News from Room 130

Mrs. Grof-Tisza and Mrs. Donovan’s Kindergarten Class

December 7-11

This week the children were learning about Kwanzaa and Las Posadas. They enjoyed making connections with other holidays, and did a great job comparing and contrasting the Hanukkah candleholder (Menorah) and the Kwanzaa candleholder (Kinara). At our literacy centers they finished their “Cookie Caper” book, read about and made a mini-book about Kwanzaa, and made a paper Kinara. On Friday, they had fun making their poinsettias and piñatas for Las Posadas J In the word work station, they worked with pictures starting with Jj and Kk, and practiced correct letter formation. We finished our Math rotations from last week as well. In the Computer Lab we worked on some simple coding activities on the website called Tynker, and in our classroom computer center the children had the choice to work on iReady Math, RAZ-kids, Reading Eggs or Tynker. Next week we will continue our holiday exploration, talk about Christmas and do gingerbread activities. On Thursday we will celebrate winter with an awesome party, and on Friday the children will get their well-deserved reward for their hard work in the form of a great movie, The Polar Express.

BOOKS WE READ:

Kwanzaa by M.C. Johnston

Seven Spools of Thread by Angela Shelf Medearis

Li’l Rabbit’s Kwanzaa by Donna L. Washington

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie DePaola

The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie DePaola

REMINDERS:

·  Please practice putting on coats and zipping/buttoning them at home. Some other great skills to practice at home are tying shoes, counting by 1’s, 5’s, and 10’s to 100, writing lower case letters, and reading/writing sight words.

·  Our Winter parties will take place on Thursday, December 17th. The AM party will be 8:30-10:30 and the PM party 12:15-2:15.

·  MARK YOUR CALENDARS: We will have a Report Card Information Night on January 25th a 6 p.m. in the gym. We will be dissecting the report card in an effort for you to understand the grades you will be seeing on your child’s report card for the remaining quarters. Please try your best to attend as it may answer a lot of your questions.

·  There is an adult size jacket (dark blue, zip-up, Abercrombie brand) that was left in our classroom, possibly at our Fall party. If you are missing one, it might be yours J

·  We have had an unusually high number of absences this week due to illness. Please see the guidelines below from our clinic:

Keep your child home if s/he has:

ü  A fever of 100.4 degrees or higher and until they are fever free (without the assistance of medicine/Advil) for 24 hours.

ü  Has been vomiting

ü  Has symptoms that prevent him/her from participating in school, such as: § Excessive tiredness or lack of appetite § Productive cough or sneezing § Sore throat § Headache, earache, body aches

· As a friendly reminder there will be no school from December 21-January 1.

A LOOK AT THE WEEK OF December 14

UNIT OF STUDY: Christmas and Gingerbread

Monday 12-14 / Tuesday 12-15 / Wednesday 12-16 / Thursday 12-17 / Friday 12-18
Computer Lab / Reading Buddies / Library – please remember your book! / Winter Party! / SEARCH
Pajama Day (for both classes)

Thank you for sharing your children with us! We hope you had a fantastic weekend!

Edit Grof-Tisza and Sylvia Donovan