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.