Happy December!

Wow! Can you believe it's almost Winter Break? 

We have so much to get done before our two week vacation- here are some things we are working on. 

First, I'd like to show you our Objectives Board, where we post our goals for every unit or lesson. I love to have the kids refer to these frequently so they can self- monitor their progress toward our goals. 

In math, as you are aware, we are working on measurement. This is one of my very favorite units because it is so hands on and easy to apply to everyday situations. One of our goals in this unit is to measure things accurately with a ruler, so if you have one at home this is a great skill to practice, and can be a lot of fun. Measure various objects to the nearest inch and the nearest foot.

Also in math, we've recently introduced the skill of estimation. This is a critical skill to build as students get older, and it takes a lot of practice. To have consistent practice with this, we've started an estimation jar. Every week it will be filled with a new object and students will have all week to put their estimates inside. On Fridays, we will count to see how close we got to the real number. Estimation is also a great skill for you to practice at home. Anytime there is a large quantity of objects, ask your child to give an estimate. You can do this with grapes in a bag, height of objects, temperature outside, anything really. You don't even always have to count afterwards- just discuss why they chose that number. As we say in class- an estimate is NOT just a guess- it's based on information and thinking. 

In Reading and Writing, we finished up our Small Moment Unit after everyone moved through all the steps of the writing process. I like to have the kids take ownership of their own progress by moving their name down our Writing Chart pencil. This way, they become increasingly self aware of all the steps it takes to publish a piece of writing. They all did a fantastic job with Small Moments, and those published and illustrated pieces are now hanging in the hallway. Please read some the next time you are dropping your student off. 

 Our new literacy unit is on How To books. We are reading examples of books that teach how to do something, and working on writing our own. Of course, we are also practicing following How To directions in order to experience what steps are needed to communicate directions clearly. One of our projects last week was How to Make a House. Keep an eye out for more projects like this that your child will be bringing home- and ask them if they can tell you all the steps involved! 

Finally, in Social Studies we started to study maps and how they help us. We were especially focused on creating small scale maps of our classroom. We learned about symbols on a map key and the 4 cardinal directions shown on a compass rose. Then, we worked to create our own symbols of objects in the classroom and accurately place them on a map of our room. These came out great! I can't wait to get into more Geography over the next few weeks.