December Post

Hello 1-1 Families! 

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends. May it be filled with love, laughter, and wonderful memories!!

See you in the new year! 

Literacy

During reader's workshop, the children worked on:

-retelling a familiar story

-identifying the beginning, middle, and end

-recording a retelling focusing on the important details

-central message

Writing

Over the last few weeks, the children worked on a letter writing unit. First, they learned about writing friendly letters. The children were so excited to write to author Katherine Applegate, whose book we read as part of the One Book One Dryden event. We addressed our envelope and placed it in the mail. We hope that Katherine Applegate writes back to us soon!

The children also learned how to write a thank you letter. First, we worked together to write a thank you letter to Mrs. Buchek and Mrs. Sprenger. Then, the children practiced writing their own thank you letters to someone very special. It’s a secret (but I bet you will find out very soon)! They are doing a great job of remembering the five parts of a letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature).  

Snow Globes:

A few weeks ago, the children listened to the book, The Snow Globe Family by Jane O’Connor. After, they wrote their own story about what they would do if they lived in a snow globe. The children wrote some very creative stories about life in a snow globe. They also created their own snow globe to attach their writing to. Our room now sparkles with beautiful snow globes hanging from the ceiling. 

Reindeer Application:

After listening to the book, Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight?, the children were very excited to learn that Santa was in need of a new reindeer. Each child applied to the position by filling out a reindeer application. They wrote about why they would make a good reindeer. To go along with their writing the children also turned themselves into a reindeer, complete with antlers and a shiny red nose!

Math

The children finished Unit 7 in math. They worked with place value and building numbers using 10s and 1s. The children also worked with completing patterns, both ascending and descending by counts of 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s. They continued to work on problem solving by completing different word problems. Their Unit 7 test will come home after break, I am proud of how hard the children worked! After break, we will move on to Unit 8 which focuses on addition and subtraction within 20. 

Social Studies 

Over the last few weeks, we studied different Winter Holidays. We read several books and used Pebble Go to research each of the holidays. The children learned about how people celebrate Diwali, Eid, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Christmas. 

The children each decorated a Rangoli to celebrate Diwali. Then, they created a lantern to celebrate Eid. We were also lucky enough to have Bilal's mom and Omkar's mom come in to present on Eid and Diwali.

After learning about Kwanzaa the children made Unity Cups and wrote a Harambee paper. They learned that “Harambee” means “let’s pull together.” The children each wrote about how they pull together with their friends and family. 

We concluded the unit by reading, Festival of Lights. The children discussed how all of the holidays we learned about use light to celebrate. The children wrote about how they use light to celebrate at their house. They each created a festival of lights craft to go along with their writing. 

Star Students

Nell, Charlotte, Caden, and Sonny were our star students. Thanks for sharing all about you!

Royal Readers

A special thank you to Nell's Mom, Charlotte's parents and Caden’s Mom. They joined us the last few weeks as our Royal Readers. The children enjoyed listening to the wonderful books that you read. 

Our updates will return in the new year. Check back in to see new photos and read about all the wonderful things we are learning! Remember to check out our twitter feed as I post there almost daily!