December

Hold On

Now that Fall Break, Conferences, Halloween, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, and a host of other events have past us, we now have the holidays with which to contend.  We have three solid weeks before Winter Break and an ambitious schedule of academic content to complete.  Teachers ask for parents' assistance in keeping students focused on school, maintaining a consistent schedule, and ensuring healthy habits (eating, hygiene, sleeping, etc.) for the duration of the holiday season.

If you have travel plans that require your student to miss school days prior to Winter Break, please let teachers and the front office know as soon as possible.

Science:  Earth, Sun, and Stars

• We continue our unit in science with a focus on Earth's rotation around its axis and its revolution around the sun. Students will learn the effects these phenomena have on our lives on Earth, such as day/night, shadows and seasonal changes.

• Next, we learn about the phases of the moon and what causes this phenomenon. We will also discuss the effects of the moon on the earth.

• Then, we turn to the sun and study its status as a star and how it compares to other stars across the Milky Way galaxy and beyond. We will learn about the classification of stars and the life cycle of stars. Students will review the make up of our solar system, including classification of planets and the relative sizes and distances of planets.

• Finally, we study the concept of gravity and the gravitational force between all objects. Students will discover the difference between weight and mass, where mass is constant but weight depends upon gravitational force. Students will learn that size of object and the distance away determines the gravitational force.

American Colonies

Our focus has turned to the period of U.S. history known as colonization.  This period includes the time period following exploration of the Americas, including its impact on native people's civilization and culture.  

We begin with making the connection between the exploration of the Americas and the factors that led to colonization, including the ongoing effects on indigenous people already living in partnership with the land in North America.  We'll focus mostly on the English, French, Dutch, and Spanish colonies and the motivation for each.  Special emphasis on the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies will help us establish the major themes of colonization:  change, conflict, and diversity.  After that, we'll take a broader look at the thirteen original colonies by region:  New England, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. All content will continue to honor and explore multiple worldviews.

Social Emotional Learning

Willow Creek is committed to teaching the whole child and has created a focus this year on teaching Social Emotional Learning lessons in the classroom. The program Second Step was adopted by the district and will be in use to guide instruction and discussions throughout the year. Students will learn to have empathy, manage emotions and solve problems in order to promote positive relationships with their teachers and peers and increase their feelings of school connectedness. Studies have shown that as students feel more connected to their school and peers they have more positive academic self-concepts, more motivation for academic success and more overall engagement for learning. Each month we will highlight for you a brief focus for the month to allow for continued conversations at home.  The Home Link pages will be linked to this section to support the discussion at home. 

December

• • Disagreeing Respectfully

    • Home Link

  • Responding with Compassion

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  • Introducing Emotion Management 

    • Home Link