Onward to 2020!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I hope you are all tucked in and loving your families. I had a nice dinner with my  sisters last night, and today, I got to tackle some yard work! (Hey, it wasn't raining!)

I have so many pictures to share with you from November and December. Let's get started:

As part of our geometry units, we used our knowledge to create the strongest structure that we could using toothpicks and gumdrops.  I give very little how to with this lesson. It's got just the right element of fun to allow for productive struggle.

"Productive struggle is a state of engagement that enables students to work through increasingly challenging problems and new problems they have never seen before.   ...Getting students to the point of productive struggle is one of the keys to achieving deeper learning and creative problem solving."

                                                                                                      ST-Math.com

This is especially important for children who know the standard answers quickly.

We learned about Maize-corn- one of the great crops of the world. This crop is the staple of many cultures. It is one of the crops Native peoples of North America shared with European settlers. It helped them to survive in the New Land. Corn is a symbol of health and prosperity.

 We had lots of fun making our props and puppets for our Thanksgiving Play!  Mrs. Kirby's second graders came for our dress rehearsal. Several of them had done the play last year. Thank you to all of you who were able to be part of our audience.

 

 

We did our first directed drawing at the end of November. This is a fun way to practice listening and fine motor skills. We drew a turkey and then, The Mayflower. This was quite a challenge! We were all pleased with our results! These are just a few of our results.

 We haven't had a chance to share about our library days! We enjoy our classes with Mrs Ridge. We were learning coding on our last visits to the library! Here we are showing our library manners while we look for 'Just right Books" or books of high interest.

 

We learned that trees were the largest and oldest living things on earth!  Conifer trees held special significance for people long ago in dark winters because they represented life. Boughs, branches, and later, trees themselves were brought inside to honor their special qualities. In art this month we learned the terms foreground and background. We created geometric trees with strips of scrap book paper. First we created the background with watercolor, then we made our trees by snipping the strips of paper to align from longer to shorter. Math, science, social studies and art all in one! Our trees decorated our hallway this month. They will come home in the next Thursday envelope.

 St. Lucia Day gave us lots to talk about . We started with a basic understanding of the Earth's tilt and its travels around the sun and how this creates our seasons. We learned that ancient peoples, struggling with survival, had no idea why the sun seemed to disappear every year. Later, builders created structures to mark the shortest day and return of the sun. Far northern countries had many traditions to honor the return of the light. St Lucia day is one that is still continued in many Nordic countries.  We learned the word "procession" then created candle wreaths. Later we had our own "procession, when we took ginger cookies to Mrs. Engstrom who celebrates this holiday with her family and classroom.

We have 2 lovely and faithful volunteers who have come to our class every week. A big thank you to Mrs Simmons, Harlynn's mom, and Mr. Shick who is a good friend of Mrs Yearwood. Since she didn't have her own classroom this year, we won the lottery when he came to us! He was essential in helping me get the parent gift hand prints started so we could be done in time. Thanks Mr Shick!

Another of our Winter holidays was Kwanzaa, an African-American family tradition. It celebrates successful character qualities like Self-Determination. We created an Mkeka...a Kwanzaa mat which symbolizes tradition as the foundation for all things. Weaving is a challenging task, remembering and alternating patterns while using fine motor muscles! Later, the PTA delivered hot cocoa to all of us as a Polar Express surprise!

Last Friday we had a very successful holiday workshop! A very big

  thank you to Mrs. Simmons and our PTA President, Crystal Baker, who came in to volunteer and make this day possible. The children were wonderful. BEST DAY EVER! 

Our crafts included:

Card Making 

Reindeer Snacks

Frosted Candle Making

T-Shirt Painting

and 'Gingerbread' Houses

 

  AND WE ARE DONE!!!

I hope that all of my friends who were feeling poorly the last week of school are feeling better now. I scrubbed down and disinfected all surfaces before I left, all items that can be washed are being washed, and when I go in later this week, I will make sure to keep the door open to get some fresh air in. Sometimes winter break comes just in time to let some things go by.

 New Year's Eve was one of the winter holidays we learned about.The children enjoyed watching fireworks around the world. I hope they can have a small part in celebrating this new year.

2020...400 years since the Mayflower landing. I think it will be an amazing year!

When we return to school, we will spend the first week reviewing our procedures and expectations, school-wide. 

Happy New Year to you all!

I will see all my friends on January 6th!

- Ms. Melody