Catching up...a few photos from BEFORE vacation!

I forgot that I had these photos on my camera. Here are a few photos from activities in December...

We played "Pass the Snowball" to practice reading and writing words on the SWR skills list. Students took a piece of crumpled paper, read the word, wrote it, and then pass the "snowball."

Number Squeeze is always a popular math game choice!

Students continue to love the game Countdown, which is a fantastic way to practice math facts.

Now that these snowman votives are not a surprise, I can post this photo. I hope that you (or another loved one) enjoy the gift--actually, we made lots of gifts in December!

Sing-along and party

On December 23rd, the whole school came together in the morning for a holiday sing-along. It's always so heartwarming to hear children's voices singing together. And don't worry--the adults were involved too. The teachers and staff even did a little "Jingle Bell Rock" song and dance! :-)

Students names were randomly selected to help ring the bells for "Jingle Bells."

Skip ahead to cookie decorating at our classroom celebration! We had foods to represent all the holidays we studied in our "Holidays Around the World" unit. The cookies represented a Christmas tradition in many countries.

Back to the sing-along...some lucky students helped hold pictures to go along with "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

No more pictures from that day--it was a busy one! :-)

Happy New Year!

Dear Families,

As you have probably heard, I have been out of school all this week. I plan to be back tomorrow. First my husband and child were sick, and then it hit me late Sunday night. I finally started to feel more like myself late this afternoon. It's been a long time since I've been so sick. In any case, I'm on the mend.

I apologize that homework was not sent until today. Thank you to Tracy Stevens for getting that out for me today! If your child cannot finish it by Friday, please just send it back next Monday.

Happy New Year!

Erin

Writing Celebration!

We joined students in Miss Stevens' class for a Writing Celebration on Friday morning. This was the culmination of our "Small Moments" Unit of Study--writing focused personal narratives. Students read their published pieces to a partner and then enjoyed a video and popcorn (the popcorn came later in the afternoon for us, as you may have heard--oops!). We are so proud of the great work students are doing in writing!

Fun with Puppets!

Mrs. McCleary brought puppets today for her Guidance lesson on problem solving situations with friends. Last week, students drew pictures and told about problems they have recently encountered. Today, Mrs. McCleary selected some of these scenarios to have children role play using puppets. Topics included feeling left out on the playground, name calling, and playing fairly. What a valuable experience!

Shoes

Just a couple reminders and requests about shoes/boots...

Now that there is snow and children are wearing boots to school, please make sure to send your child to school with shoes as well as boots. If you'd like to keep a pair of shoes at school, that's fine. Your child can keep them by his/her coat hook.

Second, I prefer that children only wear shoes with shoelaces if they can tie their own shoes. This would be a great skill to practice at home! Also, it's getting harder for me to bend down to tie lots of shoelaces every day! ;-) I will post a "Shoe Tying Club" poster after the vacation. Students who can tie independently can put their name on the poster!

Our travels to Sweden!

Today children learned about St. Lucia Day, a winter celebration that takes place in Sweden, Norway, Italy, and other countries. It is called "The Festival of Lights," as it is meant to be a reminder that light will return after the long dark days of winter. It is also the kick-off to the Christmas season for many families. Children are currently working on making candle crowns. The following PBS Kids link gives some kid-friendly history about St. Lucia Day:

http://pbskids.org/arthur/holiday/scrapbook/luci1.html

Tomorrow we head to Mexico to learn about Las Posadas!

SWR Skills

Today students used the sound graphing page in our SWR notebooks to segment sounds in words and spell them. This works very well when new sounds are introduced, such as "qu," which students have been practicing in their spelling this week. To "graph" a word, students fill in the number of boxes on their page that corresponds to how many sounds they hear in the word. For example, the word "quick" has three sounds: /qu/ /i/ /ck/ but it is spelled with five letters. The /qu/ and /ck/ "share letters" to make the sound. I taught children the "Qu Song" to help them remember this sound. I will record it tomorrow on video for you to see and hear!

Sound graphing is fun and effective!

I projected the sound graphing page onto the Smartboard for all students to see. Unfortunately the image doesn't show in this picture.

During our Literacy Station time, students can play literacy skill games.

These two were so silly about having their picture taken, but they did a great job solving these vowel puzzles together!

Homework Update!

Hello! Just a quick note to let you know that this week's home work is the last homework we will send until the new year. With the short week next week and the busy schedules that go along with holiday preparation, we figure families need a break from the homework routine. Enjoy! :-)

The Dreidel Game

As part of our Holidays around the World theme, students learned a bit about Hanukkah traditions Friday and today. Last week, students played Dreidel during math station time. You may have noticed that your child even brought home his/her own dreidel! Students seemed to enjoy this game, and they even got some math skill practice (figuring out half of a number, counting, etc.). Here's a link to directions for Dreidel, if you wish to play at home.

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/holiday_hanukkah_dreidel.htm