December 3rd Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week we'll wrap up our "storyboard stories," by finishing our writing and our cover page.  The students will have an opportunity to read their stories to the class if they wish.  They are looking great and will be sent home soon. 

Please remember, the stories your child comes home with will not perfect, there will be spelling mistakes, maybe punctuation or capitalization mistakes.  When I conference with students, one on one, with their writing, I choose one or two areas to focus on and work to lift their understanding in that area.  If we overwhelm them by pointing out every error, they will likely be turned off to writing and begin to think that writing is all about spelling and conventions, instead of sharing thoughts and ideas with others.  We will begin learning about how we share our opinions by writing book reviews later this week!  That will be so much fun!  

This week in math we will work on solving number stories that involve finding differences, solve and make up a variety of number stories involving relations, addition and subtraction, and we will compare 2-digit numbers using the symbols <, >, and =.

In science we will start a unit on winter animals.  We will learn about what animals do to survive in the cold winter months, including migrating, hibernating and adapting.  We will also do a "Blubber Experiment" to identify why some animals gain weight during the winter.

Hour of Code:

We live in a world surrounded by technology, and we know that whatever field our students choose to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly depend on understanding how technology works. That’s why our class is joining in on the The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week (December 3-9). See http://hourofcode.com/us for details.

Scholastic Book Orders are due this Friday, December 7th. We will have guaranteed delivery by winter break in case you're interested in purchasing some Christmas presents!  Go to: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs Online Code:  JBVLK

Special Points of Interest

• The Kapco's Kids 2 Kids toy drive lasts through this Friday, December 14th.  If you are able to, please bring in a new, unwrapped toy for the Toy Drive.
• Buy an ornament day is this Friday and hat/pj day is next Thursday, December 13th - donate a dollar to buy an ornament and/or wear a hat/pj's to show your support.
• December 22-January 2 - Winter Break
• January 3rd - School Resumes