Dear Families,
Today John Michael made cursive writing of his name for me. Me and Lily played on the tire swing for the whole recess.  Me and Lily tested a little color to see if they worked and some of them worked and some of them didn’t.
Love,
Lola

We have been very interested in learning about calendars.  This week we started creating our own January calendars. We are excited to add important personal dates to our own calendars.

During center time several of us used the math mat to practice number identification, addition, and subtraction facts.

Here is Joaquin’s magic computer. You can type in any object name and the machine will create the object for you!

View more photos in our January 4-8 Photo Gallery

The students are continuously building friendships so today we read the book Rainbow Fish. During art every student decorated a friendship scale.  We are going to use these scales to create our own Rainbow Fish for our classroom.

We stretched and exercised our bodies today.  The whole class rotated through stations.  This helps everyone improve his or her balance and coordination. 
The “Body Curl” station is Lola’s favorite, and Michael said he likes to “Hop on ONE Foot” the most.  The other stations include Quick Feet, Frog Hop, and Windmill. 
“I like the Rock & Roll station!” –Petey

During reading Ms. Aja read a book called Chicka Chicka 1,2,3.  The whole class counted to 100 together!

During music time we practiced using our singing voices instead of our talking voices.  Ms. Shelley let us use drums and she showed us a new instrument called bells.  The students practiced voice control and keeping a rhythmic beat.

View more photos from today in our January 4-8 Photo Gallery

“Dear Families,
Today we played Star Wars in Creative Play and outside. Some of us did art on the computer.  We played on the tire swing and we were being cowboys and cowgirls.  Ms. Katie is still at the Dolphins’ class.  Lily wrote letters to some of her friends.
Love,
Lola”

It was so great to be back together again after our two week break. We had lots of exciting stories to share during our morning circle time.  We had lots to discuss during calendar time too. Not only is it a new month, it’s also a new year! During calendar time we each got to start designing our own giant January calendar.  We will add to and refer to our individual January calendars throughout the month. During Writers Workshop today we started discussing what makes stories readable to others.  We decided that in order for others to read our stories we should put spaces between our words and write neatly.  We found lots of new books to read during Treasured Reading time.  Ask your child what books he/she enjoys reading.  This afternoon we had an opportunity to spend time in the atelier and in creative play.  By the end of the day most of us were exhausted! It’s hard work learning and play all day long (especially after a long break!)

View more photos from today in our Jan 4-8 Photo Gallery

Some families have requested the recipes that we’ve been baking. Here they are:

Tortillas
Recipe from Emily’s Blog

2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cups water

Mix all ingredients together then form balls of dough. Use a tortilla press to flatten the balls of dough. Grease the pan or grill and cook the tortillas on medium-high for about 30 seconds per side. Enjoy.

Monkey Bread
Provided by Rachelle

3 rolls of biscuits
1-2 sticks of melted butter
2 cups sugar
3 tbs cinnamon (or to taste)

Cut each biscuit into quarters. Dip in melted butter. Dip in cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Put in bunt pan and repeat process with all three rolls of biscuits. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Soda Biscuits
Provided by Everett

2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 TBL lard
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Directions:
1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
2.  Combine flour, tartar and salt.
3.  Cut in lard.
4.  Dissolve baking soda in the milk.  Turn into flour mixture, stirring as little as possible.
5.  Turn onto floured surface and roll to 1” thickness.
6.  Cut into rounds.
7.  Bake on greased baking sheet until brown.

Gingerbread
Diana Rattray at About.com

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation:
Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan or spray with a baking spray with flour. Heat oven to 325°.Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl; beat on low speed of electric mixer until ingredients are combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and increase mixer speed to medium; beat for about 3 minutes longer. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cut into squares and serve with freshly whipped cream. To serve leftover gingerbread, warm slightly in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds.This gingerbread freezes well: cut into squares and wrap individually. Thaw and warm in the microwave just before serving.

Banana Bread
Provided by Sarah

3 ripe bananas
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Mash bananas with fork. Stir in all ingredients. Pour in greased loaf
pan. Bake one hour in preheated 325 degree oven.