HAPPY 2015

Do you want to build a snowman??

I know, I know now that song is stuck in your head but I could not resist.  These are just so cute.  Your child did a great job making their gifts for you this holiday season.

Here are some pictures from our Snowman Party

snowman relay race

The boys had to make their snowman just right

the finished product

Our snowman craft

We had SNOW much fun.

Happy Holidays to all.  See you in 2015!!!!!

Grinch day

Today along with Mrs. Hoffman and Mrs. DeSantis classes we celebrated Grinch Day.  Every 30 minutes we rotated into a different classroom and participated in Grinch themed activities.

Here are a few photos of our day.

Grinch Smiles with apples 

We made Grinch faces and learned about how Max first made friends with the Grinch.

We made Grinch Dust in Mrs. Hoffman's class.  We made it with 2 drops of joy and 2 drops of love and then gently gave some hugs to make the color.

We helped the Grinch grow his heart with some Grinch math.

A week in review

This week started off with a trip to Star Lab.  Star Lab is an inflatable planetarium.  The class is taught the lesson by Mrs. Wilkinson (Kindergarten teacher).  For 40 minutes the students sit under the stars and learn about the legends of the stars, constellations, and the phases of the moon.  It is so cool.

outside Star Lab

Inside Star Lab

This week we also learned about pronouns.  We can find them in all sorts of places like the pizza craftivity we made, to our own just right books, to even on games.

Here we are playing our pronoun game

With the ending of our solar system unit we began our studies about the different holidays around the world. Each student made a "passport" for their travels and began to connect objects and traditions that they do at home with the originals of those traditions.  So far we have traveled and visited Germany and learned about the history behind the gingerbread, candles on trees (which were lit to keep away bad spirits), and the Christmas pickle.  Many students said that they have the pickle on their very own tree.

From Italy we learned about Old Befana.  She is the old, good witch that swept her porch so much that the she went through a broom daily.

The students are also learning that the holidays do not all occur on Dec. 25th like here in America.  Next week we will "travel" to England, Australia, Israel, Norway, and Mexico.  

In writing we are writing a nonfiction book on the reindeer.  It will be a chapter book written by your own child and "published" with a table of contents and cover before the Winter Break.  We have been working hard on extending our writing with "twin" sentences.  A twin sentence is a sentence that follows the first sentence about the same thing. For example: A reindeer has different kinds of hooves.  It has a soft spongy hooves in the spring time to help it on the hills.   It is my hope that they share their writing with all your visitors this holiday season.  

Upcoming:

Starting in January your child will start having Word Study homework.  The word study will include the patterns we are learning that week along with sight words.  More details will follow.

Used coat and new socks drive

Dear Parents & Guardians,

This can be a tough time of year for many people, but especially for those who are homeless. Please support our drive to collect gently used coats and new socks for homeless communities in Camden and Philadelphia.

When Aqua Corps (www.aquacorps.org) founder Andrea Brooks asked members of the homeless community what they needed most, coats and socks is what they told her.

Aqua Corps and Lumberton PTA are partnering together in this very worthy cause. 

Starting Dec 10^th through Dec 19^th, bins will be placed inside the front entrances of all schools with the attached flyer. If you would prefer, we can arrange for pick-up by contacting Margaret Pruna at 609-405-0633 or email margaretpruna@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

1st week of December

The first week of December has brought us new jobs, responsibilities and adventures.

Students this week were challenged to think about kindness and good deeds towards others.  It was a continuation of our Bucket Filling assemblies conducted by Ms. Black.  We brainstormed ideas of things we could do to help others in the community during this season of giving.  I came across this idea from www.seussville.com.

For all of our accomplished good deeds that were submitted, Random House Children's Book will donate a book to the community through First Book.

The next order of business in class dealt with the students beginning to take more responsibility and ownership of their goals.  Each child was asked what goal would they like to work on improving for the week.  Goals ranged from sitting on their bottom in their seat to writing their name neater on papers to not talking in the halls.  Each day they were asked to rate their efforts.  If they were successful an extra golden ticket was rewarded.  If they were not successful, they would try again other day.  I have to say I am beyond impressed.  They were so honest with their efforts.  Each child  will pick another goal next week to work towards.  It may be the same if they felt they were not as successful as they possibly could be or it may be completely different. 

Mid week was an awesome Planet Day.  I think the pictures tell the whole story.

add 10 alien

bean moon craters

design a constellation

Ipad station

Geoboards

This week we also have been working on learning all of the planets and some characteristics of them.  The last planet, Neptune, was the best.  It was created using shaving cream and food dye.  

On Thursday we anxiously waited for NASA's Orion spacecraft to launch but the mission was scrubbed.  So on Friday we watched it launch via You tube.  (The launch time was 7:05 AM).  However, after we returned from lunch we were able to see how the mission was completed in the Pacific Ocean.  What a success and to happen while we were learning about space, the timing could not have been more perfect.  It was so neat to witness history with the children.  If you want to learn more about it below are some great links.  Ask your child about it.

Orion test Flight video (short version and explanation of the test flight)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWEa_uil9bM&list=PLiuUQ9asub3STzGKMhwHUTdqyiiXFCSBY&index=2

Orion Splashdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdmZAvwznOU

November in Pictures

I am sorry that the blog has been so sparse this past month.  I promise to do a better job keeping you up to date on what is happening in the classroom in December.  Here are some things that we have been doing in class.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving break.

We went on an adjective/noun hunt around the school.

We have begun and will continue to learn about our solar system. 

 Don't forget. Planet day is Dec. 3rd.  

We made Venus using a feather as a paint brush.  We will create each planet using a different texture and means to paint.  

Have you ever wondered what we could eat instead of turkey for our dinner?  These turkeys have some ideas.

As a special treat we even get dessert time for reading.  Dessert time is when "special books" are brought out and we can partner read together.