Back to School... again!

 This week felt almost like the beginning of school all over again!  The advantage being that we already knew each other and some of the routines.  Other routines we had to do some practicing to remember!  

But I was super proud of the kids and all of the hard work that they did over the break.  The packets returned were wonderful, AND, I can really see the progress in the kids' learning as a result!  So a HUGE shout out to all of the parents and caregivers who helped continue that learning over the long break.  I KNOW it was HARD!!!!!  But trust me, it made a real difference! So thank you!!!!!

We did have a lot of fun this week, being back together.  We are noticing the light is coming back, and enjoying the long sunrises in the mornings!

We began a new unit in science learning about the Earth and Astronomy, and started with a mini unit about what makes night and day!  We modeled the rotation and orbit of the earth after making some hypotheses about why we have night and day.  Then we started a night and day art project!

We had some fun critters visit us this week!  Trinity James brought in her pet boa to show the kids, and taught them a little about snakes.  And John and Jill Rusyniak brought over their golden retriever puppies to be socialized with little kids.  We were happy to help! :) 

We made some good progress on math this week, but on Friday at the end of our first long week back, we had math game day!

We celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by watching a video and learning about MLK, and then creating profile art and writing what our dream for the world would be.  We had many really wonderful ideas!  We joined other classes in the school creating an "I have a dream" display for our school!

Last but not least, we had two birthdays on Monday!  Faith and Grace, twins in our class, celebrated their Jan. 11th birthday with us on Monday!  Happy birthday girls!!!

Holidays Around the World

 This week during our Book Buddies Christmas party, Ms. Misty from the front office came down to our room with a special delivery - from the North Pole!  She brought letters from Santa's elves, answering our Santa letters we sent last week!  Our Book Buddies helped their little Buddies read the letters, from elves like Pixie Dust, Peppermint, and Elfie!  It was SOOO exciting!

We celebrated Holidays around the world on Friday, by learning about Hannukah.  We played Dreidel and made Menorahs and learned about why Jewish people celebrate the Festival of Lights!  

That afternoon the kids travelled to Mexico, Norway, and England to learn about holiday traditions there, as teachers rotated rooms and each taught about a different country!  

We had another wonderful visit from a pet... Grace bought a pet shop card and brought in her cute and sweet puppy Fox!  

We wrote winter poems to put on our Poet Tree, and created snowflakes in math, practicing symmetry and shapes, to decorate the tree as well!  Before the poems went up on the tree, we had a wonderful poetry reading!  It was super fun, and the kids got a chance to practice public speaking!

  

We also did some really fun writing and imagining about what we would do if we were one of Santa's reindeer.  The kids brainstormed ideas such as "I would have a rainbow nose" and "I would have jet packs so I could go really fast!"  I love our class's creativity!!!

We also had some fun contests for all of elementary this week, like a Christmas coloring contest and a guess how many candies are in the jar contest!  Santa comes Monday night at 5 to Tok School... be sure to sign up on Facebook for a time, and take home a cookie decorating kit!  Next Tuesday in our class Christmas party!