The Week of December 11th

 The Blue Jays Weekly Newsletter

Peace and Giving Celebration

Our Ellis Families are so kind and gracious, especially at this time of the year. As you are shopping for gifts in the upcoming weeks, in lieu of teacher gifts, please keep our classroom needs in mind.

Please look over our wish list. If you wish to purchase a gift for the class, send the wrapped gift in on Thursday, December 15th.  Please label your child’s gift with his/her name.   We will open up gifts together during our celebration. The children will gain a stronger sense of responsibility for our community resources, and will, of course, be thrilled to see “their gift” put to use.  If you are unable to send in a gift, do not worry, we will have several gifts that we have purchased on hand, for the children to open, so that no one is left out at gift opening time!

*WISH LIST

Guinea Pig Bedding

Timothy Hay

PetSmart gift cards

$30 Kroger gift cards

Paper towels

Napkins

Pink erasers

Wish List

Snack

We hope you have found the new system for classroom snack to be helpful for you and your family. We have seen an enormous amount of positive growth that this seemingly small change made. We are seeing that students are enthusiastic to eat their fruit and vegetable snacks without hesitation and we have seen their confidence soar due to additional opportunities in practical life activities, such as preparing food, and washing their dishes when they are through. 

At the beginning of the year, we asked that each student turn in a $30 ($1.67 for each student per week) Kroger gift card to pay for organic snacks for the first semester. Thank you to all the families who sent in gift cards! If you did not send in a gift card at that time or if you are able to send in an extra gift card, please consider sending one in now. Because food costs are on the rise, we are nearing the end of our funds for the first semester. 

Homework

The lower elementary classes have the following homework expectations:

Read for 20 minutes each night, either independently or with family members.

If you have access to technology at home, your child can follow their i-Ready learning path.

Math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division) 

It is very important that all families sign up for our community Remind!  Please text @ac3c9 to number 81010 or if you are having trouble with 81010 try texting @ac3c9 to 971-239-4842  (Please sign up!)

Dates to Remember

December 15- Gifts for Peace and Giving Celebration due

December 16- Donation Dress Down

December 16- Holiday Sing Along Backyard 2pm

Dec 19-Jan 3- Winter Break

January 4- Students return to school

January 16- MLK Day- No School

The Week of December 4th

  The Blue Jays Weekly Newsletter

Peace and Giving Celebration

Our Ellis Families are so kind and gracious, especially at this time of the year. As you are shopping for gifts in the upcoming weeks, in lieu of teacher gifts, please keep our classroom needs in mind.

Please look over our wish list. If you wish to purchase a gift for the class, send the wrapped gift in on Thursday, December 15th.  Please label your child’s gift with his/her name.   We will open up gifts together during our celebration. The children will gain a stronger sense of responsibility for our community resources, and will, of course, be thrilled to see “their gift” put to use.  If you are unable to send in a gift, do not worry, we will have several gifts that we have purchased on hand, for the children to open, so that no one is left out at gift opening time!

*WISH LIST

Guinea Pig Bedding

Timothy Hay

PetSmart gift cards

$30 Kroger gift cards

Paper towels

Napkins

Pink erasers

Wish List

Ellis Book Fair

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to the Ellis Media Center December 1st-8th.The book fair will be open during regular school hours (8am-3:30pm) every day except for Thursday, December 8th, when we will be open UNTIL 5:30pm (when the Festival of Lights will begin). Forget the cash! You can add money to your student(s) eWallet account on the Ellis Book Fair website.

Festival of Lights

The PTA Festival of Lights will take place on December 8th at 5:30pm.

There will be performances by Primary/Lower Elementary students, Upper Elementary Chorus, and the symphonic band.

Come early or stay after school...the book fair will be open until the performances start at 5:30pm!

The 8th grade bridging club will be selling ornaments at the event to help with the cost of their 8th grade bridging ceremony. There are several different types of ornaments to choose from (see images below). The wood slice and glass bulb are $5/each and the snowman, reindeer, and gingerbread cookie ornaments are $1/each.

Angel Tree 

Thank you so much for donating to the Angel Tree gift fund! Blue Jays donated over $100!! 

Musical Explorers Field Trip

We will attend the Musical Explorers concert on Monday, December 5th! 

Autumn Observations

We are asking that all families come in to observe our community at work. Family observations are an important part of the Montessori experience.The purpose is to observe the Montessori environment as a whole. Each day, the children work for three hours, uninterrupted. Parents will observe for 25 minutes to get a snapshot of the child's experience.

Thank you to the families who have already scheduled their observations! If you haven't scheduled yet, please use the link below to do so. Observations began last week and will take place on Wednesday and Thursday mornings through December 15th. Please use this link to schedule your observation of the Blue Jay Learning Community today.

Snack

We hope you have found the new system for classroom snack to be helpful for you and your family. We have seen an enormous amount of positive growth that this seemingly small change made. We are seeing that students are enthusiastic to eat their fruit and vegetable snacks without hesitation and we have seen their confidence soar due to additional opportunities in practical life activities, such as preparing food, and washing their dishes when they are through. 

At the beginning of the year, we asked that each student turn in a $30 ($1.67 for each student per week) Kroger gift card to pay for organic snacks for the first semester. Thank you to all the families who sent in gift cards! If you did not send in a gift card at that time or if you are able to send in an extra gift card, please consider sending one in now. Because food costs are on the rise, we are nearing the end of our funds for the first semester. 

Homework

The lower elementary classes have the following homework expectations:

Read for 20 minutes each night, either independently or with family members.

If you have access to technology at home, your child can follow their i-Ready learning path.

Math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division) 

It is very important that all families sign up for our community Remind!  Please text @ac3c9 to number 81010 or if you are having trouble with 81010 try texting @ac3c9 to 971-239-4842  (Please sign up!)

Dates to Remember

December 5- Musical Explorers Field Trip

December 8- Festival of Lights

December 15- Gifts for Peace and Giving Celebration due

December 16- Donation Dress Down

Dec 19-Jan 3- Winter Break

January 4- Students return to school

January 16- MLK Day- No School