Quick Reminder

The whole school sing a long is today at 1:50 if anyone would like to join us!

We will not be having a formal holiday celebration.  Our big celebration was the construction of our gingerbread houses last week!  As this time of the year gets extremely busy and students become excited for the holidays, I like to keep it very simple on Tuesday.  We will be enjoying the end of our Holiday's Around the World unit with a snack and winter movie.  

Classroom News 

Sight Words

By request, we had our first sight word test today!  I had mentioned a while back that I used to do sight word tests so I could see how students were doing with their practice.  To my amazement, students asked if we could do this!  They LOVED it!  Each and every one of them took our "test" very seriously.  We had the talk about the importance of trying our best and making sure to keep our eyes on our own papers.  We send these papers home on Thursday, so you could get a better understanding of where your child is at with their knowledge of sight words thus far.  It is important for students to not only be able to read the sight word, but to be able to write it as well! 

Holidays Around the World:

We learned that the Christmas tree is not native to Iceland.  A long time ago, they used to use a wooden pole and stick branches into it and spray paint it all green and then decorate it.  Everyone loved listening to the story of the Yule Lads, or little mischievous elves that visit the towns each night for 13 nights around the holiday season. We decided that they have very silly names:

Stekkjarstaur - Gimpy
Giljagaur - Gully Imp
Stúfur - Itty Bitty
Þvörusleikir - Pot Scraper Licker
Pottasleikir - Pot Licker
Askasleikir - Bowl Licker
Hurðaskellir - Door Slammer
Skyrgámur - Skyr Gobbler (Skyr, an Icelandic yoghurt)
Bjúgnakrækir - Sausage Snatcher
Gluggagægir - Window Peeper
GáttaÞefur - Doorway Sniffer
Ketkrókur - Meat Hooker
Kertasníkir - Candle Beggar

We visited Japan and learned about the how they celebrate the Japanese New Year. Students learned how to make oragami foxes and paper fans.  They even learned how to say "decorations, shrine, money, New Years Eve, cooking and gift" in Japanese!  

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Students are learning a song about Kwanzaa in music class and a while back they asked if this is something that we could learn about.  Students learned that Kwanzaa is based on the year-end harvest festivals that used to take place in Africa. The name comes from Swahili meaning "first fruits of the harvest."  We each made a Kinara (which friends made the connection between the Kinara and the Menorah because they look very similar)!

We will continue our Holiday's Around the World theme with our last stop being the United States.  Children will share about what their traditions are around the holiday season! Please be on the look out for your child's blue Passport next week! 

Remember:

We have school 12/21 and 12/22 and then I will see everyone back at school on Monday, 1/4

Classroom News

Math

This week during math, we have been learning about how to decompose and compose numbers to 10.  We learned how to play "Bears on a Bus." Below are pictures of students filling up the bus!  A card was drawn and students had to figure out how many more people were needed to get to 10.  Finding partner numbers to 10 is something that you can continue to practice at home!

Gingerbread Houses

Thank you to all of the families that made donations to our class Gingerbread making project.  Students had a wonderful time learning about the various types of gingerbread books.  They enjoyed writing about how they would catch a gingerbread man.  We have a lot of creative friends! We worked vigorously preparing for our Gingerbread play with the second grade book buddies.  Despite being a difficult task, the students did a tremendous job in front of their peers!

Sight Words of the Week

he

she

Social Studies: Holidays Around the World

This week our class took a plane to visit Israel to celebrate Hanukkah and Germany to celebrate Christmas.  They loved the idea of following along with the flight simulator video to pretend to fly to a new country.  In Israel, students learn about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.  We learned about the Festival of Lights and how one candle is lit each night.  Students were surprised to hear that children get one gift each of the 8 nights of celebration.  In Germany, we learned about the nutcracker and yule log.  We made our own Christmas tree advent calendars as an art project.  Germany is one of my favorite places to visit because I get to bring my pickle ornament in and teach children about my family tradition.  A pickle ornament is placed on our Christmas tree last by a parent.  After all presents are open, the children try to be the first person to find the pickle.  That person gets an extra present and as the story goes, they will receive good luck for the year.  

Classroom News 12/4

Classroom News

Literacy

Here you can see that we are working on the "magic e" rule and "when two vowels go walking, the first does the talking" rule.  Often times students are confusing these rules.  THAT IS OKAY :) We call this "using, but confusing."  Students have so much going on in their brains right now, they are sifting through the rules that they have learned and are pulling out which ones they deem appropriate for the situation.  If you see them doing this, please encourage them to keep going and do not correct them!  

Math

During math we have been ramping up our work with 10 frames.  Students are now expected to compose and decompose numbers to 10.  Please practice making addition and subtraction problems within 10.  An example of this would be: If I have 3 pencils, how many more do I need to get to 10?

Gingerbread 

We will be performing a gingerbread boy skit in front of the school next Friday morning with our second grade book buddies from Mrs. Bissonnette's class.  To celebrate the ending of our mini-unit, we will be making Gingerbread houses in the afternoon.  Please be on the look out for paper work with further information in your child's red folder.

Holiday's Around the World

This Friday we will begin our unit on Holiday's Around the World.  Students will travel to different countries, including France, Iceland, Germany, Mexico, Israel, as well as many others.  We will be learning about the traditions that people from these countries have.  Let us know if your family has any special traditions that you have in your home.  During each visit, students will be working on filling out their own Passports!  Please let me know if your family is sensitive to this subject.

Saying Goodbye to our Friend 

I am sad to say that our dear friend Thaddeus will be leaving us.  We sent him off with a package of cards that each friend wrote to him, so that he can open them when he arrives in his new home!