3 Weeks and Counting!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I heard about some of the great trips you took last week.  I'm glad everyone made it back safely!  As we get into the final push toward the holidays, I wanted to update you on the service projects we will be a part of in the next three weeks. 

• Pajama Project--Our team is collecting change during lunch in order to provide pajamas and books to children in need.  We are doing this as a school-wide service project.  Each day some students from our class will man the table to collect the change.  On Wednesday we will actually sort, count, tally, and graph the collections from that day!  I am really excited to show the students how much can be accomplished when everyone helps out just a little bit!
• Care Packages to Soldiers--We will be writing letters and sending care packages to soldiers who are serving in Afghanistan over the holidays.  At this point, I'm not sure how many we will be adopting, but some of the items they would appreciate include snack foods, shelf-stable meals and soups, and white tube socks.  As you are shopping over the next couple of weeks, if you are able, consider adding one of these items into your cart. 

I know that financially, things are tight for many this year.  Please do not feel you have to participate.  I want the class to be a part of the projects so they can see that anyone can make a difference.  If you are able to donate, that is great.  If not, it's okay.  We all give back in our own ways! 

Finally in today's newsletter I mentioned that this month's book order will be online only.  In order to ensure that the books come back in time for our break, an online order is the quickest and easiest way to get it done.  All of the flyers are available for you to look through online, but I will send the paper flyers home tomorrow.  If you have any questions or problems, please let me know.  The website is: http://clubs.scholastic.com/  Our class code is HWFT6.  If you want to order books to give as a gift, let me know so I can pull them aside and keep it a secret!

Have a great week!