Newsletter Updates for the Week of December 14th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thursday, Dec. 17th—Christmas Party (pm)

             Wear your Christmas Sweater

-Friday, Dec. 18th—PJ Day, Sing-a-long, & Movie

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE:

For our class Christmas party, we are planning to have a gift exchange. We are asking that girls bring a gift for a girl and boys bring a gift for a boy.  Please select a gift that is between $3.50-$4.00 and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM (To: a girl  From: Mrs. Brinks).  Our party will be held Thursday, December 17th in the afternoon.  Our tree is decorated and ready, so you are welcome to send in their gifts anytime.

PAJAMA DAY:

This Friday we will celebrate our last day before break in our pajamas. Students are welcome to wear their pajamas and slippers in the classroom.  We will still be going outside for recess, so please be sure to send along boots and snow pants.  Our annual sing-a-long is at 9:00 in the elementary cafeteria if you'd like to join us for some Christmas carols.

HOLIDAY HOMEWORK: 

On Friday the students will bring home an envelope of ‘goodies.’ In this envelope you will find some special booklets that your child has made and can read, as well as a sheet explaining some fun Holiday Homework that they can do over break if they choose.

READING: 

This week our class will be focusing on different jobs that people have in the community. Children will read stories and learn about the tools and equipment that workers use.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—equipment, uniform—Brainstorm some different kinds of workers in your community. Encourage your child to tell about the equipment a worker uses and the uniform a worker wears.

· High-Frequency Words— you & on - With your finger, spell out the words on your child’s arm or back. Next, encourage your child to think of a sentence that includes these words.

· Category Words—jobs—Play a game called “Guess the Worker.” Give your child clues about what a worker does and act it out. Encourage your child to guess the job.

· Phonics—Oo—Help your child think of words that begin with or include the letter o. Then ask your child to underline the letter o in each word.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will use Chunky Monkey to help us read and write words with the ot, op, & og chunks. We will also introduce Dot the Giraffe who helps us with our Fluency & Voice as we read by looking at the punctuation clues.  We will also introduce Flippy the Dolphin who reminds us that when we come to a tricky word we can ‘flip’ the vowel sound (long or short sound) to figure out the word:)

  

WRITING: 

This week we will complete several journals related to Christmas, including drawing a map for Santa to find our houses, with the help of Google Earth :)

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will be reading several stories related to Christmas, as we anticipate it’s arrival:)  The students are enjoying baking holiday treats and goodies in our classroom Bakery Shop.

MATH:  

This week we will begin working on the ‘tricky teen’ numbers and complete a couple of Christmas graphs.

I will send blankets home on Friday to be washed over break:)

Thank you for sharing your children with me each day; what a true blessing they are!

I wish your family a very Merry Christmas

filled with joy, hope, love, & laughter!

-Sherry Brinks