Next week, we will begin learning about maps and globes. The focus question of this unit is to think about "where am I in this world?" We will discuss maps, globes, continents, countries, states, towns as well as some other map features such as oceans, rivers, etc. This unit transitions directly into our unit on Mexico. The students are better able to grasp the location of Mexico in relation to themselves after learning about maps and globes.

**Check the announcements tab for important information about an exciting volunteer opportunity!**

Before leaving for winter vacation, the students are always surprised when I say, "See you next year!" Upon the return from break, we discussed New Year's traditions such as staying up late, watching fireworks and making resolutions. The students made their own promises to the themselves for the new year and completed a fun craft. This festive display is now in our classroom and shown in the picture above.

Math: Now that we have learned and reviewed addition and subtraction strategies, we are ready to learn about related facts and fact families. The students seem to really enjoy this fact family portion of Chapter 5. See photo above for an example of a fact family.

Fundations (our phonics program): We are beginning unit 6 which focuses on adding a suffix -s to make a word plural. For example, cats or shops. Please check your child's folder next week for their corrected Unit 5 Assessment.

For more information on our Fundations program, please visit our classroom website and find the "Literacy Links" tab under "Important Links".