Dear Families,
As we embark on our winter break and prepare for a few weeks off, we hope all of you have the opportunity to spend some wonderful family time together! Enjoy this time to “recharge” and cherish time with your students! We look forward to seeing students back in 2018 with a renewed energy to learn and grow!
We had a great winter party today thanks to all of our great parent volunteers! It was a wonderful way to kick off our time off!
Here is what we’ve been working on in each of our content areas:
Reading: This week we finished our first module of books under the theme of “finding courage”. Recently, we read two shorter stories during shared reading. The first, called Operation Clean Sweep, was a historical fiction short story that took place during women’s suffrage. The other, a nonfiction short story, detailed the life of Cesar Chavez and his life-long fight for the rights of workers. Both stories prompted some great discussions focused on the issues of injustice and inequality.
**Please remind your student that the bookmarks for the December reading log projects are due right after break,
Writing: Students recently produced a written opinion response based on the following prompt: Should NFL and other sport teams use the names/images of Native American tribes? After reading several articles which presented support for both sides, students had to support their own opinion with text evidence in a well-written, cohesive response.
Math: Our work in unit 4 and its focus on multi-digit multiplication has continued. Students should now feel confident in utilizing a variety of strategies to multiply. They are getting quite proficient in being able to decide which strategy is most efficient based on the content of the particular problem. Yesterday we even had a snowball fight—with crumpled up multiplication problems instead of the icy, cold stuff! The kids had a blast while practicing their strategies! They seemed to take the most pleasure in throwing “snowballs” at me! :)
Social Studies: We have continued to learn about the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as how patriotism is shown in our country. After winter break, we will learn about the particular liberties we are fortunate to enjoy in the United States, and contrast these liberties with countries such as North Korea, whose citizens suffer without such rights.
Current Events will resume the week of January 15. New calendars will be sent home when the kids resume from winter break.
Science: Our recent learning in science has focused on what people can do to protect the Earth’s systems. We have been studying the different ways individuals, engineers, communities, and governments can protect Earth's systems. In fact, last week we had a fun science investigation where we “mined” for chocolate chips in cookies! The chips represented coal and the cookies represented land in the geosphere that was being damaged by mining. Be sure to ask your student about this fun activity!
Today the kids really enjoyed a special STEM project! In groups, they were given a pack of index cards and a foot of tape. Their challenge was to design and build the tallest free-standing structure that would hold a small stuffed animal for at least 10 seconds! It was wonderful to see the cooperation and critical thinking skills that took place!
Important upcoming dates to remember:
Thursday, Dec. 21: Last day of school before winter break, winter parties @ 2:00
Monday, Jan. 8: School resumes
Monday, Jan.15: No School, Martin Luther King Day
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