Monthly Archives: December 2017

Our next home project will be group created and presented to our Lower Elementary Mentee class. Groups will be formed based on grade level, two groups per grade. The project is directly related to the Great Lessons. Each group will be responsible for reading and researching the lesson, creating a play, skit or song to teach the lesson, create any props or accessories needed, then present the creation to Ms. Krista’s class the afternoon of January 11^th.

Major expectations are:

+ Each student participates in reading the lesson and knowing its story (Can your child retell the story to you? Beginning, Middle, End?)

+ Each student contributes to research, brainstorms, prop and accessory creation, and presentation.

+ Each group creates a written format of their creation and turns it in at the end of day Jan 11^th.

Questions about how the format should look can come to me at any time before then through email or in person. Plays are to be typed like plays; songs are to be written out as lyrics are; skits are to be formatted as skits are read.

Students will receive their group, topic assignments, and Great Story reading on Thursday, Dec. 21^st. Check-in with them!

PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY:

We studied weather, climate, and seasons last week. The follow-up to this interesting phenomenon is a 7-day weather tracking exercise. The children agreed last Thursday to be recording the temperature, how the weather feels and how the weather looks three times per day (morning, noon, and night) for a week. I wanted to give a heads up since some did not make it home with this little note! Due Thursday.

It can look like this:

Dec. 15th            Time: 7:16 am           Temperature: 26 degrees

Feels: COLD and a little breezy       Looks cloudy, maybe it will                                   snow

Time: 12:35 pm           Temperature: 30 degrees

Feels: COLD and still breezy       Started snowing and it’s sticking! The skies are white. Can’t see the mountains.

Also this week, we are focusing on some practical life lessons. Here are the required “homeworks” each night:

Monday:     Write down your address and each of your parents phone numbers. Bring a wash cloth, if you took today’s home.

Tuesday:     Bring in tying shoes, a button-up shirt, and if you have it, a small ribbon or rope.

Wednesday:     Bring in a piece of clothing that could use a little repairing.

Thanks so much – have a great week!

International festival schedule:

Upper Elementary will be exhibiting their International Festival Projects this NEXT WEDNESDAY. Rubrics have gone multiple times; check that your student has it and has completed it. Time has also been provided within the classroom. This is a very important event. We are all excited to see what the children have to share.

The following is the schedule when students will have a break to walk around with their families or friends to see other projects. Aside from the time below, students are expected to stay with their tri-fold project boards and discuss it with peers and adults who come by it. The colors indicate the color of the wristband they will wear to notify teachers which students are on break. Thank you for helping them get prepared properly!

• Wednesday 12/20 Upper El 9-11 (Kiva and classrooms)
  • 9:30-10:00 – 4^th grade break – Green
  • 10:00-10:30 – 6^th grade break – Red
  • 10:30-11:00 – 5^th grade break – Blue

International Festival food guide:

• 
  No liquid – Nothing that stains – Nothing that needs to be heated
  •          Finger Food Only – the student bringing the food supplies their own utensils or cups
  •       ALL FOOD BROUGHT FOR THE FESTIVAL NEEDS TO BE APPROVED!!!
  •       NO TOOTHPICKS!!!

Announcements:

Dec 18th           International Festival Projects DUE – Students have their countries assigned and the project questionnaire. Check on their progress! Looking forward to seeing their work!

Dec 19th            Job Fair in JR High. UE to visit.

Dec 20th           UE International Festival Presentations 9am – 11 am

Dec 21st            LE International Festival Presentations 1pm – 2:30pm

Dec 22nd – Jan 2           NO SCHOOL/WINTER BREAK

First, a great big shout out to all who helped make our Festival of Lights a success! The children enjoyed it so much and we had lots of fun. It truly was wonderful to see all the children making the crafts and playing the games. Plus, to see them explain about other holidays celebrated around the world at this time of year just made it that much more exciting. Thank you students for all your hard work and fun personalities.

In news this week, we are studying the work of air and how our earth’s rotation produces a wonderful engine for ocean currents, seasons, the water cycle, and much more. Last week we touched on three historical time periods: The Dark Ages, The Renaissance, and The Age of Exploration. Very interesting times indeed. Ask your student about their progress in science and history!

Also, so many students are making skips and jumps in their writing and math progressions. Exposure is happening in so many areas: operations in fractions and decimals, multi-digit multiplications, long division, orders of operations, exponents, and more in math. In writing, students are learning patterns and formulas to use for paragraphs and essays to ease the process of getting thoughts from mind to paper.

So much is happening in our wonderful classroom; come by and take a peek. I welcome you to do observations. Call the front office to schedule one. Steer clear of Wednesdays though-they can be super hectic with all of our specials occurring that day. However, we also readily welcome volunteers too. Let me know when and how you’d like to help. MAPA has their tracker ready and we could use your expertise.

Thank you for all you do for the classroom, the school, and most of all- your child!

Sign-up here to help with tomorrow’s event!

Look for a flyer from your student today about the Festival of Lights this Friday!

Announcements:

Dec 8th               9-11:30         Festival of Lights (at school event) – See further directions within the blog.

Dec 19th-21st             International Festival – Day One Jr High Presents; Day Two Upper Elementary Presents; Day Three Lower Elementary Presents

Dec 22nd-Jan 2nd, 2018     NO SCHOOL-WINTER BREAK

Jan 4th               Pizza and Game Night with Rm 1 Families

Jan 15th             NO SCHOOL – MLK DAY

The upcoming weeks are packed with projects and festivities! I hope everyone will join us for these occasions. We will be learning about festivals around the world for our Festival of Lights this Friday. The children selected a holiday at random this past Friday and are being asked to answer the basic questions of : What is this holiday? Why is it celebrated (is there a story attached to it?)? How is it celebrated? (Give 5 customs) Who celebrates it? (Country? Culture? Etc?) Where do they celebrate it? (a particular building, at home, with family, etc?) They can put together a simple poster of the answers and either draw or print some pictures to go with it.

It is good for our children to be exposed to how other cultures celebrate their holidays too. We live in a global culture and need to seek first to understand, then to be understood. It’s exciting! On the 8th, we will begin with our presentations, then have some games and a $5 white elephant gift exchange, then lunch and since it’s a half-day, go home after recess as usual. If you can help with some of the drinks or food, please contact Jessica Bateman at bateman.jessica@gmail.com. Thank you!

Also, we have begun units on geometry, fractions, exponents, decimals, conjunctions in our sentence writing, types of sentences to diversify our writing, and much more. Ask your student to teach you a thing or two and it will help them solidify their learning as much as remind you of former school day lessons.

Our International Festival is fast approaching. All students received a detailed rubric and questionnaire to complete which will aid them in being fully prepared for this special day. Students can retrieve another copy from the red basket in our classroom at any time. This is a very involved project so please aid your student in completing it and encouraging them to do their very best. Students present these to the school population and it is a wonderful opportunity to build confidence in presentations.

The students have chosen to delay the Pizza and Game Night to the first week of January. We are looking at January 4th. Anyone that can help with it, please contact Kristen DeLong <k2delong@gmail.com or Jessica Bateman at bateman.jessica@gmail.com. Thank you!

Let me know of any further questions and look for any more news, as we will have lots of it during this busy month!