Hakuna Matata

 The week flew by.  The children are excited with the upcoming break and Christmas.  We all had a wonderful week of learning, collaborating and making discoveries.  The week ahead will be a short one and we still have many great activities and events happening.

Amplify Science

The children are busy working in Science. They paired up this week and read the book Blackout.  They asked each other questions and worked on vocabulary.  They did an activitiy with their partner called: Shared Listening.  It is great to watch the collaboration that goes on.  

Writing:

 We worked on many writing activities this week.  We are finished with the narratives and we wrote stories about the best gift they ever received, which was also a narrative.  It was great to read about what they wrote.  Many wrote about materialistic items, while others wrote about things you can't buy, like family, friendships and love.  We also wrote about how to make the world a better place.

Reveal Math:

This week, I had Mrs.Graziano come in to do a lesson using the UPS check strategy.  This is a strategy that the district is using that involves solving word problems. The children worked together and solved a problem.  Once again, there were great discussions taking place as we listened to their ways of solving a problem.  Thank you Mrs. Graziano for showing us that it is ok to make mistakes and that we should show how we are thinking to get to an answer.  Her phrase to us was :

Social Studies:

We are learning about the different ways that people celebrate the holidays around the world.  Germany, Mexico, India and Italy are just a few of the countries that we have been discovering.  We will continue this week and finish it up by Thursday.  

In Germany we learned that Gingerbread originated there and so, we created mini gingerbread houses and gingerbread people.  The children loved to be involved in these projects.

Kindness Challenge:

We have been working on a kindness challenge this month thanks to our Elf Cocoa's suggestion.  Each morning we read what the challenge is and we try to live up to it throughout the day.

We have had challenges like give someone a compliment, call a family member that you haven't talked to in a while, and make cards for school workers.  The children enjoy listening to what the challenge will be and throughout the day, I see many of them doing the challenge.

 

Another act of kindness involves a book exchange which will take place on Wednesday.  The children will hold a book swap with each other and open up their new book.  I am looking forward to seeing how this will all go.  

Self Care/Social Emotional:

Our morning meetings continue with many wonderful discussions around respect, empathy and kindness.  This week we even had a meeting with Mr. Pacitto leading it.  We start each day and end each day with a breathing exercise to get us ready for the day and end our day on a positive note.  It is so nice to see the children taking part in them and following along with the video.  It helps keep us grounded and focused.

Spirit Week:

We are holding our Holiday Spirit Week with many wonderful themes each day.  Hope to see many of the children taking part.

Learning is a Great Gift

It has been another busy week.  The children are working and collaborating with one another.  The excitement in the room is clearly evident.  They are hustling and bustling and anticipating the Christmas Break.  Our Elf, Cocoa delivered a small house with the countdown to Christmas.  Each morning, I choose someone to open the coordinating door and read what is inside.  It seems that each little door contains a good deed to perform throughout the day, both in school and at home.

Hour of Coding:

On Monday we participated in Coding exercises.  The children went onto their chromebooks and chose various coding programs that allowed them to learn about the different ways to run programs.  They enjoyed trying out all different ones.

Surprise Visit and Winner:

On Tuesday we had Channel 6 and 10 news cameras here.  They interviewed the winner of the North Providence Christmas Card Winner- Isabella.  The Police Chief announced the 2 winners from our school and presented them with Target gift cards.  We were so thrilled that the 2nd and 1st place winners were from SOS.  The morning started off with so much excitement.

                                          

Station Rotations:

 

The children work independently and collaboratively in their stations. Each station has a particular task to complete and then they move onto the next one.  They are given about 10-12 minutes to do the work assigned and then move onto another one.  The children seem to have a better hold on how they run.  It has been a bit challenging at times, but once they get the hang of it, they get right to it and help one another out while reviewing many of the activities that they are working on.

Reveal Math:

During our math lessons, the children also get a chance to collaborate with one another.  They come up with strategies to answer the word problems, help each other out with coming up with an answer and hold discussions that allow for then to see other ways of answering.  We use the UPS strategy for word problems.

Holidays Around the World:

 In Social Studies we have been learning about how different countries celebrate the holidays.  We are researching various countries, learning about their customs and traditions and doing various activities that take place in those countries.  The children have played driedel, making gingerbread houses and know about LaBefana.  We still have a few countries to go.  

Social Emotional:

Many of our morning meetings revolve around how we are doing.  Our conversations lead to many wonderul topics to discuss.  Our monthly trait for this month is Empathy.  We try to understand what others go through and be empathetic to them.  Many various questions come up and we try to answer them as a group.  We take polls, answer questions and watch some wonderful videoes that relate to empathy, confidence, being brave and gratitude.  

Upcoming Events:

Our class will be taking part in a Holiday Book Exchange.  We are asking that you donate a gently used or new book, wrapped and 4th grade appropriate and send it in by the 16th. On the 21st we will exchange our "gifts" to one another.  I will be doing this like a Yankee Swap.

Spirit Week is starting on December 19th.  Be on the lookout for the flyer going home and I will also be posting it on Class Dojo, this week.  

Disney On Ice is also coming- Flyer has been shared with families.

1st Trimester has ended.  Report Cards can be found on Skyward.