Happy Holidays

The last day before winter break! Students had a blast moving around the room playing one another's games! Great way to end the week! 

Thank you to everyone for the enormously generous gifts to our classroom! I am grateful for such a wonderful group of students and parents. Very much appreciated! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful break and happy holiday season!

Enjoy :)

Snowmen Venn

Last week we dove into what Venn Diagrams are and how they are used. One example we used were the stories Snowman at Night and Snowmen at Christmas. As we read through each book students found all the similarities and differences each book had as they were compared. The bottom portion of both snowmen were used as the Venn. Turned out pretty awesome with MANY terrific ideas!  These are outside our classroom if you would like to take a look.  

Candy Contractions

Candy Contractions were another exercise to help students understand the concept of contractions. This was the theme to last weeks spelling list, and it was a harder concept to grasp. We will continue to add contractions into our conversations, to reinforce and better understand all the different contractions and how they are used. This was a fun way to attach it to the holidays and continue learning. These all came home in the students Friday Folders on the 19th. 

Non-Fiction Questioning

During our non-fiction reading unit, students are learning so much new information and building on prior knowledge. While reading to self they are generating many questions that extend their thinking and deepen their conversations during partner read and whole group conclusion. They are always wanting to know more and dig deeper!

BoArD GAmEs

Today the students were told Friday they are able to bring a board game (or card) of choice from home to play in the classroom.

*We did have the conversation to talk to parents about what is acceptable to take out of the home and to ask permission. 

Even though today's field trip was our holiday celebration, Friday afternoon they will have a small portion of time to mix and mingle with one another with fun and games. You can imagine the excitement level the day before break :) After lunch recess we will break out the games and have fun moving around the room. To follow we will pack up for break, then off to recess, our school sing along, then home.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Candy Train SUCCESS

The Polar Express was a hit this morning at the State Theatre! Students enjoyed popcorn and water while viewing. Thank you to those parents who joined us!

Later that afternoon we did complete our candy trains. Thank you Mrs. Galligan and Mrs. Osmulski for helping! Students had fun putting all the pieces together and enjoying leftover candy :) Thank you to EVERYONE for donating all the supplies to make it a success!

Reminders

Candy Trains

Monday 12-15

All candy is due by Monday. Students will be building their trains that morning. 

If you can not provide your assigned item please let me know as soon as you can. Thank you for your support & donations!!

Field Trip

Tuesday 12-16

State Theater - The Polar Express

We will be leaving following the second bell at 8:50. Please make sure your child is on time to school this day. Our movie is at 9:30. We will return in time for lunch at 12:15.

Spelling Test

Wednesday 12-17

Holiday Sing A Long 

Friday 12-19 @ 3:00

ALL ARE WELCOME!

December NWEA Scores

Student scores will be coming home on Friday 12-19

Holiday Break

Starts December 22nd

School Resumes January 5th

Winter Gear

Please make sure your child is bringing all the necessary outwear for outside. These items are important to keep your child warm and dry in outside conditions. 

ALL students need:

winter coats 

snow pants

boots

hats

mittens/gloves

Non-Fiction Reading

Students are continuing to work on identifying the main topic in a non-fiction text and provide evidence that connects. They are beginning to understand and describe specific details that POP OFF the page and use their response journals as a way to prove it. Many students are excited about all the new and exciting facts about a topic and even building on what they possibly already knew. 

Polar Express Trains

In class we read the story The Polar Express. Liam Neeson read the story and I turned the pages :) 

After we read the story we had a discussion about what had happened, added MANY connections students had to The Polar Express, and of course brought up Santa. Then we continued with a sequence activity and train building. The students had twelve scenes from the book they had to read and put in order. Before gluing, we double check our order together then pasted each down to make each pair a train car. The students were able to design their own train cars and use parts to build the engine. Their creativity came out as always! You will see these coming home this weekend.  

Snowballs & Numbers

Today we used snowballs to help us with math! Students were having a riot throwing, catching and finding their own snowballs. Inside each snowball was a large number, that was used to find the standard, word and expanded form. After all solutions were found, all snowballs went flying and the students had a try at another number. This really got them fired up on math...or possibly just fired up to be able to throw snowballs in the classroom :)