Dear Families,
On Monday, we will be getting another new student. Her name is Sindhuja and she will be joining our classroom. Please add her name to the Valentine cards for our party, and also welcome her family if you see them before or after school.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Next Week’s Sharing: Something that is square
Try to be creative and find something unique to share about. Remember to prepare at least 4 complete sentences about the object or sharing (not including the introduction).
• Star of the Week: Jimin
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: F
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: Firefighter Ted
• Literacy Centers: We have been acknowledging all the students who are receiving 4 stars in each category! We have a goal of every student receiving 4 stars! Every Wednesday, you will see your child’s literacy center paper. Please encourage them to finish their work, especially in dictionary center. If your child struggles to receive 4 stars in listening center, please practice answering the questions on the worksheet using a book at home. They should be able to identify the main character, setting, and express their favorite part of the story in a complete sentence beginning with, “I like when _____________________.” Reinforcement at school and at home will help your child succeed!
• Fire Station Field Trip: We are thankful for beautiful weather, especially this past Tuesday when we walked to the fire station. Thank you to our volunteers who came with us! When we arrived, we got a tour of the fire station and saw their offices, exercise room, TV room, kitchen, sleeping area, and the garage. They spent some time reviewing safety issues such as wearing a seat belt in the car, turning a pot handle to the side if it is on the stove, checking your smoke alarm, and learning how to escape if there is a fire. The firefighters also gave us homework! They asked all the kids to go home and find out what your emergency plan is at home, specifically, where the exits are in the house, and picking a family meeting spot outside of the house. If you haven’t discussed emergency plans for your family, we highly recommend starting now! Afterwards, we went into the garage to see the fire engine and they demonstrated putting on all of their gear! Fortunately, only one unit got called out for an emergency, and there was another unit to continue giving us a tour. They let us sit inside of the fire engine! We learned a lot about how to stay safe!
• Computer Lab: This week, we explored a fire safety website called www.dangerrangers.com. On this site are different games and activities to teach about fire safety. Some examples are learning important signs such as EXIT or hazard signs, or identifying which objects in the house are dangerous versus safe. You are welcome to explore this website some more at home!
• Science: We have continued reading about penguins and learning more penguin facts. On Monday, we wrote one fact about penguins in our journals and we illustrated them. We are also doing many penguin projects, especially since today was Penguin Day! We dressed up in all black and made a rockhopper penguin mask! Rockhopper penguins are very unique because they have yellow feathers sticking out of their head! Also, we made a stand-up penguin puppet with Ms. Shama. Ask your child to sing “The Penguin Song” to you too!
• Math: We started our new unit on more addition and subtraction. We are making sure to remember to use a + and = sign or – and = sign when we write our math sentences. We are also practicing telling stories in words and drawing pictures to show our math stories. Yesterday students took home a butterfly mini-book. Make sure to check their work to see if they wrote the math sentences correctly!
• Social Studies: In February, we celebrate Presidents Day. Since this week was the State of the Union Address, we talked about who our American president is, Barack Obama. Students made a portrait of President Obama and we learned a little about him. If you did not get to hear the State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening, I have attached the section he spoke about specifically on education in America. If you have a moment, I highly recommend reading it as it applies completely to your child’s generation!
If you haven’t seen the “Photos” section of our website yet, I posted photos of some of our January classroom decorations. Most of our classroom is covered in winter scenes such as snowmen, snowflakes, and mittens. We also have our New Year Resolution projects on the walls as well. Take a look and be sure to share the website with your child too! Remember there is always something new to look at every week! Have a great weekend!
------------------------
State of the Union Address – January 25, 2011 by President Obama
(only part of his speech on Education is below)
Maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America's success. But if we want to win the future - if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas - then we also have to win the race to educate our kids.
Think about it. Over the next ten years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school degree. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren't even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to 9th in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us - as citizens, and as parents - are willing to do what's necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.
That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It's family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair; that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline.
Our schools share this responsibility. When a child walks into a classroom, it should be a place of high expectations and high performance. But too many schools don't meet this test. That's why instead of just pouring money into a system that's not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top. To all fifty states, we said, "If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we'll show you the money."
