December News

• December 7, 2022 Full Day Wednesdays begin (through end of February)

• December 24, 2022-January 2, 2023 Holiday Recess (No School)

• January 3, 2023 School resumes

• January 16, 2023 Martin Luther King Day (No School)

Ask/Talk to Your Child About

• Ask your child to tell you about the nonfiction texts they are reading about. What are they experts about?

• Ask your child to tell you the informational topic they are writing about.

• Reference the time and the clock throughout the day. Ask your child to tell you what time it is.

• Talk to your child about our the how weathering and erosion occur.

Winter Weather Reminders

Please remember that with the colder temperatures and snowy weather, students need to be dressed properly for recess. This includes a warm jacket, hat, gloves/mittens, and boots. In order to be allowed to play in the snow they need to have all of this in addition to snow-pants/snowsuit. Thank you.

Reader's Workshop:

We are finishing up our Becoming Experts unit. Students will continue to grow ideas about a topic of their choice and discover the way in which nonfiction texts are written and organized. They will also connect information from one text to another to become experts on their chosen topic.

Writer's Workshop

This month we will be finishing up our Informational Writing Unit. Students will draw on their experiences and all they have learned about the way in which nonfiction text is written and organized to write informational chapter books on topics of their choice. Students will add different text features to their books and will publish an informational book to share with others.

Phonics

This month we will be tackling multisyllabic words. Students will learn strategies to solve the words methodically. Students will about learn about different consonants in words and will tackle spelling words with different endings.

Math

We will begin our unit on Time. Students will relate the work with equal groups and skip counting to understand five minute intervals on the clock. Students will learn the difference between the minute hand and the hour hand on an analog clock. They will also create a timeline of various activities of their day and represent them on a clock. We will also begin subtraction of two digit numbers within 100. We will focus on subtraction with place value. Students will start by thinking about the relationship of addition and subtraction. They will use strategies such as base ten blocks, open number lines, and hundred charts. We will also solve different types of word problems involving subtraction.

Social Studies

We are continuing to explore communities. We will learn about what a community is and what is in a community. Students will study the skills of geography, economics, and citizenship in the context of learning about communities. Students will learn about community change, community leadership and citizenship.

Science

We will complete our first science unit, Earth: Our Changing Planet. To deepen student understanding of the effects of erosion and to develop engineering skills, students will follow the Engineering Design Process to create an apparatus to stop beach erosion. In this series of lessons students will follow the Engineering Design Process to determine which materials are best at stopping the sand from eroding from the beach.