Winter is here!
What a winter wonderland! Thank you for equipping your children with all the necessities for playing outside AND for teaching them how to independently get everything on. Every single child is our class is very self-sufficient in gearing up and getting out for fresh air in a timely manner at recess time.
That said, we need to speed up our morning routine so that all students are entering the room at the 2nd bell (8:20 am). Two ways you can help:
- Please try to make it through our doors as soon as the 1st bell rings to ensure that they have a full five minutes to get gear off and supplies ready.
- Please help by encouraging your child to put away all their gear independently! They do fantastic on their own during the day and can do it in the morning, too!
First Grade Traditions...
As the holiday season is upon us, our first grade class will be focusing on family and family traditions. We will be exploring different types of family traditions and participating in 1st grade traditions as well. Because this time goes so fast and is so busy, I thought I would give you a heads up on things you can help out with these next few weeks:
Family Traditions...
We explain family traditions as things you do with your family every year on special occasions. Winter family traditions could be a traditional Thanksgiving meal with family, going sledding on a particular hill, cutting down a Christmas tree, lighting the menorah at Hanukkah with relatives, ice skating at Rosa Parks Circle, traveling to a family member's home or going on vacation (somewhere warm sounds nice!), and baking a traditional family bread or dessert. From our discussions, we will be creating winter family tradition poems in December. Talking through your winter traditions with your children and telling stories of your childhood traditions will enhance their understandings of the meaning and importance of family.
Soup's on next week...
We explain family traditions as things you do with your family every year on special occasions. Winter family traditions could be a traditional Thanksgiving meal with family, going sledding on a particular hill, cutting down a Christmas tree, lighting the menorah at Hanukkah with relatives, ice skating at Rosa Parks Circle, traveling to a family member's home or going on vacation (somewhere warm sounds nice!), and baking a traditional family bread or dessert. From our discussions, we will be creating winter family tradition poems in December. Talking through your winter traditions with your children and telling stories of your childhood traditions will enhance their understandings of the meaning and importance of family.
Soup's on next week...
This week, we have been reading different traditional tales of Stone Soup, comparing and contrasting the different re-tellings of the stories. We will be making our own version of stone soup on Tuesday afternoon. Each student volunteered to bring in one ingredient for Tuesday morning (the list is coming home today--Thursday). We will throw it into our crock pot and see what happens! You can send in your ingredient on or before Tuesday, November 25th.
Donating to Toys For Tots...
When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will be focusing on the difference between needs and wants in our social studies curriculum. To tie into this giving season, we will be asking you to create a few "service" jobs for your child to earn money ($1-2 total)--shoveling snow (lots of snow), cleaning up around the house, setting the table, etc. We will then purchase a few toys for our class to donate to Toys for Tots--walking to Gaslight Village to drop off our goods. I will send a more formal note about this when we return from break.
Donating to Toys For Tots...
When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will be focusing on the difference between needs and wants in our social studies curriculum. To tie into this giving season, we will be asking you to create a few "service" jobs for your child to earn money ($1-2 total)--shoveling snow (lots of snow), cleaning up around the house, setting the table, etc. We will then purchase a few toys for our class to donate to Toys for Tots--walking to Gaslight Village to drop off our goods. I will send a more formal note about this when we return from break.
And don't forget our Wealthy Elementary tradition...
Our Student Leadership Team has organized a
school-wide service learning project. Together as a school, we are creating
breakfast bundles for Kid’s Food Basket. These bundles are passed out to area
schools to ensure that every child starts their day with a nutritious
breakfast. We are asking each FAMILY to
donate one of the following items:
individual cereal boxes, juice boxes (100% juice, please), fruit
snacks/raisins, granola bars, plastic bags. I may follow up with further
requests depending on the number of bags we are able to fill and the remaining
items. There will be a designated spot
in our classroom to collect these items, so feel free to send them in anytime. Our last collection day will be Thursday, December 4. Thank you for your
support!
o
Lillie,
Sophia, Michelle- Quart size plastic Ziploc bags
o
Sam,
Dani/Lexi, Emily/Catherine, Cadel – Individual cereal boxes
o
Amelia,
Louise, James, Ace – 100% juice juice boxes
(7 oz. or less)
o
Cali/Hardy, Sabine, Gloria- Fruit snacks or
raisins
o
Blake,
Nava, Zachary- Granola bars
Have a safe, wonderful Thanksgiving Break!