Race to the Top is the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation. For less than one percent of what we spend on education each year, it has led over 40 states to raise their standards for teaching and learning. These standards were developed, not by Washington, but by Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country. And Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that is more flexible and focused on what's best for our kids.
You see, we know what's possible for our children when reform isn't just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals; school boards and communities.
Take a school like Bruce Randolph in Denver. Three years ago, it was rated one of the worst schools in Colorado; located on turf between two rival gangs. But last May, 97% of the seniors received their diploma. Most will be the first in their family to go to college. And after the first year of the school's transformation, the principal who made it possible wiped away tears when a student said "Thank you, Mrs. Waters, for showing... that we are smart and we can make it."
Let's also remember that after parents, the biggest impact on a child's success comes from the man or woman at the front of the classroom. In South Korea, teachers are known as "nation builders." Here in America, it's time we treated the people who educate our children with the same level of respect. We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones. And over the next ten years, with so many Baby Boomers retiring from our classrooms, we want to prepare 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.
In fact, to every young person listening tonight who's contemplating their career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make a difference in the life of a child - become a teacher. Your country needs you.
Of course, the education race doesn't end with a high school diploma. To compete, higher education must be within reach of every American. That's why we've ended the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that went to banks, and used the savings to make college affordable for millions of students. And this year, I ask Congress to go further, and make permanent our tuition tax credit - worth $10,000 for four years of college.
Because people need to be able to train for new jobs and careers in today's fast-changing economy, we are also revitalizing America's community colleges. Last month, I saw the promise of these schools at Forsyth Tech in North Carolina. Many of the students there used to work in the surrounding factories that have since left town. One mother of two, a woman named Kathy Proctor, had worked in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old. And she told me she's earning her degree in biotechnology now, at 55 years old, not just because the furniture jobs are gone, but because she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too. As Kathy said, "I hope it tells them to never give up."
If we take these steps - if we raise expectations for every child, and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the day they're born until the last job they take - we will reach the goal I set two years ago: by the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
One last point about education. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense.
Now, I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration. I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows. I know that debate will be difficult and take time. But tonight, let's agree to make that effort. And let's stop expelling talented, responsible young people who can staff our research labs, start new businesses, and further enrich this nation.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
January 21, 2011
Dear Families,
I absolutely love the sun. The weather has been beautiful, sunny, and warm! Winter is usually difficult since we have to stay indoors, but lately we’ve been able to run around at recess and lunch. I know the rain will come again, but in the meantime, it’s so nice to wake up to sunshine each morning! I am glad we will also have sunshine next week when we walk to the fire station (whew!).
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Next Week’s Sharing: Something you use in the winter
Remember to prepare at least 4 complete sentences about the object or sharing (not including the introduction).
• Star of the Week: Rylee
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: G
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: Bear’s First Winter
• Social Studies: Most of our week was around the theme of Martin Luther King Jr. We read several stories to learn about what Martin Luther King’s life was like, and learned why we celebrate his birthday every year. We also learned a poem about his famous poem, “I Have a Dream.” We completed different activities including a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. We also learned some of his famous quotes and made a poster with different colored hands surrounding a heart to show peace.
• Geography: We have started learning about the Earth and the continents and oceans. Students should be able to locate land and water on a map, and may also be able to identify the different continents and oceans! We learned a song to help us remember all of the names. Have them sing the “Continents and Oceans” song to you!
• Writing: Our journal entry on Monday was to write about what we dream to be when we grow up. We thought about how we want to make the world a better place, and what we could do to help others.
• Math: We finished our first addition and subtraction unit. Continue practicing telling addition and subtraction math stories orally and using pictures (such as circles) to show how to solve the problems. We are also reviewing numbers sentences and practicing when to use plus or minus. The next unit will be a continuation of more addition and subtraction problems.
• Computer Lab: This week, we used Kidpix to draw a self-portrait of ourselves. Since our theme was Martin Luther King Jr., we showed that each of us have different skin color, hair, eyes, and faces. You can see these self-portraits in the “Classwork” section of our website, called “Faces of Room 8.”
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney on Tuesday and did a much better job following directions. She had us listen to an underwater ocean song and we used colorful scarves to dance with. We also learned a fun partner dance for Valentine’s Day.
