Newsletter Updates for the Week of December 11th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, December18th—Delayed Start

-Wed., Dec. 20th—Christmas Party—afternoon - Wear Your Christmas Sweater

-Thurs., Dec. 21st—Sing-a-long, Pajama Day, & 1/2 Day (Dismissal @ 11:35)

-Dec 22-Jan 2—Christmas Break

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  

Our student of the week is Brian Cundiff. Brian enjoys riding his bike, playing baseball, and catching frogs. His favorite movie is Jurassic Park and his favorite foods include strawberries, blackberries, and ice cream! His goals for this year include learning to play basketball & learning to read—which he is doing a terrific job at! Congratulations to Brian on being our Student of the Week!

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 $3.00-$5.00, and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM (To: a girl From: Mrs. Brinks). We will be decorating our class Christmas tree on Tuesday, so you are welcome to send your child’s gift for the gift exchange in at any time. Also, attached you will find sign-up for our Christmas party—thanks in advance for your generosity! :)

PAJAMA DAY: 

Thursday, December 21st, will be our annual Christmas Sing-a-long, as well as Pajama Day. Students are welcome to wear their pajamas and slippers in the classroom, but please still send boots and snowpants for recess. Dismissal will be at 11:35.

HOLIDAY HOMEWORK:

Next week the students will be bringing 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 reading about different cultures that make up the communities around the world. Your child is learning to appreciate the different customs that people share. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—cultures & appreciate

· Sightwords—do & up—Think of things your child likes and doesn’t like and ask simple questions. Encourage your child to respond with “I do like . . . . or I do not like . . . .”

· Category Words—kinds of foods—use sticky notes to make labels for different foods in your kitchen. Help your child sound out each word and write it. Then affix the label on the food.

· Phonics—Letter Dd—Search for objects that begin or end with the letter d. Make a list of the words; encourage your child to read each word and then underline the d.

· Comprehension—character, setting, & events—Read a story together and  then invite your child to draw pictures of the main character, the setting, and an important event that happened in the story.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will introduce Peekin’ Poodle who combines several of the accuracy strategies that we’ve learned so far. When we come to a word we don’t know we . . . “Check the picture, check the word, does it look right, does it sound right, does it make sense, keep trying!”

WRITING: 

Over the next couple of weeks, we will complete some fun journals related to Christmas, including drawing a map for Santa to find our houses, with the help of Google Earth. We will also write another pattern book, this time with a surprise ending.

MATH:

This week we will explore the concepts of weight and capacity and practice counting by 1’s, 5’s, & 10’s.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will wrap up our Science unit on the 5 senses. We will also be reading several stories related to Christmas, as we anticipate it’s arrival! :)

 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, & laughter!  

~ Sherry Brinks