Last Week of November 2018

Happy end of November.  I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving holiday.  Only 4 weeks left before our Winter break.  Next week is pretty normal, then we will head into our holiday studies to wrap up the semester.  Please read on to get the whole scoop on what is happening for the rest of the year in room 9 and at Marshall.

Math:  As mentioned last week, this week we will continue with making a ten and dive into some deeper thinking with comparing efficiency of strategies and critiquing peer solutions.  I love how our students are asked to think about their strategies and made to figure out which strategies are used when comparing problems with these lessons.  

ELA:  We will be reading the first 5 chapters of Frog and Toad Together.  Each student will have their own copy of the book, and we will use the stories to work on comprehension and reading skills.  This series will go hand in hand with our Nat Geo stories, focusing on animal life cycles.  This week we will learn about the lifecycle of a frog and create a cute project that helps us to understand that concept.

Science:  We will wrap up our body unit this week.  We will finish our body bags and have an assessment with a labeling activity.

Social Studies:  The students will wrap up their Thanksgiving unit with Mrs. Ogg this week.  This will be our last week of switching until we return from winter break.

Cultural Holiday Celebration Sign-Up:  The 3 weeks in December we will spend learning about the different holidays celebrated during this time of the year.  Each week we will learn about a different holiday, who celebrates it, how they celebrate, when they celebrate, and why - the importance behind that particular holiday.  The first week is Kwanzaa, followed by Christmas, and Hanukkah.  On each Friday of these 3 weeks we will end with a celebration for the holiday we are learning about.  December 7th we will have a mini Kwanzaa feast to celebrate the harvest, the 14th we will have a Christmas craft morning where we will be making our parent gifts and gingerbread houses, and the 21st we will make latkes and play dreidel game.  We will need your help with supplies in order to make this happen, and I will need volunteers on the 14th and 21st as well.  You can sign up to help with all our festive fun by clicking on our sign up genius link here   https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4fa4a72ca0ff2-cultural.  I will also send home a paper version with the names of our online sign up added on and send home about midweek for those who prefer.  Thank you all for your help in making these moments happen for our kiddos.  I absolutely love these Friday's in December.  The students learn so much and it is such a magical time of the year!  

Scholastic Book Orders:  Book orders are in the cubbies.  Again, this will be the last one until we return from Winter Break, which means this is the last chance to purchase any books you may want for the holidays.  Book orders will be due Friday, November 30 to ensure that all orders will make it in on time well before we go to break.  Remember, you will also be able to order online using our classroom code Q7YBM.  Remember, if you are purchasing books for gifts for your child just let me know and I will make sure to get them to you without them knowing!  Thanks for ordering.

Special Early Release:  Thursday, December 13th is a special early release day.  Students will be dismissed at 12:25 for a teacher report card prep day.  Please plan for after school care accordingly.  

Marshall Gallop:  Our Marshall Mustang Gallop was a huge success this year.  The school raised over $15,000, the most we have made in many years!  Our class raised quite a good chunk of that!  Mrs. Hulls' class was the class that brought in the most money and Ms. Grimmett's class earned the nod for highest percentage of participation.  It was a great year for our Gallop and for our PTO and I cannot thank everyone who raised funds and participated in this event enough!  You are amazing and we are thankful for your help in making this one of our most successful Gallops we have had in a while!

I look forward to seeing everyone rested and ready for tomorrow! -Ms. Shaw