December 2019

3 Things We Did Today - December 4, 2019

1. We began writing a 5-paragraph essay with the topic of our surprise 7-day vacation!

2. We are reviewing topic 4 entirely to prep for Part 2 of the Topic 4 test, which is heavy in the problem solving.

3. We continued with our work on writing opinion pieces about The Tiger Rising.

Something extra: We earned a second gem party! We voted for popcorn and a movie! I will be sending home a permission slip for students to watch appropriate PG movies.

One more thing: Our cookie party has been scheduled for December 18, 2019 from 2:15 -2: 45. An email was sent and letters home are forthcoming!

Have an awesome night!

3 Things We Did Today - December 5, 2019

1. In math, we continued with topic 4 math review.

2. We began our CHOOSE LOVE Journey - we discussed what it means to choose LOVE, how social-emotional learning is a super important part of our lives, and how choosing LOVE can result in happiness and peace! We decorated folders today with the message, "Nurturing, Healing, Love" on the front.

3. We grouped together to read about and discuss Pre-historical times. Each group was given a specific question to respond to and report out to the class.

Have a wonderful evening!

3 Things We Did Today - December 6, 2019

1. We continued with review of Topic 4 math.

2. We learned the formula for Choosing LOVE - Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion in Action = Choosing LOVE! The kids were given this formula to decorate and keep in their folders. Beautiful work!

3. We started a new read aloud during Reading Workshop, Little House in the Big Woods. We discussed what we thought the story could be about based on the title and the illustrated cover. We discussed setting/time period. We became dictionary detectives to locate and write definitions for 6 words we would stumble upon while reading the first two chapters. We completed the dictionary work together to ensure that all students were prepared to use dictionaries correctly and understood how to read the definitions and identify parts of speech.

Enjoy the weekend!

Awesome Things We Did This Week - December 9-13, 2019

1. We have been hard at work reading and analyzing our new read aloud, Little House in the Big Woods. Many questions have come up as well as observations made about this way of life in the 1870's!

2. We have been diligently working away at our math tests this week: we finished Topic 4B and we are working our way through the benchmark test which covers topics 1-4.

3. The kids finished their letters to share their opinions on the previous read aloud, The Tiger Rising. We are now preparing to send them off to their recipients!

4. We read Lesson 2 in our social studies text which has us learning about the Abenaki Indians. We did some glossary work and matched pictures with definitions as well in our Abenaki notebooks. We also completed a key questions review.

5. We decorated our Choose Love journals! They are all so unique!

6. We dove into the first part of the Choose Love formula - Courage! We learned how and when to take a Brave Breath, we learned what it means to have courage, and the kids decorated "Courage" signs to keep in their Choose Love folders. They also were given two handouts to leave for use in their folders - the Brave Breath and a Courage Calendar.

7. We enjoyed a fabulous art project - guided drawing of a snowman! Each is so unique and colorful - they are going to add so much personality to our classroom!

8. We are in the midst of sharing our family projects! They are amazing! We have photo albums, posters, and google slides!

Have a wonderful weekend!

3 Things We Did Today - December 16, 2019

1. We celebrated our 2nd Gem Party today with popcorn and a movie! We watched 2018's The Grinch and we loved it! Thank you to families who sent in the delicious popcorn to be shared among the class!

2. We started Topic 5 in Math - Division! We related basic multiplication facts to division. We also reviewed "the answer" for addition (sum), subtraction (difference), and multiplication (product) to make way for new learning - the answer in division is quotient! Students were also given folders to keep helper resources in, such as templates for solving certain algorithms and a laminated multiplication chart to use with division. They were reminded to think about their basic facts through this topic as we did with multiplication.

3. We read Chapter 3, Lesson 2 in our social studies text, discussing the ways of life for the Abenaki people. The kids then answered some key review questions.

Enjoy your evening!

3 Things We Did Today - December 18, 2019

1. Probably most awesome was our COOKIE PARTY! WOW, what a spread, and the kids were beyond excited!!!!!! They feasted with plenty left to come home! Enjoy! And thank you, thank you, for your participation .... this party doesn't happen without YOU!

2. We were, once again, dictionary detectives for words read in chapters 3 and 4 of Little House in the Big Woods! The kids also spent some time finishing up the chapters' packet.

3. We moved on to estimating quotients using basic multiplication facts! Once the kids got into the concept of how to do it, they were off and running with it!

Something extra: We heard the last of the family project presentations! It was really nice for our class to learn more about their peers in their home settings with family!

3 Things We Did Today - December 19, 2019

1. We re-read the chapter, Christmas, in Little House and the Big Woods to refresh our minds, which allowed us to have a great conversation about how The Ingalls' family Christmas is similar to our family Christmases. Students then wrote an essay comparing the two.

2. We continued to practice estimating equations but with larger dividends. The kids really have an awesome handle on the words "dividend," "divisor," and "quotient." Although this estimation can be tricky, they are doing an outstanding job!

3. We started a kindness wreath today! Kindness is critically important, and it is equally important to notice kindness, whether someone has been kind to YOU or you witnessed kindness between others. So, in that spirit, every time an act of kindness is acknowledged, we're adding a ribbon to our wreath! We are hopeful that this wreath will be exploding with ribbons by our last day of school! Just today in less than an hour, 2 were added!!

Something else: Tomorrow is our last day of school before vacation - the kids have been invited to wear their jammies!

Have a wonderful evening and stay warm!

3 Things We Did Today - December 20, 2020

1. We made some beautiful ornaments and holiday cards!

2. WING awards were earned by Isaac, Jack, and Sophia, AND Kevin won an award for his work in the Geography Bee!

3. We had a blast at the HUES Holiday Sing-a-long!