• Buddies: On Thursday, we saw our fourth grade buddies from Ms. Allen’s class. We worked with our buddies to think about how we would like the world to improve in 50 years. We drew our dreams together.
• Science: As part of our Winter unit, we are learning about places around the world that are cold. We learned about Antarctica and we started learning about the largest penguin in the world, Emperor Penguins. We read some stories about the life cycle of penguins and how father penguins take care of the egg and chick. On Thursday, we completed a sequencing activity about the life of penguins and chicks. We will be continuing this Winter Penguin unit for the next few weeks. Ask your child what they have learned!
Next week is our Fire Station field trip. I will send home a reminder sheet with more information on Monday in the homework packet. Please look over the sheet for all the details!
I absolutely love the sun. The weather has been beautiful, sunny, and warm! Winter is usually difficult since we have to stay indoors, but lately we’ve been able to run around at recess and lunch. I know the rain will come again, but in the meantime, it’s so nice to wake up to sunshine each morning! I am glad we will also have sunshine next week when we walk to the fire station (whew!).
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Next Week’s Sharing: Something you use in the winter
Remember to prepare at least 4 complete sentences about the object or sharing (not including the introduction).
• Star of the Week: Rylee
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: G
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: Bear’s First Winter
• Social Studies: Most of our week was around the theme of Martin Luther King Jr. We read several stories to learn about what Martin Luther King’s life was like, and learned why we celebrate his birthday every year. We also learned a poem about his famous poem, “I Have a Dream.” We completed different activities including a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. We also learned some of his famous quotes and made a poster with different colored hands surrounding a heart to show peace.
• Geography: We have started learning about the Earth and the continents and oceans. Students should be able to locate land and water on a map, and may also be able to identify the different continents and oceans! We learned a song to help us remember all of the names. Have them sing the “Continents and Oceans” song to you!
• Writing: Our journal entry on Monday was to write about what we dream to be when we grow up. We thought about how we want to make the world a better place, and what we could do to help others.
• Math: We finished our first addition and subtraction unit. Continue practicing telling addition and subtraction math stories orally and using pictures (such as circles) to show how to solve the problems. We are also reviewing numbers sentences and practicing when to use plus or minus. The next unit will be a continuation of more addition and subtraction problems.
• Computer Lab: This week, we used Kidpix to draw a self-portrait of ourselves. Since our theme was Martin Luther King Jr., we showed that each of us have different skin color, hair, eyes, and faces. You can see these self-portraits in the “Classwork” section of our website, called “Faces of Room 8.”
• Music: We saw Ms. Disney on Tuesday and did a much better job following directions. She had us listen to an underwater ocean song and we used colorful scarves to dance with. We also learned a fun partner dance for Valentine’s Day.
• Buddies: On Thursday, we saw our fourth grade buddies from Ms. Allen’s class. We worked with our buddies to think about how we would like the world to improve in 50 years. We drew our dreams together.
• Science: As part of our Winter unit, we are learning about places around the world that are cold. We learned about Antarctica and we started learning about the largest penguin in the world, Emperor Penguins. We read some stories about the life cycle of penguins and how father penguins take care of the egg and chick. On Thursday, we completed a sequencing activity about the life of penguins and chicks. We will be continuing this Winter Penguin unit for the next few weeks. Ask your child what they have learned!
Next week is our Fire Station field trip. I will send home a reminder sheet with more information on Monday in the homework packet. Please look over the sheet for all the details!
Friday, January 14, 2011
January 14, 2011
Dear Families,
Since there is no school on Monday, we will not be visiting the Eaton library and checking out a book that day. Therefore, your child will not be bringing home the large manila homework envelope next week. Homework will be separate and will go home on Tuesday in their daily folders. Also, there is no sharing next week since it is a short week.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Shaunak
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: P
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: The Hat
• Language Arts: This week we read many snowman books and talked about how to make a snowman. On Tuesday, your child brought home a snowman sequencing activity to tell a story about a boy and his snowman. Some students had difficulty with this activity. Take a look at their project to see if they understood sequencing correctly!
