I hope you are having a great start to the holiday season. We have been very busy in the Starfish classroom during the first few weeks of December. We are looking forward to the exciting events ahead in our classroom before winter break.
Important Classroom Information:
*I told the kids they did not have to pack a R.A.H book for this week and next. Please enjoy your time as a family and enjoy some of your favorites from your personal book shelves. I will send home the homework folder with just the word sort and word list tomorrow. The kids are in such a great groove with their word sort centers, that I would like to continue this until break.
Please feel free to log onto IXL and check out the measurement section and/or practice your addition and subtraction math facts.
*Thank you so much for the generous donations for our 10 year old local boy we are sponsoring for the holidays. We have received donations for the Nike Sweatshirt, snow boots, and a few gift cards. If you are still wanting to contribute gift cards to Market Basket and Walmart, I am putting together the gift on Thursday afternoon!
*Holidays Around the World- We are so excited to start our journey to 5 countries to learn about their holiday traditions. We will share our suitcases filled with projects and learning at our holiday party next week.
*Our Holiday Ornament Extravaganza is Next Tuesday, December 22nd. (Snow date: 12/23) The party will start at 10:30 and end around 11:30 before recess and lunch. We will set up the classroom with a variety of stations for you and child to create and design holiday ornaments for your tree. Thank you to many of our starfish families who have signed up to contribute some holiday treats to enjoy for this event. We are so excited to share this time with you! (Please feel free to not pack a snack/ or a light snack for your child on this day).
* Wednesday, December 23rd- First graders can wear their Pajamas and bring their favorite stuffed animal to school with them.
Last week the Starfish really enjoyed sharing their Holidays Around the World dolls with each other. As we shared our dolls, our heritage, and the kids placed their doll on a world map.
Check out our wonderful holiday art right outside our classroom
We are Starting our Travels Tomorrow to Learn about the Holiday's Around the World
We will be studying many holiday customs that exist throughout the world...learning traditions through books, poems, and projects. We will be learning about Diwali (India), Hanukkah (Israel), Chinese New Year (China), Las Pasadas (Mexico), St. Nicholas Day (Germany), Kwanzaa, and our own Christmas traditions. The paper dolls will be viewed on our bulletin board, Holidays Around the World, for the month.
Tomorrow the kids will travel with their suitcases and passports to China and India to learn about their holiday traditions and Mexico, Germany, and Israel later in the week. Jillian's family lived in Switzerland a few years ago. We are excited to invite her family to come in to share their experiences with St. Nicholas Day with our class this week!
What are we learning in Math?
Learning about Measurement
Two week ago we began the fourth math unit. The two big ideas emphasized in Unit 4 are length measurement and addition fact fluency. In the unit, the Starfish began by directly comparing the lengths of two objects. We began the unit with measurement of nonstandard objects such as paper clips, pencils, unifix cubes, and toothpicks.
With their explorations, the kids learned that the measurement unit must be the same size. They also learned that the units must be arranged without gaps or overlaps.
Correct measurements use same-size units with no gaps and overlaps.
On Friday the kids used gingerbread men to find objects smaller, larger, and the same size in our classroom and out in the hallways.
We also used our first standard measurement last week using rulers to measure paper Christmas trees. The kids really enjoyed this activities.
Learning about Data Collection and Graphing
Also in this unit, the Starfish transitioned from displaying data in tally charts to displaying data in bar graphs. Their work with comparing lengths will help them interpret data by comparing the lengths of the bars in graphs.
For exposure to a variety of data collection strategies, I have asked the class holiday questions each day when the come to school. We learn about each question during morning meeting. Here are some examples of our holiday questions.
Today the class came up with their own data collection questions and learned to place their information on bar graphs independently. Inside your child's blue folder tonight, you will find their tally collection. Their bar graphs are hanging with our class holiday graphs in the hallway!
Science- Learning about our Senses
We are just about wrapping up our five senses unit. We have one more activities with our sense of smell that we will have fun with this week. We completed "The Best Part of Me" activity last week. The kids had to choose their favorite sense and write what they would miss most if they did not have their sense. These projects came out amazing! We are excited to share them with you next week at our holiday party!
Questions to Promote Home School Connection:
1. Can you tell me how you made your suitcase for Holidays Around the World?
2. Can you tell me what topic you are writing for your non-fiction chapter book?
3. Who did you have as your mystery reader this week?
4. What was your favorite tool to measure with in the classroom?
5. Can you show me how to measure with no gaps?
