December 9 - 12

What a great week we had! It was a joy to see and hear the children perform for the Christmas Program.  I am so glad that everyone was healthy and able to attend.

Reading 
We have been reading about Jack and the Beanstalk.  We have learned the new Amazing Words: beanstalk, ogre, lad, naughty, lend, and magic. We are in the process of creating our own stories about a magical plant.  Each of the children has drawn pictures to show the beginning, middle and ending of their original stories.  This week we will be writing words to go with the pictures.

Math
We have begun to explore the concept of addition.  We have made up stories about joining two groups of objects and shown the joining with cubes and counters.  We have also begun to use the plus sign to represent addition.

Social Studies
We are learning about the seven continents.  We have learned the location of North America, South America, and Europe, so far.  We will continue with Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica this week.  For each continent we are learning its location on a map and a globe.  We are coloring each continent a different color on a map so that we can go back later and remember each continent.  We are also learning about some of the characteristics of each continent, such as, animals and food native to the continent as well as natural and man-made landmarks on each continent.

Religion
We are continuing to trace the family tree of Jesus using the Jesse Tree.  We have put up 20 ornaments so far. They include people from the Old Testament beginning with creation and continuing through Jonah, and we will be adding people and symbols that are important to the Nativity story. We are also creating a class Nativity scene. each child has colored a different piece of the scene and we will be putting it together this week.

Upcoming events
Christmas Party - December 20 starting at 11:00 a.m. See information from the Room Parents to help out with the party.
Christmas Break begins with Noon Dismissal on December 20, and students return to school on January 7.       

Sunday, December 8, 2013
Week of December 2-6

Reading/Language Arts
This week we read "A Bed for the Winter." It is an informational text, showing a dormouse as she encounters various animals in their winter homes as she looks for an appropriate place to make her winter home.  We learned the names of various animal homes, including: nest, den, cave, and hive. We focused in the letter 'Ii' and the short i sound.  We identified words that begin with the short i sound and words that have the short i sound in the middle.

Math
We have been exploring numbers up to 100.  We have used a hundred chart to recognize patterns and find numbers that are missing from a sequence.  We have practiced counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s.

Social Studies
We have been learning about the Native Americans in various regions of the country.  We will be finished with this topic in the next few days and children will bring home the charts they have been working on throughout this unit of study.  We have color coded each region on a map and matched the color on the charts.  The children will be able to tell about the food, clothing, and homes used by each the Native Americans in each region.

Religion 
With the start of Advent, the whole school is participating in an Advent prayer serving each morning. In the classroom, we are doing a Jesse Tree that uses a few more symbols than the one in place for the whole school. We are remembering the Bible stories we have already learned this year that are part of the Jesse Tree.  We will be learning some new stories as well. We will also be making a nativity scene for the classroom.

Upcoming Events
Please be sure to check Mrs. Schindler's Colt Express for information that involves the whole school. 
Thursday, December 12 - Christmas Program  - See email from Mrs. Dusbabek regarding reporting times and dress for the event.
Friday, December 20 - Noon Dismissal. Christmas Party - look for information from our Room Parents to help out with the Christmas Party.
Christmas Break begins at noon, December 20. Students return to school Tuesday, January 7.