• Science: We have been talking about the season of Winter. We describe how Winter is different from all the other seasons. We made Snowman glyphs this week. A glyph is a project that has specific clothing and items that tell details about the person who is making it. Each snowman then becomes unique! Also on Friday, we made another snowman out of cotton balls. In addition, we used yarn, buttons, pipe cleaners, and glitter, to decorate them!
• Writing: Our journal entry on Monday was to write about things we see in Winter. We started with the sentence, In winter, I see ____ and students wrote about different winter objects. They illustrated their picture. In our homework packets, please continue to work on writing the alphabet letters and the numbers with proper handwriting. It is important that students continue to try their best to write neatly on all their work, and not rush or be messy. This applies to writing as well as everything else we do, such as coloring, cutting, or gluing.
• Math: We focused on telling subtraction stories and sentences this week. I taught the children how to show their math sentences using counters and using drawings. Remember, students need to practice explaining their logic and thinking, not just computing answers from math problems. Here is an example of a subtraction sentence and what I expect the students to be able to verbalize, and show in pictures and numbers.
There are 8 ducks in the pond. (Students draw 8 circles).
5 ducks swim away. (Students cross out 5 circles).
How many ducks are left? (Students write the math sentence 8-5= and
complete the answer by counting how many circles are remaining).
There are 3 ducks left. (Students answer 8-5=3)
• Computer Lab: This week, we finished our projects from last week and from before vacation. We illustrated our January poem, The Snowman, as well as our December Poem, “First Day of Winter.” Take a look at our drawings on the “Classwork” section of our website.
• Art: We saw Mrs. Abada on Thursday and we worked with clay! We shaped clay into a nest and we learned how to make a bird as well as some eggs to put in our nest. Mrs. Abada will put our clay projects into the kiln to harden them and next time we will paint glaze on them!
We are doing a much better job trying to focus on assignments and finish our work on time. Continue to monitor your child at home and give him/her time limits to work independently. We are still reinforcing all of the classroom rules and how to be a Peacebuilder to others. This week, we talked about following the rules and being nice to others, even when no one is looking. For example, many students are able to follow directions when I am standing in front of them, however, if I turn around, they start breaking the rules. We talked about why we want to make the right choices, and how we can control ourselves from following others who are not doing the right thing.
Have a great three-day weekend!
Since there is no school on Monday, we will not be visiting the Eaton library and checking out a book that day. Therefore, your child will not be bringing home the large manila homework envelope next week. Homework will be separate and will go home on Tuesday in their daily folders. Also, there is no sharing next week since it is a short week.
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Shaunak
(On our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”)
• Letter of the Week: P
(You can see our computer center drawings in the “Classwork” section of our website.)
• Story of the Week: The Hat
• Language Arts: This week we read many snowman books and talked about how to make a snowman. On Tuesday, your child brought home a snowman sequencing activity to tell a story about a boy and his snowman. Some students had difficulty with this activity. Take a look at their project to see if they understood sequencing correctly!
• Science: We have been talking about the season of Winter. We describe how Winter is different from all the other seasons. We made Snowman glyphs this week. A glyph is a project that has specific clothing and items that tell details about the person who is making it. Each snowman then becomes unique! Also on Friday, we made another snowman out of cotton balls. In addition, we used yarn, buttons, pipe cleaners, and glitter, to decorate them!
• Writing: Our journal entry on Monday was to write about things we see in Winter. We started with the sentence, In winter, I see ____ and students wrote about different winter objects. They illustrated their picture. In our homework packets, please continue to work on writing the alphabet letters and the numbers with proper handwriting. It is important that students continue to try their best to write neatly on all their work, and not rush or be messy. This applies to writing as well as everything else we do, such as coloring, cutting, or gluing.
• Math: We focused on telling subtraction stories and sentences this week. I taught the children how to show their math sentences using counters and using drawings. Remember, students need to practice explaining their logic and thinking, not just computing answers from math problems. Here is an example of a subtraction sentence and what I expect the students to be able to verbalize, and show in pictures and numbers.
There are 8 ducks in the pond. (Students draw 8 circles).
5 ducks swim away. (Students cross out 5 circles).
