

· Small toys or other treat bag-type goodies (need not be all the same)

· Handmade decorations, cards or messages




We have 21 students in our class and I will have a stocking hung too so that makes 22.  It will be a fun way to celebrate the season at a relatively low cost!

The Littles

Did you ever read any of The Littles books?  They have been around for years but I hadn't read one for a long time.  Recently Mrs. Grieg was cleaning out her book shelf and offered some of her books from the series to our room.  The class thought we should read it and reluctantly, I agreed.  I had recalled not really enjoying the books but we got started.

I had intended to only read a chapter but the story kept making us want to read just one more chapter! In the end, I finished reading the whole book aloud in only two days!  It was a big hit, especially when The Littles made friends with the cat at the end!

I feel that reading aloud to Grade 2 and 3 students is so important!  It models fluent reading and I stop to discuss the book frequently and we talk about what we think will happen next or what we think something means or why someone did something.  This shows the students there is so much more to reading than saying the words on the page!  You have to think while you read to understand what the author is saying with the words.

The school library has many books in this series and some of the students plan to take one home next Friday when they choose their book.  Thanks Mrs. Grieg !

Digger!

In the fall, our class received an email from Lindsey Gullett with the chance to name the mascot for the Virden Oil Caps Hockey team and thought we'd give it a try.  First we brainstormed for ideas and filled a whole chart paper with everything we could think of.  Then we took a day to think about it and each wrote our choice on a secret ballot.  When they were counted up, Digger was the most popular choice so we submitted that as our entry.

We had forget on all about the contest when on December 1st, we got an email from Lindsey, marketing manager for the team to say our name had been chosen!  We were invited to the game on Saturday, December 6 and we're going to meet Digger and have pizza too! 

It was also Teddy Bear Toss night so when the Oil Caps scored their first goal, stuffed animals of all colour and sizes went flying onto the ice to be donated to charities for Christmas hampers.




Not everyone was able to attend but we look forward to having Digger come to our school someday for a visit.

Great teamwork, Grade 2-3 class!