Grinch

Poem: Did You Ever See?
Sight Words: play, did

Make sure you are practicing the sight words that are coming home. The ones your child should know at this time include:

• I
• a
• see
• the
• can
• we
• is
• at 
• to 
• me
• it
• look
• up
• my
• will
• have
• do
• has
• had
• got
• his
• she
• you
• he
• in
• play
• did

Comprehension Strategy: This week we answered questions about stories we read to recall parts of the story. One way to do this was to play "Punch a Bunch". When playing this students had to "punch" through the tissue paper covering a cup to find the answer that was hidden. They would then listen to the question about the story then answer with help from friends if needed. 

Accuracy: This week we learned about -op word family. Throughout the week we focused on skills including stretching out sounds and writing words, producing rhyming words, and identifying if words rhyme. Those lessons included:

• listening to the -op word family song.
• brainstorming a list of -op words. 
• completing write the slide by stretching out and writing -op words.

This week we continued learning about addition. We will review addition more next week too. 

Content: This week we had loads of fun with the Grinch! On Friday we ended the week with green everywhere! Students found out the that Grinch took over our morning message and he tried his hardest to sabotage our day. Good news- we still had a great day! We wore green on Friday, made Grinch headbands, watched the movie, and enjoyed green cookies and juice. We also brainstormed ways to make the grinch grin and made our Grinch craft. 

SEL
This week we learned the importance of honesty. We learned that honesty is when we tell the truth and it's not always easy to tell the truth. We started by reading "Lying Up a Storm". Whenever Levi doesn't like the truth, he kinda, sorta makes up other stuff to say. One day his mother explains to him that telling lies will damage the trust of his friends and make him very sad.

Then we talked about the Disney character Pinocchio and when he lies his nose grows. We used scenarios to decide if they were lying or telling the truth. If they were lying we added a block to pinocchio's face to make his nose grow.

Another day I told the kids that I had a treat for them. They opened up their hands and I gave everyone a pea. They were not pleased but excited when I told them that I was just kidding that this time I would have a treat to give them. But then I gave them another pea. Many did not believe me when I said I was going to give them a real treat. The third time I finally gave them a green jelly bean. They learned quickly that when you lie, others tend to stop believing you.

• December 18: 10 am Christmas Program 
• December 20: Polar Express Day (wear jammies)
• December 23-January 6: Winter Break

Gingerbread Man

Poem: The Gingerbread Man 
Sight Words: in, he

Make sure you are practicing the sight words that are coming home. The ones your child should know at this time include:

• I
• a
• see
• the
• can
• we
• is
• at 
• to 
• me
• it
• look
• up
• my
• will
• have
• do
• has
• had
• got
• his
• she
• you
• he
• in

Comprehension Strategy: This week we focused on the skill Summarizing. Summarizing is when you use your own words to recall the main idea and others parts of the story. To do this we used a story map to summarize different Gingerbread stories throughout the week. We also learned that a summary is like a trailer. A trailer tells about the story, but does not give all the details away. We used book trailers to show examples of book summaries! 

Accuracy: This week we learned about -og word family. Throughout the week we focused on skills including stretching out sounds and writing words, producing rhyming words, and identifying if words rhyme. Those lessons included:

• listening to the -og word family song.
• brainstorming a list of -og words. 
• completing write the slide by stretching out and writing -og words. 

This week we learned that we are now AUTHORS! We learned that there are 4 different ways to write. Students can write by 1) illustrations 2) labeling 3) writing words 4) writing sentences. Throughout the week we talked about how letters together form words and to tell others about something we combine words to form sentences. The first day we used one of Mrs. Keller's drawings and added a sentence together. 

There is a quote in our room that we say a lot. "Everything new is hard at first." We read the story "Squiggly Story". In this story the little boy doesn't know how to write a story. He starts by drawing squiggles and then takes off with his story. 

 We read another story called "The Alphabet Tree". In this story the letters in the tree were blown away from the wind. But then the caterpillar told the letters they would be stronger and wouldn't get blown away if they got together to form words. We used letter leaves of our own to build words. 

This week we continued learning about addition. We started the week by talking about how there are lots of different ways to solve addition problems. We started the week by using tens frame paddles and adding counters as a class. 

Then we used a number line. We used the Cupid Shuffle with the big number line on the floor as we learned which way to go on the number line and how to add. We sang 
"To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right
Not left, not left, not left, not left
This is how we add on the number line."

During this time students used individual number lines to solve addition problems. 

Content: This week we read a variety of Gingerbread stories. On Monday as a class we added and mixed ingredients to make a gingerbread man ourselves. We then put our gingerbread man in the oven. The oven dinged just as we were lining up for computer lab. We decided we need to go to special, then come back and check on him. However, when we came back and opened up the oven- he was GONE! He left a QR code on the oven door that lead us on a hunt around the school. We scanned each code that left a different clue. We ended back in our classroom and finally found him! It was so fun! We enjoyed a piece of the gingerbread man as we listened to the story "Gingerbread Man, Lost in the School". 

Later in the week we read "The Gingerbread Man" and created our own retelling bracelet. We practiced retelling the story to a partner. We also read "Gingerbread Baby" and created our own Gingerbread house that the gingerbread baby stayed in.

We also made retelling beads to go along with the Gingerbread Man. Each student used a colored bead that represented a character in the story. We practiced retelling the story to a friend. 

SEL 
This week we geared up for the NWEA. We learned that this is the time we GET to show others how much we know! We read the story "The Anti Test Anxiety Society" that was about a little girl who gets so nervous on tests, but then realizes its a time she gets to show others what she knows. Then we learned the importance of taking our time. Students who took their time coloring the picture got an m&m after the lesson. We also took a practice test together to refresh on the format and how to click the right answer. We ended the week with a motivational video and special treat from Mrs. Keller! We started on Friday and will be taking the NWEA all next week. Please help your child be successful by sticking to an early bedtime and making sure they are getting a good breakfast each morning. 

• December 10: Ornament Day
• December 13: Grinch Day
• December 18: 10 am Christmas Program 
• December 20: Polar Express Day
• December 23-January 6: Winter Break