How many ducks are left? (Students write the math sentence 8-5= and
complete the answer by counting how many circles are remaining).
There are 3 ducks left. (Students answer 8-5=3)
• Computer Lab: This week, we finished our projects from last week and from before vacation. We illustrated our January poem, The Snowman, as well as our December Poem, “First Day of Winter.” Take a look at our drawings on the “Classwork” section of our website.
• Art: We saw Mrs. Abada on Thursday and we worked with clay! We shaped clay into a nest and we learned how to make a bird as well as some eggs to put in our nest. Mrs. Abada will put our clay projects into the kiln to harden them and next time we will paint glaze on them!
We are doing a much better job trying to focus on assignments and finish our work on time. Continue to monitor your child at home and give him/her time limits to work independently. We are still reinforcing all of the classroom rules and how to be a Peacebuilder to others. This week, we talked about following the rules and being nice to others, even when no one is looking. For example, many students are able to follow directions when I am standing in front of them, however, if I turn around, they start breaking the rules. We talked about why we want to make the right choices, and how we can control ourselves from following others who are not doing the right thing.
Have a great three-day weekend!
Friday, January 07, 2011
January 7th, 2011
Dear Families,
Happy New Year! It was a nice sunny week to return to school this week. I hope all of you had a great vacation filled with family time and happy memories. I did not go anywhere this year because my husband had to work (even Christmas and New Years!), but it was still nice to be able to relax and run errands in the middle of the day.
I’d like to welcome a new AM student to our class. Her name is Aishwarya and she has a twin sister named Aditi in Mrs. VanDick’s class. They both were at John Muir for the beginning of Kindergarten and started at Eaton on Monday. Please say hello to her family!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Mia
You can read about our Star of the Week on our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”
• Story of the Week: Snowballs
For listening center, now students have to describe who the main character is and the setting of the story, in addition to writing about their favorite part. At this point of the year, it is important that students are able to use inventive spelling (saying a word slowly and writing down the sounds/letters they hear) to express their thoughts. Remember, it is ok if the spelling is not correct! The purpose is to be able to share their own thinking (not copying words from the book) and be unafraid of writing. Every week in homework, the library book and journal serves as practice for inventive spelling. Use this opportunity to help your child practice writing on his/her own (guide them, but help them to become independent in the process).
• Letter of the Week: C
In literacy center on Wednesday, we tried to all get 4 stars in each category. Please encourage your child to finish all their work on time each week! You can see our computer center drawings for the letter C in the “Classwork” section of our website.
• Sharing: Next week’s topic is Something Blue. Remember to prepare at least four complete sentences about each sharing topic, not including any introductions. Also, I would like to see the children holding their sharing while they talk and keeping their body still. Other than that, sharing is going very well and is a pleasure to listen to! Thank you for helping your child present each week!
• Social Studies: This week we talked about New Year Resolutions. We discussed what resolutions are: goals, or areas for us to improve or get better in the upcoming year. We wrote four resolutions for ourselves in 2010. Then we made a flip up project to showcase our goals.
• Writing: Our journal entry on Monday was to write about our vacation. We started with the sentence, On vacation, I ______., and students wrote about what they did during vacation. They illustrated their pictures and had the option of writing as much as they wanted. This allowed me to hear about some of the fun activities that your families did over vacation!
• Math: We have been reviewing the terms, addition, or adding. This week, we practiced saying math addition stories using animals and different hands-on manipulatives. We learned that in addition, the magic word is “in all” or “altogether.” It is important that students not only know how to compute numbers, but also how to explain their thinking.
• Science: We are learning about weather and seasons, especially Winter. We have been reading stories from Jan Brett, including The Mitten and The Hat. We learned about different clothing we wear for different seasons, and completed two mitten activities this week. One of the activities was the Mitten story that the students brought home on Thursday. I asked the kids to keep them in their Keep Book shoeboxes to read and re-read. Your child should be able to orally retell the whole story to you, from the beginning with the characters (Nikki asking Baba for mittens), the middle (all the animals entering the mitten), and the end (Nikki finding the mitten and going home). They really enjoyed this activity!
