Starfish Pictures

Can you believe these pigeon drawings?  The kids had fun exploring paint and collaborating with a friend.

We had fun measuring with paperclips in our classroom

We supported Mr. Fosher today with our SMS apparel and blue clothing.  He is a finalist for Principal of the year!  We made a great banner in the hallway!

We are carefully taking down a paper chain each day when we arrive to school!

We are learning to measure with rulers

Exploring shells with magnify glasses- Learning how tools can help enhance our sense of sight

We had so much fun at our Pigeon Party.  Thank you so much for your support!  We loved having an authentic audience for our writing!

Mrs. Hartley joined us this afternoon as your Mystery Reader!

Trying to find sight words in our Poem and Song Journals during Free Choice Time

We celebrated Lauren's Birthday last Friday!  Happy 7th Birthday to our sweet friend! 

Congratulations to the Carlson Family

Congratulations to Eli and his family on their new bundle of joy! Eli and his siblings received a new baby sister Abigail (Abby) last night.  Eli was so excited to share his special news with us this morning! We can't wait to meet her!

Holidays Around the World and Holiday Hike

 

Holidays Around the World

This month we will be studying holidays around the world...learning traditions through books, poems, and projects. We will be learning about St. Nicholas Day (The Netherlands), Diwali (India), Hanukkah (Israel), China (Chinese New Year) and Mexico (Las Pasadas) as well as our own Christmas traditions. 

 

 

The kids really enjoyed sharing their holiday dolls with the class. I showed the kids my over-sized maps of the seven continents that we placed on the rug to map out where each doll was from.  During our share we talked about the difference between a continent, country, and city.  12 of our class dolls are from Europe, 3 from Asia, and 1 doll for North America.  Thank you for helping your child with this project.  We are looking forward to sharing our family traditions from this week's homework on Friday.  I find it so interesting how different or similar our family traditions can be when we share with one another.  I hope the kids enjoy learning from each other, too!

 

 

Holiday Hike:  

As we focus on family traditions and celebrate holidays this month, we will read the book, The Night Tree by Eve Bunting. As a follow-up to this story, the students will hike on the trails next to the playground and decorate trees for the animals. All family members are welcome to join us. Hot chocolate and muffins will be enjoyed by all after the hike. We will be going out at 11:00 on Friday, December 19th with a snow date on Monday, December 22nd at 11:00. This activity is in lieu of a holiday party. We hope you can join us!

 

We will be doing a book swap at the party. Please bring in a used book from your child's book shelf that your child is willing to part with that is wrapped like a holiday present. (please do not go out and buy a new book!)  When we arrive back from the holiday hike we will do our book swap.   I will read the kids the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.  Each time I read the word 'Grinch' in the story, the kids will pass the book along to the person sitting next to them.  When the story is complete, the students will unwrap their new book and have a new story to read over winter break! 

*I have plenty of books that I can contribute to the swap, so if your family does not have a book to wrap, please let me know! I still have boxes filled at my house of children's books that I have inherited, so please let me know if I can help!  

 

 

 

Celebrating Our Pigeon Stories

We had such a wonderful morning sharing all of our pigeon books with a wide audience of family members. Thank you so much for making us part of your day!

Reminder: Mo Willems Writing Celebration is Tomorrow

The Starfish are looking forward to sharing their Mo Willems' inspired books with you tomorrow morning from 8 to 8:25. The books reflect all that we have learned about the "style" of Mo Willems writing.   Please look for expression in the character's illustrations, speech bubbles, ways in which your child makes their characters excited or frustrated.  The kids are proud of the creative ways the pigeon tries to persuade the reader!  The kids are so excited to share their stories with you and show you what they have accomplished in this unit of writing.  Thank you so much for your support and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow.



 

Other pictures from our week

We are working hard to write our Mo Willems' inspired stories.  The kids are meeting with their writing partners to practice reading their stories with expression.  The kids are also working to give helpful suggestions to their partners to improve their writing.

 

Playing roll a turkey with partners:

 

 Playing Roll to 100 during math centers:

Checking out the class thermometer to check the daily weather:

Thank you Mrs. La Fleur and Mrs. Parmelee for being our two most recent Mystery Readers!  The kids really enjoy having you come read to them!