December 8-12, 2014

Can you believe we have only two more weeks left before the winter break! They say time flies when you're having fun, but it sure is going at a lightening speed for us! 
Here is what we will be doing this week:

BOOK FAIR
There will be book fair at our library DEC 8 through 12.  The library books are not due this week. Please feel free to come by and visit the book fair.  The library is open after school.  

READING

This week we will explore a new genre in fiction: The Folk Tales.  We will learn about the elements of Folk Tales.  Folk Tales have animals with human characteristics as the main characters, and there is usually a lesson to be learned at the end of the story.While we read some of the most beloved children's stories such as the Three Little Pigs, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and The Little Red Hen, we will work on many comprehension strategies such as retelling the story (telling the events in logical order), and summarizing the story which is telling the important events in the story from the beginning to the end.  When we summarize we tell the important events in a short paragraph. We will also review main characters, setting and the problem and solution in the story.

WRITING
In writing we will continue writing facts about traditions and celebrations around the world. As our elf is traveling around the world, we will learn about many new traditions. 
Lat week we learned about traditions in United States, Israel, and India.  This week we will learn about Mexico and England.  We will also write a expository writing about the traditions and celebrations in our own family.

MATH
This week we will continue working on subtraction.  Last week, we practiced on many math problems that involved "taking away, separating from a set, taking a part away from a whole".  This week, we will focus on subtraction as a way to find the difference between two quantities, or a way of comparing two different quantities.  If team A scored 12 goals and team B scored 9 goals, how many more goals did team A score than team B? At the beginning of the year, the children learned to solve these kinds of problem by thinking addition: 9+ ?=12.  Now, they are learning that they can actually use subtraction to solve these kinds of problem: 12-9=3.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We will travel around the world and learn about customs, holidays, and celebrations. We will learn about the importance of various beliefs, customs, language, and traditions of communities and how communities celebrate their heritage.

HABIT #6:  SYNERGY:  I value other people’s strengths and learn from them.  I seek out other people’s ideas because I know that by learning with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone.

THANK YOU!

Thank you, Angel Miller, for stuffing the folders.  Thank you also to everyone who is volunteering to help with our Holiday Party!  Your helping hands and hearts are greatly appreciated!

REMINDERS:
*Specials- A Group:  PE on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
                   B Group:  PE on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
**Wear tennis shoes for sure on these days!!!!
*Library- Tuesday 11-11:30
*Send orange folders back every day.
*Send a healthy snack with your child every day.  We will eat snack at 10:30

DATES to REMEMBER:

December 8-12:  Book Fair

December 18:  Polar Express Day (wear pajamas to school)

                       Holiday Party @ 1:30-2:30

December 19:  No School/Winter Break begins

December 19-January 5:  Winter Break

January 6:  2^nd Semester begins