Hands On Nature

During Hands On Nature this week we learned about how animals stay warm in winter.  We saw a puppet show that taught us how animals find food and stay warm during winter.  We talked about animals from Vermont that hibernate,migrate and remain dormant (woodchuck, monarch butterfly, & raccoon). We also talked about what active animals do to stay warm.   Ask your child what deer, chickadees, raccoons and mice do to stay warm in winter. We learned about insulators and the kinds of materials that are good insulators.

Today we enjoyed a visit from Gavin Prada's father.  His family is from Columbia and he shared many interesting facts about Columbia. He showed us where Columbia is on a map and where the name Columbia came from. He counted in Spanish for us and shared a special Columbian treat with us. A huge thank you to Gavin's dad for teaching us about Columbia.

 
We are working toward finishing up our Non-fiction Units in both Reader's and Writer's Workshops.  We will wrap these units up shortly after break and move on to new units.  We finished our Math Geometry Unit this week and will begin a unit focused on addition and subtraction to 20, after the Winter Break.  This unit will be built around a penguin theme.  We watched March of the Penguins today as an introduction to this new unit.
Have a fabulous Winter Break!
:)Deb

Zero the Hero!

Wednesday was our 100th day of school!  We celebrated with 100th day activities all day long and enjoyed a visit from Zero the Hero.  He talked to us about place value and shared really cool facts about numbers. 
Alden did a presentation this week about Alpine Skiing as part of our Cultural Geography Unit.  He taught us lots of new things about the history of alpine skiing.  He shared ten cool facts about alpine skiing.
Henry and his mother taught us about pinatas today.  They talked about the history of pinatas and the countries they came from. They made pinatas at home for our Valentine's Day Party and shared treats with us.  It was a lot of fun and helped support our Cultural Geography Unit.
Have a great weekend, and stay warm!
:)Deb

Scholastic Book Fair

During the week of Monday, February 9th , we will be visiting the Scholastic Book Fair at our school library.  We will visit the book fair on Monday morning to preview the books and create wish lists, and then we will return on Tuesday morning to make our purchases.  Please send money in for purchases on Tuesday morning.  If you would rather visit the book fair with your child to make purchases you can do so after school.  The book fair has evening hours for families. 

Friday, Feb. 13th we will be celebrating Valentine’s Day.  A list of student names went home in your child’s Friday folder last week.  Please remember if your child is bringing in cards, there should be one for each child in the class.  We are still looking for volunteers to send in a fruit for the party.

The sign-up for March conferences is now available on our team website.   March conferences will be on Tuesday, March 24th and Wednesday, March 25th.  If neither of those dates work for you, please let me know as soon as possible so I can arrange another time for us to meet.

Have a great weekend,
:)Deb