Despite the short week I feel like we accomplished a lot in the last three days. We have covered uppercase letters up to K and practiced their formation. We also began practicing writing our names and the date in preparation for signing in each day after the vacation. As part of our calendar routine someone already has the job of graphing the weather while another person records the temperature. This week we added a job of showing the temperature on a large paper thermometer by moving a paper clip to the corresponding number. This will help develop awareness of number sequence and their location on a number line. We also began working on compliments to 10. Recognizing compliments to 10 is a critical component in students facility with numbers. If students can break up any number to ten and put the parts together again with ease, they will be able to work with larger numbers in flexible and powerful ways. We will continue this important work after the vacation.

This morning we read the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert and worked in small groups to create our own snow people, modeled after those in the book.

Thank you for the gift certificate to Ocha, which is our favorite restaurant in Waterbury. We will enjoy it. Have a joyous and peaceful holiday.

As part of our phonemic awareness instruction we have been working on segmenting the sounds in words. We have been working on this skill in several ways. One way has involved physically spelling words in the whole group. Each child has been given a letter. I say a word and the students who have the sounds in the word stand up and arrange themselves to spell the word. They then hop forward one at a time as they say their sound, making the word. We have also been playing hangman using one- syllable words with short vowel sounds. They love this game, which is a great way to develop their awareness of the letters and sounds.

Instead of regular work stations this week we have game stations. Some of the games the children will play are Race to Ten, a math game that helps familiarize them with adding and subtracting and compliments to ten, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a game that involves comparing shapes and finding different ways to build hexagons, Hangman, Shut the Box, and Compare (otherwise known as war).

It has been a bit of a crazy week. My family was struck by the stomach bug- may you be spared. Pajama and popcorn day was today. And everyone is counting down the days until vacation! Amidst the craziness we are trying to proceed with some of our usual routines. We have started unit 4 in math, Measuring and Counting. This unit develops ideas about counting and quantity, comparison, linear measurement, the composition of numbers, and addition and subtraction. Counting correctly and telling how many is just the first step toward understanding of numbers. Children also need to develop a sense of different quantities and the relationship between them. Children need many varied experiences with numbers in order to see the relationships between them, visualize their quantities, and understand the concepts of more and less. There is a lot going on in this unit as we work on creating a strong foundation for future work with numbers.

This morning we had a great discussion about friendship. This began with a discussion of differences and a game that highlighted the many ways in which we are all different from each other, along with the things we have in common. We discussed what it means to be a good friend and things we can do if we are hoping to make more friends. We talked about two misconceptions: if a classmate is friends with one person he or she can't be friends with another person and if a friend chooses to play with someone new at some point they are no longer your friend. I shared several stories that hopefully conveyed the idea that there is always room for more friends. While it is wonderful to have a few great friends who we play with often, we also talked about how much fun it can be to play with someone new sometimes. I encouraged students to take these ideas outside of school as well, at their various after school sites or through play dates.

Already I am seeing more independence and efficiency with all of the winter gear. I have also noticed children helping each other with this. While I am happy to zip jackets and help with snow pants over boots, the more each person can do independently the smoother our end or day transition will be.

Ahh winter!! In anticipation of cold later in the week and because the whole class was having such a great time in the new snow we had a longer than usual recess today. The snow added a new dimension to the play ground and the children all played really nicely together driving trucks in the snow, going on the slide, keeping the base of the slide soft with fresh snow- there were many examples of cooperation and team work. We are definitely still working out a system for getting on the new layers that come with snow and keeping track of all of these things when we're not wearing them. I am confident that with a bit of practice we will become more efficient and get better at making sure we only grab our own gear at the end of the day! We have lots of black snow pants in the class and we had to take a few minutes to work out a three way mix up before boarding the bus. Fortunately everyone's clothing seems to be labeled-this helps tremendously.

This morning we welcomed Willow to our class. This was a great opportunity for us to revisit our class rules as well as some of the routines we established at the start of the year. Willow already knows 12 of the students in our class so she fits right in!

I introduced the letters x and y today, which completes the alphabet. We will begin learning formation for uppercase letters next week, covering these much faster than we did lowercase letters. We will review lowercase letter formations at the same time.

This week looks to be rather cold. Please make sure your child has appropriate apparel for recess. The playground is especially susceptible to wind.

In honor of Damon's first lost tooth earlier in the week (and all of those that preceded it) we sang the song So Long Old Tooth and read a book about tooth traditions around the world. Ask your child some of the things children in other parts of the world do when they lose a tooth.

In math this week we continued looking at patterns. In addition we played several games that involve counting, comparing, and algebraic reasoning. Shut the Box is usually played with a box with numbered tiles and a die, but it could easily be played with playing cards or boxes drawn on paper, 1-9, and a die. With children finding different ways to reach the same sum (2+5 = 3+4), this game develops algebraic reasoning. We also played a game called Build a City using Unifix cubes, a die, and a chip labeled ‘more’ on one side and ‘less’ on the other. This could also be adapted using legos or another kind of connecting blocks. I have sent home directions for both of these if your child is interested in playing at home. This game helps children develop a sense of quantity for both smaller and larger numbers, as well as number relationships. I particularly like the twist at the end, when players flip the more/less chip to see who wins. While we played these games we talked about being a good sport, playing fair, and being a good winner or loser. Several students modeled this by shaking hands and saying good game when they were done. I sent home directions for both of these games today if your child is interested in playing at home.

Today we also worked with our third grade partners. We began a project on the five senses.

Have a great weekend!

We have read several books about Hanukkah this week as we begin our exploration of some of the different holidays observed at this time of year. I am beginning to teach the class the dreidel game, which involves some great math skills.

A new student will be joining our class next week. We have started talking about ways we can welcome her into the class and make her feel comfortable. Many of the students already know her from Spring Hill, which will help make the transition easier, but we have discussed the importance of giving her a fresh start in this class and allowing her the space to get to know all of the children in the class. Today we brainstormed parts of the day that may feel particularly overwhelming to a new student and assigned volunteers to help her through those specific parts of the day for the first several days she is here. We also talked about how fifteen versus sixteen and how much nicer it can be to work with an even number of students when forming groups! We are excited to have her join us.