Our class will visit the PTA's "Santa's Secret Shop" on Tuesday, December 8th from 10:30 until 11:00. I would like to congratulate our first "Eagle Reader"! Faith has made it all the way to "Eagle Ridge", which means that she has read over 600,000 words (according to the AR "words read" report)! This is amazing!! Way to go, Faith! I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of my students' names on that board!! Keep Reading and taking AR tests!!!!! The entire second grade will be doing a "Christmas Around the World" project this year.These projects will be due on Monday, December 14th. You will be receiving specific information on the project when we return from Thanksgiving holidays, but here is a summary of what is required: Each child will draw the name of a country and will do research on how that country celebrates the holidays at this time of year. The students are required to answer some specific questions and then to use the questions to write a paragraph about the customs and traditions in their country. Each student is also asked to have some sort of visual aid to use when they present their project to the class. The visual aid can be a poster, pictures, artifacts from the country, or the student could even dress up as a person from their country. Be creative and have fun with this project! We will celebrate what we have learned about the holiday customs around the world by having a "Christmas Around the World" celebration on Wednesday, December 16t. On this day, students are encouraged (but not required) to bring in a traditional holiday food from the country that they learned about. We will have fun tasting the foods from around the world. We will have our class Christmas party on Thursday, December 17th at about 1:30. We will be making gingerbread houses, and parents are encouraged to come and join the fun!! I will be asking for donations of cans of white icing, graham crackers, and any kind of colorful candies to make our gingerbread houses beautiful! Please mark our party on your calendar...you don't want to miss this fun time with your child!! Keep up the great reading! The students are doing a great job with AR! Keep reading books and taking AR tests!! Check out the Eagle Ridge website for details about our school-wide Eagle Readers Club! Please join the Eagle Ridge PTA! The cost is $5.00 per member! With all of the budget cuts from the state, we need our PTA more than ever! We would really appreciate your support!