From Mrs. Collins' Desk....

This week I read a picture book to the students called The Mitten Tree. In the story, an elderly woman knits mittens and hangs them on a blue spruce tree for the needy children in her neighborhood. It is a very sweet story with a touching lesson. The fourth grade students will have their own mitten tree to help the needy. If your child would like to participate, please send mittens or gloves to school the week we return from Thanksgiving Break. The mittens or gloves can be any size, color or design. This will be a special project for our students to share many mittens and gloves with needy children this winter season. Thanks for your help.

I have been so impressed with the Book Talks given by the students during the past weeks!  Students have shown such enthusiasm for the books that they have read.  Their excitement is contagious.  Other students are wanting to read the books they are hearing about or read other books from the same author that they have enjoyed.  

Speaking of books, the Scholastic book order has been shipped and will be given out tomorrow.  Thank you for ordering from Scholastic, because of our order I was able to receive close to 100 free books for our class library!  Many of the free books were presented in the Book Talks.  I have asked students to return all of my classroom library books by today.  During Thanksgiving, I want to reorganize it to make it more user friendly.  Please look around your home and ask your child to look in their backpack and school desk for my books.  

Lastly, students are reading the story "Pat Cummings:  My Story".  The skills taught this week are fact/opinion, summarizing, and suffixes.  The story quiz will be on Friday.  There will be no new word wall stems, definitions, and words given out this week.  We will pick back up on the Wednesday we return from break.  

I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with lots of family, fellowship, and food!