Week of 12/9

Social Studies
We spent the week learning about the customs and traditions of a new world holiday - Kwanzaa. Students learned about when, where and how some African-American families celebrate this holiday. At the end of the week, students wove paper Kwanzaa mats with the traditional holiday colors of red, green and black. Ask your child to tell you something they learned about this holiday.

Writing
We read the story Growing Vegetable Soup by Lous Elhert. We made personal connections to the story by sharing some of our own favorite family activities and then writing about them. At the end of the week, we enjoyed an author share. Volunteers took turns reading their stories aloud to the class. Authors had the opportunity to use a clear, loud voice for all to hear. Our audience members practiced respectful listening skills and had the chance to provide specific, positive comments after each story.

Math
Students continued to work with multiple addends during activities like Today's Number and Roll and Record with Three Dice. They used their ability to count on with dice! We also began to work on counting and writing larger numbers. They created counting strips to practice these skills. We also looked at examples of counting strips that had mistakes on them. Students had to identify and fix the mistakes they saw.

Upcoming Dates

• There is no school from December 23rd - January 1st for our winter vacation.

Thank you,

Mrs. Bradstreet

Week of 12/2

Social Studies
We began a new unit on World Holidays. Throughout this unit, students will learn about the ways in which people celebrate three different winter holidays. Our focus was on Diwali this week. Students read a nonfiction passage on Pebble Go, located India on a world map, and then read and colored their own Diwali mini-book. At the end of the week, each child created a paper lantern. We also spent time comparing and contrasting our own holiday celebrations with the Diwali traditions. Ask your child to tell you something interesting they learned about this holiday!

Writing
After reading Daddy Calls Me Man, we brainstormed stories about our own family members. Students took turns telling the class specific details about a family member such as "I have a sister who gives me hugs." Then, we spent a couple of days writing and illustrating our own stories about family members. This was a great opportunity for students to practice writing details about a single topic.

Math
We solved addition story problems that involved multiple addends this week. Students used strategies such as counting on or finding known combinations, and tools such as the number line or drawing pictures to solve these. We reviewed the important concept that numbers can be added in any order and the total will remain the same.

We also tried a new activity called Today's Number. Students were given a target number and challenged to find many different ways to "show" the number. Ideas included showing the number on a ten frame, or as addition or subtraction equations.

21st Century Skills

Students participated in a small group challenge to exercise their problem solving skills! Groups worked together to figure out a way to make a crossword puzzle with all of their first names. It was important to try different strategies, use resources and practice good collaboration skills to accomplish this task. Photos of your child in action are on Seesaw - please check it out!

Upcoming Dates

• There is no school from December 23rd - January 1st for our winter vacation.

Thank you!

Mrs. Bradstreet