• Computer Lab: We illustrated our January poem this week called, The Snowman. It was about a snowman that somebody made and it specified certain things to put on the snowman. We used Kidpix and added extra details to make our snowman special. We will continue these pictures next week.
• Assembly: Today we had an assembly by the Silicon Valley Brass. They performed a Jazz music set. It was a good opportunity for the kids to see different types of instruments!
• Music: This week was a little tough on the students as far as remembering the classroom and school rules. Unfortunately, our behavior was not good in music and we ended up losing some music time. Please continue to speak to your child about being a good listener (not talking) and keeping their bodies to themselves. Thank you!
Happy New Year! It was a nice sunny week to return to school this week. I hope all of you had a great vacation filled with family time and happy memories. I did not go anywhere this year because my husband had to work (even Christmas and New Years!), but it was still nice to be able to relax and run errands in the middle of the day.
I’d like to welcome a new AM student to our class. Her name is Aishwarya and she has a twin sister named Aditi in Mrs. VanDick’s class. They both were at John Muir for the beginning of Kindergarten and started at Eaton on Monday. Please say hello to her family!
Here are some highlights for the week:
• Star of the Week: Mia
You can read about our Star of the Week on our website under “Curriculum” and “Star of the Week.”
• Story of the Week: Snowballs
For listening center, now students have to describe who the main character is and the setting of the story, in addition to writing about their favorite part. At this point of the year, it is important that students are able to use inventive spelling (saying a word slowly and writing down the sounds/letters they hear) to express their thoughts. Remember, it is ok if the spelling is not correct! The purpose is to be able to share their own thinking (not copying words from the book) and be unafraid of writing. Every week in homework, the library book and journal serves as practice for inventive spelling. Use this opportunity to help your child practice writing on his/her own (guide them, but help them to become independent in the process).
• Letter of the Week: C
In literacy center on Wednesday, we tried to all get 4 stars in each category. Please encourage your child to finish all their work on time each week! You can see our computer center drawings for the letter C in the “Classwork” section of our website.
• Sharing: Next week’s topic is Something Blue. Remember to prepare at least four complete sentences about each sharing topic, not including any introductions. Also, I would like to see the children holding their sharing while they talk and keeping their body still. Other than that, sharing is going very well and is a pleasure to listen to! Thank you for helping your child present each week!
• Social Studies: This week we talked about New Year Resolutions. We discussed what resolutions are: goals, or areas for us to improve or get better in the upcoming year. We wrote four resolutions for ourselves in 2010. Then we made a flip up project to showcase our goals.
• Writing: Our journal entry on Monday was to write about our vacation. We started with the sentence, On vacation, I ______., and students wrote about what they did during vacation. They illustrated their pictures and had the option of writing as much as they wanted. This allowed me to hear about some of the fun activities that your families did over vacation!
• Math: We have been reviewing the terms, addition, or adding. This week, we practiced saying math addition stories using animals and different hands-on manipulatives. We learned that in addition, the magic word is “in all” or “altogether.” It is important that students not only know how to compute numbers, but also how to explain their thinking.
• Science: We are learning about weather and seasons, especially Winter. We have been reading stories from Jan Brett, including The Mitten and The Hat. We learned about different clothing we wear for different seasons, and completed two mitten activities this week. One of the activities was the Mitten story that the students brought home on Thursday. I asked the kids to keep them in their Keep Book shoeboxes to read and re-read. Your child should be able to orally retell the whole story to you, from the beginning with the characters (Nikki asking Baba for mittens), the middle (all the animals entering the mitten), and the end (Nikki finding the mitten and going home). They really enjoyed this activity!
• Computer Lab: We illustrated our January poem this week called, The Snowman. It was about a snowman that somebody made and it specified certain things to put on the snowman. We used Kidpix and added extra details to make our snowman special. We will continue these pictures next week.
• Assembly: Today we had an assembly by the Silicon Valley Brass. They performed a Jazz music set. It was a good opportunity for the kids to see different types of instruments!
• Music: This week was a little tough on the students as far as remembering the classroom and school rules. Unfortunately, our behavior was not good in music and we ended up losing some music time. Please continue to speak to your child about being a good listener (not talking) and keeping their bodies to themselves. Thank you!
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